Me: Hey everyone and welcome back to the next chapter to The Millennium Puzzle.

Hikari: We hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Me: Anyways without further ado here is Duel 19 to the Millennium Puzzle…

Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! And never will it's the rightful property of Kazuki Takahashi the only thing we do own are the mangas that we buy. We also don't own Heila or Yami Heila for they belong to Animegirl20 the only ones we do own are Arainaina and many others that will appear later on in future chapters.

"…." - Talking

'….' - Thoughts

(….) - Yami's to their Hikari's

/…./ - Hikari's to their Yami's

Duel 19: Final Stage

"What the-! Don't follow me out here you stupid zombie!" yells Joey as he tries to avoid the Professor at all cost as he and the hooded figure begin to make there way towards Yugi and the roof.

"YUGI" shouts Joey to his pal in hopes he would here him. "We have to hurry before it's to late" remarks the hooded figure as she urges Joey to move faster.

Meantime back on the roof Shadi was just about to give Yami is last and final test to there game.

"YAMI! This is the final game!" remarks Shadi to Yami. 'The Final Game!' wonders Yami as he continues to wait.

"You have done well to clear the first two stages, you still have three of your heart's ushebti holding up the boy", "But now your three ushebti will shatter" remarks Shadi as if telling Yami he would lose this final match.

'Damn Shadi….He seems so confident….It's like he already knows all my weak points…But no matter what game he throws at me I can't let my ushebti break! Yugi's life depends on it….To save Yugi, I have to break Shadi's ushebti….Then the Millennium Key will slide down the rope to his hand…and then Shadi's spell will be broken', 'But what can I do to break his ushebti? Does he have any weaknesses at all?' wonders Yami as he takes a nice long look at Shadi.

"Heh heh…You can search my heart for weakness, but you do so in vain….my heart's ushebti is like an unbreakable diamond….But your heart's ushebti are like alabaster weak and easily broken, you will understand this in the next game" explains Shadi.

"Let me introduce your opponent" and with that said a cloud of smoke began to appear before Yami until finally it all faded away only to reveal Joey before his very eyes.

"JOEY?" shouts Yami.

"Joey? What in the world…." whispers Heila as she continues to watch from the side lines only to then notice what Joey was about to do.

"AH" shouts Yami just as Joey yanked the puzzle from around his neck.

"The Puzzle!" gasps Heila in utter shock.

"Heh heh…" chuckles Joey.

"That image of your friend is created from a memory within Yugi's heart. The "friend" who bullied him in the past has been reborn before your very eyes" explains Shadi to Yami.

"WHAT?", 'The Joey from the past…!' thinks Yami in shock.

"I manage to catch a glimpse of those memories when I entered his soul room. Even though he's managed to forget those painful memories, they still remain inside his heart…no matter how much time passes", "Yami, in the final stage you will play the "Game of Death" against your friend" remarks Shadi.

"The game of death!" shouts Yami just as the final challenge began.

Just then the ground begins to fall apart leaving only Joey and Yami to stand in the middle of big of a big huge pit.

"A bottomless pit!" exclaims Yami once he saw the sort field they were going to be playing in.

"Let me explain the rules….You will take turns throwing the Millennium Puzzle like a die, for each throw, your opponent must move two squares in the direction the tip of the puzzle points. The first one to force his opponent into the pit wins" explains Shadi.

'He wants me to play such a dangerous game with Joey!' comes Yami's thoughts as he looks to Shadi in shock.

"Now Yami, let me see you defeat that painful memory" shouts Shadi.

"URK…", 'I'm sure this Joey is Shadi's illusion….But there's a chance…That this is the real Joey under Shadi's spell…' thinks Yami as he looks to his best friend. "JOEY! We don't have to play this".

"JOEY" calls Yami.

"This is your "Greatest treasure" Yugi? Watching you makes me sick! Only a girl would care about a box" sneers Joey to Yami which causes a huge pain to run threw Yami's chest and two of his ushebti's to break on contact and the two ropes to fall.

"YUGI!" gasps Yami as he clutches his chest in pain.

For you see even though Yugi was a motionless doll created by Shadi, his heart was still connected threw Yami's and when Joey said that painful thing to Yami it caused an emotional link between Yugi and Yami.

"No, Yugi!" shouts Heila as the bridge of life wobbled a bit.

'Phew…Yugi is still safe…and I still have one ushebti left….Joey's words reminded Yugi of the way things were in the past…..That must be Shadi's intent…to shock Yugi's heart that is still linked with mine…If I show any more doubt I'll lose' thinks Yami as looks Yugi who was still being held by the bridge.

"You want this puzzle back? Then you got to beat me at this game" replies Joey to Yami as he holds out the puzzle to Yami, but when Yami makes no move to grab it Joey decides to take it upon himself.

"Fine, I'll go first" and with that Joey drops the puzzle to the ground. Once the puzzle lands in the direction of the turn Joey goes ahead to points to Yami.

"It points over there! Yugi! Two squares toward the pit" orders Joey and of course Yami obeys and walks two squares towards the pit.

"It's your turn Yugi" answers Joey. "I won't do it, I don't want to play this game with you Joey" remarks Yami as he continues to face the pit.

"Yami….." whispers Heila as watches Yami make a very hard yet noble decision.

'The fool…will he jump into the pit on his own?' wonders Shadi as he watches Yami pass his turn once more.

"…Then you pass? My turn again" and with that Joey drops the puzzle once more. "Again towards the pit"

And just like before Yami takes another two steps towards the huge open pit only this time Yami finally ran out of spaces to move to.

"Last chance….Depending on how the puzzle lands, this time you might fall in the pit…. You can't….want to pass again…." asks Joey to Yami.

"I pass" is all Yami says as he side glances to Joey.

"Are you throwing the game? Do you admit your defeat?" comes the shock reply from Shadi as he continues to watch Yami.

"Defeat….? You're wrong, Shadi! It's TRUST! I trust my friends!" answers Yami as he looks to Shadi and then back to the front of him.

"You "Trust"….Heh heh heh….Yami, it seems you are unable to defeat Yugi's past. You lose. What I was testing in this final game….was the weakness of your heart in trusting too much" explains Shadi as Yami just looks to him.

"That's not true" exclaims Heila as she looks over in Shadi's direction.

"Trust is more easily broken than ushebti, In the end friendship is nothing by weak hearts clinging together for solace…True strength of the heart is the ability to believe in yourself…needing no one." remarks Shadi to Heila before looking back to Yami.

"If you had sent your friend to the pit, you would have gained true strength", "Now throw the puzzle for the last time, end the game" orders Shadi as he looks over to Joey.

But just as Shadi commanded it, Joey on the other hand didn't respond to him. 'WHA-?', "Why don't you throw the puzzle" orders Shadi again as looks at Joey once more except this time instead of throwing the puzzle like ordered Joey just simply began to fade.

'IMPOSSIBLE….My illusion is disappearing…' thinks a shocked Shadi as Joey finally faded from view.

"He's gone…." remarks Heila as she saw Joey vanish from site.

"There is no past or present for friendship! If you trust your friends they trust you" explains Yami as he looks over to Yugi. 'Yugi'

But just as that was said did Yami finally notice that the rope was breaking.

"WHAT? The rope supporting Yugi is…!" exclaims Yami just as Heila runs over to the gate.

"YUGI" shouts Heila as she tries to call out to him.

But just when all hope was lost did the real Joey finally arrive to help support the bridge so Yugi wouldn't fall.

"URAAAHH! Yugi I'm here, everything is going to be all right" shouts Joey to his best friend.

"Joey" calls Yami once he to noticed Joey.

"WHAAAT?" exclaims Shadi as takes in everything that was going on before his very eyes.

"Joey good timing" shouts Heila as she noticed Joey holding up the bridge only to notice another person as well. 'It's Mou Hitori no Heila' thinks Heila in shock as she looks to her other as well.

'Impossible….it's as if they support each other….without hesitating for an instant….' thinks a shocked Shadi as his ushebti begins to break. 'M-My heart's ushebti…!'

"Shadi, you probably won't understand this but….true strength of the heart….can't be gained alone" explains Yami.

"That's right, the power to trust your friends, that is true strength of the heart" remarks Heila as she moves to stand next to Shadi once she knew Yugi was going to be ok.

'The power to trust your friends…..!' thinks Shadi just as his ushebti broke.

TBC

A/N: Well how was it? Good? Bad? Please R&R