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Fanfic Chapter 149: Strength of Darkness Pt 1: Joey vs. Marik
Episode Basis: The Darkness Returns
Harold: Perhaps it was a good thing that I was eliminated from the tournament then I wouldn't have to go through what Joey went through. Kaiba was verbally jabbing below the belt but Joey just took it in stride. In fact, he really surprised me when he basically forced Yugi to attack him directly. In a last minute trap card pull by Joey, Marik was the first to lose all his life points followed by Joey. That means Joey and Marik will duel first and Yugi and Kaiba will duel second. Looks like everyone got their respective opponent except Yugi. Bummer.
"I hope you're ready to be consumed by the darkness," Yami-Marik said to Joey as their stations rose through holes in the ceiling.
"Dream on, fruitcake," Joey retorted. "I'm going to take you down!"
Kaiba's and Yami-Yugi's podiums were also automatically riding to the top. At last, I can defeat Yugi and reclaim the glory he took from me.
To stop Marik once and for all, I'm going to have to go through Kaiba first, Yami-Yugi thought.
"Come on, guys, the elevator's this way," Mokuba said.
"Wait a second," Duke said halting the progression. "Somebody should tell Serenity her brother's about to duel."
"I'm already on it," Tristan said and turned to run back to the blimp.
"Hold it," Mokuba said. Sensing Tristan wasn't about to halt until he got to see Serenity again, Amara grabbed his ear and halted his progress. "Tristan, this Duel Tower is high-tech." He held up a phone. "So of course we're going to have one of these."
"Why don't you make the call, Mokuba," Harold recommended seeing as how Tristan was busy kissing metal.
"Thanks for the offer, Mokuba," Serenity said. "But I think it would be best if I stay behind and watch Mai. But wish my brother good luck for me."
"Will do, Serenity."
"You know, you didn't have to do that," Kevin said. "I mean your brother's dueling three of the strongest Duelists in the world, he'll need all the support he can get, especially from his sister."
"If there's one thing I know for certain about my brother, it's that he has the best luck of anyone I know. I'm sure that no matter what, he'll be fine."
Serenity, I hope that doesn't come back to bite you, Kevin thought.
The stations belonging to Joey and Yami-Marik arrived at the roof where a dueling arena, like the one that had been on the blimp, was. Joey looked around, "Hey, where's my fan club?"
"When your mind is engulfed by the shadows, you'll be glad no one was around to see it," Yami-Marik said with a laugh.
Yami-Yugi and Kaiba were the first to emerge after the Duelists. "This duel shouldn't take long," Kaiba commented.
"If Joey loses, he'll lose much more than the duel," Yami-Yugi mumbled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Never mind, you probably wouldn't believe me anyway." Yami-Yugi stepped over to Joey's side of the ring. "Joey, this'll be one of the toughest battles you'll ever face."
"No sweat, Yug, I'll clobber that creep."
"You couldn't beat Marik if he was blindfolded and handcuffed," Kaiba snapped. "You're no match for his Egyptian God Card."
"Hey, I faced down Ra once before and I came out all right."
"If I recall correctly, that was a fake Ra and it knocked you out cold. I am the only one who can beat Ra."
"Ra has secrets no one can understand!" Yami-Yugi protested.
"You're wrong, Yugi, I've uncovered the secrets of Ra!"
"You WHAT?"
"My computer has translated the text written on the Winged Dragon of Ra when nobody else could."
No, it's more than that, Yami-Yugi thought. It's takes more than translating the text to control the Winged Dragon of Ra, you also need a connection to Ancient Egypt. That's how Kaiba is truly able to understand the text.
"I'm going to be the one to beat the Winged Dragon of Ra and you're going to help me."
"No way!"
"I'll be watching your duel with Marik very closely and testing my own strategies so I can take Marik down in the finals."
"Now that's amusing, Kaiba thinking he can take me down with only one Egyptian God Card."
"As soon as I win Slifer the Sky Dragon from Yugi, I'll be ready to take you on, Marik. As for you, Dog, I don't know how a loser like you ever got this far in a Duel Monsters tournament in the first place but at least now you have a purpose… as my lab rat."
"I'm nobody's lab rat!"
"You've forgotten one thing, Kaiba," Yami-Yugi declared. "You need to get past me first!"
"We'll soon see," Kaiba said walking to Yami-Marik's side of the field. "In the mean time, Wheeler has a duel to lose."
Man, I hate that guy, Joey thought.
"We're here!" Mokuba and the others arrived. Mokuba took his place by his brother's side while the others joined Yami-Yugi.
"Hey, what's wrong, man?" Tristan asked noticing Joey's ticked-off look.
"Is Kaiba bugging you?" Duke asked sincerely.
"It's none of your business," Joey snapped and took his place on the other side.
"I'll take that as a yes," Harold figured.
I have to play it cool. Kaiba's playing mind games with me and I have to keep my focus on taking down Marik. Kaiba doesn't understand, this isn't just about winning a duel, this is about keeping a promise, a promise to my friends.
Roland took his spot at the side. "The first match of the semi-finals will now begin. Joey Wheeler will face Marik Ishtar." The arena was raised about ten feet on the ground. "Let the duel begin!"
The two activated their Duel Disks. "Let's duel!"
(J: 4000)
(M: 4000)
"I'll start by summoning Gilgarth (1) in attack mode!" Yami-Marik announced. A rather demonic-looking creature appeared.
Joey looked at the sixth card he drew, Alligator Sword (2). I don't have any monsters powerful enough so I'll have to play it safe for now. "I'll place a card face-down and summon Alligator Sword in defense mode."
"It's time to take this duel to the next level!" Yami-Marik announced and held out his Millennium Rod. Immediately, dark smoke started to appear.
"Yugi, is he…" Harold began.
"Yeah, he's taking this into the Shadow Realm and that changes the whole game."
Kaiba was the only one who didn't looked perturbed at the sudden oncoming darkness.
"The shadows hunger for your soul," Yami-Marik told Joey.
"I'm not afraid," Joey declared steadfastly.
"So what's that look in your eyes? Ah, I know, it's the look of fear, the fear that you're about to join your friend in the Shadow Realm!"
"I will get Mai back."
"She's trapped there forever and with each passing moment the shadows engulf her until there will be nothing left!"
"This is getting freaky," Amara said.
"It's the Shadow Realm, freaky stuff always happens in here," Harold cracked.
"This is just like when Marik dueled Mai," Duke commented.
"We can't let Joey go through with this," Tristan said.
"But it's too late to change his mind," Tea pointed out. "He's already dedicated himself to defeating Marik and freeing Mai from the Shadow Realm."
"There must be something we can do to save Joey," Little-Yugi said.
"It's Joey's fight, and just as he's fulfilling his promise to free Mai, so we must fulfill our promise to stop protecting him. We must prove to Joey that we believe in him by letting him win this duel on his own."
"I can't!"
"Trust Joey, he can win, but he needs our support."
"Come on, Joey," Tea cheered.
"You can beat that psycho," Amara added. I hope.
I have to win this or lose my soul trying. "Bring it on," Joey dared Yami-Marik.
"This Shadow Game will be different than the one your friend Mai experienced," Yami-Marik experienced. "Of course the overall result will be the same; the loser will be banished to the Shadow Realm. But there's more. Look down." Joey looked down and saw a pink energy wire connecting his monster with him. "That string binds us with our monsters. Whenever a monster will be destroyed, we will feel exactly what the monster feels. Observe, I summon Drillago (3) in attack mode! Drillago, attack Alligator Sword with six drill attack!" The drill monster lunged forward and stabbed all of its drills into Joey's monster. As the monster was destroyed, the energy wire snapped back to Joey who cried out in pain.
On the ship, Serenity suddenly felt a stabbing sensation at her heart. She ran to the porthole.
"Serenity, is something wrong?" Kevin asked.
Joey, stay strong, Serenity pleaded slightly.
Joey dropped to one knee, "That wasn't fun," he complained.
"It looked like Joey was hit instead of his monster," Amara observed.
"That's the point of this game," Harold said.
"That plan will work against you," Joey said getting back up.
That fool has no idea that my resolution is much stronger than his, Yami-Marik thought. "Gilgarth, attack him directly!"
"I reveal my face-down card, Scapegoat," Joey called. Four Sheep Tokens (4) appeared. Gilgarth destroyed the yellow one. Joey smiled.
"I don't get it, how come Joey didn't keel over like last time?" Tristan asked.
"Because the Scapegoat tokens aren't counted as real monsters," Amara explained. "So there's no silly string connecting them with the Duelist."
Yami-Marik chuckled. "It looks like I underestimated you."
"A lot of my opponents do that."
"Make your move."
Joey drew Panther Warrior (5). "I summon Panther Warrior in attack mode! Next I sacrifice one of my Scapegoats to have my Panther Warrior attack!" Panther Warrior sliced through Gilgarth.
(J: 4000)
(M: 3800)
Yami-Marik growled in pain as the energy wire snapped back to him.
"That one's for Mai."
As Yami-Marik recovered he let out a laugh, "I'm sure your precious Mai is nothing but a memory by now, all consumed by the darkness."
"Your mind games won't work on me," Joey said. "My turn's done."
"And so are you," Kaiba muttered.
"I activate a magic card," Yami-Marik began. "Tribute Burial, this lets me sacrifice a monster in both of our graveyards to summon a high-level monster. So now I sacrifice my Gilgarth and your Alligator Sword to summon Helpoemer (6)!" A hideous humanoid covered with mouths appeared sitting in a high-back chair. An energy wire formed connecting it with Yami-Marik. "And I assure you, he's more than he appears to be."
What does he mean by that? Joey wondered. Our monsters have the same number of attack points so attacking would only end in a stalemate. Does it have some sort of hidden ability?
"Now, I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Joey drew Jinzo (7). Jinzo has enough attack points to finish off Helpoemer. But why didn't Marik attack my Scapegoat? I wouldn't be able to attack with Panther Warrior otherwise. He must be trying to lure me into an attack so he could offer Helpoemer's special ability. I better hold onto Jinzo for now. "I summon Rocket Warrior (8) in attack mode."
"Reveal trap card: Hidden Soldier which allows me to summon any monster with less than four stars to the field. I summon Plasma Eel (9)!" Plasma Eel was a silver metallic color and had two large pincers. "And I'll use Plasma Eel's effect to attach him to Panther Warrior!" Plasma Eel dug its pincers into Panther Warrior's head. "Plasma Eel drains Panther Warrior of 500 life points and drains you of your energy!"
(PW: 2000-1500)
Joey felt the same type of pain as Panther Warrior.
"Hang tough, man," Tristan called.
"Keep fighting," Yami-Yugi threw in.
Joey was on his knees, sweating but defiant. "You'll never break my spirit! I made a promise to Mai. You might be able to drain me of my physical strength but you'll never be able to drain my determination! I WON'T GIVE UP!" With a loud cry, Joey rose to his feet.
Yami-Marik looked surprise. "He should be begging for mercy!"
"You can't keep me down as long as I have something to fight for."
"That's Joeys' true power, the power to endure through any challenge," Harold said.
"I place Rocket Warrior in its invincible mode and have it attack your Helpoemer!" The little rocket fired at the monster. Yami-Marik gagged.
(H: 2000-1500)
"Next I'll sacrifice another Scapegoat so I can have my Panther Warrior attack." With the stats reversed and Joey's monster stronger, the Panther Warrior charged forward and destroyed the monster.
(J: 4000)
(M: 3300)
But Yami-Marik was laughing. "Thank you, you activated Helpoemer's effect. Now it goes straight to your graveyard."
"My graveyard?" Joey asked as the smoke that was once Helpoemer disappeared into his graveyard slot.
"Now each and every turn Helpoemer discards one card from your hand."
A ghostly hand reached out from Joey's graveyard and took away Jinzo. "No, not that card," Joey pleaded.
"If Joey keeps losing cards, he'll never beat Marik!" Yami-Yugi realized.
"This is even more amusing than my duel with Mai," Yami-Marik commented. "But the end result will still be the same for you: an eternity in the Shadow Realm!"
To Be Continued
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Gilgarth
Level: 4
Type: Fiend
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1800
DEF: 1200
(2)
Name: Alligator Sword
Level: 4
Type: Warrior
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1200
(3)
Name: Drillago
Level: 4
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1600
DEF: 1100
(4)
Name: Sheep Token
Level: 1
Type: Beast
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 0
DEF: 0
(5)
Name: Panther Warrior
Level: 4
Type: Beast-Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 2000
DEF: 1600
(6)
Name: Helpoemer
Level: 5
Type: Fiend/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 2000
DEF: 1400
(7)
Name: Jinzo
Level: 6
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 2400
DEF: 1500
(8)
Name: Rocket Warrior
Level: 4
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1300
(9)
Name: Plasma Eel
Level: 3
Type: Machine
Attribute: Water
ATK: 500
DEF: 500