I updated the story today (April 18). The new chapter is called "Akiza's Garden" and it's back around chapter 19 I think. I moved it to before the the whole thing with Kaiba and Zorc happens...
Unapologetically, everyone was on their way to the graveyard that the Magician of Black Chaos had earlier seen. All of their monsters were called out before them because they knew that it was going to be an all-out war and as they traveled across the blackened dust planes of the wasteland atop their dragons, a silent apprehension was rife within all of their minds, wondering what could potentially happen in this scenario.
They were all riding atop their dragons: Akiza atop Black Rose Dragon, Yusei atop Stardust Dragon, Jack atop Red Dragon Archfiend, Jesse with Jaden atop Rainbow Dragon (whom was the most massive of them all), Joey atop Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Yugi atop Gandora the Dragon of Destruction. Flying through the air alongside them were Akiza's Splendid Rose, Phoenexian Cluster Amaryllis, and Rose Tentacles; Jack's Crimson Blader, Vice Dragon, and Exploder Dragon Wing; Yusei's Turbo Warrior, Nitro Warrior, and Road Warrior; Zane's Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Dragon Nova, and Chimeratech Over Dragon; Joey's Gilford the Lightning, Flame Swordsman, and Jinzo; Jaden's Elemental Hero Neos, Yubel, and Elemental Heroes Flame Wingman and Blade Edge; Jesse's Sapphire Pegasus and Topaz Tiger; and Yugi's Silent Swordsman, Silent Magician, Buster Blader, Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Black Luster Soldier, and Magician of Black Chaos. It truly was a battalion and they were headed directly for the graveyard.
"Do you really think this is where they're hiding him?" shouted Jesse.
"I don't know, but we'll find out," replied Yugi.
"What other choice do we have?" shouted Zane.
With the dark wind blowing against their faces, they could see a massive graveyard within their distance and full-speed-ahead did they go, hoping to slaughter whatever might be there.
"There it is!" declared Yugi.
"I see it!" cheered Akiza.
Upon reaching it, their fleet stopped, examining the acres upon acres of nothing but gravestones and looking for any sign of a hideout or a place where Zorc could be.
"It doesn't look like anything's really here, unless there's a secret entrance somewhere," observed Jaden.
To their shock, a massive black portal opened up before them and a voice that normally would have struck into their hearts fear, thundered across the land, echoing with madness.
"If you want to find your pharaoh, come through this portal!" taunted the voice.
Everyone glanced around at one another, wondering if they could trust the trust, but knew in their minds that they had to if they wanted to save Atem and fulfill the mission. Everyone glanced at Yugi, whom nodded and flew into the portal and they all followed suit.
…
They all appeared on the other side, thankful to still be alive. Glancing around, they realized that this new place looked very similar to wasteland they were just in. In fact, was it just a part of it previously unbeknownst to them? Surrounding them was another massive graveyard, but this one was even bigger than the last and the graves stretched out for what looked like miles as an ominous dark fog shrouded them. The blackened sky was covered by dark clouds that screamed terrifying as a the wind howled, screeching in their ears as they examined their surroundings. The graves, archaic and ancient, added to the element of terror and set the stage what they feared to be their final resting place, if all were to not end well for them.
"Well, Where are you, Zorc?" shouted Yugi.
"He's gotta be here somewhere!" stated Joey.
"But where…?" muttered Zane to himself as he examined the area.
Suddenly, the ground began to quake as they heard gargantuan footsteps coming from behind them. To their annoyance and horror, they saw the three Earthbound Immortals they previously faced approaching their battalion. The monkey, the whale, and the condor were glaring at them as their jaws dropped, feeling the burden that these eight thousand year old creatures would drop upon them. What made things even worse was that from the ground below, thousands of skeletal warrior rose from their graves, bearing weapons and prepared to slaughter the chosen duelists.
"Attack formation - Battle Strategy A!" shouted Jack as Red dragon Archfiend took to the skies and began to deliver incinerating blaze upon the Earthbound Immortals while Stardust Dragon, too, took to the skies and fired its cosmic stream upon them.
"Rainbow Dragon, show 'em what we got!" called Jesse as Rainbow Dragon lunged into the air and from its mouth shot its prismatic beam of burning light upon the mass legions of skeletal warriors below, disintegrating many of them. The three Elemental Heroes clobbered them to the best of their abilities with Neos smashing through them like a meteor.
"Let's turn up the heat!" shouted Jack as he raised his hand skyward and his signer mark began to glow red and both his and Red Dragon Archfiend's bodies began emitting crimson light as the latter was struck by red lightning and with an explosion of brilliant red, it transformed into Red Nova Dragon just like it did so earlier.
Yusei, took, performed his Accel Synchro as his signer mark began to glow and both his and Stardust Dragon's bodies began emitting blue light as blue lightning struck the latter and with explosions of brilliant blue light, had transformed into Shooting Star Dragon.
Both dragons lunged at the Earthbound Immortals as Red Nova became entirely engulfed in blazing fire and a rain of incinerating energy shot from his mighty wings upon the three Earthbound Immortals, before ramming the monkey. Shooting Star dragon followed suit as a rain of white hot energy shot from his wings upon them and he unleashed from its mouth a blast of cosmic flare directly at the face of the condor. Rainbow Dragon joined the fight, relentlessly unleashing massive blasts of its prismatic rays of burning light form its mouth upon the evil three.
On the field below, the warriors - Silent Swordsman, Gilford the Lightning, Crimson Blader, Buster Blader, Flame Swordsman, and the Elemental Heroes, fought against the legions of skeletal warriors as more and more frightening terrors from beneath the ground arose, this time many of them being more demonic and fleshy than skeletal, many of whom were quite muscular.
Crimson Blader and Buster Blader were slashing through them, shattering their bones to dust, while Silent Swordsman and Gilford the Lightning combined their blade attacks with the powers of light and fire to burn through the unholy aura of them.
"This must be the gateway to the underworld or something!" called Jaden.
"We're not putting up with it!" declared Akzia as Black Rose Dragon fired a massive storm of thorns at the countless shadow warriors before unleashing a might and devastating blast of purple energy from her mouth, annihilating many.
Rose Tentacles and Phoenexian Cluster Amaryllis were using their massive vine-like tentacles to engulf many of the shadow warriors, choking them and ripping them apart, while Yubel was using her dark powers to implode many of them, cascading their remains all across the battlefield.
"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Joey as he watched Red-Eyes breathing infero fire balls at the Earthbound Immortals.
"We need to find Atem and kill Zorc once and for all," swore Yugi.
The Dark Magician was firing rapid-fire energy blasts from his scepter as the Dark Magician Girl did just the same, protecting Yugi from harm's way.
"Yugi' we'll cover you! Just make sure you find where Zorc's hiding!" she called.
Yugi nodded and with Joey, he began searching for any sign of a base of operations for Zorc.
Careful not to run into the heat of the battle, they witnessed Zane standing tall and proud as he commanded his Cyber Dragons against the enemies.
"FIRE!" he screamed and behind him, Cyber End Dragon, Cyber Dragon Nova, and Chimeratech Over Dragon unleashed massive cannon fire from their mouths, obliterating legions of the shadow warriors before turning their attention to the Earthbound Immortals, whom were falling until their reinforcements arrived - the humming bird, the lizard, and the spider. Zane's Cyber Dragons showed no mercy to them, firing everything they had at them as the sky lit up with lights and explosions from their blasts, shining through the darkness of the Earthbound Immortals as Gandora the Dragon of Destruction unleashed its countless giga rays upon them, contributing to the explosions.
The battle raged on as both Yugi and Joey ran through it, trying to locate something that could lead them to Zorc. They knew he had to be here somewhere, but the question was where. It wasn't until Yugi noticed a rather large-looking mausoleum that they decided to try their luck there, praying that that would be where Atem was. It was guarded rather heavily, but Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl blasted through all of the shadow warriors, paving the way for entrance into it.
They ran up its stairs and slammed open the door before entering what seemed to be eternal blackness. They found themselves at a staircase lit only by dim torches and they walked downward, spiraling down and down to goodness-knows where the stairs were taking them until they came to a room that initially seemed to be empty, but little did they realize that from the shadows, someone was watching them.
"We must be deeper than Hell itself," said Joey.
Yugi continued to examine his surroundings before noticing a small doorway off to the side of the room and going through it to find a long and narrow hallway that led to a closed door.
"What could be in here?" he wondered as he turned the knob to find a small prison-like room with Atem chained to the wall.
"Atem!" panted Yugi as he rushed to him, trying to free him.
"Yugi…?" Atem asked, barely able to lift his head.
"You're here! Let's get you out of here and free you!"
"Allow me," interjected the Dark Magician as he used his magic to shatter the chains.
"Thank you," Atem sighed before looking to his side to point to a sleeping Mokuba. "They tortured him and did things to him we can't even imagine. We must free him."
After shattering Mokuba's chains, Joey picked up his exhausted and tired body as they left the room and raced back to the main area. Just as they were about to run up the staircase to leave this place, a voice from the darkness called them.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Surprised and horrified, they all turned around to find three figures cloaked in black, standing by the alter in the room. Simultaneously unveiling their faces, Yugi and the others were disturbed to see Yami Marik, Don Thousand, and Nightshroud standing before them.
"You really think we're just going to let you walk away that easily?" asked Nightshroud.
"You must be stupider than you look," added Yami Marik, licking his lips.
"Before you even try to leave, we have someone we wish for you to meet," began Don Thousand as he gestured to them to follow him as the other two went along.
"I don't know about thus, Yug," worried Joey.
"We have to destroy Zorc. This might be our chance," reminded Yugi.
They followed their former enemies through a doorway that led to a very long staircase that led into a very peculiar room that had about it a vibe even more ominous than the previous rooms had. It was long and lined with pillars and at its end was what looked like a man in a black cloak kneeling before a sarcophagus. Nightshroud, Yami Marik, and Don Thousand all stepped to the sides of the room as the kneeling man rose and turned his head, glaring at Yugi and his friends.
"I sense an evil presence here," warned the Dark Magician, clutching his scepter sternly.
"Welcome," began the man, whom identified himself as Kaiba.
"Where's Zorc?" demanded Yugi.
"Our lord is getting ready to present himself to all of you, but for now, let us speak so we may clarify a few things…"
"Let's get this show on the road, rich boy!" demanded Joey impatiently.
Kaiba merely smiled before opening his mouth to elaborate on all the details of the malefic plan that was unfolding right before their very eyes.
"After Zorc was seemingly destroyed by the Creator of Light all those decades ago, the tiny fragments of him that were left were imprisoned within this Shadow Realm, where he waited for many years, slowly regaining his strength. After their defeats, Nightshroud, Don Thousand, Yami Marik, and the Great Leviathan were also imprisoned here and eventually united in a joint effort to nurture the lord of all darkness back to his former glory and even beyond that. Our lord has been draining the powers of the darkness itself for as long as he's been trapped in this realm and we have nurtured and cared for him while he has done so. Soon, he will strong enough to wipe out your petty gods and to overtake all of the realms for his own and there's not a thing any of you can do to stop him!"
"We'll see," muttered Yugi.
"Seto, the time has come. Release me," thundered a deep and dark voice that seemed to be coming from the sarcophagus.
"My lord, are you sure that you're ready?" asked Kaiba.
"Yes, I am. Now do as I say…"
Kaiba nodded his head and began to unlock the sarcophagus, revealing its contents and to the sheer horror of Yugi and the others, a blackened and demonic-looking hand lifted itself out of the container, grasping the edge as it began to pull itself upward, revealing the rest of its body.
He was around seven feet in height and his body was rather muscular, covered by blackened and scale-like skin. Upon his hands and feet were thick and sharp nails that looked as if they were razor blades. Atop his head were horns that jutted out of his flesh, adding to the demonic aura he ensured. His face, possibly the most hideous part of all, looked exactly like what a demon would be expected of as his black and lifeless eyes stared upon his prey, thinking only of malefic desires.
"Zorc…" muttered Atem to himself.
"Now, we must complete the last part of the resurrection ceremony," began Kaiba as pulled a knife from his cloak. Yugi and Atem both cringed at the thought of what he was next going to do. Closing his eyes, he impaled with arm with the blade and as it became drenched in blood, he poured it into a glass vile. "The blood of your servants shall fully restore your power, my lord..."
"Give it to me now!" demanded Yami Marik as he forcibly grabbed the knife and the vile from Kaiba, joyfully impaling his arm with it as well and dripping the blood from his arm into the vile just as Kaiba had done.
His maniacal laughing was heard through the frigid air as he handed the blood-stained knife to Don Thousand and then to Nightshroud, whom did just the same, sacrificing their own blood into the vile before handing it back to Kaiba.
"My lord, this is for you," he proudly proclaimed, kneeling down on one knee and presenting the vile to his master, whom expressed a twisted smile as he accepted it.
"Thank you, my servants. I couldn't be more proud of you for making such a tribute for me. You all will be rewarded."
Zorc stared lustfully at the vile containing the blackish crimson fluid before holding it to his mouth, quenching his thirst as he felt it pour down his throat, energizing him to new levels as his body now possessed the powers of his servants, amplifying his own might by unlimited levels. He began emitting a black aura around himself as his muscles began to grow in size and his features overall more demonic - his fangs and claws grew, his eyes became a deeper shade of red, and his wings expanded further. In this new form, he would conquer all the realms.
"Now that I am free, I wish for my servants to kill our visitors since I have no use for them anymore, now that they've bore witness to my beauty."
With that, Don Thousand, Yami Marik, Nightshroud, and Kaiba all began to encroach upon Yugi and his friends as Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl prepared to defend. Don Thousand carelessly unleashed a large blast of shadowy energy at them and just in time did the Dark Magician act, conjuring warp hole that redirected the blast at Zorc ad shook the temple.
"Get them!" screamed Zorc, his hideous voice resonating throughout the temple as Yugi and his friends rushed out of the temple, racing up the stairs to main atrium and to the entrance staircase. They could see the exit nearing and with a dash of hope, they all escaped the temple to reenter the raging battle taking place. Zane, whom was standing nearby, noticed them.
"Zane, destroy that temple!" shouted Yugi as he and the others did their best to race as far away from it as possible. Zane, commanding his Cyber Dragons, ordered them to unleash the most energetic and dangerous strident blasts they had at the temple, causing a massive explosion. "Let's hope that took care of it."
The Earthbound Immortals, whom had now fallen before the mighty signer dragons, were desperately losing the fight as they were diminished to a shadowy mist, fading, one by one, from sight. The legions of shadow warriors, too, were suffering heavy losses as their bodies were ripped apart by the monsters of Yugi and his friends.
"Do you think Zorc's beaten?" asked Joey.
"No. As powerful as he is, I can't see him succumbing to something as simple as destroying that temple. Let's brace ourselves for the worst," answered Atem as Yugi nodded.
In the ruins of the temple, rubble was flung through the air as Don Thousand, Nightshroud, Yami Maik, Kaiba, and a spectral Great Leviathan rose into the air and great pulses of darkness cascaded all around them as a gargantuan creature much like the one that Atem had known from his time in ancient Egypt arose from the wreckage. Towering at over two hundred feet tall and with a dragon's face for a crotch, Zorc stretched out his massive black wings as he stared at the battlefield before him, roaring.
"We've got a situation!" shouted Jesse from atop Rainbow Dragon.
"That's Zorc?" asked Jaden, shrieking.
"Yes, and it's sure not pretty," added Jack from atop Red Nova Dragon.
"Let's hit him with the best we got!" shouted Yusei from atop Shooting Star Dragon.
With that, Shooting Star Dragon, Red Nova dragon, and Rainbow Dragon all launched their greatest attacks at Zorc, forming a blazing tornado of swirling inferno around him as Jack laughed, believing him to be a goner, but once the blazes cleared, to their sheer horror did he still stand, unharmed.
"What? How did that attack have no effect on him?" freaked Jack.
"Because he's too powerful!" answered Yusei, flabbergasted at the attack's failure.
"How are we supposed to beat him than, damn it!" shouted Jack as Red Nova Dragon continued to fire blasts of heated energy at him.
"This doesn't make sense. He has to have some kind of weakness!" shrieked Akiza, whom was riding atop Black Rose Dragon as it fired its purple stream of destructive energy at Zorc.
Zorc merely chuckled at the effects of their attacks, which had little to no effect on him whatsoever. Deciding to have some fun of his own, he grabbed Shooting Star Dragon as it flew past him and tightly sealed it in his grasp. The dragon fought against his suffocating grip as it struggled and screeched while Yusei clung tightly to its neck, terrified for his life.
"You think you can disrespect me, your lord, like this?" Zorc taunted.
"Hold on, Yusei!" came the voice of Jack. "Hey ugly, why don't you pick on someone your own size!" as Red Nova Dragon became engulfed in fire and rammed into Zorc, knocking him backwards and freeing Shooting Star Dragon.
"Thanks, Jack!" panted Yusei, his heart still racing in his chest.
"Now you've done it!" Zorc screamed before he unleashed massive waves of black energy from his wings and mouth, breaking the land and annihilating anything unlucky enough to be in their path.
To the surprise of Jack, Yusei, and Akiza, their signer marks began glowing and they could hear the voice of a friend. It was Luna.
"Jack, Yusei, Akiza, can you hear me?"
"Luna, is that you?" asked Yusei, grinding his teeth in frustration.
"Yeah, it is, and I've managed to use my signer powers to witness what you guys are going through. I'm guessing that massive thing is Zorc and he's giving you guys a pretty rough time, huh?"
"You think!?" snapped Jack.
"I've found out that may be we can seal Zorc in the Shadow realm permanently, but it's not gonna be easy. I've been working with the three gods and the Crimson Dragon to find out how they've been getting out of the Shadow Realm so easily and I think I've found the answer."
"Well, what is it?" asked Yusei impatiently.
"We've tracked the source to a mountain not far from where you guys are. Apparently they open up some kind of portal there and that's how they travel out of the Shadow Realm so easily. If we could destroy the portal, maybe we could trap them there!"
"Yusei, the alter! It's the alter from that mountain we were on! It's really a portal and that's how they've been getting around." enthused Jack.
"We have to destroy it," agreed Yusei.
"Luna, tell us, how do we destroy it?" asked Akiza.
"It's simple. All you need to do is use your strongest monster and annihilate it and then use the pendants the gods gave you to return to our realm."
"Alright!" agreed Yusei, feeling relieved.
"I'm gonna leave you guys for now, but I trust that you succeed in this! Good luck!" bid farewell Luna.
"Do you hear me? We have to get back to that mountain and destroy that portal!" shouted Jack.
"Alright, Yugi, Atem, Jesse, everyone, can you hear us?" asked Yusei.
"Yeah," answered Yugi.
"Right here," assured Jaden and Jesse mutually.
"I'm here!" called Zane.
"Whataya need?" asked Joey.
"We need to return through the portal and go back to that mountain. That's where the portal they've been using to exit the Shadow Realm is!" We have to destroy it and then use our pendants the gods gave us to get out of here," explained Yusei.
"Alright," answered Yugi.
"Everyone, recall your monsters except for your dragons and come with us through the portal!" commanded Yusei.
Complying, everyone recalled all of their monsters back to their cards except for the dragons and atop Red-Eyes, Gandora, Cyberdark Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, Red Nova Dragon, Black Rose Dragon, and Shooting Star Dragon did all of them race through the portal from earlier, reappearing back in the wasteland they were previously trapped in and soaring full-speed-ahead directly to the mountain from prior.
"We have to destroy the alter. Do you all hear me!?" demanded Jack as they expedited through the air, not daring to look back to see if Zorc was trailing them.
"Everyone, get your pendants ready and make sure you're successful in teleporting back to the Realm of Heaven!" ordered Atem.
Once they neared the mountain, Yusei ordered Shooting Star Dragon to unleash its most deadly blast upon the alter, followed by blasts form Red Nova Dragon, Cyberdark Dragon, and Gandora until a massive explosion occurred, obliterating the shrine and as the portal appeared, only briefly, it vanished from sight for now it was apparently destroyed for good.
Cheering, all of them landed atop the mountain and recalled their dragons to their respective cards before using the pendants given to them by the gods to warp out of this realm, leaving Zorc and his allies trapped there forever.
"No!" shouted Zorc as he lunged for Atem, prepared to rip apart the entire mountain just before Atem successfully vanished for good.
…
Back in the Realm of Heaven, they all appeared before the crowd of their friends, whom were cheering gratefully for their successfully return. Yusei fell into his husband Jack's arms and kissed him as the glorious rays of the sun shone upon all of them.
Leon Shcroeder, whom was previously heartbroken and torn over the loss of his beloved Mokuba, was now wide-eyes and blissful upon the sight of his love, whom stood before him. He sobbed as he embraced his love, whom had been held captive by Kaiba and Zorc for quite some time.
"Moki, you're safe!" he cried.
"Yeah, Leon! I'm here!"
Everyone was greeted by their friends and spouses, in an everlasting covenant of affection and bondage that would forever comfort all of them.
"They're were no attacks here while we were gone, right?" asked Yugi.
"Nope, it was all good. I made sure no one dared to harm us," boasted Duke Devlin, slicking back his long, black hair.
"Yeah, we held down the fort while you guys were gone!" fist pumped Rebecca Hawkins as her wife Tea hugged Yugi, Joey, and Atem all at once.
"Jack, you're safe!" cheered Carly Carmine as she was followed by Jack's other fan club members, Stephanie the coffee girl, Mina the Sector Security head, and Kaz the police officer, all hugging Jack in a huge group hug.
"I'm glad to see I'm missed," he struggled through their tight grips.
Leo and Rally ran up to Yusei and threw their arms around him, gleefully rejoicing for his return as his buddies Bolt Tanner and Blister patted him on the back.
"Yusei, we missed you so much!" exclaimed Leo.
"Yeah, we were scared you'd never come back!" Rally cheered.
"Nice to have ya back, Yusei," said Blister form behind him.
"Yeah," agreed Tanner.
"Akiza, you've returned!" cheered Sherry Le Blanc in her French accent as she fell into her wive's arms and kissed her.
"I told you I'd be," blushed Akiza.
"You've all done it! You've all returned!" smiled Luna as she folded her hands gratefully.
A few feet away, Atticus Rhodes went running to Zane and locking him in a tight embrace, showcasing his love for him.
"Zane, I was so scared I'd never see you again!
"Get off me. You know I don't do hugs, damn it!" protested Zane before finally settling and returning his husband's affection.
Tyranno had Jaden locked in a tight hug that only a dinosaur-obsessed drill sergeant could give as Syrus jumped up and down, unable to contain his joy and Alexis Rhodes saved him form falling over.
"Good to see ya, mate," said Jim Crocodile Cook, patting Jesse on the back as Axel Body stood with his arms crossed, observing the jubilant reunion.
"Joey!" cheered Serenity Wheeler as she ran to her brother, hugging him with a smile as big as the one she had on her face the day she married Mai.
"Yeah, I'm back, sis," he laughed.
"Well, ya made it out alive, Joey, and now we're all safe, thank to you," admitted Mai, giving him a thumbs-up.
Yugi stood with Atem as Kuriboh came flying towards the and giving them each his best attempt at a hug since his arms were so tiny.
"Awe, I'm glad to see you, too, Kuriboh!" chuckled Yugi.
He couldn't wait to get back to his palace to see all of his other monsters, whom must be waiting for him so anxiously. Besides, he needed to release from their cards the monsters he took with him for they were probably all sick of being trapped inside cards and would like to take a nice long nap at the palace. With Atem putting his arm around his shoulder, Yugi smiled, feeling his heart fill with only light and love as he looked at all his friends.
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
And there, in the grim realm of shadows did the Dark One remain trapped with only his minions to support him. And was he truly locked within that awful world? No, he wasn't, but that was something that his enemies did not know…