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Fanfic Chapter 27: The Dark Spirit Returns
Episode Basis: The Night Before

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! The duel between Kaiba and Pegasus was not going in Kaiba's favor. Pegasus had pulled the big guns out: namely his mysterious Toon World magic card. Once activated, all his monsters would be drawn into it and they would be protected from whatever Kaiba throws at him. Then to add insult to injury, he used the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card he stole from Kaiba to transform it into the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, a monster with all the strength of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but with the evasiveness of a cartoon. Kaiba was finally able to get in a solid blow by using Shadow Spell to tie up the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon and sending is Blue-Eyes White Dragon to move in for the kill. But it wasn't good enough; Pegasus copied Kaiba's Crush Card strategy and infected Kaiba's deck. Kaiba ended up losing not only the duel and the chance to save his brother, but his soul as well. The rage he felt at Kaiba's defeat triggered Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and the Dark Yugi declared that he would finish Pegasus off and undone all of the harm he's inflicted. Big words, but can Yugi back them up?


The sun was just setting as everyone sans Pegasus had gathered in a dining room for dinner. The only decorations along the blue marble walls were two photographs: one was of a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed woman in a purple dress, and the second was of a dark-skinned man in cloak and turban.

"On behalf of Mister Maxamillian Pegasus, I'd like to congratulate the four Finalists and would like to welcome them to this final phase of the Duelist Kingdom competition. I trust all of you have your play-off entry cards."

"Huh?"

"In your invitations, you should've received these two cards…" Croquet held up two cards: one was a card with a white background and the other had a picture of a treasure. "Each of them allows you specific prizes: Glory of the King's Hand entitles you to the 3,000,000 dollar prize money." Croquet held up the card with the picture of the treasure on it. He then held up the other one. "Glory of the King's Opposite Hand allows you to challenge Pegasus for the Championship."

Joey cringed, Now he tells me. I don't have any of those cards.

Bandit Keith was thinking the same thing: of the millions of cards I own, I come across the two I don't have. I have to get me one.

"To make the contest more exciting, your master of ceremonies has added something special to your soup." Everyone turned to look at their bowls.

A metal eyeball surfaced in the bowls belonging to Yugi, Joey, Mai, and Keith. Everyone screamed.

"What is this, Halloween?" Joey asked Croquet.

"You should've learned by now that things aren't always what they seem."

Yeah, like a boulder that's actually a balloon with a speaker and two doors with changing exit points.

The Finalists opened up the eyeballs and pulled out pieces of paper with a letter on it. Yugi got 'A', Mai got 'B', Joey got 'D' and Bandit Keith got 'C'.

"And now, the computer will pair up the letters to determine the match-ups for the finals tomorrow."

"I wonder who will face who."

Yugi and Joey better not get paired up, those two already have enough to worry about, Harold thought.

Mai was thinking something different: This is good, once I find out who I'm dueling; I can use tonight to get prepared.

It doesn't matter who I'm paired up against, it won't matter if I don't have one of those entry cards, Joey thought discouragingly.

"And the pair-ups for the entries are… A versus B, and C versus D."

Joey immediately stood and asked, "Okay, who's got C."

"Me, runt," Bandit Keith replied.

"All right, I get to pay you back for trapping us in that cave!"

"Once I crush you, you'll wish that you were still trapped in that cave."

Joey growled.

"Looks like it's you and me, Mai," Yugi said.

"I'm looking forward to this duel. I promised I would give you a fair duel and I tend to make good on my promise."

"I have no doubt that you will, Mai."

"The duels are set," Bandit Keith announced. "Yugi Moto will duel Mai Valentine and Joey Wheeler will be dueling against Bandit Keith. Please enjoy the rest of this meal because for three of you tomorrow, you will be going home a failure." With a bow, Croquet left.

"Gee, what a swell guy," Harold said sarcastically. "All the social appeal of Igor."


On the balcony, Pegasus sipped his wine and watched the sunset. "So it has begun," he said.

Croquet came in. "The pairings have been decided, Master Pegasus. Yugi Moto and Mai Valentine will duel first and then Joey Wheeler and Bandit Keith will duel. I already asked several of my guards to escort them to their rooms."

"Well done, Croquet, you actually managed to do something right."

"Uh… thank you, sir." The two of them got up and left the balcony.


"Wow, Harold, you sure ate a lot."

"Considering I haven't had anything for the past two days, Mai, can you blame me?"

"I can't believe you two drank the entire eyeball soup," Tea said to Joey and Tristan.

Tristan just burped.

"Hey Joey," Yugi addressed, "We better get to bed, we have a big day tomorrow."

"What's the point, Yug, without one of those entry cards, I… huh?"

Yugi had his Glory of the King's Hand card out and was handing it to Joey. "Sure you do, think of it as an early birthday present."

Tea smiled at Yugi's generosity.

"But Yugi, don't you need that?"

"Croquet never said that both cards are needed, just that we needed to show one or the other. Since I need to face Pegasus and you need the prize money, it's only logical that you should get that card while I use the other." Joey still wasn't sure. "If you give up now, who's going to save your sister? What kind of big brother would you be if you didn't at least try to win the prize money?"

"Yeah, you're right as usual. Thanks, Yugi, you're a real pal."

Behind his glasses, Bandit Keith scowled.

As everyone got up to go to their rooms, Harold paused and noticed the pictures, particularly the one of the dark-skinned man. Freaky, he thought. That thing that guy's wearing around his neck looks kind of like the Millennium Puzzle. I mean sure it's a different shape but other than that, the make looks surprisingly similar.

"I see you're admiring my master's artwork," Croquet said walking up to Harold. Harold hadn't even seen him come in.

"Uh… yes, they're very nice. Just who are they anyway, they look so lifelike."

"Nobody you would recognize," Pegasus said. Harold jumped. "Just depictions the artist drew in his head." Harold could tell Pegasus was hiding something, but he wasn't about to challenge someone with the ability to steal people's souls so he just followed the others out.

The gang separated to go to their rooms. "Hey Yugi," Joey called. "Thanks again for bailing me out." Yugi just nodded and went into his room.
As night descended, Yugi stared out his window. Well, Grandpa, I made it this far, a couple of more victories and we're going home... together. Kaiba, I promise I will get Pegasus back for what he did to you and free you and Mokuba from his twisted prison.

Mai stared at her Harpie Lady card. Okay, if I'm going to beat the kid who beat Kaiba, I'm going to have to tune my deck to perfection. I can't leave anything up to fate.


In Joey's room, he dreamed peacefully, dreaming of his sister and how he was going to save her eyesight.


Harold dumped his backpack onto a table and sat down. Something about this doesn't add up, he thought. If Mokuba was right in saying that Pegasus wanted to take over Kaiba Corporation, why does he focus so much attention on Yugi? Why was it Yugi whom Pegasus singled out? And to make matters worse, we're spending the night in the castle of a man who uses cartoon monsters and has a fetish for people's souls. Harold's backpack flap fell open and a package spilled out. It was wrapped in ancient-looking brown paper. What theoh yeah, the package, I almost forgot about it. I first discovered this last night, when Mai was kidnapped by Panik. But I still have no clue how it ended up in my backpack. Wait a secondthe backpack! This isn't the one I thought it was. Harold looked at his backpack. The stitching on the bottom was beginning to unravel. I knew it! This is the same design but it's not the backpack I thought it was. It's not the one I usually use. I was in such a hurry to leave for Duelist Kingdom that I didn't realize which one I took. This one has always been in my apartment. I never paid much attention to it. This package must've been left here by the apartment's previous owner. No, wait, that isn't it, it's somethingmaybe I can figure it out by opening the package. Carefully (Harold was afraid it might be a bomb or something), Harold undid the wrapping paper. "No freaking way!"


Tea also couldn't sleep. The one night I actually get to sleep in a descent bed and I'm wide awake. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I'm in a mansion of an eccentric millionaire who likes to steal people's souls. There was a knock on her door. Tea opened it up to reveal Tristan and Bakura. "What's up, guys?"

"Tristan thinks that Pegasus cheats in all his duels," Bakura explained.

"Well he does!" Tristan said defensively. Tristan explained his theory.

"Do you really think Pegasus won his duel against Kaiba by cheating?" Tea questioned.

"No doubt, Kaiba's one of the top Duelists but Pegasus beat him like he was an amateur."

"That's true."

"No one can beat Kaiba that easily, at least not playing fair and square. The way he was dueling, it was like Pegasus knew what cards Kaiba had in his hand the entire time. I'm telling you the truth; Pegasus is as bogus as a three dollar bill. You can't trust that guy."

"Even if you were right about Pegasus, what can we do?" Tea asked.

"Plenty, we'll find out how Pegasus cheated. There has to be some sort of clue down at the dueling platform. We'll expose Pegasus for the fraud he really is!"

"With all the guards around, we're going to need help from the others."

"No, they have to rest for the tournament and Harold already volunteered to watch over them in case Pegasus tries anything on them. It's up to us; we have to do this all by ourselves."

"I'm with you," Tea agreed.

Bakura wasn't so sure.


"Yugi! Yugi!"

Yugi sat up in his bed. "Grandpa… Grandpa, is that you?"

"Yugi, I must speak with you!" His Grandpa's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere.

"Grandpa, where are you?"

"Follow my voice!"


Tea, Tristan, and Bakura got down to the dueling ring quite easily. Tristan and Bakura were now searching the arena while Tea kept watch from the balcony.

"Tristan, I can't find anything," Bakura complained as he searched Pegasus' platform.

"Keep looking, there has to be a hidden camera or something."

"Maybe Pegasus isn't a cheater," Tea offered. "Maybe he's just good at figuring out cards like a psychic or something."

"I once spoke to a psychic. She said I would have a nice girlfriend within six months… it's been a year, not a single date. I don't believe in psychic powers." As much as Tea hated to admit it, his logic was sound, although she couldn't say the same for the reason behind the logic.

Suddenly a beam of light shined down onto Tristan's back. "Tristan, look at your back!"

"What about my back?"

The source of the beam of light turned out to be moonlight shining through a small hole in the wall high above the doorway. Tea decided to try an experiment. "Tristan, go stand on the dueling platform and pretend to hold a card up like you were dueling."

"Okay." Tristan went up to Kaiba's platform and held his hand up.

The beam of moonlight shined perfectly on the hand.

Tristan hoisted himself up and stared through the hole. "There's a tower on the other side of the courtyard. And isn't it convenient that the top window is aligned perfectly with this hole! It would be so easy for one of Pegasus' guards to hide out in that tower with a telescope and spy on Kaiba's hand.

"But there's something wrong with your logic, Tristan," Bakura said. "If the guard was spying, how would he relay it to Pegasus without us noticing?"

"Maybe through a receiver, Pegasus could be hiding one underneath his hair."

"Good thinking, Sherlock, let's get over there right now!"

"But what about the guards?" Bakura asked as Tristan jumped down.

Tristan patted Bakura's shoulder. "You'll be safe with me."

Bakura certainly didn't feel safe at the moment.


Yugi dashed out of his room. The hallways were dark, and there was nobody around; not even a guard.

"Yugi, you must beware of Pegasus," his Grandpa's voice rang out. "You must stop him or he could destroy the entire world!"

"Pegasus? Hang on, Grandpa, I'm coming!" He took off into the darkness.


"This castle is like a maze," Tea complained.

Bakura hushed her and Tristan said, "Keep it down, will you; there are goons around every corner."

"But we're running around in circles," whined Tea as they passed a suit of armor complete with swords. Tristan suddenly got an idea and took a grappling hook off its hooks.


"Let's see, Harpie Lady combined with Cyber-Shield… no, he's familiar with that strategy." Mai gathered up her cards and started shuffling. "He's seen most of my strategies in my duels against Joey…" She thought back to her duel with Joey.

Mai let out a laugh of triumph. "And I will keep using the magic of Elegant Egotist to double my Harpies again and again each turn! But while my Harpies' multiply, I can't attack so it's your move. Of course it won't do you any good because you'll soon be up against an army!"

"An army of Harpies, how do I fight a whole army?"

"Don't give up, Joey!" Yugi called out. "Think about her strategy. She's been using only one monster card and strengthening it with many magic cards. But there's a serious flaw in her dueling strategy..."

"He's seen most of my cards so I can't use my normal strategies; I'm going to have to think of something new…"


Bandit Keith lay in his room whistling. Well, time to snatch me one of those special cards. Keith got up and snuck out of his room.


Yugi ran into the courtyard in his pajamas. "Grandpa, where are you? I can't find you!"

"Yugi, beware of Pegasus!" Yugi looked and spotted a soul card with a picture of his Grandpa on it. "Pegasus wields shadow powers of incredible strength, much stronger than anyone could ever imagine!"

Yugi knelt down. "But how is that possible?"


Two guards were stationed outside the tower but Tea, Tristan and Bakura were able to sneak past them by scaling the outer siege wall of the castle to the ledge that encircled the roof of the tower. Suddenly Tea slipped and started to fall. She screamed but Tristan and Bakura quickly clamped her mouth shut. The boys helped her back onto the ledge. The guards looked around but, failing to see anything odd, stood at ease.

Tea ripped Tristan's hand away from her mouth and quietly scolded him, "Next time pull me up before you clamp my mouth shut."

"Sorry."

"I can't believe your plan is to enter the tower from the roof!"

"Well you wanted to avoid the guards. I don't see any guards up here."

"I should've stayed behind with Harold," Tea moaned.


"Grandpa, how can Pegasus' shadow power be growing?"

"Every soul he sends to the Shadow Realm increases his power!"

Yugi pounded the ground. "He must be stopped!"

The card floated out of Yugi's hand and was mounted on a cross. Two other crosses were slightly behind the center one which held Yugi's Grandfather's soul card. The Kaiba Brothers' soul cards were mounted, one on each side. Yugi ran after it. "This is wrong," he said.


Tristan threw the grappling hook to the top window. "All right, Tea, you go first, that way, if you fall, Bakura and I can catch you."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Idiot!" Tea snapped blushing a little. "I'm wearing a skirt!"

"So?" Tristan asked like it was no big deal. Tea looked like she was ready to slap him. Bakura whispered something in Tristan's ear. "Oh, I see now. Okay, then, in that case, we'll go first."

"Why must men have to be first for everything?"

"Well pick one or the other, Tea, you can't have it both ways."

"Hmm…"


"You're next, Yugi," came Kaiba's voice.

Mokuba's voice added, "He wants you!"

"But why is Pegasus after me?"

"Pegasus unlocked tremendous magical power with his Millennium Item!" His Grandpa… or rather his Grandpa's spirit, explained. "Imagine how much power he can wield if he had your puzzle?"


"Tristan, that's not the rope, that's my leg!"

"Well, climb faster and I won't pull it."

"Ow, you did it again," Bakura hissed.

"Well it's not like I can see it. Uh… Tea, you do know that if you fall, we won't be able to catch you." Tea had found a rather simple way to solve their dilemma: by blindfolding both the boys and then going up first.

"Tristan, I'm scared!" Bakura whined.

"Don't be scared, just keep climbing."


"How can I stop Pegasus?" Yugi asked the three soul cards.

"Just as Pegasus learned to harness the power of his Millennium Eye, you must learn to master the power of your own Millennium Item!"

"My puzzle?"

"Yes, Yugi, your puzzle."

"But how?"

"That you must discover on your own, but no matter what it takes, Pegasus must be defeated! If he wins, with his unlimited shadow powers and the magic of the Millennium Items, he can unleash Armageddon upon the entire world!"

Suddenly blue flames erupted around the crosses.

"Grandpa!"

"You can do this, Yugi, I believe in you!"


"We're in," Tea said as he picked the lock on the window. She crawled in.

"That was the most horrible experience of my life," Bakura complained pocketing the blindfold.

"Hey, we got up here, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but I'm never asking you to lead me through the woods ever again." The boys also crawled through the window. They looked through the tower but all they could see was some extravagant curtains, a desk, and a gigantic portrait of a blonde, blue-eyed woman in a purple dress.

"Who do you suppose this is?" Bakura asked.

"I don't know," Tea replied. "Can you find a light switch?" Suddenly the lights clicked on. Tea, Tristan, and Bakura turned around but saw no one. "Did one of you guys do that?"

"No, I guess they're voice-activated," Tristan guessed.

With the lights on, the kids were able to get a good view of the portrait. "I've seen it before," Tea realized. "It was in the dining room, above the door."

"But who do you suppose she is?" Bakura wondered.

"She must be very important to Pegasus."

"But I haven't seen her at all since we arrived. Do you suppose she's Pegasus's w…?"

"Isn't it past your bed time?" The three adventurers turned to see Pegasus at the top of the stairs.

"How'd you find us?"

"A little birdie told me… and I saw you climbing up the walls."

"Well we're onto you, Pegs."

"Uh… Tristan, maybe you shouldn't make the guy with the magic eye ball upset," Tea suggested.

"We know that you've been spying on Kaiba's cards from up here!"

"You break into my sanctuary and you accuse me of wrongdoing? Absolutely no one is allowed in this room. And I'm afraid you three have seen too much."

"What do you mean?"

"You three should've stayed in your room, but I guess now you're going to have to be… disciplined." Pegasus lifted up his hair to reveal his Millennium Eye. It started to glow. The floor melted away taking the three of them with it.


"Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power. Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power…"

Tristan moaned. "Who turned on the Yoko Ono albums?" He got up and looked around. He, Tea, and Bakura were in a dimly-lit corridor covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Strange chanting could be heard in the distance.

"Do you guys hear that?" Tea asked. "Sounds like chanting."

"Let's go check it out."

"But why?"

"Must you always criticize my plans, Bakura?"

"Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power. Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power."

Tea, Tristan, and Bakura came to a large chamber. Row after row of cloaked figures stood on either side of the room. Two of them had stepped towards the center of the room.

"Who are these clowns?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know but they're creeping me out," Bakura complained.

"Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power. Realm of shadows in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power! Begin!"

Two stone tablets were raised from the floor but the three only saw the carving on one of them: a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The two stone tablets turned to face one another.

"Hey, those two look like they're dueling," Tristan realized. The other tablet, a Crawling Dragon, crumbled.

"You lose," one of the cloaked figures said. His opponent disappeared in a flash of blue light. Tristan, Tea, and Bakura screamed.

"What?" The cloaked figures said as one. Immediately they came after them.

The winner removed his hood. It was Pegasus.


Yugi could only watch in horror as the soul cards were consumed in fire. "Yugi, discover the secret of the Millennium Puzzle, only then can you defeat Pegasus!" Yugi watched in horror as the three crosses were consumed.

"GRANDPA!"


Yugi shot up from his bed, panting heavily. "It was all just a dream… or was it?"


"Where'd that robed guy go?" Tristan asked.

"Which one?"

"The one you were just dueling!"

"Oh, him, he was sent to the Shadow Realm."

"Not the Shadow Realm again!" Tea complained.

"Thousands of years ago, this is how the Shadow Games were played, these duel rituals released the power of the Shadow Realm and every soul I trapped there increases the power of my Millennium Eye. You can't imagine the strength of my magic. But one power still eludes me: the ability to control life over death! For that magic, I must capture more souls like yours!"

"He's going to zap us like he did to Kaiba!" Tristan said horrified.

"Don't blame me, I can't simply allow you to escape after you snooped around my castle and learned my secrets. And Bakura, your capture will do more than just increase my shadow magic; it will gain me your Millennium Ring!"

Bakura took a step back in fear. How did Pegasus know he had the Millennium Ring?

Pegasus fired a blast from his Millennium Eye heading straight for the trio. Suddenly the blast was deflected. Another cloaked figure landed in front of them, but this one was dressed differently. His cloak was scarlet red. He wore a hood deep over his face. A strange bracelet with archaic symbols was on his left wrist.

"Who's that guy?" Tristan wondered.

Pegasus also wondered that. "I don't know who you are, but how dare you intrude on this sacred sanctuary. Surround him!" The other robed figures surrounded the newcomer.

"Get out of the way, man, you're out numbered twenty to one!"

The red cloaked figure looked around then held his arm up, the arm with the strange bracelet. The symbols seemed to come right off the bracelet and started spinning around him. Pegasus' "disciples" (for lack of a better term) went flying.

"You shall pay for that! Prepare to face the full power of my Millennium Eye!"

As one of the archaic symbols touched Bakura's chest, the white-haired boy collapsed to his knees, holding his stomach.

"Bakura, what's wrong?" Tea asked laying a hand on his arm.

"Something… grabbing hold… get away!" Bakura shoved Tea into Tristan as the Millennium Ring appeared and started moving erratically. When it stopped, Bakura had changed. His eyes grew harsher and his hair stood up slightly. "Change of plans," he said in a sinister voice.

"It can't be, you? But how did you…"

"So you recognize me, eh? Well you're about to forget you ever saw me emerge along with everyone else. Mind Erasure!" His Millennium Ring consumed everything in light.


Tristan woke up. He was back in his room, the sheets crumpled up towards the foot of his bed. He groaned, "What hit me? My head feels like its pounding!"


"Wow, what a nightmare," Tea moaned. "Wait, was it a dream or real? What's this I'm feeling in my heart? It feels like… something bad's going to happen!"


Yami-Bakura sat in his room. "You can't hide from me now, Pegasus. Soon, your Millennium Eye will be mine!"


Bandit Keith snuck into Joey's room. Checking on Joey to make sure he was still sleeping, he said, "You snooze, you lose." He reached into Joey's jacket pocket and took out his card.


Mai sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally, this strategy is perfect. Sorry, Yugi, but your next duel will be your last!"


Yugi sat and watched as the sun rose. I know that wasn't any ordinary dream. My Grandpa was trying to send me a message from the Shadow Realm. But what is the secret of the Millennium Puzzle? And can I figure out how to control it… before it's too late!

The End