Yugi, Joey, Harold, and Tristan had finally arrived at the door to Anubis's chamber. Everything was just as Yugi had left it (not that he spent a whole lot of time in there to begin with).
A deep laugh echoed through the chambers. "FOOLISH MORTALS, THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP MY REBIRTH!"
"Gyah!" Joey screamed. "It can talk!"
"I HAVE INFILTRATED THE REALM OF THE PHARAOH AND AM NOW FEEDING OFF THE LIFE ENERGY OF HIM AND HIS OPPONENT!"
"We won't stand here while you suck the life out of others, Anubis!" Yugi declared.
"That's right, we're going to take you down!" Harold added.
"I'd stay in that casket if I were you," Joey warned.
"Because in case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered." That was soon remedied as more mummies began appearing. "Man, this place is crawling with stiffs!"
"That's it, no more horror movies for me," Harold said. Joey grabbed a spear that was hanging on the wall and swung it at a mummy but it grabbed the spear and turned it on Joey.
"What do you want anyway?" Yugi asked.
"BEHOLD THE FUTURE SINCE YOU WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO WITNESS IT." A vortex appeared in front of them and played images of monsters destroying cities, devastating armies, and even swallowing people in one gulp. One particularly haunting image was of a girl carrying a bear running. A giant dragon breathed fire on her.
The only thing that was left was bone. The guys screamed in horror.
"SOON MY BEASTS OF DESTRUCTION WILL REIGN UNRELENTING TERROR DOWN ON THE POPULACE! NO ONE SHALL ESCAPE MY WRAITH! ENTIRE ARMIES WILL BE ANNIHILATED! PEOPLE UNFIT TO SERVE UNDER ME WILL BE CRUSHED UNDERNEATH MY OVERWHELMING POWER! I WILL CLENSE THE WORLD AND START OVER WITH ME AS GOD! AND IT'S ALL THANKS TO YOU, LITTLE MORTAL!"
"What's he talking about, Yugi?" Harold asked.
"WHEN HE ASSEMBLED THE MILLENNIUM PUZZLE AND RELEASED THE PHARAOH SO LONG AGO, YOU ALSO RELEASED ME! YES, YUGI, ALL THIS DESTRUCTION WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS!"
He's right, it is all my fault. "You guys get out of here, I'll deal with Anubis."
"No way, Yugi," Joey protested.
"Yeah, we all go home or nobody goes home," Harold quipped.
"This is my fault, I should be the one to correct it," Yugi argued. "I won't let any of you sacrifice yourselves."
"But Yugi…" Harold began.
"Just go!" Yugi snapped. "Please, I don't want anyone getting hurt for me!"
Sadly, the three left the room. "All right, Anubis, I'm going to say this once and once only: give it up, I won't let you hurt any of my friends!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER!" The mummies already had a hold on Yugi. "YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST OF MY MANY SACRIFICES!"
"Heads up!" The mummies holding Yugi looked up just in time to be clobbered by a steel door. "I can't believe they fell for that," Joey said.
"Joey, I thought…"
"You didn't think we'd just up and leave our best bud, did you?" Harold and Tristan appeared behind him.
"We're a team, Yugi, we would never leave you to fend for yourself."
"But…"
"I'll make it as simple as I can, Yugi," Harold said. "We're friends to the end even if that end is now."
Yugi was awestruck. He had no idea the others felt so strongly. He smiled, "Thanks, guys."
Suddenly Harold raised his Armlet to the ceiling. "Harold, what are you doing?" Tristan asked.
"I don't know," Harold replied. "It feels like my Armlet's moving my arm for me."
The Armlet started to glow and released a shaft of light into the ceiling.
Tea felt a warm light engulf her. She could hear something; it felt like something was calling to her. It was Yugi, she was certain of it.
"Yugi!" Tea leaned out onto the ski of the helicopter.
"Tea!"
"Oh crap!"
"What are you doing?"
"Foolish girl!"
My friends need me, she thought. I can feel it. She leaned over.
"Grab her!" Tea's eyes went dim as her spirit separated from her body and fell into the pyramid. The three remaining males and one female pulled her body back into the helicopter.
Everyone (mummies included) looked up to see a small white orb descend through the shaft of light produced by Harold's Armlet. The orb formed into Tea.
"Tea!"
"You found us!"
"Of course," she said. She held up her hand and a golden imprint appeared. "We made a pact, remember?"
The guys held up their hands which had the same imprint. "Of course we did," Joey agreed.
"Yeah, a pact to always be there in times of need," Harold added.
"Even if they think they can go and martyr themselves," Tristan said nudging Yugi.
Yugi looked around at his friends and it seemed like his eyes were open for the first time. His friends were willing to put themselves on the line for him. He was… grateful. One by one, they all put their hands together so that the imprints formed a glowing image. The entire room was suddenly bathed in a warm of light.
"From the light come the dark," Yugi said. "But from the darkness begets light."
Yami felt that warm light. It felt like it was an old friend; for the first time since the duel started, he began to feel some form of comfort. Kaiba was still verbally abusing him all but saying Yami didn't deserve to live. Yami slowly stood. "Kaiba," he said gasping for breath. "You have no idea what you're doing!"
"Oh I know exactly what I'm doing, I'm paying you back for every time you humiliated me."
Mokuba was the first to spot them. "Hey look, I see Joey, Tristan, and Harold."
"They look like they're out cold," Solomon observed.
Amara turned to Pegasus. "Can we go down there?"
"Sure," Pegasus replied.
"Is it worth the lives?" Kaiba was caught off-guard, he expected his opponent to start spouting mystical mumbo-jumbo like he always did. Yami continued, "Is your revenge worth the lives that have been taken? Is it worth the lives that will be taken should this insanity continue?" Yami drew a card. His deck was getting low, he needed to win otherwise, if what he suspected was true, the Pyramid of Light will claim one or even both of them. "You may not know what's at stake here but I do and I can't let you win this duel!" He summoned Big-Shield Gardna (58) in defense mode.
"I'm sorry; you were 'letting' me win this duel? How pathetic, resulting to pitiful banter just to save yourself. But I do know what this is about, this is about payback. This is about paying you back for all the times you humiliated me in the past." He drew a card. "And this face-down card shall see to that. But first let's deal with your Big-Shield Gardna. Do you think it's big enough to block the attack of my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon? Shining Neutron Blast!" The dragon obliterated the warrior into nothing. The blast started to push Yami into the Pyramid of Light again but this time Yami stood his ground, crossing his arms and using his Duel Disk to absorb the majority of the impact.
Inside, the large eye at the center of the room above the sarcophagus started to shoot out red energy. The red energy sucked up Tea's spirit and solidified it. As Tea plummeted towards the ground, she instinctively lashed out with her legs and clipped a mummy in the head.
The mummy's head cleanly left its body and landed on the ground. The guys were awestruck.
"Whoa."
"Yeowsers."
"I could do that. Let's take these creeps apart!"
"Literally!"
"Banzai!" Joey, Tristan, and Harold jumped into the fray.
Tea quickly found herself surrounded by mummies. Joey ran up and kicked a mummy in the chin sending the head flying. Harold utilized his Armlet's shield and sent mummies flying like a Circus troop.
"I play Pot of Greed which lets me draw two cards," Yami announced. He took two additional cards from his deck. "I play Watapon (59) and since I used Pot of Greed to play Watapon, I can summon another monster and I choose Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (60)!" A pink ball with antennae and an green elfin warrior appeared both in defense mode.
"So let me get this straight, you're playing a cream puff and an elf… well it's your funeral!" Kaiba drew a card. "First the Card of Demise that I played five turns ago sends Spear Dragon (61) to the graveyard and I know you know what that means, don't you? Now my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon has more destructive power than ever before!"
(BESD: 4500-5000)
"Kaiba, listen to me!"
"All I want to hear from you is your anguish cry of death!"
"Kaiba this Pyramid of Light is putting lives in danger. There's a dark power at work here! For every life point we lost, we get weaker and weaker. If one of our life points reaches 0, one of us could die! Do you want that? Do you want death and suffering to be on your hands? Please Kaiba, for all that's good stop this duel before it's too late!"
Ridiculous, I could attack Yugi now with my Shining Dragon and win the duel… no, I should stick to my original strategy and destroy Yugi with his own Egyptian God Cards. "Yugi, for you, it's already too late! Now, Shining Dragon, activate your final special ability!"
"No, you're playing with forces you can't possibly understand!"
Finish him… finish him now! No, I wanted a perfect victory and with my face-down card I can use Yugi's most powerful cards against him! "I use Shining Nova! It puts the force of a thousand Blue-Eyes into a blast so strong that the dragon destroys itself plus anything I chooses. And the card that will feel the wraith of my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon is the Pyramid of Light!" No, I need the Pyramid to kill the Pharaoh… what am I saying? I must destroy it to gain control of Yugi's Egyptian God Cards! To get his mind off his conflicting emotions, Kaiba offered another verbal jibe, "Your reign as the King of Games is over, that title will be mine as it should always have been as will all three of your Egyptian God Cards! Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, sacrifice your self and destroy the Pyramid of Light!" The blue lines running along the dragon started to glow brighter. A blue light surrounded it. The dragon exploded and lightning rained down on the Pyramid of Light.
But the Pyramid of Light remained.
"THIS I CANNOT ALLOW," a deep voice boomed.
Yami couldn't believe it, "The Pyramid of Light wasn't destroyed?"
"THE PYRAMID OF LIGHT ENDURES BECAUSE I WILL IT! SO GREAT IS MY POWER!"
This time Kaiba heard the voice too. "Hey who's there, show yourself?" He demanded as a large shadow appeared behind him.
"I HAVE BEEN HERE THIS WHOLE TIME, MORTAL, WHISPERING IN YOUR EAR, MANIPULATING YOU TO BE THE HERALD OF MY EMERGENCE AND YOUR WORLD'S DESTRUCTION! YOU HAVE SERVED ME WELL BUT YOU HAVE OUTLIVED YOUR USEFULNESS!"
"Kaiba, look out behind you!"
But Yami's warning came too late as a large naked body rose up behind Kaiba, grabbed him from behind, and threw him to the ground.
The body became more detailed. It was shirtless wearing black pants and boots. A mantle lay across his back just under his long blond hair. The Pyramid of Light artifact hung from his neck.
"So it's been you behind this whole duel and manipulating Kaiba this whole time… Anubis!"
"I am pleased that you remember me after all these years, My Pharaoh," Anubis said. "I have certainly not forgotten you or how you and your cronies buried me alive and separated me from my Pyramid of Light. But now that I'm free and together with the outcast Millennium Item, my vengeance will be complete. You will fall and my cleansing of the world will begin! The souls of your mortal friends have already fallen, lost forever!"
"You're wrong," Yami said gripping his Millennium Puzzle, "I can still sense their presence, they're not gone! And I will fight to protect them no matter the cost!"
"All I need to do is defeat you in this duel and my victory will be assured! I shall assume the role as the Pharaoh of this world with the Pyramid of Light under my command, there is nothing you can do to stop me!" He formed two Duel Monster cards out of thin air and placed them face-down. The ultimate Shadow Game has only begun!"
(Y: 200)
(A: 2100)
Dark smoke whipped around the Pyramid of Light as well as the sky above it. Black ooze gathered on the ground. "I summon the dreaded beasts Andro Sphinx (62) and Sphinx Teleia (63)!" Two strange monsters appeared. One of them had the head of a lion and the body of a muscular man. Another had the head of a beautiful woman but the body of a lion and eagle wings.
Yami quickly drew a card. It was a trap card called Reverse of Reverse. He set it face-down.
Anubis sensed Yami's desperation. "Search your deck from now to Doomsday, you won't find anything and you still won't find anything to stand against my Shadow Realm beasts!" Watapon shivered and Obnoxious Celtic Guardian raised its sword in a defensive manner. "No, my Pharaoh, I'm afraid that for you, doomsday is now!" He waved his hand and a card appeared face-down. "Now let's get rid of your last line of defense. Sphinx Teleia, it is feeding time!" Sphinx Teleia opened her mouth revealing sharp fangs. She roared scaring Watapon but decided to pounce on Obnoxious Celtic Guardian instead. "And now it is your turn, Andro Sphinx!" Andro Sphinx let out a fierce roar which produced a shockwave that destroyed the little powder puff. "When Andro Sphinx destroys a monster, half of that monster's attack points get taken out of my opponent's life points!"
(Y: 100)
(A: 2100)
On the outside, Solomon, Pegasus, Sumi, Amara, and Mokuba could only watch in horror as Yami's last defense monsters were destroyed.
"Mister Pegasus, isn't there anything we can do?" Amara asked.
"I'm sorry," Pegasus said solemnly. It would have to take a miracle to save Yugi-Boy now."
Yami drew his final card. He now had only two magic cards left and two face-down cards.
A mummy almost groped Tea and she ran behind Tristan saying, "He's all yours."
"I don't want your mummy," Tristan cracked as he kicked the mummy.
Harold swatted some more with his Armlet's shield. "It's not knocking them down that's hard it's getting them to stay down that's the problem."
"They're unstoppable!" Tea cried.
"And everywhere," Tristan added.
Yugi looked up at the wall above the sarcophagus and noticed an eye set in a stone triangle. That eye seems to be his power source… wait, the warning! "The eye that sees what's yet to come, its vision shall be fulfilled unless blinded by events of providence."
"Events of what?" Joey asked
"Events of fate. Don't you remember English class, Joey?"
"I think I fell asleep."
"Providence is another word for fate. The warning is saying that unless the eye is blinded by fate, Anubis's vision will come to past. Fate, that's it! I need to get to that sarcophagus!"
"Say no more," Joey said. "We'll plow the road." Joey and Harold quickly engaged in fighting in a set of mummies that were near the sarcophagus. When Yugi saw an open route, he ran forward. By this time Tristan and Tea were already pinned underneath their captors and Joey was about to do the same.
Yugi ran up to the sarcophagus and pushed the lid open. Inside was nothing but bandages. Yugi scrounged through the bandages until he found the Dagger of Fate. He took it and stared at it for a moment. The blade was made of bone but something felt familiar about it. Was he feeling what the Pharaoh was feeling or… the dagger almost seemed to have a life of its own. "Harold, can you give me a lift?"
Harold was buried underneath a pile of mummies but fortunately his Armlet hand was pointing towards Yugi. The circle of symbols appeared under Yugi and started lifting Yugi up to the eye. "Here we go." Yugi stabbed the dagger into the eye. The eye exploded throwing Yugi to the other side of the room.
On the outside, Yami saw the Pyramid of Light card fade for a little bit. I'm sensing a weakness in the Pyramid's power source… Yugi. "I activate my face-down card Double Spell now by discarding one card from my hand I can select a new card from my opponent's graveyard and use it as my own and I know just the card I want!" A card flew out of Kaiba's Duel Disk and into Yami's hand. "Monster Reborn! So come forth, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!" The large dragon reappeared on Yami's side of the field. "And I have a hunch that this time it will work! Go, Shining Nova, use all your power to finish what you started before and destroy the Pyramid of Light!" The dragon launched a bolt of lightning which destroyed the card! All the monsters were destroyed.
The mummies quickly disintegrated freeing their prisoners. The prisoners too then disappeared.
On the outside, the pyramid started crumbling. Pegasus looked and saw that Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Harold were all okay. "Is everyone okay?"
"I think so," Harold replied. "So I'm guessing that Yugi did it."
"And with that, I end my turn now that the Pyramid of Light is gone," Yami said with a smile.
Anubis was nonplussed to say the least. "Your opponent already and tried and failed to destroy the Pyramid with that dragon and failed. You alone couldn't have made such a difference!"
Yugi's spirit appeared besides Yami. The two shared a look.
"You're quite right in that I couldn't have done it all alone."
"You may have destroyed the trap card but not the Pyramid of Light around my neck! BEHOLD ITS POWER!" Dark smoke shot up and began taking a giant form. It looked like someone took the top half of Andro Sphinx and placed it onto Sphinx Teleia's body. But Sphinx Teleia's head was also on the back of Andro Sphinx's head. "Behold Theinen the Great Sphinx (64)! And now Pyramid of Light, feed this perfect beast with evil souls set free!" Dark spirits flew around and into both of Theinen's mouths.
"Look!" Joey pointed to the Jumbo Screen. The attack points of Theinen were going through the roof. "Someone please tell me that attack meter just broke."
(TGS: 3500-35000)
"I've never been able to summon Theinen in our last battle so I think it's time for some proper introductions. Theinen, meet the Pharaoh, and Pharaoh meet your demise!"
"We have nothing that can beat that Sphinx," Yugi cried.
"Yes we do," Yami rebuked. "If I'm correct about what Kaiba was planning." He eyed Kaiba's remaining face-down card. "Now then, Anubis, this is still a duel and I still have one last card left to play: Reverse of Reverse which allows me to use my opponent's face-down cards as my own just like the one left by… Kaiba!" Kaiba's face-down card was flipped up. It was Return from the Different Dimension. "Kaiba was planning on beating me by taking control of my own Egyptian God Cards! But now thanks to Reverse of Reverse , I can play it like it's my own."
(Y: 50)
(A: 2100)
A vortex opened up and the three familiar monsters appeared. "Permit me to introduce Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra, my Egyptian God Monsters!" A lava pool opened up behind Anubis blocking his escape. "Now combine for infinite power!" Slifer wrapped itself around Obelisk so that its head was leaning on Obelisk's right arm. Ra transformed into its Phoenix mode and settled itself on Obelisk's other arm.
(OT: 4000-∞)
"Now go, Titan Firestorm!" The three God Monsters produced fire which engulfed Anubis and destroyed Theinen. Anubis melted into a puddle of ooze. The Pyramid of Light shattered leaving only the bead.
"You did it, congratulations, Pharaoh."
"We did it, partner."
The Millennium Puzzle flashed as Yugi regained control of his body. He ran over to check on Kaiba who was just reviving. "Kaiba, are you okay?"
"I'll live," Kaiba grumbled, upset about either being blind-sided by Anubis or failing to beat Yugi again or both.
A deep laughing echoed through the shattered Duel Dome. Everyone turned to see black fire rising around the bead.