Chapter 21 - Duel of the Shadows Part II

Crimson gasped. The Enchantress loomed behind Raiya, their matching black eyes glowing with power. They looked exactly alike, and it was as if the power the Enchantress got was as equal to the new energy boost that supplied Raiya.

Crimson struggled to her feet. This wasn't anything new. Every time her Anklet had gone berserk, she had been stripped of every single bit of energy. She was used to this kind of situation. Plus, she still felt like she had half her energy left. It would be enough. Crimson knew she could figure out a way to destroy Raiya.

Yugi was not as rumpled either. Having another spirit in his body and Shadow Realm experience gave him the strength he needed. Plus, he had faced Reocu before. He knew that even though this was a big loss, it was not that hard to get out of it. The Enchantress...now that might be a problem.

Kaiba wasn't in as good as shape as the others. Of course, he had experienced feeling like this when he was a young teenager, slaving hours upon hours on studies for his stepfather's satisfaction. If he couldn't stay awake long enough to do all his work, then he was beaten awake. However, this experience was a bit more straining. He had never Dueled in the Shadow Realm before and he barely believed in its magic. After being hit by that blow, it seemed as if half his life had been eaten away.

"Don't get too confident, Raiya," Crimson shouted, shaking her head to get the last dizzy feeling out. "We'll still win. Your monster might be powerful, but every move in Duel Monsters has a weak point as well as a strong point. Your monster's attack might be off the charts, and our LP might be down to half, but so is yours. We're all back on the same boat here, but you have the bigger end for your bigger monster. However, the boat can easily sink, and the heavier side goes down first." Raiya chuckled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Nice metaphor," she said. "But it's not going to save you. The Shadow Realm isn't some literary device in a story...it's real! Now, I believe it is Yugi's turn." Yugi nodded, drawing his card. Raiya only had her monster on the field, nothing else. He sighed when he realized it was a Dark monster. Raiya's twisted rule applied to it as well. Yugi had no choice but to defend.

"I switch my monster to defense mode and end my turn." Yugi's Dark Magician crouched, holding his staff on the ground. Yugi knew he had one face down card on the field, but he couldn't use it unless Raiya attacked. Yugi signaled for Kaiba to begin his turn.

Kaiba drew his card, trying to focus in on what it was. His eyesight seemed to waver between fuzzy lines, and everything looked darker than it usually should have. He squinted and shook his head. It wasn't a good card.

"I have two monsters in defense, so I'll end my turn." He turned to Crimson. She nodded.

Crimson drew and frowned. It wasn't what she needed either. She quickly looked over her field. Like Kaiba, she had only two monsters in defense. It was good enough for the time being. She signaled for Raiya to begin with a scowl. Raiya merely smirked back.

"Well then, it seems you guys are giving up hope," Raiya said slyly, drawing a card. "It seems I might have to add a little excitement to this party. Enchantress attack!" With a swish of a black robe, her monster flew into the air and rained back sparks on Kaiba's Lord of Dragons. He snarled as the monster was destroyed. Luckily, his LP was untouched. The Enchantress gained five hundred LP, bringing it up to 14050.

"I love my rules," Raiya stated with her trademark sly smile. Yugi frowned, drawing his next card.

"I pass," he muttered, brooding over Raiya's words. Were they hopeless? It sure seemed like it. Not many monsters in the game could match the power the Enchantress had. Sure, it wasn't invincible, but it seemed a lot like it.

"I pass as well," Kaiba said, drawing a card. Raiya raised her eyebrows. She was enjoying the Duel now that it was in her favor. She loved it when things went her own Dark way.

"I don't have much of a choice either," Crimson admitted, not even looking at her next drawn card. It was a weak monster, not even worth putting on the field. She had to admit, things looked hopeless. Or maybe it was how Raiya wanted it. Normally, Crimson would have said Raiya was foolish to equip her monster like that and someone would likely use Magic and Trap cards to destroy it. But at the moment, it seemed like there was no choice but to surrender.

"No, we can't surrender!" she whispered furiously. "Our friends and ourselves are at stake here. We can't lose. Oh, I hope Kaiba and Yugi aren't thinking of giving up!"

"My turn!" Raiya cried happily, her black eyes sparkling with twisted pleasure. "First, I use my second Mystical Space Typhoon on Yugi's face down card. Now, it's his turn to be attacked!" Yugi's card was obliterated in a whirlwind of purple swirls. He braced himself as the Enchantress let out a string of black magic, engulfing his dark Magician. With a moan, his monster shattered into a million pieces. Smoke surrounded Yugi and he coughed, leaving him defenseless. Raiya gave him her sly smile.

"Don't give up!" Crimson shouted. Yugi nodded, though his eyes showed that he no longer had the hope and determination he had started out with. The Shadow Realm was taking its toll. Yugi drew a card and set it in defense on the field. He looked to Kaiba to begin his turn. Kaiba drew.

"I guess I'll place this in defense," he said, putting down his card. "I end my turn." Crimson noticed his voice sounded very tired, like he didn't care about the Duel any longer. She herself felt like wandering the Shadow Realm would be a better choice than to continue this worthless Duel.

"No!" she insisted to herself. "I will not give up! Never! It is my fault that everyone was sucked into this. If I hadn't come after them in Duelist Kingdom, this wouldn't have happened. Raiya is doing this on purpose, trying to break our purpose of fighting on. She didn't listen when I told her there was a downfall to every Monster, and now she's going to regret it." Crimson drew from her Deck, hoping for a miracle. It was what she received.

"Alright!" Crimson shouted, nearly jumping around. Raiya's eyes lost their sparkle. "Beat this Raiya! I drew the card Miracle! For half of my LP and a sacrifice of one monster, I'm allowed to deduct your monster's attack power from your Life Points." Raiya's face grew paler than it ever had been. Crimson didn't give her much time to react. She doubted even Kaiba and Yugi figured out what was going on before she slapped the card on her Duel Disk.

"Activate Magic card Miracle!" Thousands of dancing sparks flew from the card as it appeared on the field. Crimson let them surround her face down monster, turning it into more sparks. Combined with half of Crimson's LP, the sparks flew towards the Enchantress. Raiya watched in horror as the sparks merged with her monster's outfit, turning her gown into a long gold dress. The Enchantress rounded on Raiya.

"Ready?" Crimson asked, her own sly smile accompanying. She snapped her fingers and the monster released its attack. Raiya screamed as it hit her, reducing her LP to 0 in seconds. A bright light burst from her and the whole Shadow Realm turned white. Crimson, Kaiba, and Yugi braced themselves from the brightness while trying to keep from blowing away in the harsh wind. Finally, everything quieted down.

"Raiya?" Crimson inquired. She got no response. Instead, the chains around her feet vanished. With relief, she rushed to her friends.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly. Yugi nodded, resting his hands on his knees and panting. Kaiba looked ready to fall over.

"Nice...tree..." Yugi commented, pointing to a bright green tree with purple blossoms that appeared. Crimson gasped; it was the Sajuka tree. She left her two friends and walked closer to the tree standing alone in the middle of golden light. It almost seemed to wave to her as the leaves and flowers rippled in the light breeze that somehow filled the Realm.

"Will you be able to bring everyone back?" Kaiba asked, joining her. Crimson shrugged.

"I guess..." Power flooded her as she released the Anklet. This time, however, the flow of power seemed to blend with her as if she had been using it for ages. The tree's pink fruits started glowing. Six fell off. Where they hit the floor, six bodies appeared.

"JOEY! TÉA! TRISTAN! BAKURA! GRANDPA!" Yugi rushed forward.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba rushed forward. Crimson stood there, blinking for a few minutes and watching everybody hug.

"Everybody!" she cried all of a sudden and rushed forward to join the celebration. Just as they all joined in for a group hug - yes, even Kaiba, though he was mainly holding Mokuba who was holding Crimson - all the Millennium Items activated and everything faded into white light.

Crimson groaned, blinking her eyes open. She nearly gasped. It was dark outside. If she had remembered, they had left the graveyard early in the morning. All around her, her friends were sprawled on the floor.

"Wake up!" she hissed, shaking all of them awake. They moaned and stretched and got up on their feet.

"We must return to my house, hurry!" Crimson urged.

"Why that was weird!" Pegasus remarked, looking around. Now why was he outside Kaiba's house while his guards were searching it? One second ago, he was sure he was ordering them to find Kaiba. However, the next second, it felt like there was a huge Shadow that was lifted from his body.

"What is it, Sir?" Pegasus narrowed his eyebrows.

"What are you'll doing? Leave everything where it originally was and return to the Island immediately. We have things to do in Industrial Illusions..."

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Yasmine Motou!" Crimson cringed as he parents stared her down. They were all in the living room, Yugi, Téa, Tristan, Joey, Serenity, Bakura, Grandpa, Mokuba, and Kaiba. Frankly, this was not the best situation to get in trouble in.

"Okay..." Crimson started, sitting on the back of the couch. "This is really complicated, but let me make this story short. I'm sorry I lied about where I am going and how long I was leaving, but there are a lot of other things I lied about as well. One of them being magic. I am not an ordinary adopted daughter. I have this thing, a Millennium Item, and I have magic." Crimson took a deep breath, eyeing her parents' non-believing glances.

"Anyway, Grandpa, my real grandfather..." Crimson smiled and Grandpa patted her hand. "...And Mokuba were captured and I went to rescue them. That resulted in all of us being captured, but we got through it. That's why I had to do this. I couldn't put you in danger." Crimson tried to convince her parents by pulling up the leg of her flares and revealing her Item. Her parents gasped.

"So...will you be staying with us or your brother?" Crimson's dad asked. Crimson shrugged.

"I want to stay with you..." Crimson's mother smiled.

"Good, we were hoping that would be the case. Anyway, is that all, dear?"

"Nope!" Crimson got up off the couch and walked over to Serenity.

"You must be Joey's younger sister?"

"Yes..." Crimson smiled, looking over at Joey.

"It's my fault that you guys weren't able to finish the tournament and claim the prize money. I think I shall help you and heal her eyesight."

"Can ya' really do 'dat?" Joey asked. Crimson shook her head, walking over to Téa.

"I can't, but Clarrisa can. She's the Magician of Faith." Téa took her cue and slipped the card out from her Deck, handing it to Crimson. With a slight glow from her Item, the Duel Monster appeared in the room. Serenity and Crimson's parents gasped.

"Where am I? Oh dear, my mother is going to kill me if I don't return home!" Clarrisa looked around. "Crimson?"

"Hello. Sorry, but Mystical Elf went haywire last time...so I had to choose you..." Clarrisa rolled her eyes.

"Girl, you have seriously got to learn how to heal! It is so important. Besides, the teacher is Dian Keto and his sons are so hot! Sorry, digressed for a moment there. You know me... can't keep on topic if you paid me...remember that time when I talked too much and my teacher-,"

"Clarrisa...can we just... get back on track?" Clarrisa nodded.

"Sorry..." Clarrisa walked over and kneeled in front of Serenity.

"This won't hurt a bit, okay? Some people back in my land think that healing by magic hurts! Can you believe that? You know what hurts? Mortal shots... the needles you guys have are so big they hurt like crap...but luckily..."

"Clarrisa..."

"Oh, sorry! Digression master here. Is that a word? Wait, I'd be a digression mistress, since I'm a girl. Master would be like Dragon Master Knight, you know, Aundren. Oh my gosh! He is so sweet it's not even funny..." Clarrisa kept on talking as she placed her palms on the side of Serenity's head, blue strands of magic surrounding them. Crimson shook her head.

"...And you think that he's the only cute one? You have to see Svrion... I wish I could have him but Cy got first dibs... and you know I can't steal my own sister's boyfriend...well, she does steal a lot of things from me... like that time I set my pen on the table..." Clarrisa pulled away her hands.

"What do you think?" Serenity opened her eyes and blinked.

"I...can...I can see!" she exclaimed. Clarrisa grinned.

"I love magic!" Serenity jumped up. Joey ran to her.

"Can ya' really see?"

"Yeah, Joey, this is so awesome!" Crimson gave Clarrisa a high-five and sent her back. There was a small celebration for a few minutes, but was cut off when Kaiba finally got up, straightened his trench coat, and took his brother by the hand.

"Well, I got to get back to work..." Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at him. He headed toward the door with Mokuba.

"That's it?" Crimson cried incredulously, standing up. "We just went to the Shadow Realm, had to dance our way, beat giant bugs, lost our friends, escaped from a dangerous canyon with the danger of being squeezed to pulp, battled gigantic hands from who-knows-where, and even Dueled Raiya! And you aren't going to celebrate that we're still alive?" Kaiba looked at her with a smirk.

"I'm running a company, I've got work to do. I missed a lot of days having to run after Mokuba. With all this work, I don't think I'll even have time to see you again." Kaiba turned and headed to the door.

"What?" Crimson sputtered. Kaiba set his hand on the doorknob.

"Why is it so important to you anyway?" Crimson looked at him as if he had just asked her what color her hair was. Her mouth started running high speed.

"What do you mean? Haven't you had the dream? Are you just going to throw away everything that happened? What are you, a machine? This is exactly what happened in our ancient past; Seth just left Bianca like this. After all that we've been through to the end, I can't believe you are asking me such a question. I have to meet you; I'm your friend. I don't want to let you go and forget because I love you, Seto...uh...oh..." Crimson covered her mouth and nearly everyone gasped. Kaiba raised his eyebrows.

Me and my big mouth...