Ria:

'blah' Maria shadow form

"Blah" normal dialogue/ Maria's human form

… time/scene skip

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"How about we keep going," Yami suggested, motioning to the walls that were disappearing. His armor had all of the components except for armguards and lower torso. His head gear was like his pharaoh's crown except for its crimson color and the nose guard that came down and spread under his eyes to form a mask of sorts. Then from his chest and shoulder armor, red metal rose around his neck and covered his chin and jaw.

"I'm surprised you can still talk with that on," Seto mocked.

'I have a feeling that we all will have armor like that for our heads,' Maria replied before turning and heading off in the direction of her final star.

No one said anything for a while as they walked. Each were lost in their own thoughts on what the last test would be like.

"Maria, what do you think this last challenge will be like?" Yugi asked as all of them walked.

Maria sighed. 'I'm not sure, but knowing the shadows, it's going to be tough,' she replied.

As soon as she finished saying that, a building loomed out of the darkness. "What the…" Marik started.

'It's the heart of the Shadow Realm. All of the most powerful shadows reside here,' Maria explained with a sigh, 'Do all of you have your decks?'

Everyone blinked at each other. "Of course we do," Seto, Yami, and Yugi said at the same time, pulling out their decks. Ryou and Bakura brought out their decks, at the same time Malik and Marik did.

Maria nodded. 'Good,' she said and her two stars glowing, created something that looked like a duel disk for each of them. 'You'll need this,' she continued.

"How does it work?" Bakura asked, sliding his deck into the slot.

'It works like Seto's duel disks. When you play a monster, it will appear out here in the Realm. Magic and Trap cards work as well.' Without waiting for a response, she turned and led the way into the building.

Looking down the long hall, Ryou held Bakura's hand and started forward after Maria. No one spoke as they walked and came to a huge set of doors that swung slowly open.

"Wait, I have a bad feeling about this," Seto said as they entered.

'I don't sense anything,' Maria said just as the doors slammed shut behind them without a seam.

Insane laughter rang out through the vast room. "Seven humans? That's all you brought to regain your last star?" the voice mocked.

Maria bristled. 'I'm sick of your games Sankaf, give me back Mustabal!' she shouted, 'My friends are more than enough!'

Sankaf only laughed and sent a burst of raw shadow energy straight at Maria, knocking her back as it collided with her armor.

"Come on! We have to help!" Bakura said, drawing a card. Looking at it, he smirked evilly and placed the card on a monster slot. "I summon Dark Necrofear!" he called, his favorite monster appearing next to him. The others all drew and summoned their cards.

"I summon Change of Heart!" Ryou called, placing his magic card down.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"Dark Magician!"

"Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"Humanoid Slime!"

"Shining Abyss!"

The monsters appeared next to their masters, poised and ready. "Attack!" came the unanimous command and all rushed forward around Maria and surged forward.

Maria pushed herself up and spit out a mouthful of blood. Staggering to her feet, she stood next to Bakura, watching the monsters charge towards where they thought Sankaf was. "Are you okay?" Bakura murmured.

Maria nodded and wiped a trail of blood from her mouth. Another blast came and hit Humanoid Slime. Marik doubled over and gasped for breath as his monster gathered itself back together. The other's directed their monster's sights on the area of the blast and attacked all at once.

"You are all fools. You don't even know where your enemy is," Sankaf laughed.

"Everyone split up! Winged Dragon of Ra! Light up the room!" Yami commanded. Immediately the room brightened and everyone looked around.

Maria closed her eyes and started to let Hidiyya and Madi scan the room when she felt something close around her throat. Letting out a choked scream, Maria was lifted off of the ground and rose towards the ceiling. Opening her eyes, she came face to face with Sankaf.

"Everyone call off your monsters or your friend dies right now," Sankaf commanded, turning Maria around and using her as a shield.

"Maria! I know you're stronger than him! Break free!" Bakura called up.

"Not without her final star she can't," Sankaf snarled, tightening his grip on the other shadow's throat, Maria making a choking sound and weakly trying to break free.

/Bakura, If that shadow was near Maria the whole time, what was causing the blast/ Yami asked in Bakura's mind.

/Maria's star/ Bakura realized and ducking behind Yami transformed into a cat and slunk off, Yami dimming Ra enough to give Bakura some cover.

"Yami we have to free her," Yugi said softly as Maria's struggles started to lessen, "She's dying!"

/No she won't/ came Bakura's voice. Cat Bakura jumped onto Yami's shoulder and crouching, leaped onto Ra, running skillfully up to the dragon's head. From there, he leaped again and transformed into his shadow form as he flew and managed to grab hold of Maria's foot. Carefully hanging there, he noticed that the shadow idiot hadn't noticed him. Transforming back to normal, Bakura reached up and held the final star against Maria's palm.

Maria didn't respond for a second and then weakly curled her fingers around the diamond. 'Hidiyya, Madi, I call upon you in my most desperate time. Rejoin Mustabal to me and grant me the protection of past, present, and future,' she murmured, holding her hand out and uncurling the fingers. Immediately Madi and Hidiyya glowed with a brightness that rivaled Ra's, Mustabal following shortly.

Bakura struggled to hang on as the diamond merged with Maria and was aware of Sankaf reaching down and plucking him off in a death grip to the tomb robber's neck. "You'll pay for that, brat," he hissed, shaking Bakura violently as Maria's light barrier grew, forcing him away from the girl.

Bakura faintly heard the cries of his friends and tried to stop his mind from spinning. Sankaf wasn't done. He threw Bakura against the wall and pinned him there by only his throat. "I know you, brat. You're Thief King Bakura. How the mighty have fallen," he snarled and was suddenly hit from behind with a bolt of light.

'Leave him alone!' Maria growled, all three stars in place on her forehead. Sankaf turned and regarded the white shadow with mild amusement.

"You wish for me to release this human?" he asked in a dangerous tone. Maria nodded and then realized the fault in that as Sankaf took his hand away from Bakura's throat and let the albino fall. "There, I released him," Sankaf laughed.

Maria flipped over and dove for Bakura but he just had too much of a head start, but he transformed into a kitten to hopefully lessen the impact. Just as it seemed hopeless for Bakura to be saved, Change of Heart swooped and caught Bakura just before he hit the floor.

'You'll pay for that, Sankaf,' Maria hissed, her stars pulsing with color. Before Sankaf could reply, Maria flew up and summoning a spear, gutted Sankaf like a fish.

Everyone could only watch in a mix of amazement and horror as Maria ripped the shadow from limb to limb. 'Call back your monsters,' Maria sighed finally, sinking down gently to land in Seto's arms, 'we passed this challenge. I don't know how though.'

"I do," Bakura murmured from where he was sitting on the ground rubbing his neck.

Everyone turned to stare at him. "What were the traits we needed to pass?" Yami asked.

"Stealth, love, and determination," Bakura listed, "We all loved Maria enough to protect her when she got blasted, I used stealth to sneak to the star, and I was determined to save her even though I got choked as a result."

Maria smiled and closed her eyes. 'Armor Completion,' she said quietly and everyone watched as shining silver metal covered the rest of her chest, neck, and back, spreading to her chin, jaw and face. White shoulder guards rose out of the metal and what got everyone's attention was the fact that white and silver fairy wings sprouted from her back.

"What's with the wings?" Seto asked.

Maria opened her eyes which were surrounded by a mask like Yami's. 'I've always had wings, but they're only visible when I'm in my armor because they meld with my dress. My wings also won't appear if I don't have all three of my stars. All of you can add special touches to your armor if you want,' she explained.

Malik shrugged and closing his eyes, completed his armor and grew dragon wings, as did Marik.

Yami added a cape, Yugi giggled and added the Dark Magician staff to his purple armor. Ryou thought for a second and added two long knives. Bakura grinned at Ryou's choice and added arm blades to his armor.

"What are you picking Seto?" Ryou asked as everyone looked each other's complete armor over and made comments. Seto smirked and a long sapphire blue armored tail shot out and curved, twisting in the air before settling down.

"A tail," Seto replied simply.

"Maria, if we recovered your stars, why did we need to complete our armor?" Yugi realized.

Maria slid out of Seto's arms and stood staring off into the darkness. When Yugi repeated his inquiry, Maria's stars started to glow softly. 'Remember the dream I told you about?' she asked, not taking her eyes off of the darkness.

Yugi nodded, as did the others. "What are you looking for?" Marik asked.

'My dark copy.' At that, Maria lifted off of the ground with a flutter of her wings and flew off into the darkness. Marik and Malik flew after her and everyone else followed at a run.

Maria led everyone out of the building and deep into the Shadow Realm. Suddenly, she stopped, hovering in the air. In front of them stood another shadow. She looked like Maria, but wore pitch black instead of white, and her stars were of obsidian and not diamond.

'So good to meet you, Maria,' the shadow hissed.

Maria growled. 'Why were you created?' she demanded.

'Easy, the shadows knew that you were going to retrieve your stars, and they wanted to wait until you retrieved those pathetic diamonds before releasing me. My only order is to destroy you. The realm has no use for a shadow like you,' the shadow hissed.

"We'll help," Seto murmured, going to step next to Maria as she landed, but was stopped as she threw her arms out.

'No, leave this to me,' she said before walking forward, the seven obeying her wishes and staying back. The two shadows faced off for a split second before there was a flurry of movement. Dark Maria attacked, forcing Maria to duck and defend. Maria struggled with a light shield before being overpowered and get sent flying backwards to land at her friends' feet.

"Maria, let us help you," Ryou said gently, helping the shadow sit up.

'No, I'd never forgive myself if any of you got hurt. I can do this myself,' Maria said, holding her stomach as she stood and attacked Dark Maria. Summoning her spear, Maria stabbed at the dark shadow, but the other summoned a wave of shadow magic to deflect the attack. Before Maria could catch her balance, Dark Maria delivered a kick to her back, sending her to the floor.

"Bakura! Yami! Stay here," Seto commanded as the two started forward.

Bakura and Yami looked at each other and then back at Seto. "Sorry Kaiba, but we're not about to let our friend get killed," Yami said before the two ran to the white shadow. Seto sighed and followed them, everyone else following as well.

'I-I told you guys to stay away. It's too dangerous,' Maria groaned, struggling to rise but was hurting from a dent in her armor on both her back and stomach, 'I don't want to see you get hurt.'

"Do you think we want to see you get hurt?" Marik demanded.

'Well…I…' Maria stammered.

"Stop acting like a hero and admit you need help. We're willing to help you," Malik added softly.

'Thank you,' Maria sighed and allowed them to help her up. Bakura took the front and summoned Dark Necrofear. Everyone else except Ryou summoned their monsters and formed a wall in front of them.

"Look at all of you cowering behind your monsters," Dark Maria sneered, "I'll destroy all of them at once, but I'll give you three minutes to try to make a decent plan and then attempt to execute it."

"What do we do?" Yugi asked, as the eight huddled together to brainstorm.

Maria sighed in exhaustion. 'We need to end this. Most of you can't stand the Shadow Realm for much longer,' she stated before looking around. Seeing Bakura's arm blades, and Ryou's knives, Maria grinned. 'I may have an idea though,' she continued, manifesting a whip for Yami.

Yami took the whip and everyone leaned in to hear the plan.

"Time's up. Attack me now with whatever pitiful plan you have," Dark Maria called.

'Very well. Monsters, attack!' Maria commanded from behind the monsters. The monsters fired long distance shots that exploded just short of Dark Maria, causing a ton of smoke. It was so thick, Dark Maria didn't see the two shapes swoop in with the smoke and settle behind her.

'Second wave! Charge!' Maria called and the monsters moved forward in a full out run. Dark Maria wiped out the monsters with well aimed blasts, causing more smoke.

"Decent strategy, but it failed all the same. You lose!" the dark shadow cackled.

"Who said it failed?" came a voice next to her. Before the shadow could do anything, a pair of hands grabbed each wrist and lifted her into the air a little off the ground. Hearing a whip crack, Dark Maria winced when a whip coiled itself around her ankle and a third pair of hands tying the whip in place and then pulling it. Finally, she felt a metal tail coil around her other ankle.

Struggling against her binds, Dark Maria looked around and saw four of the seven humans holding her in place. "You fell for it perfectly. You didn't expect the four of us to fly in with the smoke and get behind you. It proved to be your undoing," one of the blondes holding her wrists explained.

Just then, the shadow heard a shout. 'Yugi! Ryou! Attack!' Maria called from a short distance away. Immediately two figures leapt from the smoke and struck the shadow, one with a magic staff, the other with two long knives.

'Now Bakura, strike her but don't kill her,' Maria instructed. Bakura nodded and leapt out of the smoke and towards the shadow, brandishing his arm blades. Hearing a scream of pain a moment later, Maria swept the smoke to either side and strode forward.

'Let her go, it is no longer necessary to restrain her,' Maria ordered.

"But…" Yami started but was cut off by a silencing glare from Maria. Reluctantly, the four let Dark Maria go and moved to stand with the others.

Maria fluttered her wings and flew closer, landing daintily in front of the other shadow. 'You guys may want to turn away. What I must do is quite gruesome,' she said after a silence.

Ryou, Yugi, and Malik turned away, but the others watched as Maria knelt and absorbed her dark counterpart through her stars. /She was right/ Bakura thought to Yami and Marik/that was gruesome/

The other two yamis grimaced and nodded. 'It's all right to look now,' Maria called softly. When they were all facing her again, Maria smiled, her stars glowing softly. 'I want to thank you for helping me, so I decided to grant you all one wish each,' she said.

The seven mortals huddled together once Maria gave them time to discuss. "I know what I want," Seto stated calmly.

Yugi chewed on his lip. "I think I know," he added.

Ryou looked at the other four. "I know what I want, but it's too big for one wish. I need your help."

"Depends on what it is," Malik stated, flapping his armor wings, raising up into the air and hovering a foot off the ground.

Ryou blushed faintly. "I want Bakura to be happy. And the only thing stopping him is his body, so I want him to regain his old form," he stated.

Malik landed on his feet with a soft thump and stared. "Ryou…that's so sweet," he murmured, "I'll give up my wish to help."

Marik, Yami, and Bakura nodded in agreement as well. "We're ready," Ryou told Maria.

Maria nodded. 'Ryou, we'll start with you. What do you wish for?'

"Malik, Marik, Bakura, Yami, and I wish for Bakura to regain his old form."

Maria looked surprised but then frowned. 'Are you sure? There may be unforeseen consequences,' she warned. When the five nodded, she sighed and rising into the air waved her hand, her stars glowing with a dazzling light that engulfed Bakura. When the light faded, Bakura was still the same. 'The changes will slowly take effect once we leave the Shadow Realm,' she explained at everyone's puzzled faces.

Yugi stepped up next. "I wish for Yami to regain his memories," he stated.

'That is one of the few things I can't grant. It's up to Yami to unlock his memories.'

Yugi thought for a minute and then a lightbulb went on. "Then I wish that Tea would leave Yami alone and lose her attraction to him."

Maria actually laughed at that. 'Done,' she chuckled, her stars briefly glowing, 'Seto, what is your wish?'

Seto smirked. "I wish for you to return to the mortal realm with us and live there primarily as a mortal, and a glowing shadow on the side," he voiced.

Maria's mouth dropped open and she fluttered in the air indignantly. Just as she was about to deny his wish, Madi, Hidiyya, and Mustabal glowed brilliantly and engulfed Maria in a sphere of light before fading, causing the girl to fall out of the air, to be caught in Seto's arms.

"Bakura, get us out of here," Seto said, cradling Maria close as the shadow drifted off into a sleep induced by her stars.

Bakura nodded and Millennium Ring glowing, opened a portal back into Seto's mansion and led the way, closing it when everyone was through. "Is Maria okay?" Yugi asked, coming over once all of his armor vanished.

"She's okay, she's just asleep," Seto replied.

"Maria's wings are gone" Ryou pointed out, "but she still has her stars." No sooner than Ryou said that, Maria's stars started glowing, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

"Who are you?" Bakura growled once the light died down at the three new figures in the room.

Hidiyya- (Hid-ee-yhah) roughly translates to present

Madi- (Ma-dee) past

Mustabal- (Moo-sta-ball) future

Ria: Who are the three new people? Are they friends, or enemies? What is your guess? Whoever gets it right gets a plushie of their favorite bishie in their armor.