Mind Games Part 1
I don't own Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh
Daisuke was standing in the infirmary watching as a doctor checked on Odion's condition while her friends stood behind her, Joey and Serenity holding her hands. "So, how's he looking, Doc?" Joey asked the doctor as he finished checking on Odion.
"Well, physically he's fine. But I believe all the mental stress he's gone through recently has left him unconscious." The doctor answered before he stood up and walked away from the bed.
"Can't say I blame him, after everything that happened during his duel against you, big sis. I'm amazed you're still standing." Joey said, squeezing Daisuke's hand and she smiled down at the boy.
"I'm sure Odion will be okay. But we've got bigger issues at the moment, we now know that he was doing everything he could to protect the real Marik for as long as he could." She spoke.
"And look where that got him. He's lying in a hospital bed while Marik could care less if he woke up or not." Veemon said.
"What did you expect him to do, send flowers to the guy?" Gatomon asked, looking at the dragon with a raised eyebrow.
"Poor Odion, it's when you're down, that you need friends the most." Mai said, looking at Odion as Daisuke perked up, her eyes going wide as she remembered her dream that she had after being struck by lightning when the fake Egyptian God Card went wild.
"Ya know, now that you mention it." She said, making everyone look at her. "While I was on the ground after the lightning struck me, I had a dream where you guys all helped me get back to my feet. You gave me the strength I needed to win." She told them with a happy smile.
"Aw how sweet." Kari said with a smile, something which the others shared.
"Isn't it time for Kaiba to pick the next two duelists or something?" Willis asked the group, glancing at his watch to check the time.
"Oh, that's right, come on let's get a move on." Daisuke said, the others nodding and began leaving the room, but Mai lingered behind for a moment.
"Hey Dai, wait up." She called to the younger girl who turned back to look at the blonde.
"What's up Mai?" she asked with a smile.
"In your dream, you said everyone was there to help you out. That included me, right?" Mai questioned with a soft look in her eyes.
Daisuke blinked, looking at the girl for a moment before smiling. "Of course, you were, you're my friend Mai and I always care about my friends." She told her before linking arms. "Now come on, let's go before Kaiba gets impatient waiting for us."
Mai laughed and nodded, the two girls walking off together after the others and soon they all were back in the main hall with the bingo machine with Roland and Mokuba standing beside the machine with Kaiba off to the side.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the moment has arrived. The third set of Battle City Finalists is about to be selected." Roland said to the group.
"Looks like Marik's a no show, and that eighth duelist isn't here yet either." Mai thought, looking around the room briefly.
"Hey, before we begin, I got to ask something." Joey said. "Since Marik entered under a false name shouldn't he like be disqualified or something?"
"Wishful thinking. But it doesn't work that way." Kaiba said, smirking at the young boy. "The only way to be eliminated in this tournament is to lose in a duel, not on some cheap technicality."
"You're just saying that because you want the chance to win Marik's Egyptian God Card from him." Daisuke thought, narrowing her eyes slightly at Kaiba before turning back to the bingo machine as it launched the four remaining balls into the air. The first ball fell into the dragon's head in the glass sphere first before coming out of the left dragon head into the basket below it, Roland picked it up and showed it to the audience.
"Duelist number 4, I repeat, duelist number 4, Mai Valentine."
"Alright, nice work." Daisuke said with a smile and Mai nodded with her own smile.
"That leaves only three more finalists, who is gonna be the one she's facing?" Joey asked as the three remaining balls continued spinning around in the sphere.
Meanwhile, the doctor walked out of the infirmary and shut the door, locking it with a key card. "I'll take that if you don't mind." A voice behind him said, he spun around and laid eyes on Marik only for the symbol of the Millennium Rod to appear on his forehead and his eyes glazed over.
Marik snatched the card from the doctor's limp hand and unlocked the door before walking into the room. "Ah there you are. It's time I dealt with you." He said to the unconscious Odion. "My old friend, long have you served me faithfully. But now the time has come for me to put an end to you, I can't risk you waking up and trying to contain me once again." He raised the Millennium Rod in his hand before pulling a dagger out of the Millennium Item and holding the blade over Odion's face. "When you see my father in the next life, do tell him that it was I who sent you."
"Number 5, duelist number 5, Marik Ishtar." He stopped upon hearing Roland's voice and looked to the small screen in the room that had turned on showing Roland holding the ball with the number 5 on it. "Both duelists must report to the dueling arena immediately."
Marik grunted softly before looking down at Odion. "How fortunate for you. But don't you worry I will be back." He turned and left the room, heading for the dueling arena on the roof of the blimp.
A few minutes later, Kaiba, White Veemon and Mokuba were standing in their usual spot on the duel arena on the blimp while Roland and Mai stood on the duel arena waiting for Marik. "Where is Marik, that broadcast was made in every room." Kaiba said, annoyed that Marik had not yet arrived.
"Maybe he chickened out." Mai said. Kaiba grunted before the door to the elevator opened.
"Or maybe not." He said, smirking when he saw Marik walking past him, a sick smirk on the man's face.
"I do not like the look on that guy's face. Not one bit." White Veemon said to his partner before looking at Mokuba. "Mokuba, stay behind me. Got it?"
"Right." The younger Kaiba brother said softly.
Marik stepped onto the arena and chuckled lowly. "This won't take too long." He said, giving a smirk.
"Yeah, it won't take long for me to kick this creeps butt and take his prized Egyptian God Card and then go on to win the Battle City Finals." Mai thought as the duel arena elevated into the air.
"Mai Valentine, Marik Ishtar, ready your decks. This duel will now begin." Roland told both duelists.
Mai activated her duel disk, placing her deck into the slot on the device, her life-points climbing to 4000 and she looked at Marik. "So let's go, I'm ready when you are."
"Good luck. You'll need it." Marik told Mai with a grin.
"Thank you, now ladies first." Mai said, she drew her first card and looked at her starting hand. "I summon Dunames Dark Witch, in Attack mode." Her first monster of the duel appeared on the field, it was a female monster with angel-like wings made of metal with sharp edges and she wore white boots, a battle skirt and armour on her upper body and a helmet on her head and she had 1800 Attack points and 1050 Defence points.
"Starting things off quickly are we?" Marik asked, putting his Millennium Rod behind his back in his belt he cracked his knuckles. "Then let's see what my deck has in store for me, or rather us." He drew his card and smiled. "Excellent, now I summon Revival Jam in defence mode." The familiar monster made of blue plasma appeared on the field as Marik held up another card.
"And now I play the magic card, Jam Breeding Machine." The monster creating machine appeared on the field beside Marik. "This will create one slime token for me with every passing turn. You had best win this duel quickly before my slime tokens overwhelm you."
"Let's see that Egyptian God Card." Kaiba thought, watching the duel with a smirk before seeing the elevator doors open again.
"Aw man, we missed the start of the duel." Daisuke complained, running out onto the area around the duel arena with her friends following her.
"Don't blame us, blame Tristan for waiting until the last moment to use the bathroom." Kari told her friend as Mai looked down at them as they looked up at her.
"We're here for ya Mai." Serenity told the girl.
"Show this creep who the best duelist is." Joey said with a grin.
"What're you all doing here? I don't need your help to win this duel." Mai said to them, Daisuke crossed her arms and nodded.
"We know that. We never said you needed our help to duel, but we're your friends Mai. And friends support each other no matter what, take it from me. I know what I'm talking about."
"Whoa, what's that thing!?" Tea shouted, pointing at Revival Jam and Yami's eyes widened.
"It's not good. Marik used this same monster against me before." He answered, thinking back to the time he dueled Strings who used Revival Jam and the Jam Breeding Machine to help him summon Slifer the Sky Dragon. "And that can only mean one thing, Mai is in great danger."
"It's my move." Mai said, drawing her next card.
"Mai, wait!" Yami shouted only to stop when Daisuke grabbed his arm and gave him a small glare.
"Don't." She told him. "Mai is a great duelist; she'll be able to handle this herself. She doesn't need us to backseat dueling for her."
"Daisuke is right." Mai said, looking down at the group before turning to Marik. "I can win this duel on my own. Trust me."
Marik chuckled slightly. "Those are brave words from someone who doesn't know what they are up against."
"Oh, be quiet. I know exactly what I'm up against, and I know exactly what I am going to do to you as well." Mai replied.
"Then why do I see so much fear in your eyes? Our battle has only just begun and already you begin to doubt yourself." Marik said.
"You are wrong again. Now my Dark Witch attack his Revival Jam with Spellbinding Flux!" Mai commanded. Her dark witch flew into the air and unleashed black energy at Revival Jam making it shriek for a moment before it was torn to pieces. "So much for that blob."
"Oh, is it?" Marik asked as the small globs of Revival Jam began pulling themselves back together and soon Revival Jam had reappeared. "Revival Jam is able to regenerate itself whenever it's attacked."
"I had no idea." Mai said.
"Of course not. That doesn't surprise me, maybe you do need help in this duel." Marik said before he drew his next card. "I play Pot of Greed; this magic card lets me draw two cards from my deck." He drew the two cards and grinned. "Now watch as my Jam Breeding Machine creates the first of many Slime Tokens."
"This is exactly what Marik did to me in our duel. He probably intends to create enough Slime Tokens to sacrifice to summon his Egyptian God Card, the Winged Dragon of Ra." Yami thought while Marik's Jam Breeding Machine created the first Slime Token.
"And I set this card face down on the field, to render your attacks useless." Marik said, setting a card. "I end my turn."
"That face down card, it has to be Jam Defender." Kaiba said softly. "That means Marik will use it to force all of Mai's attacks to be redirected to Revival Jam."
Mai drew her next card. "My turn, and I'll play this. The magic card, Harpies Feather Duster. It'll blow away all your spell and trap cards on the field." She said, activating the magic card and a green twister blew across Marik's side of the field destroying his face down card along with the Jam Breeding Machine. "I knew what you were up to from the start, so I blew it all away before you had the chance to summon your Egyptian God Card."
"Alright!" Joey and Veemon cheered.
"I told you Mai could handle things herself." Daisuke said to Yami with a friendly smile.
"Yes, but she'll be in trouble if Marik summons his Egyptian God Card." He replied.
"Now Dark Witch, the field is clear. Attack his Slime Token!" Mai commanded, her monster nodded and unleashed another magical blast at the Slime Token destroying it and Marik's life-points fell to 2700.
"She's got the lead already, alright!" Tea cheered.
"Enjoy this moment while you can fools, I want you all to be filled with hope. So that it is all the sweeter when I thrust you all into the dark abyss for eternity." Marik thought, his face distorting for a moment as his smirk grew wider.
"And to end my turn, I'll set this card face down." Mai said with a small smile, the face down card appearing in front of her. "And it's back to you."
Marik chuckled and drew his next card. "I summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast in Attack mode." He said, the four headed monster appeared on the field, floating beside Revival Jam. "And now I sacrifice Revival Jam and Melchid the Four-Face Beast to summon Masked Beast Des Gardius!" both monsters were consumed by thick purple smoke before the two clouds of smoke combined before exploding apart to reveal the newly summoned monster that towered over Mai and her Dark Angel.
"That is one powerful monster." Yami thought. "Kaiba and I had enough trouble dealing with it on our own when we fought Lumis and Umbra."
"Now my Masked Beast, destroy her witch!" Marik shouted. His monster groaned before charging towards Mai's monster.
"Wrong, I activate my face down card. The trap card, Mirror Wall!" Mai shouted. The wall of crystal rose up quickly in front of Mai's monster, showing the reflection of Masked Beast Des Gardius as it struck the wall. "This trap card attacks your monster with its own reflection, cutting its Attack points in half."
Masked Beast Des Gardius groaned weakly as its Attack points were cut in half to 1650. "Now Dark Witch attack his Masked Beast!" Mai commanded, her monster nodding and unleashing another magical blast at Marik's monster destroying it and his life-points fell to 2550.
"Marik's lost even more life-points." Joey said.
"Don't celebrate just yet." Yami told the younger boy, as he said this the Mask of Remnants appeared and flew towards Mai's monster and latched onto its face.
"Dark Witch!" Mai gasped, watching as her monster flew over to Marik's side of the field.
"When Masked Beast Des Gardius is destroyed, the Mask of Remnants is left behind which allows me to reshuffle my deck, but more importantly I gain control of your monster." Marik explained, shuffling his deck while doing so before placing it back in his duel disk. "Next I play the magic card, Remove Trap to destroy your Mirror Wall."
Mai's trap card glowed for a moment before it vanished from the field and she glared at Marik. "Mai's in some serious trouble. She better think of something before Marik summons that Egyptian God Card." Tristan said.
"You're right." Daisuke said in a serious tone. "But Mai's doing alright for now, if she keeps this up, she can win."
"Daisuke is right. I can win this, but then again if Marik summons his Egyptian God Card I'm a goner." Mai thought, she drew her next card. "You may have control over my Dark Witch, but things are about to change Marik."
"Indeed, they are. My thoughts exactly. Playtime is over," Marik said with a dark grin on his face, slowly he pulled out the Millennium Rod. "Now foolish girl, it's time I bring this duel back to the true home of Duel Monsters. I shall take us into the Shadow Realm!"
"Oh no!" Yami said, his eyes wide in worry before a dark fog began covering the field as Marik's Millennium Rod glowed brightly for a moment.
"Mai, be careful!" Daisuke shouted to her friend as the dark fog crept around everyone.
"I'm scared." Serenity whimpered, hugging her sister's arm tightly while Kari held Willis by the arm as well.
"This isn't part of the game." Mai whispered, looking around with wide eyes before turning back to Marik. "What have you done!?"
"Welcome to the Shadow Realm."
"I remember this place." Tea whispered.
"Gah, isn't this the creepy place we wound up when Bakura trapped our souls in Duel Monster cards and when Pegasus was dueling Yami?" Joey asked, jumping into Daisuke's arms who began comforting her brother.
"Uh, I think you guys are overreacting." Duke said, clearly not seeing the danger everyone was in.
"So, some of them have experienced this before. This time, there will be no escape." Marik thought.
"Marik, end this now!" Yami demanded.
"Never. The shadows are hungry, and it is time they are fed." Marik replied, licking his lips with a sick grin. "If Little Mai wants to continue this duel, she will do so in my world, where we play by my rules."
"Mai, this duel has to end now. Forfeit the match!" Daisuke shouted up to the woman who looked at her in shock. "You don't know what you're in for, you're in danger!"
Mai was silent for a moment before she frowned at Daisuke. "I've worked hard for this, Dai. There is no way I am letting a little fog scare me off. I'm staying in this duel; I won't give up."
"Very good foolish girl. I knew I could count on you to use that stubborn mind of yours, while you still know how." Marik thought, his face distorting again.
"Well, that's that." Daisuke said softly. "Knowing Mai, she won't change her mind once she decides on something. I guess we'll have to have faith she'll be okay."
"The rules of this duel are about to change, everything Mai knows about this game won't matter soon." Yami said.
"Are you ready for this?" Mai asked Marik who chuckled.
"Oh, I'm always ready for a Shadow Game. Make your move." He told her and Mai frowned, drawing her next card.
"I set one card face down and I summon the Unfriendly Amazon!" Mai said, one card appearing in front of her while her monster appeared on the field, a female warrior wearing dark brown armour with spikes on the shoulders, long brown hair tied up in a braided ponytail and the warrior pulled a sword out of the ground and it had 2000 Attack points and 1000 Defence points.
Mai then blinked when she saw her monster begin to glow a faint pink. "Why is she glowing?"
"Confused Mai?" Marik asked her. "The energy that surrounds your Amazon is a symbol of you, or your mind to be precise. If it goes out, so will a portion of your mind. This is the nature of the Shadow Realm. Don't worry, you will understand it soon enough once you've experienced my dark magic firsthand. Oh, how I love seeing people deal with the Shadow Games for the first time."
"There is something very wrong with this guy. But I can't get distracted." Mai thought. "Now Unfriendly Amazon, destroy the Dark Witch with Soaring Slash!" she commanded, her amazon nodded and jumped into the air before swinging her sword down cutting through the Dark Witch destroying it and Marik's life-points fell to 2350.
"Very good. You've taken some of my life-points away but seeing as Dark Witch was once your monster. You lost some of your memories as well." He told her.
"What're you talking about?" Mai asked him.
"You see Mai, the monsters we play on the field carry within them memories of one person in our minds, so when a monster is destroyed the memory of that person in your life is destroyed also." He explained.
"There's no way." Mai whispered.
"Oh, but there is." Marik replied. "In this realm of shadows, I am the one in control of this little game we play. Now let's see which one of your friend's will be the first one banished from your mind." He said, a duel monsters card appeared in front of Mai in her mind.
At first it was blank but suddenly, Tea's face appeared on it. "Not Tea…" she whispered.
"Oh yes, now watch as she's banished from your mind and memories forever." Marik said. Mai looked down at the others looking up at her, her eyes focused solely on Tea.
"You can't do this Marik, whatever you're saying. It's impossible."
"Impossible, my dear you have no idea what I can do in this realm." Marik said with a dark grin, holding up his Millennium Rod, Mai was blinded when it glowed brightly, through her fingers she could see her friends standing in the distance and felt herself running towards them. "Can you feel them, your friends fading from your mind? Becoming faceless phantoms leaving you all alone in a cold, cruel world?" his voice echoing in her head.
"Wait…don't go!" She pleaded with her friends before they vanished, and her eyes snapped open. "No!" she screamed.
"Mai, are you okay!?" Daisuke called to her in worry, the woman looked down and saw Tea flickering before she vanished.
"My memory is feeling faint…" she whispered, holding her head as her eyes glazed over for a moment.
"Don't worry my dear, she is but the first to go. This Shadow Game is far from over, every turn you take will reveal new horrors like a never-ending nightmare, only this one is quite real." Marik said with a twisted grin.
The end of the chapter
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