This story was done in collaboration between me and Jriddle41 (Sodormatchmaker on DeviantART), and we both own the OCs that are used in the story. Everything else belongs to their respective owners:

Thomas and Friends (c) Hit Entertainment and Mattel

The Railway Series (c) Rev Wilbert Awdry

Yu-Gi-Oh! (c) Konami

Song used in Intro and Outro (c) Unknown

WARNING: Again, this story is rated T (13-plus) for moments of violence, bloody moments, and some suggestive themes. Viewer discretion may be advised.


Dark Marik began narrating the events of the previous chapter:

"That fool, Polly Stone, thought she could hope to defeat me in a Shadow Game? If she did believe in something like that, she was sorely mistaken."

With that, Dark Marik took out the Millennium Rod from his cape as the wind blew it about fiercely.

"Playtime's over! It's time to take things up a notch!"

Suddenly, a large purple fog began to cover the top of the blimp.

"Purple fog?" Zack blinked.

"Oh no..." whispered Discord. "It's happening again."

Thomas knew this, too. "The purple fog..."

Soon, the whole top of the blimp was covered in thick, purple fog.

"Welcome to the Shadow Realm!" cackled Dark Marik. "The darkness hungers for potential sacrifices!"

"W-What is this fog?" exclaimed Lady, looking around. "I know I've seen it somewhere before, but I-!"

"You're about to experience the world's most terrifying game." interrupted the evil man. "There is no going back now, Polly Stone!"

"It's not the altitude that's making it hard to breathe." said Michael, still shocked by the purple fog.

"This is just like Thomas's duel against Sailor John." whispered Emily.

Thomas scowled. "A Shadow Game!" he thought to himself.

"My illusions of pain have weakened her will to the point she was about to forfeit the duel to me! ...but then 'he' had to interfere, damn him...!"

"How can this be?!" Dark Marik asked in shock. "You should be cowering before me!"

"I'm not afraid of you anymore." retorted Lady bravely. "Thanks to my friends, I'll be able to defeat you!"

"What?!" Dark Marik demanded, before gazing down at Thomas with an enraged glare. "You!"

"Looks like you've lost your touch, Marik." grinned Thomas, while his Millennium Puzzle continue to glow.

"How dare you interrupt my Shadow Game, Billinton!" roared Dark Marik.

"I will make sure that Thomas Billinton's death is as slow and painful as possible for this trick... Although the girl started to show so much more promise around here, which will make her impending death all the more sweeter than ever before."

"Don't even think about it, Marik!" she exclaimed. "I activate a Quick-Play Spell card - Grave Arm!"

The beautiful blonde-haired girl's facedown card flipped up and revealed itself.

"This card allows me to send one monster on the field to the graveyard." explained Lady.

"Too bad it won't work on my Holding Arms." smirked Dark Marik.

"But whoever said I would use it on your monster?" Lady asked teasingly. "I'm using it on my own monster!"

"You're what?!"

A large arm reached out from the ground and grabbed Amazoness Chain Master.

"Why would you destroy your own monster?" asked Dark Marik.

"To prevent you monster from torturing me." Lady answered. "And because my own monster has a special effect."

Before being dragged under, Amazoness Chain Master twirled her chain around before throwing it.

"She allows me to take a card from your deck and add it to my hand. Besides, there is one card I want from you!"

The chain pierced Dark Marik's deck and dragged a card out of it. Lady caught it and held it out for all to see.

"The Winged Dragon of Ra!" announced Lady, smirking with triumph.

"So, she believes she can control my own God monster? Too bad she'll regret playing it!"

"The Winged Dragon of Ra is now under my control!" shouted Lady, while holding her card up high before slamming it down onto a monster field slot on her Duel Disk.

A large light shined from the clouds as an object slowly descended. Everyone (except for Dark Marik and Lady) gazed in amazement.

"So pretty..." whispered Molly.

"I'll say." agreed Mavis.

Suddenly, the crowd (as well as Lady, but except Dark Marik) gasped. When the light faded away, floating in the sky...was just a giant gold sphere of a sort.

"What is that thing?" asked Lady in surprise.

"That's The Winged Dragon of Ra!" cackled Dark Marik. "It is currently locked within its Sphere Form waiting to be relased."

"Sphere Form?!" exclaimed Spencer.

"That isn't possible!" came from Thomas.

"But...how do I even use it?" asked Lady, looking up in complete shock.

"Now the fun part comes about... for when I regain control of my God and burn her with the fiery flames of Hell! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"


Title: The Sun Dragon, Part 3


Inside the Shadow Realm atop the blimp, the golden sphere was still floating high up on Lady's side of the field... and she still had no idea what the heck it was.

"How can The Winged Dragon of Ra just become some giant sphere?" she asked.

"As I've just said; the God you seek is trapped inside that sphere." Dark Marik answered simply. "And the only way to use it is to release it from its prison."

Below the platform, everyone (except Discord, who was looking silent) was staring at the giant sphere.

"I don't remember Ra being trapped inside that thing." Percy remarked.

"Me neither." agreed James.

"Once I learn how to release it and control its amazing power, I'll be unstoppable." thought Spencer.

Back on the duel platform...

"How can I release it?" asked Lady.

"Heh heh heh... Only those who know how to recite the ancient text on the card is able to control this powerful monster." chuckled Dark Marik. "And unfortunately for you, I'm the only one capable of doing so!"

"You're just jealous that I took and summoned your best monster!" Lady protested, trying to deny the predicament she was in.

"Oh? Then why not take a little look at the card if you don't trust my words."

Lady looked down at the card and gasped. There was something written on the card in some different language.

"W-What is...?" The beautiful blonde-haired girl couldn't make heads or tails of the text.

"So?" teased Dark Marik. "Can you read the text and use Ra's power?"

Lady stared at the card's text in shock. The text was in a strange language, and she couldn't read it at all.

"It looks to be in an ancient Egyptian lore, but I can't seem to make heads or tails of it..." The beautiful blonde-haired girl thought to herself. "Augh! I knew I should have paid better attention in my History Classes!"

"Well, if you can't recite the card's text, then I shall do so on my turn!" cackled Dark Marik.

"If Marik successfully recites the lore on the card, he'll control the God and Lady would be put into great danger!" Thomas thought to himself.

Lady continued to silently glance at The Winged Dragon of Ra card on her Duel Disk.

"Stare at it all you want." Dark Marik continued to taunt. "You'll have to make a move sooner or later, and when you do... I will be ready! But here's a small, 'helpful' little tip; the hieroglyphs on the God card can only be recited by those with an Ancient Egyptian counterpart hailing from 3000 years ago, or those who are part of the Ishtar family! You, as a normal person, could never be able to control the God unless you do have a connection to 3000 years ago!"

Lady gasped.

"The ancient writing is also known as hieratic text."—

"It's what?!" exclaimed Percy.

"Hieratic text?!" came from Thomas.

"Ancient writing?!" finished Spencer.

"It was used in Ancient Egypt for law, literature, an religion." explained Dark Marik. "And as I said earlier; only those with an Ancient Egyptian counterpart hailing from 3000 years ago, or those who are part of the Ishtar family, can read it."

While Dark Marik spoke on, Discord only watched on grimly... Well, just before Dark Marik spoke up about him (Discord)...

"I should really thank Discord for putting that 'little' catch on the card." joked the evil man.

The creator of Duel Monsters's eyes widened, while everyone else gazed at him in aghast.

"You were the one who put that hieratic text on the card, Dad?" Carlie asked in shock.

"But why?" demanded Michael.

"Because Ra was easily the most powerful of all the Egyptian God monsters, he felt that only someone very special would be able to control it." Dark Marik explained, smirking wickedly. "In fact... I know two certain other people here who are able to recite the text and—well, control it."

Looking around in his P.O.V., Dark Marik was clearly gazing at Thomas and Spencer respectively. The silver-haired boy at first didn't get this and looked over to Skiff.

"Skiff, head for the lab and use the computers to get the satellites to scan the card." ordered Spencer. "After that, use the computer to translate the text."

"Right." said Skiff, heading off.

"Oh? But you need not do that, Spencer-boy." teased Dark Marik.

"What!?" demanded Spencer.

"The two people I'm talking about are Thomas Billinton...and you!"

"What?" gasped Thomas.

"Me?!" added Spencer.

"Like I've mention before; several people on this vessel can trace their lineage back to Ancient Egypt 3000 years ago." said Dark Marik. "They include both of you...and a few others present, too. For everyone else...it would just be plain old gibberish!"

As the man laughed maniacally, Thomas immediately knew that this had been Dark Marik's plan all along.

"Marik planned this from the start of the duel!" he thought to himself. "He WANTED Lady to take his card, because he knew she wouldn't be able to recite the text."

Over with Spencer...

"The Winged Dragon of Ra's attack and defense points are determined by the monsters used in the tribute summon." The silver-haired boy thought to himself. "Lady tributed three Cyber Harpie Ladies for the summon. That means Ra's attack would be 5400, and its defense would be 3900." He then scowled. "But the God is doing nothing. It can't attack nor defend while it's locked inside its sphere mode. Until I can figure out the hieratic text, I'll have to wait a little bit longer before I can learn how to defeat it."

Back on the duel platform...

"I... I can't control a God monster..." Lady thought to herself.

"You only have a disobeying God on your field." taunted Dark Marik. "If I were to attack on my turn, it would not protect your life points..."

Lady growled at the evil man, but said nothing in response.

"If you can't get Ra to transform into its battle mode, you'll experience more pain and torture next turn... C'mon already, pray to the Egyptian Gods!"

Dark Marik laughed psychotically. Finally giving up on The Winged Dragon of Ra, Lady could only took her last card and slotted it into her Duel Disk.

"I place a card facedown and end my turn." she sighed, just as a facedown card appeared on the field before her, and the girl fell into her thoughts... "My Trap card, Gravity Bind, will stop any level four or higher monsters from attacking, so I should be safe and sound for the time being."

"Then it's my turn, now." smiled Dark Marik, drawing a card.


Turn Sixteen: Dark Marik (LP: 250)
Deck: 28
Current Hand (6): Holding Legs, Coffin Seller, Spell of Pain, Class System, Ancient Relic of the Past(!), and Byser Shock


Adding his drawn card to his hand, the evil man immediately took another card and held it out.

"I summon Holding Legs in attack mode!"

Appearing onto the field was a pair of shackles similar to Holding Arms (Level: 4/ATK: 800).

"I pity you." Dark Marik said, sounding surprisingly calm. "This monster, like Holding Arms, has a special effect..."

Suddenly, Lady's facedown card fizzled out, and immediately returned to her hand.

"My card!" The beautiful blonde-haired girl cried out in surprise. "It returned to my hand?!"

"Holding Legs allows me to return all of your Spells and Traps back to your hand." explained Dark Marik, before holding another Spell card out. "Now, behold the Spell card Ancient Relic of the Past!"

The mentioned Spell card materialized facedown—before flipping face-up and revealing itself.

"Since I control both Holding Arms and Holding Legs, I can special summon something from my deck that will be...quite powerful."

From behind Lady, a huge stone tablet emerged from the ground.

"Huh?!" The beautiful blonde-haired girl turned around in shock. "A wall?!"

"This is the Sacred Stone of Ojhat." explained Dark Marik sadistically. "And it will be the key element to prevent you from leaving here alive... GO HOLDING ARMS AND HOLDING LEGS!"

The two shackles attached themselves to Lady.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Let me go!"

The two monsters then sealed themselves into the wall, completely preventing the beautiful blonde-haired girl from escaping.

"This is a Shadow Game, little girl." cackled Dark Marik. "Meaning that everything you experience here is real. Soon, you shall be nothing more than little scraps... NOW FACE THE DARKNESS, POLLY STONE! DIRECT ATTACK, NOW!"

Holding Arms and Holding Legs both obeyed, shocking Lady and causing her to scream in agony from the very real electric shock (LP: 900).

"Lady!" cried Percy. "We gotta save her!"

Lady was nearly unconscious around here, and Dark Marik could only laugh sadistically at the very sight.

"Give yourself into the pain!" The evil man yelled excitedly.

"Enough, Marik!" thundered Thomas's voice in anger.

"Huh?"

Dark Marik stopped laughing turned and saw the blue-haired boy gazing at him with the Millennium Eye symbol on his forehead and a look of absolute hatred and rage on his face.

"Hmm... This is quite the entertaining show, isn't it, Thomas?" asked Dark Marik slowly, frowning unhappily at being interrupted by his greatest enemy a third time. "Walking on the edge of death with nothing else to live for in life... As you can see by now; for this poor girl, pain and suffering is her only proof that she still lives..." He then gave the crowd a very cold smile. "Either way, I shall begin the preparations for the 'Sacrifice of Darkness'."

"Sacrifice of Darkness?" Thomas thought bitterly. He knew exactly what Dark Marik was planning to do to Lady, next.

"What's that suppose to mean, you psychopath?!" demanded Liz aloud. "What you're about to do is kill an innocent teenage girl!"

"How right you are." smirked Dark Marik. "And innocence makes a very appealing sacrifice."

No one else said a word, and the evil man then continued with his explaination...

"Now, listen to me very closely... The Winged Dragon of Ra has three special effects... For this duel, I'll reveal just one of them..."

Now Thomas was shocked. "Three special effects?!"

"But, of course!" laughed Dark Marik. "...unfortunately; I must first regain control of my Egyptian God monster."

"Regain control?" repeated Ryan.

"He's about to recite the text!" Emily exclaimed in worry, knowing what the evil man was going to do.

She was right; Dark Marik crossed his arms together and began to recite the text on the card.

"Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight."

At first nothing seemed to be happening! ...but then the orb started to glow all gold-like once more, and Percy was the first to noticed.

"Thomas, look up there!" The green-haired boy announced, pointing up at the object. "That sphere is glowing all gold!"

He was right; the giant sphere was releasing rays of light while beginning to transform itself into the body of The Winged Dragon of Ra.

"Ra is starting to coming out of the sphere." Thomas gasped in surprise. "The God belongs to Marik once more!"

Spencer was looking upward in surprise as the sphere continued to transform (wings were beginning to form on the sphere).

"That must be-!" The silver-haired boy thought, though he didn't get a chance to finish.

"Envelope the desert with your glow, and cast your rage upon my foe." continued Dark Marik. "Unlock your powers deep within, so that together we may win."

Lady, meanwhile, could only watch helplessly as the evil man finished reciting the text on The Winged Dragon of Ra card.

"Appear in this Shadow Game as I call your name..." Dark Marik spread his arms out in welcome. "Winged Dragon of Ra!"

By now, the sphere had transformed into the full battle mode of The Winged Dragon of Ra, who let out a loud roar. The roar was so powerful that it unleashed a powerful wind blast across the top of the blimp. Spencer managed to keep his balance and look up in shock at the glowing dragon.

"BEHOLD THE WINGED DRAGON OF RA!" shouted Dark Marik, while his ace monster lowered itself a bit.

"So that's..." Thomas began.

"...The Winged Dragon of Ra!" Spencer finished.

The Winged Dragon of Ra soon reached the ground and leered at the helpless Lady Stone.

"With just one attack, you will burn into ashes." proclaimed Dark Marik. "The underworld will be very pleased to have someone like you there, my dear."

He erupted into more psychotic laughter, while Ra just growled in agreement (Level: 10/ATK: 5400/DEF: 3900).

"Lady!" screamed Percy.

"Lady doesn't have the life points to survive." Thomas thought to himself. "And this is a Shadow Game! If the attack manages to hit her, she'll..."

Lady, still chained to the giant tablet, was barely conscious as can be while Dark Marik snickered quietly to himself.

"You'll be a perfect sacrifice, Polly Stone." The evil man remarked. "Restrained, you're unable to move any limbs of your body, meaning you'll not be able to escape the fury of Ra. You can't even surrender!" Dark Marik's smile grew even more evil. "I'll make this real quick. Just one little attack from Ra."

The beautiful blonde-haired girl still didn't say anything back, and could only weakly glare at her deadly opponent.

"Burn into ash by the holy flames of Ra!" cried Dark Marik, the veins on his face becoming more and more noticable.

"As one of the heads of Boxford Corp-" spoke up Mr. Gresley (Boxford) in an official tone. "-I hereby declare this duel be called off before somebody gets hurt!"

"Oh, I think not!" Dark Marik retorted, turning to look towards the one of Boxford Corp's two co-Presidents. "Try to call the match off, and I will use Ra to destroy the blimp and everyone aboard! The only one who can officially call it off... is your eldest son."

Mr. and Mrs. Gresley (Boxford) both immediately looked over to Spencer pleadingly.

"Spencer you must call off this duel!" begged Mrs. Gresley (Boxford). "That poor girl could be killed!"

Spencer didn't say a word about it, and only kept his arms folded while gazing at the middle of the duel field... This caused Dark Marik to give another laugh when it became clear he would get to end the duel...his way...

"It would seem he doesn't want the duel to end." he said in a teasing tone, turning to look back at his opponent. "That's good... for me!"

"Lady won't survive!" Percy protested.

"Isn't there 'anything' we can do?!" came from Ryan.

"Stop it, Marik!" called Thomas. "This duel is over! You've won! There isn't any need to continue!"

"Yes, there is!" insisted Dark Marik, not losing his sadistic smile. "I want your friend to suffer in the dark abyss, while drawing out all of the hatred in your heart in the process!"

"Marik!" snarled Thomas.

Dark Marik turned around. "On my back are the carvings of the Ishtar clan." He frowned as an image of him shirtless and his back turned was then shown. "It holds the secrets and answers that you might be seeking on the questions you have on the past 3,000 years ago, the Millennium Items, and potentially on who or what you really are. 'Are you but a mere boy? ...or are you actually the descendant of the great Pharaoh?'"

Thomas's furious look softened. "Answers to what I truly am?"

"Yes, indeed..." said Dark Marik, still frowning. He soon closed his eyes while speaking on... "This was my family's mission passed on through generations... Our own birthright was to guard a worthless secret..."

The evil man then placed a hand on his face looking like he was feeling sad or something.

"We were bestowed darkness, scars, despair, and agony for our troubles..."

Silence filled the duel stage for what seemed like forever... Just then, quiet snickers came from Dark Marik before he faced Thomas and the others again with another evil laugh.

"Like it?" The evil man asked teasingly. "That's the trauma that dominates my weaker self! Darkness robbed him of his freedom, and even more darkness was born within his self-pitying heart! And the pain and hatred that exists within his dark heart... these things belong to me."

Thomas growled. "I knew it... he's Marik's dark personality!" he thought in realization.

"The day of my birth was when Marik turned 10-years old..." continued Dark Marik.

A flashback began.


FLASHBACK

Young Marik was lying on his stomach and chained to the table (his back was all burnt and bloody from the carvings being...well, carved).

"On the day the Tomb-Keeper's Initiation was performed on him." Dark Marik narrated.

Mr. Ishtar held the heated knife up in one hand, and a nearly burnt out candle in the other hand. There was no trace of any signs of regret/remorse on his face after having successfully carved the markings onto his own son's back.

"His Father filled him with such pain and sadness... until his weakened heart was so enshrouded with agony and suffering that all he wanted to do was die."

Young Marik finally stood up, feeling all of the pain that he had endured from the initiation, his eyes welled with tears as he began to cry. Unfortunately, he had no idea that something dark and sinister had spawned within him...

"So in order to survive, in order to keep living... he had to create another self." The evil man continued. "Namely...me..."

Beside the crying young boy, an image of the younger Dark Marik emerged and looked at the weaker soul with a sinister chuckle.

"From the moment I was born, I always KNEW I would take over his personality at one point in life!"

END FLASHBACK


The flashback ended.

"But Marik was the one trying to kill Thomas here!" protested Henry. "He was also the one who commited all of those crimes of attempted murder on all of us."

"Speaking of Marik-" demanded Gordon. "-what does he even have to do with you?"

"What does he have to do with me, indeed." agreed Dark Marik, shrugging uncaringly. "But all of those greater crimes... Clearly he would never have felt so terrible in commiting any of them if he didn't have someone on-hand to take away the guilt."

"Say what?!" exclaimed Percy. "Are you trying to tell us-?!"

"Oops! I guess the cat is out of the bag now... Yes, I outright admit it! I was the one who influenced Marik to commit all of those horrible crimes!" confessed Dark Marik, smirking evilly. "Including the crimes against you and your friends, Thomas Billinton!"

Hearing that REALLY made Thomas angry.

"You..." he seethed quietly, before his eyes flared up in intense rage at the one person who was TRULY responsible for everything evil/dangerous that has happened to him and his friends throughout Battle City. "YOU!"

The blue-haired boy's Millennium Puzzle started glowing all gold while the Millennium Eye symbol reappeared on his forehead. What was worse than that? Oh, a burning aura of darkness also surrounding him. Clearly, they were all responding to his inner hate and anger towards Dark Marik.

"Thomas!" cried out Emily, frightened of what was happening to her friend.

"Oh, but I didn't even get to the best part!" laughed Dark Marik, looking sickly amused with Thomas's fury. "There was only one thing standing in the way of my plans to take over... I could only switch personalities whenever Marik is filled with hatred and rage."

A vision/flashback began.


FLASHBACK

In this vision, Odion was shown standing and awake.

"Odion..." Dark Marik narrated. "Without originally knowing of what he was doing, that foolish man engraved his own face with those hideous carvings just to comfort my weaker half... By doing so, all of the anger and hate inside Marik was sealed away."

(new scene...)

Inside Odion's room, the Rare Hunter second-in-command was shown lying in bed and still in his coma.

"I was confined deep inside Marik's heart with no way to emerge..."

END FLASHBACK


The flashback ended, and Dark Marik smirked some more and raised his Millennium Rod.

"But since he had fallen into a coma from foolishly playing that fake God card-" The evil man cackled triumphantly. "-I'm finally in control of the body! Ah ha ha ha ha, I guess you could also say that I'm the 'REAL' Marik Ishtar!"

"You're nothing but a madman!" shouted James.

"A pure sadist!" came from Toby.

"A heartless monster!" finished Liz.

"What do you want?!" demanded Thomas in his rage. "Is it the Egyptian God cards?! Or is it something else?"

"What do I want?" teased Dark Marik in a highly sadistic tone. "I 'have' no needs whatsoever. But if you really want an answer..." His face began to slowly stretch out like bad animation of sort, while his voice began growing more and more disoriented. "All light and order... All life besides my own, I want to destroy... DESTROY! Destruction is my only pleasure! That is what gives birth to my world!" The evil man's face and voice then returned to normal. "A world in the DARKNESS OF DEATH!"

Dark Marik then laughed more savagely than ever before, actually frightening a few members of the group from what they just heard and witnessed from that insane split personality of a mere teenage boy.

"Marik...!" thought Thomas in cold fury.

Soon, Dark Marik stopped with his insane laughter and held his Millennium Rod up triumphantly at the defenseless Lady Stone.

"And it shall all begin with this weak girl! She shall perish alone in the darkness..."

Below the platform, everyone else watching gazed at Dark Marik with fear and anger, knowing that they couldn't do anything to stop the evil man from winning the Shadow Game. Eventually, however, Percy couldn't take it any longer and ran towards the platform.

"Huh? Percy, wait!" called Thomas.

But Percy didn't listen. "I hope it isn't too late...!" he thought to himself. Finally, the green-haired boy arrived at the platform and looked up to the referee in desperation. "Hey, you! Stop this duel at once!"

"I can't!" protested the referee. "The duel can't end until one duelist's life points reaches zero."

"But Lady's going to die if it continues any longer!" argued Percy. "Can't you guys see that?"

"No matter what... the duel WILL continue!" snapped Spencer, standing nearby.

Cursing loudly in frustration, Percy ignored the referee's further orders to not go and interrupt the duel and jumped up onto the platform. Once there, he ran towards his chained up girlfriend. Lady was too busy thinking about her impending fate, as well as all of her previous actions to pay any attention to Percy approaching.

"I deserve this." she muttered. "I've been a terrible friend to everyone I have ever met. Thomas - I tried to defeat him in San Francisco so he wouldn't have to face Sailor John and potentially end up like Spencer did after he lost. Emily - I defeated her in a duel and made it seem like Thomas would never enter the finals. And Percy, my love - I had been very unsupporting to him. He doesn't deserve someone like me..."

"Lady!" Percy's voice echoed in the beautiful blonde-haired girl's head.

Dark Marik smiled some more. "It's all over for you, now... The Winged Dragon of Ra, get ready to attack!"

The Winged Dragon of Ra obeyed, beginning to charge a mighty blast of fire.

"Lady, hang on!" Percy cried, trying to break the chains on his girlfriend's wrists, but was having no luck in doing so. "Argh! What are these things made out of?"

The green-haired boy's voice and words slowly started to slowly bring Lady back to her senses.

"Percy?"

"Yes." said Percy gently. "It's me. I've come to save you."

"Why bother?" Lady asked sadly. "I deserve to die..."

The green-haired boy wasn't gonna accept that. "No! You don't deserve this at all!"

"He's right." agreed a voice.

To Lady and Percy's surprise, James was here to help out.

"James?" Percy blinked. "What are you doing up here?"

"I couldn't let my two friends down!" smiled the red-haired boy. He then narrowed his eyes and looked over to nearby. "...that and the referee was ticking me off something fierce."

Gesturing to nearby, the referee was shown lying off the platform facedown with a large lump on his head and stars circling around his head. Percy and Lady both couldn't help but sweatdrop from seeing what James had done.

"You knocked him out?" Lady asked in surprise.

"Hey, he gave me no other choice! It served him right for standing like an idiot when lives are in danger."

With that said, both duelists tried to free their friend from the ancient tablet, but it was no use.

"Dang it!" cried James. "These things are locked in tight."

At this point, The Winged Dragon of Ra's attack was all charged up.

"And now, Ra, attack and kill all three of them!" cackled Dark Marik. "GOD BLAZE CANNON!"

The Winged Dragon of Ra obeyed, firing the blast of fire at the three duelists. Seeing what was coming, Lady tried reasoning with her two friends...

"Forget about me!" she cried. "Run away while you both still can!"

"Not a chance." James refused bravely. "I'm sticking by your side."

"Me too!" added Percy. "I won't let anything happen to you! ...because I love you."

Lady, with tears in her eyes, felt thankful.

"Thank you... my love."

Just as it was all over for the three friends, Thomas suddenly hoped onto the arena and, with his Millennium Puzzle still glowing all gold, he went and...intercepted the Blaze Cannon attack.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" screamed Thomas, blocking the attack with his back.

"Thomas!" cried out James, Percy, and Lady at once.

"How delicious!" commented Dark Marik excitedly. "I get to actually kill Thomas Billinton, too! It almost makes me want to cry!"

"Never!" Thomas declared, grimacing and feeling the fiery rage of Ra. "You can attack me all you want... but when you try to hurt my friends like this... I will...repel it and...ugh...send you back into the darkness...for it!"

"We shall see!" cackled the evil man, just as his face briefly stretched like bad animation. "Go, The Winged Dragon of Ra! Destroy Thomas Billinton, as well!"

The Winged Dragon of Ra obeyed and continued its attack (increasing its power to the limit), but Thomas wouldn't stand down from it. Eventually, to Dark Marik's great surprise, the attack began to weaken itself.

"What?!" The evil man cried out in surprise. "No! You're supposed to destroy him!"

Soon, the attack had ended. James, Percy, and Lady each fell to their knees as the cards all faded away (along with the Shadow Realm fog), but Thomas immediately collapsed from exhaustion and pain.

"Thomas!" came from Toby, Edward, and Mavis.

"THOMAS!" came from Liz, Molly, and Emily, with the final one nearly in tears.


DUEL RESULTS: Dark Marik wins!


Dark Marik smirked. "This match...is over." He then cast a glance over to the referee. "Kind sir, I've won. So announce me as the victor... And do it nice and loudly."

The referee didn't want to do so, but felt nervous when he saw the evil man was holding up his Millennium Rod.

"M-Marik Ishtar is the winner!" The referee announced nervously.

The arena lowered back down, and Dark Marik slowly approached the unconscious Thomas with the Millennium Rod, pulled off the handle with a rather short chuckle, and exposed the dagger.

"Well now, boy, should I tear you limb from limb now?" he asked sinisterly, pointing the weapon at the boy. "After all, you did nearly ruin my fun."

"Keep away from him!" growled James, approaching the evil man.

"Relax, I merely jest." sighed Dark Marik, putting the handle back on the Millennium Rod with an evil grin on his face. "I'd much rather truly destroy Thomas in a duel. In a match befitting those chosen by the Millennium Items... in the Ultimate Shadow Game!"

Suddenly, with the Millennium Eye symbol on the evil man's forehead glowing all gold, James found himself glowing all gold and motionless.

"H-Hey! I can't...m-move!" The red-haired boy winced.

Dark Marik then approached Lady, but Percy immediately stood up and got in the way.

"You stay away from her, Marik!" The green-haired boy snapped.

"You, on the other hand, need to be taught a lesson on interfering." sneered Dark Marik, whacking the green-haired boy with the Millennium Rod.

Percy shouted in pain as he flew off the arena and onto the ground near his friends.

"Percy!" came from Ryan, Liz, Carlie, and Ben.

"Know that I can kill you at anytime I choose." The evil man softly said, before turning his attention to Lady. "Now, I will be wanting my God card back from you."

Lady didn't say a word. Dark Marik proceeded to approach the beautiful blonde-haired girl menacingly.

"You're very lucky, little girl." The evil man began in almost a 'purring' like tone, kneeling down to Lady's level. "You actually got away with your life. Unfortunately, you will come to regret it for the rest of your soon-to-be short life, as you'll wish you chose death instead of living. The loser of a Shadow Game needs to be punished for it. Tell me something... do you know what kind of punishment I'm talking about?"

Lady merely shook her head fearfully, but soon came to regret it greatly...

"The kind of punishment is what I call..." continued Dark Marik, standing back up and holding up his Millennium Rod forth as it began glowing. "...A PENALTY GAME!"

Lady didn't have time to scream as the air all around her fizzled and flashed in a multitude of colors.

(new location...)

When the poor girl opened her eyes, she was somewhere in the darkness and inside an hourglass of a sort.

"W-Where am I?"

"You're in the world of darkness..." spoke a familiar deep voice (male). Appearing beside the hourglass was Dark Marik. "...or rather your soul room."

"Soul room?" repeated Lady, growing more and more frightened. "Let me out of here...! Please!"

"Sadly, I must decline your request to release you. And let me fill you in on a little something important; the moment I remove my Egyptian God card from the little hatch in the middle of this hourglass, it will release from the top half a swarm of flesh-eating insects into your section that will devour your body slowly—but surely. In 24-hours or so... you'll never awaken from your deep slumber, Polly Stone!"

Lady could only bang on the hourglass repeatedly while screaming and pleading for help. Dark Marik could only laugh sadistically at the sight.

"Have fun!" The evil man cackled, finally removing the card from the hatch and fading away into the dark.

Lady could only continue to scream in pure terror as the flesh eating insects started pouring down on her.

(elsewhere...)

Back atop the duel arena, Lady had collapsed into a coma. Percy had managed to get up on his feet and run back onto the stage.

"Lady! LADY!" he screamed, shaking Lady. "Wake up!"

"Don't bother." hissed Dark Marik. "She's trapped in a world of endless darkness with insects eating away at her. Unless you can defeat me in a Shadow Game within the next 24-hours or so... she will never wake up."

Percy held Lady's body close to him and cried. Dark Marik merely laughed and walked past the rest of the gang and off the platform towards the elevator.

"The power inside of me has been released." The evil man thought to himself. "The more innocent souls I sacrifice to the darkness, the more it fuels my great power. But my desired number of sacrifices has not been satisfied... yet."

(elsewhere...)

Dark Marik's psychotic laughter echoed thoughout the blimp as it flew high in the sky and across the ocean.

(elsewhere...)

Back on the duel platform, James managed to recover when everyone else got onto the platform.

"Are you okay?" asked Molly worriedly.

"I'm fine." replied James, before looking over to Edward and Emily. "How's Thomas?"

His answer came as the blue-haired boy groaned a bit and regained consciousness.

"Thomas!" Emily sobbed, hugging the boy. "Oh, Thomas! Thank God you're alive!"

"I'll...be okay." Thomas groaned a bit, before getting up and hearing the sobs coming from his best friend. "Percy?"

Everyone could see Percy holding Lady close to him and crying for her in anguish.

"Is Lady...okay?" asked Liz, dreading the answer.

Percy sadly shook his head. "She's in a coma." he mumbled with tears falling from his eyes. "And unless Marik is defeated within 24-hours, she'll never wake up!"

Everyone else was absolutely devastated by the news! ...although not everyone was feeling very bad about it. Spencer was watching the scene when a beeping sound came from his coat collar.

"Yes, Skiff?" The silver-haired boy asked almost immediately.

(elsewhere...)

Inside the computer lab, Skiff was tying away on a keyboard while the monitor showed a large image of The Winged Dragon of Ra card (with the text).

"I've got a picture of Ra on the computer." he said. "I'll begin translating the text immediately.

(elsewhere...)

Back atop the blimp, Spencer looked pleased with what he heard.

"Good. Let me know when the process is finished."

Once the communication turned off, Spencer turned his attention to everyone in the area.

"Alright, everyone, clear out so I can ready myself for the next duel!" The silver-haired boy announced.

Everyone glared at Spencer...but Percy only got angry, and I mean REALLY angry.

"SPENCER!" The green-haired boy managed to scream out. "This is all your fault! Why didn't you do anything to save her?!"

"Save it, Avonside!" snapped Spencer, slotting his deck into his Duel Disk. "It's my turn to duel now, and nothing will stop me from becoming the best once more! So let the 'torment' begin!"

As he said the last part of his sentence, a large image of Obelisk the Tormentor appeared with a roar. So yes, Spencer will be facing the tenth finalist. Who is she? We'll have to wait and see, won't we?