Afterlife in the Shadow Realm
I would like to thank Alumina, saffroncremebrulee, and Sister of the Crimson Dragon for beta reading this chapter.
BACK INSIDE THE PYRAMID
Everyone woke up back in the room where the Millennium Items were resting. The room was cold and dusty with rubble all over the floor. It was also very dark. There was a little sunlight seeping through the cracks by the old exit and also some light coming from the room where they had fought the mummies.
"Oh, I have a headache," complained Joey rubbing the back of his head.
"Where's Shadi?" asked Tristan.
Everyone glanced about the room, but no one could find any trace of the spirit. It was if he had never been there in the first place.
"I think he's gone," answered Yugi.
There seemed to be nowhere to go. Then Duke Devlin asked the question that was on everyone's mind: "So how do we get out of this dump?"
"Well, we can't go back the way we came because we have no way of crossing that chasm in the room that was set on fire," answered Marik. "On top of that, we have no way of climbing up that chute that lead us to the room with the mummies."
Rebecca walked over to the exit that was being blocked by all the stones. "I don't suppose there's any way we could move these, is there?"
Odion and Roland, the two strongest men in the group, walked over to where Rebecca was standing and tried to move one of the boulders, but it wouldn't budge.
"It's no use. We can't get out this way," said Odion.
Then Ishizu saw some black soot covering the hands of Odion and Roland. "What's that on your hands?" she asked.
Yugi thought back to the experience they had when they entered the pyramid. "Do you think that's flammable like the soot we found earlier at the beginning of the pyramid?" he asked.
Pegasus took a closer look at the walls and noticed the area between the cracks was darker. He walked up to these walls and dragged his finger along one of the cracks. "There's more of it," he said when he saw that his finger was colored black.
"I have an idea," said Yugi. "Can I see one of the canteens, Marik?"
"Certainly," he replied, tossing one to him.
"Here's what I think. We should fill that canteen with the powder from the walls. Then, we'll place it by the rocks blocking the exit and try to ignite the powder."
"So we want to create an explosion," Rebecca stated.
"Exactly!" answered Yugi.
"Do you think there's enough powder we can put in it?" asked Mai.
"We'll just have to try," answered Pegasus.
Yugi handed the canteen to Pegasus. Pegasus then started sliding his finger along the cracks so that the powder would fall into the canteen.
"While Pegasus is doing that, do we have something we can use to ignite the powder?" Yugi asked.
"We might be able to start a fire by rubbing this rope up against the well," said Ishizu, referring to the rope they had used to climb down and get the Millennium Key.
Ten minutes later, Pegasus announced, "I have filled up the canteen." Pegasus sealed up the canteen but not all the way and placed it by the rocks. "There's also enough powder for me to place just outside the canteen," he said. Pegasus filled his left hand with some of the powder and tossed it right by the canteen.
"Great! Now all we need to do is get a fire going," said Yugi. "Everyone, find a place to stand far away from the exit. Try to hide behind something."
Bakura and Duke grabbed opposite sides of the rope while everyone else did as Yugi said. They started rubbing the rope against the well but got no results.
"I have an idea," yelled Pegasus. Pegasus then grabbed more of the powder and placed it on the well where they were rubbing the rope. "Try it now."
Bakura and Duke tried it again. They continued rubbing it along the well until they saw smoke rising from the rope.
"On the count of 3, we both toss it over there," Duke told Bakura. They started swinging the rope back and forth. "One. Two. Three!" They tossed the rope by the canteen and made a mad dash toward a hiding place.
Bright orange and yellow flames began to form by the exit. Then Pegasus saw a little bit of the fire trickling away from the exit. "Yugi-boy, are you sure this was a good idea?"
Everyone became more worried when they saw the blaze getting closer to them. They retreated into the room where they had fought the mummies. Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the entire room. They peered inside and saw that the rocks had been broken down into smaller pieces, clearing the exit that was previously blocked.
"We need to move quickly," yelled Pegasus, noting that the fire was spreading rapidly along the walls of the room.
Everyone in the gang quickly approached the exit. There were flames around the border of the exit, but they were able to pass through it easily. Everyone breathed a heavy sigh of relief as they exited the pyramid and were greeted with the blazing sun and desert heat.
"Well, all that's left is for us to make the long journey back to our jeeps," said Marik.
Serenity's ankle was still hurting from the snake bite, so Odion carried her. Everyone was panting while they walked through the desert heat. There was very little water left in the canteens so they had to ration the water carefully. The jeeps were only a mile away, so they only had to walk for about half an hour.
"Since some of us were attacked by mummies and snakes inside the pyramid, we should probably drive to the hospital first," said Marik. Then everyone got in one of the jeeps driven by Marik, Ishizu, and Odion.
A HOSPITAL IN CAIRO
Everyone sat in a waiting room at a hospital near the hotel they had stayed at. Marik, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Odion, Arthur Hawkins, and Grandpa Muto were all waiting to be seen by doctors because they had either been pummeled by mummies or bitten by a snake. The room was very large. Fluorescent lights shined from the ceiling. The other people in the waiting room had tense expressions. A few small children were playing with toys in a corner. There were magazines lying on tables, but no one was interested in reading them as they were extremely boring. There was a single TV in the room with a news station. Soon enough, a nurse came and yelled out several names in Egyptian.
"That's us," Marik informed them. They all approached the nurse and each injured victim was seen by a different doctor.
About five minutes later, Pegasus felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. "Hello?" he answered. "Yes, this is Maximillion Pegasus." Pegasus listened as the person on the other line spoke. "What?" he asked. "Today?" Pegasus was silent for a moment. A hint of sadness appeared on his face. "All right. I'll tell the others. Bye."
"Who was that Pegasus?" asked Duke Devlin.
"That was the doctor from Domino City Hospital," he answered.
"What did he say?" asked Bakura.
"I'll wait until everyone else gets out here before I deliver the news."
About half an hour later, the doctors treating the injured victims stepped out and spoke to Ishizu since she spoke Egyptian. Ishizu looked pleased when the doctors told her everything. Soon, everyone who was either bitten by a snake or attacked by a mummy stepped out.
"Everyone, I have some wonderful news," Ishizu announced. "The snake that bit Serenity in the temple was non-poisonous. The wounds suffered by the others are bruises that will heal through time. Odion was bitten by one of the mummies, but the doctors were able to take care of that with some antiseptic."
"That's great news, Serenity," said Tristan, putting his arm around his crush. "You're gonna be okay."
"Now Pegasus has something to tell us," said Ishizu, letting Pegasus have the floor.
Pegasus looked around making sure he had everyone's attention. "Unfortunately, my news is not so good." Then he took a deep breath before speaking again. "Everyone, Seto Kaiba died earlier today. A doctor from Domino City Hospital called me earlier today. He said his heart stopped beating."
A tear slowly trickled down from Mokuba's eye. "Big brother…"
"No, it's not fair," Joey Wheeler muttered sadly.
Everyone else started to tear up as well.
PEGASUS'S AIRPLANE
After taking care of their business at the hospital, they boarded Pegasus's airplane. No one said anything for the first three hours of the ride. Despite the silence, everyone's despair permeated the room on the airplane. When they were over the Atlantic Ocean, Yugi finally spoke.
"It's not fair," he said with a tear in his eye. "He was so close to winning the duel, and then that evil thing pulled out the victory at the very end."
"He defeated all those powerful creatures just to lose to a stinking Kuriboh," Joey muttered.
"Poor Kaiba. Now he's stuck in the Shadow Realm forever," Tea added.
"With the way that freak was dueling, I don't think even Yugi could've beaten him," said Tristan.
The rest of the plane trip was filled with silence.
DOMINO CITY HOSPITAL
Ghost Kaiba was leaving the Shadow Realm. He was traveling very fast through a dimensional tunnel. Then he saw Seto Kaiba's body lying on a bed in a hospital room in Domino City.
At last. I'll finally have control of my own body.
"It looks like he passed away this morning," he heard a doctor in the room say.
Huh? Then he looked at the heart monitor and saw it was a flat line.
"AHHH!" screamed Ghost Kaiba. The doctors in the room couldn't hear him. "Now I can't take control of his body because he's dead!"
THE SHADOW REALM
Seto watched as everyone else disappeared in the blink of an eye. The Orichalcos symbol that surrounded him after his loss faded into nothingness. For a while, he saw nothing but darkness. Then a streak of lightning beamed across the Shadow Realm sending a loud boom throughout the area.
Seto saw some purple clouds come into view below him. Slowly, these clouds began to fade. He saw himself and Mokuba as little kids. He recognized the scene as one of the classrooms at the orphanage. Little Seto and Mokuba were sitting at a desk playing a game of chess. Then Gozaburo walked up behind them and watched their game. Gozaburo started chuckling softly. Then his chuckling grew louder. Little Mokuba and Seto slowly disappeared from the vision. The desk, the chess board, the chess pieces and everything in the background slowly faded away from the vision, but for some reason Gozaburo did not. His laughter crescendoed to the point where it was obnoxiously loud, making Seto uncomfortable.
"Okay, this is getting creepy," Seto said to himself.
What happened next freaked Seto the hell out. Gozaburo stopped laughing and turned toward Seto, giving him a creepy look. "Hello, Seto," said the image of Gozaburo.
"Stepfather?" he replied.
"Yes, Seto. It's me. After you lost your duel to that clown, your physical body passed away. So you will never get to see your brother again." Gozaburo came closer to Seto.
"I see," he answered. Seto cringed in fear, sensing that Gozaburo meant to harm him.
"But that's not all. When you die, you keep all the senses you were able to experience in the real world." Gozaburo then rose to the same level as Seto with a threatening look in his eyes.
"Get away from me, you freak!" screamed Seto who was now certain that the being standing before him meant to do him harm.
Then Gozaburo's features began to morph. He grew larger, and his skin started turning red until he resembled the same demonic creature he became in the Virtual World. A large blue whip like the one used by Gorlag seemed to magically appear in his hands.
"You may not have a physical body, but the pain you will experience is very real."
Seto tried to run away from the demon, but no matter how hard he tried to flee the monster, he stayed in the same position. It was as if some force in the Shadow Realm prevented him from moving.
"This is for the time you dethroned me as president of KaibaCorp." The creature struck Seto with his whip, making a huge gash on his back.
"Owww!" he cried, frustrated that he couldn't escape.
"This is for all the times you humiliated me in chess, Seto." The digital creature struck Seto again.
"Owww!" he screamed again. He saw a large pool of blood right by him.
This time, he turned to face the monster. I can't outrun him, but maybe I can dodge his attacks.
"This is for that time you threatened a small business with the 10 million dollars I gave you."
Seto saw the whip coming. He tried moving to the side, but the Shadow Realm wouldn't let him move sideways either.
The whip lashed him on his face and chest, taking off a huge chunk of skin in both areas. Seto now looked like a disfigured freak.
"Please, no more!" he begged.
"And this is for the time you blamed Mokuba for leaking the Big 5's plan to take over KaibaCorp when it was you all along."
Seto crouched on the ground and looked down, knowing there was nothing he could do to escape Gozaburo's attack. This time, when the whip struck his back, it felt like the whip had a burning sensation. Instead of being a quick strike, the whip seemed to linger on his back and slide across it. Then he felt the whip slide across the back of his head. This was easily the most painful of the four strikes.
"Ahhhhhh! I can't take anymore," he screamed.
The monster form of Gozaburo laughed loudly, enjoying Seto's torture. "Now stand up and look at yourself in this mirror."
Seto felt an unstoppable force in the Shadow Realm forcing him on his feet. A mirror magically appeared between him and Gozaburo. Seto saw that he was missing a piece of skin on his face. There was a huge gash across his chest as well as two huge gashes on his back. He was losing blood at a rapid rate.
Then he saw the skin on his face and chest grow back. The gashes on his back started to heal themselves as well.
"My wounds!" cried Seto. "They're healing."
"That's right, Seto. Watch as the skin on your body regenerates...SO YOU CAN EXPERIENCE THE AGONY ALL OVER AGAIN!"
Suddenly a huge beam of light appeared in the darkness of the Shadow Realm, temporarily blinding the creature. A heavenly being descended from the light source and stood between Seto and the monster resembling Gozaburo.
"You shall harm this soul no more," said the heavenly being.
"Who are you?" demanded the monster resembling Gozaburo.
"I am the Creator of Light," she answered.
"I recognize you!" said Seto. "You're the one who banished Zorc when the Pharaoh spoke his true name and called forth the Egyptian Gods."
"I will not let you interfere with me. Now step out of the way so I can torture this soul." The Gozaburo monster pulled his arm back and lashed his whip toward Seto, but the Creator of Light created a protective dome around Seto, blocking the attack.
"Be gone, evil creature," boomed the Creator of Light. A great ball of light shined in the goddess's hands. Energy radiated from this ball, destroying the monster form of Gozaburo.
"No, let me go. AHHHHH!" Gozaburo's monster form then pixilated into nothingness.
"You're safe now," the Creator of Light told Seto.
"Yeah, but I guess I'm still stuck in the Shadow Realm since I lost my duel."
"Wrong. You may have lost your duel, but you conquered the darkness that was in your heart. So I'm setting you free." The Creator of Light slowly sucked Seto out of the area he was in with a beam of light. The Orichalcos symbol reappeared around Seto's waist, but the Creator of Light simply waved her hand and shattered it. "And there's a friend who wants to say hello to you."
Seto felt someone grab his hand. "Hi, Kaiba," he heard the mysterious stranger say.
"I recognize that voice," he replied. Then the figure came into view. "Atem!"
"We both witnessed your duel against that evil demon. Even though you lost, we were both impressed by the way you came back and nearly won."
"Thanks," Kaiba replied.
"By the way, did you notice that you drew cards that you didn't put in your deck?" Atem asked.
"Yeah, what was up with that?"
"Well that's because we put them there," Atem answered, referring to himself and the Creator of Light. "We saw you were in some tight spots, so we put in cards designed to help you out in those specific situations."
"Even though I lost, I'm grateful to both of you for helping me out. I've learned that everyone needs help sometimes. Thank you both. Before my soul rests in peace, there's something I need to take care of."
"Certainly," replied the Creator of Light as she took Atem and Seto out of the Shadow Realm.
KAIBA'S FUNERAL
Seto Kaiba's funeral was held in a private cemetery just outside the KaibaCorp mansion. Everyone was dressed in black and white. The Ishtars had flown into town to attend the event. They were sitting in chairs by a dug-out grave. The casket containing Seto Kaiba's body had already been placed in the hole.
Yugi, Mokuba, and a priest were scheduled to give speeches in that order.
Yugi Muto stepped up to the podium. "Many of you know Seto Kaiba as my rival, but he was more than just a rival to me," he spoke. "He was my friend. He helped save the life of my dear friend Tea Gardner when she was being threatened by Rare Hunters in Battle City. He helped the Pharaoh in his duel against Dartz. And he also played a key role in bringing the Pharaoh to his resting place. He fought bravely against his evil side in the Shadow Realm, but in the end, it was his evil side that prevailed. He may not have considered us friends when he was alive, but that changed right before he lost his soul to the Shadow Realm. May his soul rest in peace."
Yugi Muto stepped down from the podium, and Mokuba Kaiba stepped forward. "As a big brother, Seto was always there for me. When we were kids at the orphanage, he always protected me from bullies. He defeated our stepfather in a game of chess so we could escape the orphanage. He took control of KaibaCorp by buying shares of the company. He always did things for us so we could have a better life. And even though he mistreated a lot of you in his life, I know my big brother, and he meant everything he said at the end of his duel." Mokuba struggled to finish his speech, not only because of his sadness but also because he was worried about his brother's soul in the Shadow Realm.
After Mokuba stepped down from the podium, a priest walked up to give a sermon. While the priest was giving his sermon, Mokuba's crying became uncontrollable.
"Would you like to come inside the mansion for a while," asked Roland approaching Mokuba.
Then Mokuba screamed something so loud, that the priest stopped giving his sermon, and everyone turned to look at him. "I WANT MY BROTHER BACK!" Then he ran to the hole where Seto's casket was buried and started pounding on the ground.
"Mokuba, get a hold of yourself," said Pegasus trying unsuccessfully to comfort him. "This isn't going to bring your brother back."
"Yeah, your brother wouldn't want you to be in pain like this," said Joey Wheeler.
But Mokuba continued to pound on the ground. "I WANT MY BROTHER BACK!" he yelled again. "Seto should've won! That clown should be in the Shadow Realm instead of him. It's not fair!"
Then Mokuba felt someone put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't cry, Mokuba."
"Huh?" Mokuba turned around, and what he saw completely shocked him. It was the ghost of his bigger brother. "Seto," he said happily with tears still flowing from his eyes. He hugged the ghost of his bigger brother.
"Kaiba," said Yugi happy to see his old rival. Everyone else gathered around the ghost of Seto Kaiba.
"What happened to you?" asked Ishizu.
"After I lost my duel to that evil clown, the Shadow Realm punished me by having me tortured by a demon that resembled my stepfather. But then I was rescued by that big shot over there." The ghost of Seto Kaiba pointed away from himself toward a heavenly being.
"No way!" yelled Joey Wheeler. "It's the Creator of Light!"
"It's true," the goddess replied. "Right before Seto lost his duel, he gave a heartfelt apology to everyone of you. He conquered the darkness that was in his heart, so I released him from the Shadow Realm."
Everyone's sadness turned to joy as they were able to see Seto once more.
"And there's another friend who wants to say hello too," said the Creator of Light.
Then the ghost of the great Pharaoh Atem appeared right next to the ghost of Seto.
"Pharaoh!" Yugi and Tea both shouted at once.
"It's good to see you," Atem told everyone. "We can't stay long, but we have two very important reasons for coming by. Firstly, the loss of a loved one is tragic, but we don't want to see you in misery. So we've come to let you know that Seto's soul will rest in peace. Secondly, Kaiba has something to say."
"Mokuba, there's something I need to tell you," said Seto. Mokuba started listening. "There's a project I've been working on that I never told anyone about. Right behind my desk is a picture of me. Behind that picture is a button. Pushing that button reveals a hidden door. Behind this door is a filing cabinet. Look in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. There will be exactly one folder. There will be a document inside describing my project. I need you to finish it for me."
"Yes, Seto. Anything for you," Mokuba answered.
"Thank you. I wish I could stay longer, but we have to go," said Seto.
"But I don't want you to go," said Mokuba sadly. "I want you to stay."
"I do too, Mokuba, but we have to leave. Just know that you are always in my heart. Be strong for me, Mokuba."
"I will," he answered.
"I have one final thing to say to everyone. Even though I mistreated a lot of you, you guys always stood by my side and helped me out when I needed it. I see now why friendship is so important, and I am proud to call each and every one of you my friend. I love you all," said Seto to everyone. No one at the funeral ever thought they would see the day when Seto would say something like this, but they were all happy to see that he had changed. "Goodbye," he finished. The ghosts of Atem and Seto and the Creator of Light all waved goodbye to the funeral attendees and then vanished.
"Well I guess we should head upstairs to find out what your brother's secret project is," said Serenity.
"Yes, follow me," Mokuba answered.
Every single person who attended the funeral went inside the mansion and up to Seto's old office. Glass shards from Seto's webcam, which had been destroyed in the argument Mokuba had with Seto right before the duel, still covered an area of the floor by Seto's desk. Mokuba walked past it, and took down the picture of Seto hanging on the wall behind it. There was a red button behind the picture that Mokuba pushed. A section of the wall roughly the size of a door began to slide up. Mokuba walked inside, saw the filing cabinet Seto described and opened the top drawer. He pulled out a folder and opened it in front of everyone.
Mokuba started skimming through the document. "No way!" He was stunned at what he had come across.
"What is it?" asked Mai.
"My brother wants to start a school for dueling, and he wants to call it Duel Academy."
"That's awesome!" said Yugi. "Now young and aspiring duelists can realize their dreams."
"Pegasus, I may need your help in completing this project. Would you be willing to help?" asked Mokuba.
"Certainly. Anything for you," he answered.
By now, everyone's misery was completely gone.
THE SHADOW REALM
Ghost Kaiba was forced to return to the Shadow Realm since there was nowhere else for him to go.
I may not have escaped the Shadow Realm this time, but I will find another soul corrupted with darkness. And when I do, I will take control of that body and escape the Shadow Realm forever!
THE END
Note: I realize what happens in the end is somewhat inconsistent with the way Duel Academy was founded in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I just thought this would be a cool thing to throw in. I hope no one minds this.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the story. I believe there are some mistakes in the duel Seto and Rafael as well as the one between Yugi and Ghost Kaiba. When I wrote those, I made an assumption about the way Guardian Eatos worked that was wrong. I did learn how that card really worked before writing the duels, but I had already choreographed a duel in my head based on the wrong assumption, and it was too difficult for me to come up with something else at the moment. But that was a long time ago, and I may want to go back and try again. If I do fix those mistakes, I'll post a new chapter announcing those changes. I may or may not go back and edit other things in the story as I think there may be some plot holes in the story too.