Hey! I know I left the other chapter at a cliffie, but I thought I'd be nice and post this one NOW! Go me Anyway, there might be a lil Joey/Mai in the next few chapters, but it's nothing big. If you don't like the pairing...I'd still read this chapter, there's some important stuff in it! Oh and I wrote a quick one-shot called They Never Knew, so far I got 2 good reviews, but they both said it was different. I'm happy, different is good...at least I think it is...can I help you? (Okay I just modified the quote from Finding Nemo, I need to spend a little less time babysitting) Sorry guys, this chapter is kinda short too, but I couldn't find a better 'breaking point' or whatever. I'm working on getting a beta reader, so just bear with my grammar mistakes for a little bit longer! LOL!

Moses-the-little-gurl: Thanks, I will!

Intricate simplicity:Life isn't fair, and that sucks, so I hurried up and posted this chapter just for you! I know, it was really short...but the next chapters will be longer!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Finding Nemo (check the message at the top)...if I did though, well I dunno what would happen...the possibilities...

Joey was out of breath. The alley he was in was barely lit and he could only make out figures. It took a while for his eyes to focus. Finally, he was able to see into the darkness. A weird hooded man was holding his sister. He was squeezing her around the waste, so it was hard for her to breath.

"Joey!" she screamed, whether he was there or not, she didn't know. She slowly passed out. The darkness sucked her in and now she was motionless.

"What did you do to her?" yelled a voice from the background. Joey couldn't tell who was screaming.

"What business is it to you?" the man asked.

"She's my friend, and I'll save her!" the voice yelled back. Joey's sight was becoming cloudy and he had to stay awake. The alley started to spin, and Joey fell to his knees. He was on the ground, but he didn't take his eyes off the man. The man didn't notice.

"Hmm, very well. I guess you might be more useful in my plan anyhow. How about this, if I beat you in a duel, I'll take you! If you win then you can have her!" the man laughed. He was cruel.

"I will, or my names not Tristan Taylor!" the voice yelled back. He looked over at Joey. Joey was coughing and trying to stay awake. Tristan didn't have a duel disk, in fact he wasn't a duelist at all. He just had to save Serenity. A new voice rose above the crowd.

"Tristan, don't do it! His power is unimaginable." someone yelled. Tristan looked behind him.

"I'm always there for my friends, and I can't let them down." Tristan screamed back. His voice was angry.

"Tristan, I want to help. I want to be there for my friends, and I'm telling you to let me duel instead. You don't even have a duel disk." the new voice pleaded.

"I'll use Joey's. I won't let you duel for me, I have to do this. I thought you of all people would understand." Tristan argued back. Joey could feel Tristan take off his duel disk.

"I'll save her!" Tristan whispered to Joey. Joey was still on the ground, and he could only nod. All Joey saw was darkness and the only thing that told him he was alive was the sounds he was hearing. He heard somebody running towards him.

"Tristan NO. Stay here with Joey...I'll duel for Serenity. I owe him that much." the person cried.

"NO! You don't owe Joey anything, he's your friend. I know you want to help, but so do I. You and Kaiba always talk about owing people, but he's your friend and you don't owe him anything!" Tristan yelled. He was walking right in front of the hooded man.

"Tristan, I know your still mad at me for what I did, I'm still mad at me for what I did...but I know that you won't let me duel for you, so you have to promise me that you'll save Serenity." the person said. Tristan calmed down.

"I promise." Tristan replied. Deep down Tristan was still mad at her. Yes, her. He didn't trust her, and sometimes he felt like he was the only one who felt that way. He knew that Tea agreed with him, but Joey and Yugi seemed to trust her. Serenity trusted her, but Tristan couldn't. Not yet, anyways. What calmed Tristan down the most was that she didn't trust herself. She didn't want to hurt anybody anymore, but Tristan had a hard time accepting that.

"Good luck." she whispered. Joey didn't know what was going on. He had fallen over completely, all he could hear was muttering. Everything was fading from him.

"Serenity!" he cried out into the night. He didn't know if anybody could hear him. Then he felt it. Whatever it was, it was warm. He was being pulled up. At this point, Joey thought he was dying. Slowly he was propped up against a wall. Everything was fuzzy and he realized that somebody pulled him up and they were holding him up.

"Joey, listen...Tristan is going to save your sister. I promise. All you have to do is wake up, everything will be okay." the woman whispered. Joey thrived on her words. He felt her hands holding up his head. They were warm and they helped bring back the feeling back in his face.

"Let's duel." Tristan and the mysterious man cried. Serenity had been placed in a corner, and she passed out. Joey's view was slowly coming into focus, and he couldn't breath. He felt dizzy again. He slowly started to fall.

"Joey, don't give up. You never gave up before, remember when you were dueling Odion, you didn't give up. When you dueled Marik, you didn't give up. When you were dueling me...you never gave up. Don't start now, your sister needs you." the woman cried. Hot tears were running down her face. She continued talking.

"The man just played Vampire Lord in attack mode. Okay, he placed a card face down. Tristan looks confused...I mean he's okay..." the woman said. She didn't want to worry Joey.

"Huh?" Joey whispered. The woman was suddenly happy, Joey said something.

"Tristan, watch out for that face down card! You can do it!" the woman screamed. Joey fell down again.

"I can't get up..." he whispered. The woman became angry. She pulled Joey up again.

"C'mon, Joey you've got to get up. Tristan and Serenity need you...please," she cried. Joey didn't move. Suddenly he felt a hand fly across his face. She had slapped him. Her words stung him, and everything became clear. He saw his sister in the corner. He saw Tristan dueling some weird man, and he saw Mai holding him up. Joey rubbed his face.

"Why did you slap me?" he asked. Mai thought it was a weird question to ask, considering everything else that was going on. She answered it nevertheless.

"It was the only way I could get you out of whatever you were in." she answered. Joey gave a slight smile, but he saw the fear in her eyes. She had turned away from him and saw that Tristan had played The Flaming Swordsman in attack mode, and he also placed one card face down.

"Ha, now you will get it! You should of attacked me, but this duel is over!'' the man yelled.

"Oh no." Joey said. Mai looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"He's going to play the Worst Fear of Souls card." he answered. Mai looked at him again puzzled.

"I've never heard of that card, but I have heard of this guy." Mai said, she was pointing to the masked man.

"Well it makes all your fears and nightmares come true, it's like a card that holds everybody's own shadow realm. Mai, what do ya know about these jerks?" Joey asked.

"Listen, after I left...I met a lot of people. A few of them were good, most were bad. They all thought I had a bad reputation, and many thought I could give them power. This guy confronted me one day. I was walking in the park, when he ran up to me in the same cape. It was dark, so when he put his hand over my mouth, nobody could hear me screaming. Nobody could see me either. He told me that his boss could give me everything I always wanted. He told me that he knew everything about me...and you and Yugi and everyone else. I've fallen for that trick before, but I wouldn't do it again. I told him no...and well some horrible stuff happened, but I knew that the leader has something against Yugi. Each of his closet hitmen have something against Yugi's closet friends. They have a huge plan...I wasn't able to uncover it. They are bad news...I believe this fight is harder than what you guys believe." Mai explained. She had to tell Joey as much as she knew, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it.

"Man, I hate those creeps." Joey yelled. Mai nodded, but Joey felt that she knew more. She was watching the duel, and black smoke started to come out of the card. Suddenly Serenity was on the field, and she looked dead. Yugi and Tea were also on the field, dead. Joey was on the other side of the field, only Mai was hovering over him. She was laughing. They were all holograms.

"His worst fear is losing his friends...and me...taking your soul..."Mai stated. Her eyes filled with tears. Tristan fell to the ground crying.

"Tristan, I'm over here...those figures aren't real!" Joey yelled out to him. Tristan saw Joey, and stood up. He was shaking.

"Don't let them mess with your head." Mai commanded. Tristan looked at her, and then looked at the Mai on the field. He knew that she saw herself, and yet she kept helping him.

"Don't listen to them, because of their talking...they missed out on all the fun. Tristan, your best friend's deck let you down. Now you only have 10 lifepoints left, out of 4000...you will lose. Vampire Lord attack!" the man said. Tristan's lifpoints dropped to zero.

"You lost, now I can take your soul...and Serenity's!" the man laughed.

"No!" shouted Joey. He started to run towards Tristan, but Mai pushed him back.

"They still need you!" she yelled at him. Joey's eyes filled with tears. Everything happened so fast. Tristan was yelling that he was sorry that he failed. The man used the card to make a huge light that was coming towards Tristan. Suddenly, Tristan felt somebody push him out of the way. He landed on the ground. The light was to bright, he couldn't see who pushed him.

"Joey!" Tristan screamed. He was full of rage, he knew that Joey always had to be the hero. The hooded man was hit by the force of the light, and he flew into the wall. He grabbed the card, which now held a soul and ran. The light slowly faded and Tristan saw who pushed him out of the way.

Another cliffhanger...(bites nails) Wait, I know what happens...never mind. Is it just me or do sometimes the YGO characters say really corny things when they have a crisis, I think so. I know what I wanted to happen, but it took me a while to figure out how, but I'm happy with this now. Anyway, I kinda skipped the duel, because the conversation was more important, and dueling confuses me. So um yeah, if you want a good dueling fic, I'm sorry to disappoint you. If you want a good 'action' type fic, that's suspenseful, then perhaps you've found it. I have to say that I enjoy writing this fic! Okay, now I'm being corny.

walks away before I become all mushy and stuff