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Fanfic Chapter 179: Playing Doubles Pt 1: The Hidden Cave

Yugi: Who says three heads are better than one? It definitely wasn't the case in Serenity's duel. Even though Serenity's monsters were mostly low-level and low-powered, she was holding her own. But once both she and Joey realized how much she's grown, she was able to muster the courage to win the duel. But before we could celebrate, Joey and Serenity fell into a hole in the lava flow. Where they ended up I have no idea.


A small squeaking penetrated Serenity's subconscious. She moaned and opened her eyes. She was lying on a rock floor. Somewhere moonlight shone from above. She felt Joey's arm around her but he was still unconscious. Behind her was a small pool of water.

"A pool of water?" Serenity questioned. "Didn't we fall into lava?" She heard a loud squeak and turned around. A little blob, about the size of a fist, was staring back at her with red eyes. It squeaked. "Hey there, little guy," Serenity greeted. "Do you know where we are?" The creature squeaked again and bounced away. "Hey, wait up," she called. She followed the small blob into the next chamber.

She skidded to a halt and stifled a scream.

Around this time Joey woke up and the first thing he did was look around for Serenity. "Serenity?"

"In here," Serenity called. "Joey, you won't believe what I found." Joey went into the next chamber. He gasped.

Blobs, dozens of them, circled half-way around the chamber. Joey's shocked look mimicked Serenity.


For the sixth time, Panik watched the scene of Joey and Serenity falling. He scowled. "This isn't good," he said. "They are outside my view."

"So you're not omnipotent after all," Tea said.

"No, not yet, but I will soon be." Panik replied lifting her head up so that they were eye contact. Panik went over to a side where several tendrils shot out of the wall and wrapped around to him. Energy flowed into Panik's body but Panik didn't seem to be in pain. His eyes took on a strange red glow. "Ah, that's better." He went up to the view screen which flipped through different scenes until it showed Joey, Serenity, and the black blobs. "So, they're with the Outcasts."

"The Outcasts?"

"Yes, souls that have been in the Shadow Realm over a long period of time eventually become Outcasts."

"So does that mean I'll become an Outcast?" Tea asked.

Panik gave her a cold smirk. "When I gain the ultimate power of the Shadow Realm, I'll gladly fulfill your wish."

Tea felt a shiver run down her spine, a bad shiver.

Panik waved his hand and two shadows appeared. "You two are the last line of defense between them and me," he said. "Go to the Outcasts' Cave and eliminate the Wheeler siblings. Once you've done that, I can concentrate on eliminating the other two. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master Panik," they said and vanished.


Red-Eyes Black Dragon landed by Yugi and Harold. Edina levitated herself down from the dragon's shoulder.

"Any sign of Joey and Serenity, Edina?" Yugi asked.

"I'm afraid not. Red-Eyes and I searched all over the mountain and the surrounding plateau but found no sign of them."

"First we lose Tea and then Joey and Serenity," Harold complained. "What do we do now?"

"Harold, I know you're worried, I am too, but like I said before, we can't rescue them like this. The only way we will see our friends again is to defeat Panik. Hopefully, once he's gone and the Shadow Realm out of danger, we can search for our friends."

"Yugi, you've handled Panik before, why don't you go on and rescue Tea and I'll search for Joey and Serenity. I know how much you're worried about her so go on."

"But Harold… I can't do this alone I'm going to need your help."

Harold sighed. "It seems we can't win today."

"Don't worry; with Joey watching her, I'm sure Serenity will be fine."

"Yeah, but who's watching Joey?"


"Look at them all!" Serenity exclaimed as she looked around. "There must be hundreds of them."

"Dozens at least," Joey threw in. "But what are they?"

"I don't know." Serenity bent down and touched the one that she followed. "But they're really cute."

"Really creepy if you ask me." Joey gasped as the blob leapt up and started sucking on Serenity's finger. "Serenity!"

"Its okay, Joey, it doesn't hurt, it's like a baby sucking on a pacifier."

"Yeah, but it's still creepy."

"Hey little guy," Serenity said to the blob sucking on her finger. "Is there another way out of this cave?" The creature squeaked and let itself go from Serenity's finger. It bounced towards its buddies as the others cleared a path wide enough for Joey and Serenity to walk through. "Let's go."

"Hold on, Serenity, you know how Mom says never to go with strangers, well I'm pretty sure little blobby things count as strange."

"But Joey this might be our only way back to Harold and Yugi. I think we should go for it."

"This is going to be a trap, I just know it," Joey moaned.

The little blob led them through tunnel after tunnel. Sometimes the tunnels got so small that Joey and Serenity had to get down and crawl. A couple of times they came upon some crude drawings looking like strange creatures. One even looked like it had a snake for legs. Finally, they could see where the cave wall ended and the Shadow Realm's "exterior" appeared.

"Freedom," Joey said relieved.

Serenity turned to the little blob. "Thanks for showing us the way out." It squeaked proudly.

"Yeah, I guess you're all right, shorty," Joey added. The blob leapt up and started sucking on Joey's finger. "Hey, hey, not when we just met," Joey said shaking it loose.

Serenity laughed.

No sooner had Joey and Serenity exited the cave then a dark energy blast hit the cave above the entrance causing the entrance to cave in. "Oh no!" She ran and started throwing rocks off.

"Serenity…" Joey started.

Serenity immediately knew what Joey wanted to say and sought to stop him from finishing it. "Joey, it helped us out of that cave, we have to make sure it's all right! It's the least we can do."

Joey growled in frustration. "Sometimes I hate having a conscience." He started to help Serenity move the rocks. After doing this task for a while, they were able to forge a small hole near the top of the rock pile.

Serenity called down, "Hey are you all right?" She couldn't hear anything.

"You know, Serenity, it is possible that it…"

"Shhh," Serenity hushed him and put her ear to the hole. She could hear a faint squeaking coming from down below. "Joey, grab onto my legs."

"Huh? But Serenity…" Nevertheless, Joey anchored Serenity's feet as Serenity lowered her upper body into the hole.

"Hang on, I'll get you out," She lowered her hand to it. "Try to grab onto my finger like you did last time." The blob leapt up but came up short a few inches. It tried again but this time came up short a few centimeters. "Come on, you're almost there!' The blob crouched (or did some equivalent of crouching) and leapt up. It missed Serenity's finger but this time latched onto her pony tail. Serenity decided it was good enough. "Joey, I have it, pull us up!" Joey growled as he pulled the two out of the hole. The two slid down to the bottom.

"I don't think I ever worked so hard in my life," Joey complained.

"Are you okay?" Serenity asked the little blob. It let out a loud squeak. "That's good."

"You can understand that thing?"

"Well, in a way, I can. It's kind of like an instinct." She looked down at the blob. "Sorry, little guy, I wish I knew how to save all your friends." The blob squeaked again, this time in a sad tone.

"Well what I want to know is what caused that thing to cave in and almost turn us into pancakes in the first place."

"That would be us." Two figures descended from the sky. One was short, pudgy, and bald. The other was tall and lanky with wild white hair. Both were dressed in purple cloaks.

"Hey, I know you!" Joey shouted pointing at the tall man. "You're the creep who beat me up and stole my Red-Eyes Black Dragon before Battle City!"

"But didn't you tell me Yugi got it back for you?" Serenity asked.

"He did," the tall man said. "And I was sent to the Shadow Realm because of him!"

"As was I," the short man threw in. "You can call me Lumis."

"Good for you," Joey said giving Lumis a dirty look. "Come on, Sis, let's get out of here." The two turned to leave.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The man who stole Joey's dragon card before Battle City moved in front of them. "You're not going anywhere."

"Not until you two duel us!" Lumis added.

"There's no way I'll duel you two…"

"Let's do it, Joey," Serenity said. She had already combined her graveyard with her deck to form a new deck and inserted it into the Duel Disk she borrowed from Harold.

"Serenity…"

"These two cut off Blackie here from his friends and destroyed his home. We need to teach them to respect the homes of others. We can do it, Big Brother."

"Serenity…" For a second, it looked like Joey was going to try to talk her out of it. Then he gave her a smile, "I like the way you think." He activated his Duel Disk. "All right, time to kick butt Wheeler style! Let's duel!"

"Ready to beat them, Ghoul?" Lumis asked.

"More than ready."

(J: 4000)
(S: 4000)
(G: 4000)
(L: 4000)

"Because we're dueling doubles," Lumis said. "We need to play by Doubles rules."

"Since when do you Rare Hunters play by the rules?" Joey asked.

"We're not part of Marik's Rare Hunters any more," Lumis said. "We're part of Panik's Eliminators. Now as to the rules, nobody may attack until everyone has a monster on the field. You may use your cards to protect one another but beware that when one loses, the other automatically loses. Do you understand these rules?"

"Yeah, yeah, we understand," Joey said. "Just get on with it."

"How about we let ladies go first," Lumis suggested.

"Fine by me," Serenity said and drew her sixth card. "I summon Hibikime (1) in defense mode." A blue-haired woman in a green dress carrying a scythe appeared. "And that'll do it for me."

"Then I'm up," Joey said. "And I think I'll start off with Panther Warrior in attack mode."

"Two pathetic monsters," Lumis said. "I'll show you a real monster. I summon Shining Abyss (2) in defense mode and set a card face-down."

"If you think I'm going to let you get at my life points, you're sorely mistaken. I summon Stone Statue of the Aztecs (3) in defense mode."

Man, everyone has a monster in defense mode except me, Joey thought. But once they see my killer combo, they'll be singing a different tune.

"It's my move," Serenity said. "And now that everyone has gone through a turn I can attack and I summon Aussa the Earth Charmer in attack mode."

"What do you plan on doing with that thing?" Lumis asked.

"This thing, nothing, I send both Aussa and Hibikime to the graveyard so I can summon Familiar-Possessed—Aussa (4) in attack mode."

"How did you do that?"

"By sending Aussa and an earth monster to the graveyard, I can summon Familiar-Possessed—Aussa directly from my deck. And because I did, when I attack a monster in defense mode, you still lose life points. Aussa, attack Shining Abyss with Earth Magic!" Aussa put her hands on the ground. A chasm opened up under Shining Abyss. Vines popped out and dragged Shining Abyss under. The chasm shut.

(J: 4000)
(S: 4000)
(G: 4000)
(L: 3950)

"I end my turn," Serenity said proudly.

"All right, way to go, Sis," Joey said giving her a thumb up. Serenity blushed. "Now it's my turn to have a go and I summon Rocket Warrior (5) in defense mode and play the magic card Scapegoat. Next I'll sacrifice one of my little goat pals so I can have Panther Warrior attack your life points directly!" The panther sliced Lumis across the chest.

(J: 4000)
(S: 4000)
(G: 4000)
(L: 1950)

"That ends my turn."

"Ghoul, you better help me out on this," Lumis grumbled.

"And why should I?"

"Because if I lose, you lose too and we both know you can't handle two Duelists."

"Like you could?"

"That was different. Yugi and Kaiba were the top two Duelists in the world. These two are just second-rate amateurs."

"Oh, fine, just take your turn."

"All right, for my turn all I'll do is summon Rogue Doll (6) in defense mode. That ends my turn."

"And I'll just set a card face-down," Ghoul said.

Serenity was giddy. And she could feel Blackie (the blob she named which was currently resting on top of her head) reflect her mood. If I attack Lumis's monster again, his life points will go down by half. Joey will be proud of me. "To protect my life points, I'll summon Red Archery Girl (7) in defense mode." A mermaid in a clam shell appeared. "Aussa, attack his Rogue Doll."

"Not so fast," Ghoul said. "Reveal trap card: Staunch Defender, now I can redirect the attack to my Stone Statue." The chasm shifted to Ghoul's monster. "And since Stone Statue of the Aztec's defense points is weaker than your Aussa's attack points, you lose life points. Plus the special ability of this monster doubles that damage."

(J: 4000)
(S: 3700)
(G: 4000)
(L: 1950)

"Is that more to your liking, Lumis?"

"I must say, you're a better partner for me than that imbecile Umbra."

I can't let those creeps get another shot at my sister, Joey thought. "I sacrifice another of my Scapegoats so I can have my Panther Warrior attack your Rogue Doll." This time the monster was destroyed. "When you mess with my sister, you're messing with me, Fatso."

"I'm not fat," Lumis protested. "I was always this way. Now, I reveal my face-down card Mask of Restrict now nobody can tribute monsters. That means you can't sacrifice any of your Scapegoats and you can't summon any more of your Possessed monsters."

"Joey," Serenity called.

"Don't worry, Sis, I still got a couple of tricks up my sleeve."

"I summon Grand Tiki Elder (8) in attack mode and set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Now it's my turn and I play Hinotama and Ookazi together which inflict 1000 points of damage to you, Mister Wheeler." Joey was literally consumed in flames.

(J: 3000)
(S: 3700)
(G: 4000)
(L: 1950)

"I end my turn."

"Serenity, hold back," Joey instructed. "I can kick his butt."

"Don't worry, Joey, I know what I'm doing." She drew a card. "Maybe this card will work, Mystical Space Typhoon."

Joey's jaw dropped as a whirlwind vortex destroyed Mask of Restrict. I can't believe she has Mystical Space Typhoon. Some of her cards are better than mine!

"There we go," Serenity said. "Now we can tribute monsters again. I summon Eria the Water Charmer in attack mode. Next I send Eria and Red Archery Girl to the graveyard to summon Familiar-Possessed—Eria (9)! Eria, attack his Grand Tiki Elder."

"Like I'll fall for that again," Lumis said. "I reveal my trap card Mask of Weakness which reduces the attack points of your Eria by 700 points!"

(FPE: 1850-1150)

Grand Tiki Elder fired smoke which caused Eria to fall back and be destroyed.

(J: 3000)
(S: 3350)
(G: 4000)
(L: 1950)

"But I'm not done with you yet, little girl," Lumis said. "I reveal my face-down magic card Mask of Atonement." An ugly mask attached itself to Serenity. "This magic card takes the attack points of the monster that was just destroyed and deducts the same number from your life points." The mask sparked with electricity and then exploded causing Serenity to scream mutely. She was thrown back.

(J: 3000)
(S: 1500)
(G: 4000)
(L: 1950)

"Serenity," Joey cried. He started to run over to her but a forcefield held him back.

"A forcefield prevents all Duelists from interacting with one another," Ghoul said. "You may be dueling as a team, but in reality you're dueling alone."

"Serenity!" Joey called. "Serenity, can you hear me? SERENITY!"

To Be Continued


Duel Monster Database

(1)
Name: Hibikime
Level: 4
Type: Warrior
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1450
DEF: 1000

(2)
Shining Abyss
Level: 4
Type: Fairy
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1600
DEF: 1800

(3)
Name: Stone Statue of the Aztecs
Level: 4
Type: Rock/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 300
DEF: 2000

(4)
Name: Familiar-Possessed-Aussa
Level: 4
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1850
DEF: 1500

(5)
Name: Rocket Warrior
Level: 4
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1300

(6)
Name: Rogue Doll
Level: 4
Type: Spellcaster
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1600
DEF: 1000

(7)
Name: Red Archery Girl
Level: 4
Type: Aqua
Attribute: Water
ATK: 1400
DEF: 1500

(8)
Name: Grand Tiki Elder
Level: 4
Type: Fiend
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1500
DEF: 800

(9)
Name: Familiar-Possessed-Eria
Level: 4
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Water
ATK: 1850
DEF: 1500