As school kicks up again soon I'll be updating a little less frequently, but I promise that this fic will be seen to the end so never fear. In this chapter, Joey and company make their way to the training hall in the hopes of finding information. Will they find what they are looking for?

Oh yeah, just in case, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or anything related to it. Just making sure ya know.



The sounds of the city of Domino could be described best as unsettling. Perhaps more unsettling than the scenery, buildings decaying and crumbling in disrepair despite their advances in architecture. Perhaps more unsettling that the residents, oppressed people devoid of any pleasures in life and often lacking the basic essentials to survive. The sounds were not always loud, often the hollow sound of wind blowing through the crumbling structures could send a shiver up one's spine. They were not always near either, the rumble of thunder in the distance, a reminder that the sun had not shone on the land for longer than most people can remember. Rarely were the sounds subtle and easy to ignore, the sounds of dueling and the destruction and pain that always followed were not uncommon, but never could one get used to it. Underground, away from the realities of the surface world, things were always different. Be it the quiet conversations of two fugitives or someone boasting of defeating someone else in a duel, one could always prefer the relative quiet of the underground tunnels to the open fields of pain above. For Joey, Mokuba, and their old friend Tea, the sounds they beheld they had been seeking for some time. A vast training hall stood before them. Men and women alike used metal machines to train their bodies, increase their endurance to stand up to adversity. Martial arts were regularly taught to train their spirits, give them courage to persevere. Duels with step-by-step commentaries were broadcast to train their minds, teach them how to duel with skill and give them the strength to win.

Joey's eyes twinkled in delight at the sight that stood before him. His mouth hanged open in awe, and he slowly walked forward to join the other people who were so enjoying what he beheld. He broke into an excited run. "Awright! A pizza place!" Joey stood in line, rather, hopping eagerly in line to receive his delectable prize.

Mokuba and Tea watched him run off, not entirely surprised that Joey would find the only food vendor in the place before noticing much else. They took a seat and awaited his return.

Joey got to the front of the line after what seemed to be an eternity to him. "Kay, just gimmie the works, pile it high!" The vendor looked confused for a moment, then shrugged and disappeared into what Joey assumed was the kitchen. The man came back with a tray, on it were several bottles that contained pills of some kind. Joey looked confused.

"Vitamins, sir. I wasn't sure what you meant by 'the works' but I figured that meant you wanted a wide variety of them. Are they to your liking?"

Joey nearly exploded. "No! They ain't to my liking! I thought I smelled pizza and all I get is a buncha vitamins? What's goin' on here?"

"Sir, I don't know where you've been for the past 20 years, but precious consumables such as pizza and hamburgers have been unavailable to anyone but the KaibaCorp employees. The smell is simply a byproduct of the condensation process to make the vitamins. Now, it's not easy to make vitamins so you must pay us with some sort of raw material. Building materials, nutritional, doesn't matter. Now, I suggest you pay up before I make you regret it."

Joey raised a fist. "Oh yeah tough guy? Well let's see ya try!"

Joey dipped his sponge into a pail of water and continued cleaning the exercise machine. "I guess he made me regret it, all right."

Mokuba munched on one of his vitamins. "It's not so bad Joey, only another hour or so and you're done."

Tea nodded. "That guy was also nice enough to give us those vitamins. As long as you did some extra work."

Joey begrudgingly began chewing on a vitamin as well. "Lousy no good health stuff. I can't believe there isn't any real food anywhere. Hey Mokuba, you had real food when I was at your apartment. Didja grab some when you left KaibaCorp?"

Mokuba quickly shushed Joey. "Do you want everyone to know I used to work for them? Yes, I grabbed a whole bunch of provisions before I left. Now stop grumbling, I'm gonna ask around and see if I can come up with any information." He walked off and sauntered around some people lifting weights.

Tea put her hand on Joey's shoulder. "I'm going to see if I can talk to the boss here. Hopefully my reputation as the leading card trader will get me an audience." She started to walk away, then turned around. "Oh and Joey, if you don't mind my room could use a bit of cleaning when we get back to the hideout."

Joey jumped to his feet. "How about I clean your clock!" He threw his cleaning sponge and her, which sailed harmlessly over her head. She stuck out her tongue and disappeared into the crowds. Joey chuckled and walked over to where his sponge had landed. He leaned over and picked it up, and he noticed that he was standing in the middle of a small field of wooden posts. He looked closer at one, it had a small sandbag tied to it at about shoulder level. The post was deep in the ground, like it was meant to withstand impacts.

"It's a punching post, stranger. You test the power and skill of your punches on it." A voice from behind spoke. Joey turned around and found himself looking at a large, powerful man. The man's left arm was a mechanical prosthesis, either to increase strength or replace a lost limb. He was dressed in furs and wore a mask shaped like a bear. "Go on, give it a try."

Joey smiled. "Sure, I'll show ya some real skill." He cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms. Once he warmed up he took a fighting stance and punched the post hard. A crack resounded through the hall and some sandy dust was thrown into the air. Joey inspected his hand for damage, and there was none. He smiled, satisfied, and the crowd that gathered muttered to each other.

"Not too shabby," the man said, "but I'll show ya some real power!" With that, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into another post. The sandbag burst open and spilled it's contents on the floor. The crowd cheered and clapped. "It's no surprise that I'm the leader here, I've got muscles on my muscles. Try again when you build up some real power."

Joey clenched his teeth. "If it's one thing I can't stand its show-offs! I'll teach you what muscle is!" With that, he stood in front of a different post and pulled his fist back. He let out a deafening yell and slammed his fist into the post with all his might. His fist connected with it hard and everyone looking on let out a sharp gasp. The post split down one side and the sandbag exploded, showering all those near it with sand. Joey recoiled and let out a groan of pain as he clutched his hand. Mokuba ran out of the crowd to Joey's side.

"Joey are you okay? What were you thinking?"

"It's all right man, I'm used to that sorta thing, I'll be fine in a minute or two.

The man looked shocked. "Joey? Your name is Joey?"

Just then, Tea pushed her way out of the crowd. "You guys, you'll never guess who the leader here is! It's..."

The man removed his mask and Joey and Mokuba's eyes widened in surprise.

"Tristan!"

Tristan stepped forward and faced Joey. "Man, it is you! I can't believe it! And Tea too!" He looked at Mokuba a moment. "Kaiba here too? Great, now the party can really start." he said sarcastically.

Joey laughed. "Man, that's Mokuba. He's had time to grow up, unlike the rest of us." Joey looked critically at Tristan's large muscular body. "Well, unlike most of us."

Tristan nodded and thumped his chest. "Yup, if a guy is gonna get by around here he's gotta be buff!" He extended his large hand and took Joey's. "It's great to see you again, man. I've been sittin' around here for four years waitin' for ya to show up."

Joey shook his hand firmly. "Better late than never, old buddy."

Tristan looked around at the crowd that was still looking on. "Well? Come on people that iron won't pump itself!" They quickly dispersed leaving the four alone. "So what do ya say we go somewhere a little quieter? We can take five in my quarters."

The four sat in what looked like a bodybuilder's play room. Large heavy weights were left carelessly lying around the room and articles about weight lifting were posted on the walls. Their chairs were made somewhat haphazardly and they surrounded a large table. After Joey told Tristan about everything that had happened up until then, Tristan rummaged through one of his drawers and retrieved several folders and rolled up maps.

"So what's your story, Tristan?" Joey asked. "How come you're a musclehead all of a sudden?"

Tristan shook his head. "After all that's happened you haven't changed a bit. Well, like I said before I got here about four years ago. I found my way underground pretty quickly, and I couldn't believe my luck when I found Yugi."

Tea leaned forward and grabbed Tristan's arm. "Yugi? Yugi is here after all? Is he okay?"

"Woah easy Tea, let me finish." She sat back and gripped her hands in anticipation. "Yugi had opened some sort of dueling school, right where my training hall is now. He rallied up some people and gave them some rare cards, taught them how to duel. He figured if we stormed KaibaCorp quickly and all at once we could take 'em by surprise and bring 'em down. On the day of the attack I stuck with Yugi, he might be the best duelist around but if things got rough I could back him up. We met up with those top three guys that guard the president of KaibaCorp. Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto. They challenged Yugi to a duel and promised to relinquish their control of Japan if he won. With that kind of prize he couldn't refuse, but Yugi was outnumbered. No matter how good he is, even with that puzzle helping him out, it was three against one. He held out for a while but they overwhelmed him in the end. They called some goons out and took him away. I tried to stop them but there were too many, some of them had weapons too. I'm no duelist, so they decided to just beat the heck out of me instead. It was a running fight all the way outta that place. I finally got out and managed to get back underground. Most of my body was toasted in the fight, I lost almost my entire left arm even. Doctors gave me this big metal one and helped me recover. I turned the dueling school into the training hall you see here. I've got recordings of all the stuff Yugi taught, and I help people bulk up too. Gotta be strong and healthy to survive around here. On my way out I grabbed all this junk here." He gestured to the folded papers and rolled up maps. "This stuff is information about that KaibaCorp building. Where all the security things are, floor maps, and most importantly where they hide the prisoners." Mokuba grabbed a handful of them and set up his laptop and began studying them. "I wish we knew where some more good duelists are, with all this stuff we could storm the place and rescue Yugi and everyone else."

Joey stood up. "Well hey, we've got your good duelists right here! I already beat one of them top three guys and Tea here is no pushover! We could do it!"

Tristan frowned. "I dunno, man. Yugi couldn't even beat 'em and I nearly got killed trying to escape. It doesn't look good for us."

Mokuba spoke up. "Not necessarily. With these floor plans and my laptop I was able to draw up a real-time map of the guard shifts in the building. I've also gauged their dueling strengths and it looks to me like both Joey and Tea could beat them all pretty easy, if they had to. The real trick is to get in there without being seen though. If we're caught then they'll just send for reinforcements and that'll be that. Then of course there's those three major goons way up at the top. Although..." He seemed conflicted, like an idea he didn't agree with just occurred to him. "We could formally challenge the Judgemasters."

Tristan was taken aback. "What? I think you've got a few screws loose in there Mokuba. You should know that challenging the Judgemasters is like committing suicide."

"Think about it though! If we beat them we can get a pardon on anyone we want. We could get Mai out of there and see if any of our other friends are in there

as well. I imagine they'd have Yugi in KaibaCorp's own personal prison, unfortunately. With Mai on our side we would stand a much higher chance of successfully rescuing Yugi."

Joey nodded. "How does challenging them work?"

"We just have to head over there and request a formal duel. They'll send out someone they call the 'guardian' and if you beat her, you get to pardon any number of people as long as you know them. I don't have a whole lot of data on this guardian, but rumour goes that she uses guardian monsters. Information on the guardian cards is not even recorded. All I can do is verify their existence, nothing about how many different kinds there are or what they are capable of."

Tea, who had buried her face in her hands when Tristan told them about Yugi, looked up. "Let's do it." She wiped a tear from her eye. Everyone looked at her, dumbfounded. "If we have a chance of saving Mai and Yugi, we should do everything we can to get them back.

Joey crossed his arms, determined. "I say we do it. With all of us together, we'll get Mai back in no time, then we can march on over to KaibaCorp and bust Yugi outta there!"

Tristan sighed. "I guess that settles it. We'll head out first thing tomorrow morning. Everyone do whatever you need to get ready. I'll tell everyone in the training hall to give you guys their full cooperation."

Mokuba picked up all the documents and his laptop. "I'm going to see if I can figure out more about those guardian cards. I'll figure out a battle plan for the main KaibaCorp complex too." With that he sat against the wall and laid everything out before him."

Joey stretched his arms. "I'm just gonna head to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open here..."

Tristan stood up and flexed his large arms. "Sounds good to me, man. Hang around a sec though, I gotta ask ya something." Joey nodded. Tristan kneeled down in front of Tea, who was still sitting down staring at the floor. "Tea, you know I did everything I could for Yugi, right?" She nodded slightly. "And ya wanna know something? When he lost, he turned to me and said 'If you see Tea, tell her I'll be okay, and take care of her for me.' and ya know what? I'm gonna do just that."

Tea looked up at him and smiled. She wrapped her arms around him, it was a little awkward due to his bulky body, and she hugged him as tight as she could. "Thank you." she whispered to him. She stood up and headed towards one of the bedrooms and closed the door softly.

Joey was silent as Tristan walked up to him. "So what's up?"

"Joey, are you sure we have a chance to win? I know what you said and all, but I just want to be sure you're not just trying to be the tough guy for our sakes."

"Of course, man. The Battle City tournament has given me a lot of dueling experience and I just got some new cards from Tea. I think that we have the best chance of anyone to get Yugi outta there."

Tristan smiled earnestly at his best friend. "I'm glad you're back man. You even found Tea. Once Yugi was taken away I was sure that I was done for. I'm no good at dueling or anything, I really think we have a chance now."

Joey nodded, then smiled. "Hey, take it easy man. You may be all big and strong now but you're still a softy at heart."

Tristan shook his mechanical fist. "Care to run that by me again, tough guy?"

Joey turned around and headed to his bedroom. "Sorry. You'd probably get all blubbery on me, I couldn't hit ya if you started cryin' or something. 'Night." Before he could hear Tristan's response he closed the door.

Joey removed his duel disk, a great relief after having carried it around all day long. He rubbed his sore wrist where it had once been. He turned his neck gently to one side and was rewarded with a cracking noise. "Man, I'm tense." He thought to himself. He looked at himself, his clothes were covered in dirt and his body was no less dirty. He looked around the room and was relieved to find a shower in the bathroom. "I can just shake the dirt off my clothes, but I'm gonna need a shower." He tossed his ragged clothing onto his bed and stepped in the shower. The water, if a little bit chilly, felt good against his skin. "I still can't believe everything that's happened here. Everything has changed so much. Tea and Tristan have both had major accidents and they've both been alone for so long. Yugi's captured by those KaibaCorp jerks, and Mai has been stuck in prison for a long time too. I don't even know if Serenity has arrived yet or if she'll even get here anytime soon. When this is all over... IF this ever ends and we get back to our time, how can we go back to the way we were? After everything that's happened, could we all just go on like it never happened?" He shut the water off. He found a pair of pyjamas in a drawer next to the bed. They apparently belonged to Tristan because they were quite large. Joey was able to tie the pants but the shirt was practically another bedsheet. He searched through his deck briefly to make sure all his cards were still there, then got into bed. He lay there staring at the ceiling, then eventually fell asleep.

Even in sleep Joey could not find true peace. A dream plagued his mind that night, a dream that seemed too real for it to be nothing but a dream.

Yugi fell to his feet, exhausted. His clothing was torn and he was bleeding.

"Please, no more. I can't go on dueling any longer."

"Silence! You will continue to duel and we will continue to study you and that god card of yours. You as well! You shall not slack off any longer! Begin!"

Yugi's opponent was in a similar condition, his identity shrouded in the shadows. "Yugi," he spoke, his voice ragged. "Get up you little pipsqueak. We can't give them the satisfaction of showing weakness."

Yugi pulled himself to his feet, tugging slightly on his restraints as he did. "Okay, let's duel."

Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk the Tormentor faced each other, then let out their strongest attacks on one another. Yugi and his opponent were engulfed in the torrents of energy and both cried out in pain.

Joey awoke with a jump. He nearly cried out but he clamped a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't wake anyone up. He sighed. There was no way he was getting back to sleep anytime soon. He strode out of his room and into the main area. Mokuba was still sitting against the wall, his laptop closed but all the documents still spread out before him. His breathing was slow and his eyes closed, he was asleep. From behind the heavy door on the other side of the room, Joey could hear Tristan's loud snoring. Joey smiled and shook his head, then turned around and started heading for his room. He stopped a moment and looked at the closed door of Tea's room. He thought a moment, then against his better judgement he crept over to the door. He opened it just a tiny bit. "I just wanna see if she's doin' okay, that's all." He opened it a little bit more and slowly poked his head in. Tea was asleep, apparently having a nightmare of her own. She was tossing and turning, a tear slowly slid down her cheek. "Don't you worry, Tea." He whispered. "Everything is gonna be okay. I'll make sure of it." With that, she stopped thrashing and seemed to sleep more peacefully, Joey thought for a moment she had heard him. He closed the door and returned to his room, where he returned to his fitful sleep.



Talk about sad. Still, with Tristan on the team everything will be okay. Or will he and Joey just fall into old habits and fight a lot? I suppose both could happen. Next chapter, Joey challenges the Judgemaster's guardian to a duel and is shocked by who they find! Keep on reviewing everyone!