The Finals-(Prolouge)
What you know...
After all the heroes had been through, the end was finally here. Yugi and Joey had made it to the end of the battle city tournament. They would have to stand strong in the faces of Kaiba, the ultimate character foil, and Marik, the spawn of hatred. Yugi had faced Kaiba before and knew his opponent's deck fairly well. But when the good Marik lost his soul to darkness, and lost his God card as well, his deck and battle strategy had changed. No advice could be given to Joey, except to stay aware at all times.
Everyone aboard the Duel Ship went outside to the onboard arena to witness the match; the heroes unsure if Joey could actually win, but hoping for the best. Kaiba expected a slaughter. And the turnout was as expected. Marik did win, but only on a technicality. If it had not been a shadow game, Joey would still have been standing in the end to take down the rest of Marik's life points.
The team stayed by Joey's side, while Yugi and Kaiba had their scheduled match. Both players pulled out the greatest cards in their decks. At one point, during a clash between equal powered gods, they were sent into a dimensional rift to ancient Egypt. There, they witnessed their souls battling in a primitive "shadow game."
During this primitive game, the High Priest's Blue Eyes White Dragon was unleashed upon the Dark Magician of the Egyptian Pharaoh. There was no spectacular duel scene, no destructive blasts; only a simple rising of two stone slabs and one reducing to rubble. The ruler's monster had fallen, and for the first time, Kaiba heard his voice from another body.
"Rules are rules, Pharaoh… Your soul will now be sent to the Shadow Realm, and I am free to take the throne. I can save the decimated land you destroyed in your greed, and Egypt will flourish once again."
"As long as Duel Monsters exist, so will I. The Gods will see to that."
"How do you know I won't destroy the monsterspharaoh?"
"You won't. Their power is too great, and you fear you might need them someday as protection. You're still afraid aren't you?"
"…"
"Yes, you are far too weak to rule this country. I will be back for it...someday."
"You will do no such thing pharaoh! You're soul has become impure from your millennium item! You will never make it past the trials of Ra and the perils of the underworld. You are too unclean to stand before the courtroom of the gods at your trial and honestly say that you are worthy of coming back."
After this, the two combatants were returned to their own time. Yugi was the first to speak. "So… that was us… or at least our souls. I guess I did make it through the trials that you spoke of Kaiba!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Yugi, or what that whole illusion was, but I'm still going to beat you."
But he couldn't defeat the pharaoh's soul. Time had predestined him to lose this day. And so Yugi went on to face Marik in the final match. It was an intense struggle with each of their very souls on the line.
After making a brilliant comeback, it appeared that Yugi would win. When Marik saw his end in sight, however, he raised his millennium rod and replaced the enslaved spirit of his good side, with that of Tea's. Yugi boomed out, "That isn't fair Marik! You can no longer change the stakes, it is too late! This is a shadow game!"
"Would you like to see unfair…Pharaoh?"
Instantly, everyone…all of Yugi's friends and foes, the Kaiba executive watching the match, all were half vanished and chained by their ankles and wrists in the air.
"Marik! Do you have any idea what kind of punishment you will endure for this? You're putting your very existence into jeopardy!"
"I don't care Pharaoh… In this day, age, moment, I exist only to cause you as much excruciating pain as possible. Do you think I fear losing my existence? It sounds kind of fun actually…"
Yugi tried hard to defeat this spirit of pure darkness but in the end was too distracted by the consequences of losing. And as his lifepoints were on the verge of reaching zero, he began to cry and apologize to his friends. He said, "I promise you all a safe return… someday." And the match was over.
Yugi removed his millennium puzzle from his neck and prepared for the journey ahead. It would not be so difficult with his friends by his side. They would all make it through together. And so everyone but Marik disappeared into the other side that day.
Flash-forward Sixty Years.