I would have Yami-no-Game'd Xaldin, but I had a better plan in mind.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi. Kingdom Hearts is owned by Tetsuya Nomura and all that.

Duel Disks and Keyblades

By FlikFreak

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Whirlwind Lancer

Sora gritted his teeth as the group raced down the streets for the pier. From the looks he saw on his friend's faces, whatever happened in that duel between Jounouchi and Yugi couldn't have been pleasant. At the same time, they mentioned something about Marik causing it, prompting a heavy look of guilt on the boy's face. What was wrong with him? Why would he cause anything to happen between Yugi and Jounouchi?

They soon arrived at the pier, which had a square-shape to it, the suspension bars above torn apart somehow. Only something massive could have broken it. On some parts of the pier were burn marks as well. Roxas wasted no time in appearing next to Sora. Whatever went on here was definitely some form of struggle, he said suspiciously. This place has probably seen better days.

I know, Sora replied. But why would they lead us here?

"Marik Ishtar, commander of the Millennium Rod…you have come for your sister?"

The voice was awfully familiar. Sora summoned the keyblade immediately, and Roxas glared upward where the wind began to swirl in a cyclone. Marik gritted his teeth and whipped out an odd golden rod from his belt, the front emblazoned with an eye design similar to the one Sora had seen on Yugi's puzzle. In a moment of shock, Sora realized that the item was the Millennium Rod just mentioned – one of the seven items that Yugi spoke of.

As the whirlwind cleared, a man faded into the scene. Long, dark, braided hair fell past his shoulders, dark violet eyes glaring back at him. Clenched on one of his arms was a young woman dressed in creamy white robes, her dark hair blowing softly in the wind, eyes wide in terror.

Xaldin! Sora heard Roxas snarl angrily. Then that girl must be…

"Ishizu!" Marik cried.

"Very observant," Xaldin replied, grinning.

"Let her go," Yami said, having switched places with Yugi on the spot.

"With pleasure," The man replied. "But I'm afraid I must decline. This woman has valuable knowledge of the various phenomenon that happened near the end of the Battle City tournament, and I believe Master Anubis desires such firsthand accounts."

"Anubis!?" Sora cried.

Xaldin nodded. "Correct, Roxas."

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Even now, you're still not giving up that stupid ploy of yours?" He growled. "Forget it, Nobody! You don't have hearts! You don't exist! You can't trick me, and you definitely aren't winning Roxas back over any time soon!"

"Don't be reckless," the man replied, crossing his arms. "You don't have a clue who's in charge here!"

"Whoever is in charge is a nutcase," Jounouchi grumbled, stepping forward. "In case you haven't noticed, we've got you outnumbered, six-to-one!"

Marik blinked momentarily. "Wait," he muttered. "Six?"

"I'll explain that later," Jounouchi noted before turning back to Xaldin. "You wanna try picking a fight with us? Well, you're making a big mistake!"

"It's not a problem before," he said, grinning. "I've fought against four at once."

"And you lost," Sora noted, grinning. "So prepare to lose again!"

At the sound of those words, Xaldin just grinned. A strong gust of wind swept past the pier, and in a swarm of twilight thorns, six lances appeared around the man. A low and malevolent smirk appeared on his face, and Sora wasted no time in summoning the Keyblade. This'll be a doozy…

I never liked how he ranted about all that anger crap and whatnot, Roxas mumbled in agreement. Let's make mincemeat out of him.

While Sora charged forward to face this new opponent, Yami, Jounouchi and Marik hung back. Axel, on the other hand, was racing around the side of the pier to meet the opposition right along with Sora. A flurry of lances rushed Sora's way, and with difficulty the boy managed to dodge them. As he ran, he heard the lances smashing into bits of the pier, blocking their way back. It was now or never…

Axel hurled two flaming chakrams at Xaldin, whom recoiled his lances in order to block them, but ended up being too slow and was hurled backward into the air. As he recovered and began to hover forward again, Sora heard Jounouchi do a double-take. "This guy flies?!" he exclaimed.

"He's called the Whirlwind Lancer for a reason," Axel grumbled, hurling a swarm of flames toward the man. "I'm not letting you hurt my friends!"

Xaldin shook his head. "You speak as though you actually have some."

There was a momentary pause and all eyes locked onto Xaldin. The man, pleased that he had their attention, continued. "Axel, you follow the illusion of a friendship you can't even feel. You are a Nobody. Nobodies do not have hearts, and so they cannot truly feel. Nobodies do not really exist. You are as solid and whole as I am. And to top that off, you're only a replica of the real Axel."

"Who cares?" Axel replied. "I may not have a real memory, but that memory is still mine! Not even that idiot sorcerer Anubis can change that!" He launched his chakrams again.

Yami immediately activated his duel disk and drew a card. In a flash, a familiar-looking Duel Monster appeared before him. "Dark Magician Girl, come forth!"

Sora momentarily swept his gaze backward just in time to see the girl appear. It's her!

Oooh, you finally get a girlfriend, Sora? Roxas teased.

Knock it off! She helped me out before. I never knew she was in Yugi's deck…

There was an enormous blast of pink light, slamming into Xaldin and nearly sending him flying into a pole nearby. His lances, however, lashed out at Sora, sending him flying back onto the main dock.

Marik narrowed his eyes at the scene. "This won't be easy," he muttered, tightening his grip on the Millennium Rod. "Forgive me for this, Ishizu…"

Sora struggled to his feet. Having heard Marik's words, he returned his gaze to where Xaldin had last been. Sure enough, he remained unharmed, and the woman was still in his arms. If this guy was spending all his energy just to protect her, then this was going to be tough. They had to beat him, but not hurt Ishizu…

A bright flash of golden light shone from where Marik held his rod. Sora stood, in hope that it would strike Xaldin away from the woman, but instead nothing happened. Xaldin laughed. "Is that the only attack you have, Marik Ishtar? I'm afraid you still need some practice."

"You have no idea," Ishizu grumbled. It was only then that Xaldin noticed that Ishizu was not only glaring at him, but was speaking half with Marik's voice, and had a glowing eye shape on her forehead. Before he could recover from the shock, the woman gave him a swift kick in between the legs and hurried down the pier to her brother. Only when she was back on solid ground did the eye fade. "Wha…what happened?"

Marik grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Ishizu…I kinda had to…"

The woman's eyes traveled to the Millennium Rod. "You didn't."

"Well…"

Axel took the chance to intervene. "It worked, though, didn't it?"

"And now he's wide open," Yami said, eyes narrowing. "Dark Magician Girl! Attack!"

The girl nodded, a strangely serious expression on her face. With a single movement, another blast of pink light shot forth from her staff, slamming into Xaldin once more. The man, fatally injured, began to fade.

"You don't get it, did you?" Sora said, angry. "We're taking Anubis down, and you won't be in our way anymore."

Xaldin, however, would not fade without a last remark. "You won't succeed, Sora…" he said, smirking. "This world will soon belong to Anubis; just as your world, Sora, fell to the Heartless." With that, Xaldin was no more.

The man's last words kept Sora stiff. Anubis still had tricks up his sleeve, did he? But as a keyblade master, he wouldn't let this world fall to darkness. As a person, however…as a person, he couldn't endanger his friends. He didn't care what he had to go through…seeing this was far too much for him.

Or was it just too much for Roxas?

You can stop worrying about me being a parasite, you know, the Nobody said, appearing next to Sora. I'm not like that anymore.

Then why do I feel so upset? Sora replied vehemently. I don't think that…

"You did what?!"

Sora was snapped out of his thoughts with an argument between Marik and Ishizu – one which Ishizu seemed to be winning, in spite of her meek appearance.

Marik rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "If I hadn't done it, you would have been taken to Anubis and probably hurt…"

Ishizu crossed her arms. "I could have done that on my own," she insisted. "I may be feminine but that doesn't mean I can't defend myself."

Yugi had taken control back from Yami and spoke up in hopes of stopping the argument. "Anyway!" He cried a bit loudly, catching everyone's attention, "What's important is that everyone's safe." His gaze turned over to Sora, whom glanced momentarily at Roxas and then back at his friends.

"I don't get one thing though," Jounouchi said, and all eyes turned to him. "After he went and threatened us with Anubis's world domination and all, he mentioned something about Sora's world falling to heartless or something like that."

Sora felt himself go rigid.

Marik turned to face Sora, pausing when he noticed Roxas. "What…" he began. Apparently, Ishizu also noticed, but she remained silent.

"Why did he even mention that?" Sora muttered, beginning to walk off. "How did he even know…"

Roxas's shoulders drooped a bit in sadness. Sora…

But the keyblade master just sighed. "Let's go home. I'm tired." With that, he walked away. The rest of the group gazed toward the sky, noting that it was indeed sundown. Nodding, the group moved out, with Jounouchi, Sora and Yugi heading for the game shop, Roxas's spirit form striding alongside them. Marik and Ishizu headed for a nearby hotel, confused looks on their faces.

In his sorrowful stupor, Sora barely noticed Yugi standing beside him with an immensely worried expression. Something was tormenting his friend from within, and he couldn't do a thing about it, even though he wanted to.

But perhaps there was a way to help…

Huge thanks to my Beta, The Danvers Girls, for pointing out many mistakes and typos I made in this chapter O.O

Blooper One: All Your Sweets Are Belong To Marik

Marik grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Ishizu…I kinda had to…"

The woman's eyes traveled to the Millennium Rod. "You didn't."

"Yes." There was an uncomfortable silence. "Yes, I did steal your chocolate again."

Blooper Two: Axel the Know-It-All

"Why did he even mention that?" Sora muttered, beginning to walk off. "How did he even know…?"

Axel crossed his arms superiorly, and grinned. "We nobodies know all!"

Blooper-slash-deleted scene: Who cares?

"Ah, I don't think we've had a proper introduction." Marik gave a sweeping bow. "My name is Marik Ishtar."

Sora narrowed his eyes. "I don't care."

Marik grinned slyly. "What if I told you I had exclusive knowledge of certain secrets?"

The keyblade master crossed his arms. "I don't care."

The blonde grumbled angrily. This called for a change of tactic. "Once I possess what I desire," he said, lifting the gold artifact in his hand, "The Millennium Rod will mean absolutely nothing to me!"

There was a stony silence, and Sora narrowed his eyes, clenching his teeth in determination. Marik was definitely making a nice offer; it was hard to turn down. After a moment of contemplation, Sora looked up at the Egyptian and muttered his reply.

"…I don't care."

(Added Disclaimer: Yugioh Abridged is the work of LittleKuriboh. n.n)