Their shoes sunk into the sand as they trekked on through the never ending desert sands. The blazing sun and blistering heat made the journey all that more unbearable as the arid conditions took its toll on the friends.

"How much farther?" Tea called to the front of the group, her breath becoming labored.

"It shouldn't be long now!" Tristan called back, "the tomb should be right over this next dune!"

"You've said after every dune!" Joey retorted.

"Just keep the prize in mind!" Tristan assured him, "Once we find this tomb, we'll all be rich! Swimming in Egyptian Gold!" he friends continued, climbing over what was supposedly the last dune. All of them were tired but itching with anticipation. Adrenaline was pumping through their veins as they reached the crest of the dune , knowing that in just a few more feet, they would be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

They were greeted by a cool salty breeze, and the smell of tanning oil and seaweed. They looked out over the dune and saw a beautiful blue sea, breaking waves along a white sandy beach. colorful towels and umbrellas beckoned them, and the crisp blue water washed away any recollections of a desert, and replaced them with sandy memories of beach days.

"Wow! What a great day to go to the beach!" Tea exclaimed. Tristan turned to see she was already clad in a bikini with a towel thrown over her shoulder and a bottle of sunscreen in her hand.

"I know right?" Joey chimed in. He was also clad in swim trunks and had a boogie board under his arm.

"But… but… what about the treasure?" Tristan asked his friends. Yugi laughed.

"That's what we brought this for, remember?" Yugi asked waving a metal detector. Hera was holding a plastic red bucket and small yellow shovel, while the Pharaoh was holding a snorkel and flippers.

"This… doesn't feel right," Hera told them, looking between the desolate desert and the beautiful beach. The Pharaoh nodded in agreement, dropping the snorkel and flippers.

"Hera's right," The Pharaoh told his friends, "something about this feels… off." Suddenly, a wall of dark storm clouds rolled in as the beach was soon overcome with thrashing waves, bouts of thunder and lightning and what looked to be a typhoon. A dark looming creature swelled from the sea, the waves growing larger and larger, with each step upward it took. The dark creature took its first step onto the sand, and with that step shattered the illusion of the beach, and returned the friends to the shadow realm.

"All these illusions are making me sick!" Joey exclaimed, holding his head. The creature laughed.

"Awh, you don't like it?" The creature mocked, with a creepy little giggle, ill-fitting to the creature's size.

"Who are you?" Hera called up to the creature. The creature stopped giggling as a dark overcast swept across his face.

"I am Barrett the Deceiver, and I am the first of five challenges created by the Shadow Queen," The creature told them.

"I am Hera," Hera told the creature, "And my party and I have come to meet the challenges of the Shadow Queen." Barrett smiled.

"Oh goody goody!" He squeaked, "it has been so long since I've had someone to play with." he began laughing maniacally as the shadow realm around them spun revealing different scenes of beaches, parks, cities, and mountains.

"Ugh," Tea groaned, "this is making me queasy."

"Stop this madness!" Hera commanded Barrett, "this isn't a game!" Barrett only laughed harder.

"Oh quite the contrary, goddess Hera," Barrett mocked. Suddenly the realm stopped spinning and landed the friends in complete darkness.

"What the-" but before Joey could finish a spotlight came on, revealing Barrett.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen!" Barrett welcomed them with a false warmth, "please take your seats our show is about to begin!" The friends looked down and saw that there were five empty seats waiting for them. they turned around and saw a whole audience of dark fiendish creatures.

"I think we'll be better off if we just play along," Hera cautioned her friends. They all nodded in agreement as they took their seats. Suddenly a bright sign flashed on, dressed with the word 'applause' outlined in lights. The whole audience began clapping and cheering and suddenly all the lights came on revealing a brightly colored stage, a large wheel and a sign that read, Wheel of Misfortune.

"A game show?" Joey exclaimed not believing it, "we traveled hundreds of miles, and through the depths of the Shadow Realm to be on a game show?"

"Be patient, Joey," Hera assured him, "I know this might sound… bizarre; however, we need to trust that Bastet is playing by the rules and that this is all part of her plot to destroy us."

"On a game show?" Joey asked, skeptical of Hera.

"I'm sure… it will all be revealed in time," Hera told him. Suddenly the henchman Barrett walked across the stage, earning himself another applause from the audience.

"Hello, and welcome to Wheel of Misfortune! I'm your host Barrett the Deceiver and tonight we have a special guest from the audience playing!" Barrett greeted the crowd. The crowd whooped, whistled and clapped in response.

"They have come a long way to play here today, and feature the great enemy of everyone's favorite Shadow Queen, please welcome, the embodiment of light, Goddess Hera and her five traveling companions!" Barrett welcomed them, as a spotlight shined on the friends. The crowd booed them.

"What a warm welcome," Tea huffed sarcastically.

"Now unfortunately, they don't all get to play tonight; however, one of those lucky companions will now be selected at random, and will be playing for one of our grand prizes tonight!" Barrett exclaimed, earning another applause from the audience. He walked to the back of the stage and pulled out a smaller wheel, with five names written on it; Tristan, Joey, Tea, Yugi, and The Pharaoh. The audience clapped even louder, and started chanting, "SPIN THE WHEEL! SPIN THE WHEEL! SPIN THE WHEEL!" Barrett spun the wheel. The friends watched in anticipation to see who would be picked for the first challenge. The wheel began to slow. Knuckles were clenched white, teeth were grinding, and sweat was gathering at their brows. The wheel stopped, and crowd booed enthusiastically.

"Looks like we have a winner! Tristan, come on up to the stage!" Barrett called. Tristan stood up nervously.

"Good luck, buddy," Joey told him, patting his back.

"We're right here rooting for you!" Tea encouraged. Tristan walked up to the stage. Barrett held an arm out and draped himself over Tristan's shoulder casually.

"Welcome to Wheel of Misfortune, Tristan!" Barrett told him, "Why don't you tell the audience where you're from?" Barrett offered the microphone to Tristan.

"Domino City," Tristan timidly answered. The crowd booed him, again.

"Well, on behalf of everyone here I would like to welcome you to the Shadow Realm!" he told him. He walked away from Tristan and over to the wheel.

"Before we get started I'm going to go over the rules," Barrett began. "Do you see this wheel?" He asked Tristan. Tristan nodded.

"There are 12 equal slices divided on that wheel. Ten of those slices have a number; two 1s, two 2s, two 3s, two 4s and two 5s. The other two slices are an automatic win and an automatic lose," Barrett explained. "You're going to spin the wheel. If you land on a number 1-5, you will be given a list of phrases based on the number you landed on. For example, if you land on five, you get five phrases, three you get three phrases and one, you get one phrase. Do you understand?" Barrett asked.

Tristan nodded.

"Now, when you get one phrase, you will be asked if that phrase is true or false. If you get two or more phrases, you will be asked to pick out the true phrase from the rest of them. If you land on 'automatic win' you win, and if you land on automatic lose, you lose. Now, do you see that light board up there?" Barrett asked Tristan pointing to the board of lights hanging above them.

Tristan nodded.

"On that light board, are twenty lights, that act as your points. Your goal is to either get an automatic win, or light up the whole light board. You start with three lights already lit up for you. Every phrase you pick correctly will earn you another light, and every phrase you pick incorrectly will lose you a light. Any Questions?" Barrett asked.

Tristan shook his head.

"Then lets get started!" Barrett spoke into his microphone. The crowd cheered and applauded Barrett eager for the game to begin.

"I don't understand!" Tea exclaimed, "This is insane!"

"It is the nature of Barrett," Hera answered coolly. "He is the master of deception. Although this challenge may seem lighthearted, and even fun, I can assure you that he has something much more sinister planned. This game show front is merely a facade for the dark forces working beneath the surface."

"So… what's really going to happen?" Joey asked.

"I'm not sure," Hera answered, "but I can assure you it will not be good. We must stay strong for Tristan and cheer him on, even in the face of defeat."

"Now, lets take a look at your prizes!" Barrett exclaimed, interrupting the friends conversation. "Tristan, If you win either automatically or by lighting up your board, you and your friends may continue on your luxurious journey, exploring the many wonders of the Shadow Realm and continue on to meet the second challenge!" Barrett declared, opening up a portal on the stage which showcased the dark and treacherous path the friends had to take to the next challenge. A chorus of boos from the audience, followed the presentation. "But," Barrett exaggerated silencing the audience, "if you fail to light up your board or lose automatically, there's no need to fret! You and your friends will be treated to an eternal vacation in the infinite void of darkness, waited on by only the most vicarious of demonic creatures, and treated to first class torture which could only be imagined by the lady in black, the darkest of the dark, the woman we all know, love and serve; The Shadow Queen!" Barrett declared, opening a second portal which revealed a hypnotic, pitch black darkness, and the shadowy figure of Bastet. The audience jeered and hollered at the sight of their Queen and at the thought of Tristan's impending doom.

"Now, it's time to SPIN THE WHEEL!" Barrett exclaimed, the audience chiming in. Tristan nervously went up to the wheel.

"You can do it Tristan!" Tea yelled up to the stage. Tristan, offered her a smile, nodded and with his confidence restored spun the wheel.

It landed on three.

"What a great start!" Barrett exclaimed, with false enthusiasm. "Now, please turn your attention to the screen while I read the three phrases,"Barrett instructed. A projector screen came down on the left side of the stage, and three phrases appeared on it.

"The first phrase comes from Tea Gardner; 'Why do we even bother having Tristan around he does nothing and acts mostly as dead weight.'" Tristan gasped and looked down at Tea, he was about to shout at her, but Barrett interrupted.

"Our second quote comes from Joey Wheeler; 'All Tristan is, is a Janitor reject. Let's just leave him alone.'" Tristan was taken aback. He couldn't believe that one of his own friends would say something like that. Barrett continued.

"And our final quote comes from Yugi Moto; 'I know Tristan isn't very good at much else, but at least he's trying.'" Tristan was stunned. All of those things sounded awful, and Tristan had to pick out which one was true. He looked to his friends. They looked just as confused as he was.

"You have ten seconds to answer," Barrett told him. Tristan looked at the choices.

'This is going to be worse than I thought,' Tristan thought.

XXXXX

In the audience, his friends were just as confused.

"I don't ever remember saying anything about how cute I think cats are," Tea admitted, "but I do think cats are cute so, maybe."

"This is tricky," Yugi answered, "both mine and Joey's quotes are about duel monsters. Hopefully Tristan was paying attention in all those card games." Hera was leaning back quietly.

"This seems pretty straightforward," she told the Pharaoh, "but something still doesn't seem right. Why is Tristan looking at us like that?" The Pharaoh looked over at Tristan, to see his face twisted in a nervous grimace of horror and disbelief.

"Perhaps he is just nervous?" The Pharaoh tried, however, he agreed with Hera that something wasn't right. Afterall, this was Barrett the Deceiver.

XXXXXX

"I guess I'll pick, Joey Wheeler," Tristan answered defeated.

"Is that your final answer?" Barrett asked. Tristan nodded solemnly.

"And he is… CORRECT ladies and Gentlemen! And he earns his first light on the board!" Barrett exclaimed, the audience booing that Tristan had won. Even though he won, Tristan couldn't help but feel defeated. Did he really want to know the truth about what his friends thought about him? As painful as it was, he knew he had to press forward, both for his friends and for himself. Tristan walked over to the wheel again, ready to spin. Between the nerves, the backstabbing, and the betrayal from his friends, Tristan was starting to feel ill, and the confidence his friends had given him was already gone. He hoped that this next round was better, and that last round was just Barrett trying to get in his head. Tristan gave out a heavy sigh, trying to release the pressure in his head, and spun.

"Come on Tristan! Let's make it two for two!" Joey yelled enthusiastically, as Tristan spun. Tristan was appalled.

'I just found out that he had been insulting me behind my back, and he's encouraging his own two-faced behavior?' Tristan thought to himself. The fact that Joey was so enthusiastic, and so insensitive to how Tristan might feel upon hearing his true thoughts stung.

The wheel landed on one.

"Looks like we've got a true or false phrase!" Barrett declared as a phrase came up on the screen.

"This one comes from a Serenity Wheeler; "I think it's so weird that Tristan is all over me all the time. I don't want to be mean, but I wish he would back off." Tristan was again taken by surprise. There was no way in a million years that sweet, compassionate Serenity would ever say anything that cruel or mean about anyone.

"False," Tristan answered confidently. A buzz went off and the audience applauded.

"I'm sorry Tristan but that was 'True,'" Barrett said. Tristan's eyes widened as he reread the phrase on the screen.

"That's… that's…" Tristan couldn't believe what he was reading. He couldn't believe that his friends would say something so horrible.

XXXXXX

"I can't believe he thought that was false,"Joey told his friends, "he knows how sweet Serenity is."

"Maybe he just couldn't believe Serenity was that sweet," Tea giggled, implying the romantic feelings Serenity and Tristan shared. Hera looked at the horror on Tristan's face, and she swore she saw tears pricking in his eyes.

"Do you see that, my Pharaoh?" Hera asked. The Pharaoh nodded.

"Something is definitely wrong," The Pharaoh agreed, "Barrett must be cheating."

"If Barrett was cheating why would he let Tristan win the first round?" Yugi asked.

"Maybe he was just trying to throw us off," Joey suggested. The Pharaoh returned his focus to the game. He knew something wasn't right. This game was some sort of distraction to the real challenge Tristan was facing.

XXXXXXXXX

"Let's try again!" Barrett exclaimed, ushering Tristan back to the wheel. He was holding back tears and trying to be strong. He grabbed the wheel and spun it as hard as he could.

I guess the truth hurts, Tristan thought to himself as the wheel spun. At this point Tristan didn't care what the wheel landed on. It didn't matter to him. To hear that his friends could be so two faced, and vile. To think that the people he trusted the most, would betray him like that.

The Wheel stopped at five.

"Looks like we've got a doozy!" Barrett called out to the audience, "Tristan needs to pick the truth out of five phrases!" The board lit up with five options.

"Phrase one," Barrett began, "comes from The Pharaoh; 'It is not that I want to endanger Tristan, it is simply that I don't want the extra burden of looking out for him.'" Tristan was stoic. He was expecting this sort of response, and he awaited it.

"Phrase two comes from Joey Wheeler; 'Why do we keep letting him hang around us? He doesn't play duel monsters, he never chips in on our adventures, he doesn't even offer us a ride.'" The quotes from Joey hurt Tristan the most. Joey had been the only friend he had for a long time, and knowing that Joey thought Tristan was as useless as he felt, just twisted the knife in his back.

"The Third Phrase comes from Tea Gardner; 'One of these days we just need to ditch Tristan and go on our own adventure with the Pharaoh.'" Tristan uttered a bitter chuckle, 'She's just as useless as me,' Tristan thought to himself, 'Where does she get off calling me the useless one?'

"The fourth phrase comes from Serenity Wheeler; 'I just wish he would just leave my big brother and I alone and quit being so desperate for our attention.' Tristan felt his heart breaking a bit hearing those words. Serenity was the first crush that had ever shown any romantic interest in him whatsoever, but to think she was just playing with his emotions. And for what? Because maybe she felt sorry for him? Or maybe she was just too nice to tell him to his face what a horrible person she thought he was?

"Our final phrase comes from Yugi Muoto; 'he doesn't even do anything to help the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh and the puzzle was what brought us together in the first place, and he does nothing to honor that sacred bond.'" Tristan sighed, the phrase from Yugi proving to be the icing on the cake.

"You have ten seconds to answer," Barrett informed him breaking his train of thought. Tristan looked at the phrases on the board, he looked at the henchman Barrett and the sinister smirk that danced on his lips, and he looked at his awestruck friends, who were either oblivious or negligent to the emotional turmoil Tristan was going through. He felt tears sting his cheeks, as the words on the board blurred. Suddenly the stage beneath him broke, and Tristan began his descent into the madness of the Shadow Realm.

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An extra long chapter this week! ;* I hope you all enjoy! P.S. I hope you like the Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0 easter egg! :) See you all next Wednesday!