Lu: It's all over! What am I going to do with the rest of my life?! Anyway, reviewers:
Hysterik-Angel: It's finished, as you might have noticed. I will go and renovate it, putting in my usual formats and stuff, but other than that the whole story is finished. My first finished chapter fanfic. {sniff}
DayDreamerz: OK… that makes sense… not… oh well, I'm not holding it against you. I personally enjoy most of the duels, until they get too long and pointless.
Shining Friendship: I try to update as often as possible, but it takes me forever because I have two other stories to update. If you get bored, try reading those!
Darkhope: Would I ever leave Mai hurt? Honestly, I thought you knew me better than that. J/k
Moon Comix: I might go and revise the story, and put that in, so thanks. But that will be after I've finished the New Tournament as well.
Mai Wheeler: I hope this update was soon enough for you. Tell me when your emails fixed, KK?
Jellybob 15: Omg, we had to read that book for class. But there was no romance :( I was so upset. Anyway, yes, this is ended. But I hope you will continue to review the New Tournament. ;)
AREZAL: Yup, that's my next update. I've started writing the next chapter. Do no worry, I'm not neglecting any of my fanfics, because I update them in a circle.
Carolin Rocha: This is a changed script. The one on the show was made up by Kazuki Takahashi and all of the YGO writers, whereas that was made up by me. You can kinda tell from the lame and inaccurate duelling.
Demented Insane Spirit: Love the name ;) Anyway, yes, HUGE YamixTea fan. It was the first couple I realised on the show, even before JoeyxMai, even though I like them better.
Everyone else: Thanks for the reviews guys!
Lu: This is it… the last chapter ever… I hope you all review. No wait... I know you'll all review. Hint hint. Anyone who reads this chapter must review, OK? Agreed? OK, thank you. And here it is for the last ever chapter of Mind Game. Yami, you finish... I can't do it...
Yami Lu: This is the last chapter. Boo-hoo. This is the story. Yay.
A soft call awoke Joey from his unconscious state. He was slightly delirious, and muttered something about hamburgers and ice cream.
"Joey," prompted the voice. It was a soft and soothing voice, but each syllable pounded into Joey's head like a nail. His forehead throbbed painfully. He moaned slightly. A warm, soft had brushed his hair off his forehead and pressed against it.
"Joey, you seem sick," said the voice worriedly. Joey blinked his eyes open. His vision was blurred, but there was a large, dark figure blocking his view. The figure let out a long sigh. The breath gave relief from his thumping head. He blinked a couple of times, clearing his vision. The figure swam in and out of focus. He moaned again. His eyes finally found the figure, and he gasped.
It was Mai. She smiled softly. Joey smiled back, but the effort of moving made his head ache again. Mai's face fell quickly as Joey's face contorted in pain. She pressed her hand against his forehead again. His skin was cold and clammy, and he was breathing heavily.
"Joey, you're really sick. C'mon, I'll get you somewhere comfortable," she suggested, leaning down and slinging his arm around her shoulder. She helped him to his feet. Joey winced at every movement. He must have hit his head on something, because the pain was drumming painfully into his cranium. With Mai's help, he stumbled over to a log which he could sit on.
They were in a large field, surrounded on all sides by trees. Yami and Tea sat nearby. Mai sat down next to Joey, breathing out heavily.
"I'm glad that's over," she sighed. "I couldn't stand that place much longer. It was so gloomy and dark. Exactly the opposite of what I like." Joey 'hmm'ed.
"Joey, Mai." Yami and Tea were approaching them. Mai looked up, while Joey flinched at the words that were digging into his skull. "We have decided that we have to find the others. That means that we can get out of Noa's virtual world," explained Yami.
"OK, then let's go," said Mai determinedly, standing up. She turned to Joey to help him up, but his hand was clutched to his head. Mai immediately became caring.
"Nah, I'm fine," assured Joey, waving away Mai's concern. He stood up, and a wave of dizziness overcame him, so he sat down again.
"No, you're not OK. How about you guys go on ahead, and I'll help Joey," suggested Mai. Yami and Tea agreed, and began to walk down the poorly made dirth path. Mai helped Joey to his feet, and put his arm around her shoulder. She put her own arm around his waist. He put almost his full weight onto Mai, making it almost impossible for her to even stand up, let alone walk with him. Joey's eyes were half closed.
"Guys! This could take a while!" she shouted. Yami glanced over his shoulder, and laughed.
"Let me help," he said, running back and putting Joey's other arm over his shoulder.
-
Many hours later, Tea and Mai were supporting Joey. Yami wandered ahead. He was now aware of Yugi's prescence nearby. He had assumed that once he had gone back to Noa's virtual world, his mind would once again fuse with Yugi's, but he found that he couldn't feel the youth's mind inside his own. Instead, he could sense that Yugi was not far away from where they were, so he glanced around them constantly, searching desperately for his hikari. After all, he had never been separated from Yugi for excessive periods of time.
"Yami, hold up a second," panted Tea. Joey usually supported about 1/4 of his weight on his own, because his legs wouldn't support his weight. No one knew what was wrong with him. He couldn't support his whole weight, and sometimes he couldn't support any of it. At this point in time, Joey's feet were dragging along the ground as Mai and Tea pulled him along. Yami came to a halt.
"Sorry... guys..." breathed Joey, his voice quavering and weak.
"S'OK Joey," comforted Mai. "We'll get you somewhere as soon as we get out of this virtual hell." Yami suddenly started sprinting forward for no apparent reason.
"Yami?" questioned Tea, but he did not stop. He had sensed Yugi's prescence very closely.
Yugi?he sent out, using the mind link they had often used when thier bodies were one. There were several seconds of baited silence, broken only by Yami's panting and the sound of his boots hitting the ground.
/Yami?/ came the long-awaited reply. /You're back? Where are you?/
We got out of the Shadow Realm after we found Joey and he found Mai,explained Yami. I'm somewhere on a track, with the other three.
/Joey found Mai?/ gasped Yugi, delighted. /But that's great! You must be close by, because we've only ever been able to mind link in close quarters. Wait.../ There was several moments of nothing, and then Yugi emerged from some nearby bushes. His face lit up as he saw Yami.
"Yami!" he shouted, running towards him, arms outstretched. But as he reached Yami, he went through him as their bodies united again. In Yami's place, Yugi now stood.
-
Joey's eyes flickered open. He sat up in the pod room, stretching and yawning widely. They had defeated Noa, now they had escaped from the virtual world. Everyone except Kaiba and Yugi, that is. Yugi had stayed back in the virtual world to find Kaiba. Joey got up from his pod and found that the pain that had plagued him ever since his trip to the Shadow Realm had disappeared. Even to Kaiba's medical team, many hours later, this was a mystery. But theory is that it may have payed a part in his weakening within his duel with Marik, but that's another story.The group huddled together worriedly. Kaiba and Yugi were still in the virtual world, and there was only minutes until the whole floating island blew up, courtesy of Noa.
"Guys, we better get onto the blimp, otherwise none of us is going to get out of here alive. We'll be able to start the blimp up while the other two are coming back," suggested Mokuba after a very nervous minute. Serenity, Tristan, Duke and Joey nodded; and they sprinted towards the landing area.
"One minute to self destruction," chimed the computerised voice, sounding cheerful about its own destruction. The gang reached the blimp and jumped on board. They immediately ran into the cockpit, and Mokuba ordered them to start the engines up.
"Thirty seconds to self destruction," said the voice again. Joey hung off the stairs, looking for Yugi and Kaiba. After another 10 seconds, they both appeared at the top of the stairs. The blimp was already 2 metres into the air, but Kaiba took a great jumping leap and landed on the stairs next to Joey. Yugi also made an attempt at a jump, but he was too short to reach the steps, but his hand grasped Joey's. Joey pulled him up and all three of them ran inside. The stairs folded up and the blimp took off just as the floating complex blew up.
Kaiba took the controls of the blimp and pushed it to its limits to escape the blast. For several moments, the blimp was englufed by flames, but Kaiba managed to force the blimp to fly faster, and the blimp zoomed out of the fire and out into open air. Everyone breathed out simulataniously.
"Joey, are you going to check on Mai?" asked Serenity innocently. [A/N: OK, who else here hates Serenity? Because she is the most irritating little {censored} in the world. Worse than Rebecca, I swear.]
Joey's face drained of colour. He couldn't bear to think of the thought that Mai may not be in her bed, waking up. The Millenium Puzzle flashed, and Yami approached Joey. He lifted one hand up and placed it on Joey's shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
"She will be there Joey. She'll be awake," he assured. Joey swallowed, and nodded. He lead the way to Mai's room. The rest of the group claimed that they would wait outside for a while, while Joey went in.
Joey pushed the button to open the door to the medical room. Inside was... [I should leave it there but I'm not that mean]
Mai! She was sitting up, stretching her slender arms. Joey's face lit up, and he rushed towards Mai. She barely saw him before she was in his arms and having the life squeezed out of her.
"Joey, you're squashing me," giggled Mai. Joey realised this, and he released her.
"Sorry about that," he apologised, but he couldn't keep the grin from his face. Mai smiled back half-heartedly.
"Are you OK Mai?" he questioned in a concerned voice. Mai sighed and shook her head.
"Marik... he took away all my memories and made illusions to trick and confuse me. How do I know this isn't another one of his mind games?" As an answer, Joey kissed her. Mai returned the kiss. As they broke away, Joey smiled.
"Does dat seem like one of Marik's mind games?" asked Joey.
"No, it didn't," confirmed Mai, pulling him in for another kiss.
Lu: That's it. All done. Forever. I can't bear it! Review!