This is the second to last chapter . . . I wrapped it up rather quickly actually. I've been beyond busy and I sincerely apologize for the wait.
Disclaimer: I don't own YGO . . . and it's a good thing because it would probably become very sad and dramatic.
The sky became dark and the wind blew ferociously. Joey had a very bad feeling. Yugi was constantly looking behind his back, as if someone was going to jump up and attack him. Tea and Serenity were trying to cheer up Mokuba. Duke and Tristan were whispering about how hot Serenity was and who would go out with her first.
The group was met up by two men holding the Prof., Rebecca and Yugi's grandpa. They pushed their captives toward the group.
"Grandpa!" Yugi cried. Yugi quickly hugged him.
"Rebecca, Prof.!" Duke exclaimed. Rebecca hid behind her grandpa.
"Are you guys okay?" Tea asked. The three nodded. The two men ran off.
''Wait up!" Yugi yelled, those men would pay. Joey hurriedly looked around.
"We've gotta go after them!" Joey yelled as he dashed after them.
"He's always running off." Tristan stated. Duke nodded and Serenity gave them nasty looks.
"We better go after him!" Yugi suggested. The group agreed and they ran off after Joey. Unfortunately, they didn't see which way Joey ran off.
Joey turned a corner. He was sure that he saw those two men run this way. He was now in a dark alley, alone. Well, he thought he was alone. He looked around and saw nothing but darkness. After he focused his vision, he saw something moving around.
"Who's there?" he yelled into the darkness. Nobody answered. He saw the person moved closer to him.
"What do you want?" he yelled again. The person had stopped moving.
"Why Joseph, why are you being so hostile toward me?" the person asked. Joey immediately could tell who it was by the voice.
"Mai? I thought you left!" Joey stated. Mai just laughed.
"Well, as you and I know, I must fulfill my destiny!" Mai said.
"What are ya talking bout Mai?" Joey asked. He did not like where this conversation was going.
"You know what I'm talking about. Now I must kill you or at least send you to the Shadow Realm." Mai said calmly. Joey gulped. He backed away from the alley and came into the street. It was a side street, but it was lit a little bit. He saw Mai follow him. She was wearing a black cape and everything was hidden but her face.
"Mai, this isn't like you!" Joey said. She laughed again.
"To overcome my past I must fulfill my fate." she said. Joey looked at her. Something was different. Her eyes looked soulless.
"Lets duel!" she commanded. Joey slowly activated his duel disk. Something was strange. Last time Mai went evil, at least she told him why. He could sense the sadness and the anger. This time, he couldn't sense anything. It was like she was a completely different person.
"If I have to duel ya to save ya, I will. But we know that." Joey said. His eyes lowered and she glared at him.
"Enough talking. I play Harpie Lady in attack mode and then I place one card face down!" Mai said. Joey shook his head. He couldn't understand what was going on.
"Just talk to me!" he said. She rolled her eyes and pouted.
"Just talk to me . . . please. You are so pitiful!" she said in a very sarcastic tone. Joey rolled his eyes.
"Fine I place one card face down." he whispered as he placed the card on his duel disk. Mai watched him intently and frowned.
"Hmm . . . what is it that you fear Joey Wheeler? Do you fear the Shadow Realm . . . do you fear losing . . . do you fear me? I guess we'll find out!" she said. With a wicked smile she turned over the Worst Fear of Souls card. Joey took a deep breath as black smoke seemed to cover the playing field.
The darkness seemed to rise up into the sky. Mai's cape fell to the ground as she morphed into the being which copied her.
"You're not Mai." Joey said blankly.
"No . . . I'm not." the man said. He laughed at Joey's discovery.
"Who are you then?" Joey asked bravely.
"The boss, have you heard of me?"
"Yeah I've heard of you . . . of course, but you were hiding behind your guys like a sissy."
"Mr. Wheeler I don't hide." he said. The smoke started stretching throughout the nearby alley. It started to run into the streets.
"I couldn't have done this without Miss Valentine . . . she finally learned to see things my way again!" the boss explained.
"No . . . Mai would never betray her friends again." Joey stated madly.
"Really? Well her future says differently . . . let's explore that shall we!" the man said.
The black smoke was all over the ground now. Yugi and the group were outside of the alleyway trying to peer though the smoke. The couldn't see Joey but Joey could see them.
Yugi's grandpa fell over . . . screaming in pain. The smoke was overpowering him. He was screaming Yugi's name. One by one they fell over. Serenity had tears in her eyes while she cried for her brother before falling. Joey just laughed.
"I'll get them back." he said determinedly. The boss smiled.
"Yugi's only tie to the world now is you Mr. Wheeler. As soon as you're gone than Yugi will fall. All of his left over energies will be mine and I will resurrect the Pharaoh . . . as the evil man he was supposed to be."
"So you wanted Yami?"
"Wanted . . . he was supposed to be mine . . . now he will be."
The two dueled for quite some time. Each move was more intense than the last. Finally the two men stood gasping for breath . . . tied for 100 lifepoints each.
The boss smiled.
"It was nice getting to destroy you . . . now I should do this properly." the boss shifted back into Mai.
"Huh . . . ya know what Joey? My deck isn't very powerful . . . I mean no wonder I turned all evil." he said. Joey gritted his teeth. Yugi was hardly standing, watching through the smoke.
"I will destroy you . . . because let's face it the real Mai didn't have the guts." he spat out. Yugi looked confused. He couldn't make out the people . . . only the voices. Before he hit the ground, he felt somebody run past him. He didn't know who it was . . . but he felt it.
The cold hard ground gave him inspiration. Yugi . . . pushed himself back up finding new strength. He could make out blurs in front of him.
He saw that there seemed to be a woman standing by Joey.
Joey turned, right beside him stood Mai . . . the real Mai.
"Mai?" Joey asked. She rolled her eyes.
"The one and only." she said.
"How?" Joey and the boss asked at the same time.
"Well it takes a lot to kill Mai Valentine . . . please . . . I'm not weak. I figured it out.It thrives on the Shadow Realm . . . on the power of it . . . butthe bossfocused all of his energy toward me . . . bonding with me . . .he can't kill me becausehe isa part of me." she said.
Joey looked confused and drew a card.
"You have to defeat it Joey." Mai added.
"If you win Mr. Wheeler . . . you won't destroy me." the boss said. Mai bit her lip and ran across the field knocking over the imposter.
"What are you doing?" Joey asked. The boss tried to push her off, but it was to no avail. Mai took the Worst Fear of Souls card and threw it at Joey.
Joey caught it in the air and looked at it.
"Rip it up Joey!" Mai screamed. The boss pushed her away.
"This duel is void Mr. Wheeler!" he said running toward Joey. Mai pushed the boss over.
"Joey you have to rip it up." she said.
"But what will happen?" Joey asked. Mai bit her lip. She knew what would happen . . .
"The boss will be destroyed along with all of this madness . . . rip it up!" she said. Joey shook his head.
"I can't . . . Idon't knowwhat will happen!" he said. The boss tried to go after Joey, but he was stuck to the spot with a mischievous smile on his face.
"That's right . . . I can't destroy Mai because she's part of me . . . and you can't destroy me without destroying her." the boss said while laughing evilly. Joey's eyes widened and he shook his head.
"I can't do that to you." he said. Mai stomped her foot on the ground.
"Joey . . . the world . . . your friends . . . your sister . . . they all depend on you now . . . Yugi had to make some tough calls too . . . but now it's your turn. You're not the sidekick anymore . . . this is center stage stuff bucco. You've got to do this . . . don't worry about me . . . just do it." she said.
The darkness started to rise further up. It was causing buildings to crumble around them. Joey knew she was right . . . and he knew there was no other way. He closed his eyes and let the tears run down his face. He slowly ripped the card.