Jounouchi was drowning in his memories, sinking into its muddy, dark depths. Other moments flashed through his mind and then were quickly washed away, like bubbles on a river current. There was a very small, very tiny, an absolutely miniscule part of his mind that was panicking. That part remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He wasn't supposed to be lost on memory lane. He wasn't supposed to be revisiting the messy emotions of his relationship with Kaiba, even though he had done exactly that for weeks after his confession and Kaiba subsequently ghosting him. He had spent enough time obsessing over his own embarrassment, humiliation, anger and repulsion. Love, lust, and longing all mixed in.
Jounouchi started fighting. He dragged his limbs back and forth through the waters, but it was so thick it felt like fighting through sludge. He pushed himself up anyway, up and up and up. He was getting so tired, and all he wanted to do was give up, but he was too afraid and too stubborn to do so.
He woke up in Kaiba's office. It was midday in the KaibaCorp building. Although Jounouchi was standing in the middle of Kaiba's office, he was also standing in the lobby, or standing amongst all the cubicles. No one paid attention to Kaiba. He watched employees walk back and forth, typing away at their computers, seeking each other out for work-related questions or just to chat and laugh a few minutes away. All the while, Kaiba sat at his desk, eyes glued to his screen. Barely moving.
Jounouchi focused on just Kaiba. All his monitors were on, but he was looking at his laptop screen. Occasionally he would type a few words on his keyboard or click his mouse. He did not look at Jounouchi.
"Oy, Kaiba." Jounouchi called out, but Kaiba didn't answer. Jounouchi waved his hand in front of Kaiba's face but there was no reaction. He tried to push his chair, or touch his arm, but it was like reality slipped through his fingers. He couldn't touch him.
Jounouchi swore, anger and panic rushing through his body like a flood breaking a dam. He reached for Kaiba's collar; he balled his hands into fists and swung. He couldn't touch Kaiba. Nothing he did worked.
He swung. Over and over again. He tried to stand on the desk. He tried to kick the computer. He tried to grab Kaiba's arm, his shoulder, his head, anything. It wasn't that he was transparent, or Kaiba was transparent. It was merely that the two of them existed in entirely different planes of existence.
Jounouchi crouched down and started hyperventilating. He was trapped here. He was going to die here. He didn't want to die like this, or worse, be forced to exist like a ghost in this hell, surrounded by people who couldn't see him and didn't care about him at all.
Jounouchi felt eyes on his back and turned. In the corner of Kaiba's office there was a woman with white hair. Her eyes were blue and sorrowful. A tear rolled down her cheek. But she was looking at him, and Jounouchi suddenly felt hope.
"Are you trapped here too?" Jounouchi asked.
The woman thought for a moment, and then nodded.
"I'm trapped here too! No one can see me! But you can see me, and I can see you!" Jounouchi ran up to her and just to make sure he could, he grabbed her hands. She was surprised at his radiant smile.
"There has to be a way out of here. If we work together, I'm sure we can find it!" Jounouchi held onto her hand firmly as he began walking out of Kaiba's office. They walked through the hallway and down the stairs. The feel of the other person's hand was a comforting weight between them, and it gave them both strength and courage. When Jounouchi looked back to check on her, the woman was smiling.
They walked down to the lobby and then through the front door. One moment the windows were sunny and Jounouchi could see people walking through the city, and the next moment they were lost in darkness. There was no building. No trees. No one.
Jounouchi turned back to look at the woman again and she was still there. Her white hair moved gently with an unseen breeze. Her blue eyes felt startingly familiar.
"Damn, where are we? What do you think we should do?" Jounouchi asked her.
The woman tugged Jounouchi gently along and strode resolutely forward. She walked in a straight line through the darkness and seemed unbothered by the fact that you couldn't see anything. Jounouchi was very scared, however.
But there were no dangers ahead. There were no monsters jumping out at them, no obstacles on the ground to trip them up and trap them. They kept walking.
The woman suddenly stopped. Jounouchi looked around for a second. "Why did we stop? Is something there?"
There were; Jounouchi saw Duel Monsters. There was Kaiba's monsters, Yugi's monsters, even the monsters from his own deck. They seemed to be waiting for something.
"Are we in the Duel Monsters world?" Jounouchi asked in amazement. He laughed in delight as his monsters, his friends, and partners, came up to him and stood by his side.
The white-haired woman smiled and let go of his hand. "Are you also a duelist? I want to see the monsters in your deck," Jounouchi said. She shook her head but kept smiling. She put her hands on Jounouchi's back and began pushing him forward.
"Wait, where are we going? What is this?" Jounouchi asked. He could feel something up ahead, and a feeling of thrill but also dread filled his chest. There was a barrier of some sort, or a line that one should not cross. But there was a haze in the darkness, and a fluttering of a veil. Jounouchi looked around and saw that all the Duel monsters were heading in the same direction too, towards that point between dimensions. As Jounouchi got closer, he could hear the sounds of familiar life and familiar people. The sounds of people talking. The voices of his friends.
The white-haired woman pushed Jounouchi through the veil. The last thing he heard was a woman's voice saying, "I will entrust him to you. Call my name when you need help, and I will be there."
The last thing he saw was sunlight, bright and glaring, burning through the darkness in a flash.
He tried to open his eyes, but they were sealed shut. Even so, he could tell that the world around him was pitch black. The air was heavy, and he struggled to breathe freely. He opened his mouth and tried to call out for help, but all he could manage was a pitiful whimper.
The soft shhhh, shhh, sound of cloth on the ground came from his left and he instinctively turned towards it. He tried to open his eyes again but to no avail. The person quietly slipped to his side and leaned down. He felt small hands grip onto his arms and shake him gently.
"Kaiba. Kaiba, wake up."
"Yugi..." Kaiba whispered.
The person paused. "I'm not Yugi."
"Of course you are," Kaiba mumbled. "Who else would you be?"
"Yugi" paused, and then laughed under his breath. "Ok, I guess I can be 'Yugi again." He reached down and grabbed Kaiba by his arms before heaving him up onto his feet. He threw one of Kaiba's arms over his shoulders and Kaiba's hand brushed warm metal on the side of "Yugi''s" head. Together they began hobbling forward.
"Try your best to walk," "Yugi" ordered. "You can lean on me."
"What are you talking about?" Kaiba mumbled. "You're so short it'll be like leaning on thin air."
"Shut up and walk." "Yugi" answered tersely.
They continued through this darkness; Kaiba alternated between consciousness and restless sleep as "Yugi" dragged Kaiba along. At some point, Kaiba fell asleep again, and woke up with a strangled yell.
"Kaiba!" "Yugi shook him roughly. "What's wrong with you? What is haunting your dreams?!"
Kaiba swore under his breath weakly. "Gozaburo...I haven't dreamt about that bastard for years..."
"Some dreams can be prophetic," "Yugi" warned. "You should pay more attention to them."
Kaiba scoffed. "I'm not like you and your crazy other half, Yugi. Dreams are just your brain making up bullshit."
"Yugi" seemed annoyed. "Why am I the crazy half?" He muttered
"You're all crazy," Kaiba muttered. "All of you...and me too."
"Kaiba," "Yugi" cut in. "Why are you here? This is the afterlife, or the boundary between life and death. You shouldn't be here, or else you will be lost between dimensions."
Kaiba stopped walking. "Finally got myself killed, did I?"
"Yugi" shook his head. "No, you're not dead yet. But your soul has been separated from your body, and we must locate your body as soon as possible."
"Mokuba will be so disappointed..." Kaiba muttered glumly.
"What do you remember?"
Kaiba's head lolled with every step. It took all his willpower to stay upright and continue talking. "I remember fighting with Yugi, and... not feeling like myself. I remember being really angry," Kaiba's forehead furrowed as he spoke. "But I can't remember why."
"Yugi" hefted him up a little higher and picked up the pace. "How did you end up here, Kaiba?"
"I...I wanted to battle the Pharaoh again...I needed to...I needed to see him again." Kaiba suddenly felt himself slipping off "Yugi's" shoulders.
Kaiba slid onto the ground and he felt someone grab his shoulders and shake him. "Kaiba. Kaiba what did you do?" "Yugi" asked.
"I hired people...to dig up the Millennium Puzzle..." Kaiba slurred. "Yugi" let out a noise of frustration and Kaiba felt him leave his side. He could hear his companion pacing restlessly around him from the cape brushing the ground and his gold accessories clinking together.
"And I made an AI program...to mimic the Other Yugi...so that I would have someone to duel with..." Kaiba continued.
He felt "Yugi" kneel back down again. "Kaiba, that title was passed onto Yugi. Why would you still want to battle me when Yugi is the King of Games?"
"It feels wrong," Kaiba growls. "Yugi – you are different."
"Of course Aibou is different, he's a different person. I would have thought you'd be happy, since is a better duelist than me."
"The Pharaoh was my equal," Kaiba insisted. "Because when I dueled him, I could see my own ambition reflected back at me, my own burning desire to win. When I dueled the Pharaoh, I wasn't the only one consumed by the need for victory. Dueling you isn't the same. You lack that passion, that fire."
"Yugi" snorted. "You mean our inability to ever play a game for fun. I think anyone else would call that obsession." Kaiba heard a thump as "Yugi" collapsed down next to him, side by side. In these few moments of quiet, Kaiba drifted peacefully in and out of consciousness.
Then he woke up again and remembered there was more to the story. "I made Yugi angry," he blurted out.
"Aibou was angry? You must have done something truly bad."
"He defeated me in a duel with my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and he pointed out how I was still trying to face a different opponent than him. A few days before that, he had destroyed the AI I had built to imitate - the Pharaoh. I was so mad I screamed at him, and after he defeated me, I refused to accept his victory. I called him underhanded, and I said he was only the vessel."
Kaiba heard a gasp. "How dare you…?" "Yugi" growled. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I couldn't believe he defeated the Pharaoh. How could he have defeated the three Egyptian God cards?" Kaiba asked.
"But he did, and he was incredible. You told me he defeated you with your own dragons."
"In one turn he defeated me with my own dragons," Kaiba corrected. "Which is why I'm starting to believe that he was capable of defeating the Three Egyptian God Cards."
"How did you know he was angry?"
"He..." Kaiba stopped. "I..." He tried to gather his thoughts but all he could remember was his stuttering breaths, his frenzied heartbeat, and the heart stopping fear of seeing Slifer behind him, hot breaths blowing at his heels…
Kaiba scrunched up his face and gave a low moan. "Yugi" immediately sat up and reached over for him. Kaiba felt a hand on his chest; he slapped the hand away.
"Kaiba..." The hand on his chest tightened. "We need to keep moving." Then Kaiba was pulled once more back onto his feet.
"Rest if you have to, but don't do it for long. I can't carry you the entire way," "Yugi" warned. Kaiba tried to nod but all he did was loll forward and slip once more into oblivion.
After Kaiba's illusion of the afterlife shattered, Yugi passed out and woke up in a foreign world. Yugi peered around curiously at the world, but all was dark.
"Where am I?" Yugi asked aloud. "Hello!" He shouted but no one answered. There was nothing out there; no living things, no movement, nothing. Just a bland, unrelenting darkness.
He cautiously stepped forward a few steps and his foot bumped into someone. Yugi instinctively knew it was Kaiba, but he still knelt down and checked with his hands. There was Kaiba's dramatic coat; his hairstyle that toed the line between professional and mullet; there was his duel disk. Yugi found Kaiba's arms and dragged him up and over until he was half carrying him on his back. Yugi huffed from the weight; Kaiba was too tall and too heavy for him. He wished Jounouchi was here.
Yugi heard the sounds of cooing and looked around. His eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, but it wasn't like in the real world. It was more like he was beginning to sense his surroundings even though it was still dark. Because of this, when he saw Kuriboh bouncing towards him, he looked well-lit.
Kuriboh looked like he wanted Yugi to follow him so Yugi did, while half-carrying and half-dragging Kaiba on his back. Then he heard the sound of more voices, very familiar ones.
"Why is it so dark here?" Jounouchi asked. "Are you sure this isn't the afterlife?"
"I'm sure," Aigami said. "We are between realms and dimensions."
"The last thing I saw was a burst of sunlight," Jounouchi said. "I thought I died."
"I experienced the same thing. I was in my memories of my Master Shadi. I believe it was my master's spirit that brought me out of that dimension. There is a good chance we were brought here to reunite with Yugi-san."
"I definitely want to find Yugi. But where do we even start looking?" Jounouchi asked.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Yugi called out. It was still dark but he could see the two of them, and they could see him, dragging Kaiba along with Kuriboh bouncing ahead of them. Jounouchi and Aigami helped Yugi lower Kaiba to the ground and then Yugi gave Jounouchi a big hug.
"I'm so happy to see you two!" Yugi exclaimed.
"It's good you found Kaiba-kun. Neither of us were able to connect with him enough to end up in the same place," Aigami said.
"Where did you find him?" Jounouchi asked.
Yugi sighed. "He was dueling Atem in Atem's palace, and it was Ancient Egypt, but it looked more like the Memory World we were in before, and some of the people looked wrong. Atem was also acting very strange. He wasn't like himself."
"That was likely a delusion created by Kaiba's mind then," Aigami said.
Yugi nodded. "After I pointed it out, the delusion shattered, and we ended up here. But Kaiba is unconscious, and I don't know how to wake him up."
"If his consciousness or soul has been separated from his body, we will have to find that too in order to bring Kaiba back safely and whole," Aigami added. "This could be linked to Egyptian beliefs about the different parts of the soul. If his soul has been split into different pieces and scattered, we will have to reunite this Kaiba with the other part of his soul."
"How will we find him in this darkness?" Yugi asked.
"Don't worry Yugi, we'll find him. We just have to start walking." Jounouchi picked a direction and started forward confidently.
"Wait! You don't want to go the wrong way," came a voice from behind them. Yugi stopped. In front of him materialized a boy with spiky hair and golden bangs. He wore a Domino High school uniform with the jacket slung over his shoulders, belts strapped to his arms and legs. Over his chest hung the Millennium Puzzle.
"Mou Hitori no Boku…no, you're...that AI..." Yugi said. "What are you doing here?"
"I am here to lead you to where my creator's soul is," Yami Yugi said.
"What? The Other Yugi?" Jounouchi asked.
"No. Kaiba-kun made a dueling AI for duelists to practice against, but he also made a version based off of the Other Me. I destroyed it when I found out." Yugi explained. He winced as he did so, the weight of Kaiba slowly sliding off his back. Kaiba's head rolled slightly on his shoulder.
"Here, let me take him." Jounouchi walked to Yugi's side and Yugi gratefully transferred Kaiba onto Jounouchi.
"So this is the Nameless Pharaoh," Aigami whispered.
"Thanks, Jounouchi. We can trade off later," Yugi said before turning back to Yami Yugi. "Mou Hitoro No Boku, how are you here? And where are we?" Yugi and Yami Yugi faced each other, and it was like looking at someone looking at their own reflection. Light and dark, a clear reflection in this darkness.
Yami Yugi nodded. "I can explain as we walk. We are in an alternate dimension, one you can think of as the Shadow Realm, the world between the living and the afterlife. It also acts as a bridge between the Duel Monsters World and your world. This is where the magic of the Millennium Items resides." Yami Yugi and Yugi walked ahead in the front, while Jounouchi and Kaiba walked in the middle. Aigami followed behind, his eyes glued to Yami Yugi.
"Mou Hitori no Boku…are you real?" Yugi asked.
"When Kaiba created my program, he did it for the sole purpose of bringing back the Pharaoh. He may not believe in magic, but he is still the reincarnation of Priest Set," Yami Yugi gave them his signature smirk and Yugi's heart skipped a beat.
Yami Yugi continued. "His will was so great that he was able to use his memories and forge a connection between the living world and this world, luckily falling short of truly reaching the Afterlife. If he did, he would have torn a great hole in the barriers between the living, physical realm, and the realm of the dead and Duel Monsters. It would have been a catastrophe."
Yami Yugi gave Yugi a comforting smile, one he rarely showed anyone else. "Aibou, you did the right thing in destroying my program. Without that, I will not exist in the living, physical realm. But Kaiba was powerful enough to make me out of his memories, so I'm still here."
"I'm so sorry Mou Hitori no Boku," Yugi murmured. "If I had known, I would have tried to find another solution."
"No, you did the right thing," Yami Yugi insisted. "No matter what, we cannot allow the Shadow Games to re-enter the physical world."
"I'll try to find a way to free you from this realm Mou Hitori No Boku," Yugi said gravely. "It's my duty after all, as your vessel. I've done it before, I can do it again."
"Don't worry, Aibou. I am fine here. The darkness is comfortable to me. I would not mind staying here."
"Yugi is the Chosen One," Aigami said. "Yugi is the heir to the Nameless Pharaoh's legacy. He is right; it is his duty to make sure that the Nameless Pharaoh is laid to rest peacefully in the Afterlife."
Yugi nodded grimly. "And I will do my best. Did you say you could lead us to where Kaiba-kun's soul is?"
Yami Yugi nodded. "But once we venture deeper into this realm, we will run into powerful monsters that mean to do us harm. Can you fight them?"
"No sweat!" Jounouchi replied. "It's like one of our old adventures again! Yugi, Me, Aigami! The three of us are an unbeatable team! With our monsters, we're unstoppable!" Yami Yugi smiled at Jounouchi's words and didn't say anything.
Yugi didn't seem to notice anything amiss with what Jounouchi said. "Yes! With our deck and our friends, we've got nothing to worry about!" Yugi finished. "I feel much braver with you, Mou Hitori no Boku. I missed you."
"I missed you too. We must hurry. Kaiba's soul will perish if he's abandoned to the Shadow Realm," Yami Yugi warned.
"We won't let that happen," Yugi said. Lead on, Mou Hitori no Boku." Just then, the wind mysteriously picked up.
"They're coming," Yami Yugi warned over the wind. "Prepare yourself."
"Dark Magician!" Yugi called out, and the sorcerer appeared in a blinding flash of light from Yugi's core. The Dark Magician had just landed on the ground when Yugi stumbled, dizzy from the exertion.
"Yugi!" Jounouchi, Aigami and Yami Yugi cried out in alarm.
"Be careful! Don't summon too many monsters Aibou," Yami Yugi cautioned. "In this world, summoning requires your life energy. If you use it too fast or run out, your life would be in grave danger."
"Yeah, Yugi!" Jounouchi shouted. "Don't take all the spotlight for yourself! Flame Swordsman!" Jounouchi's body glowed for a moment before Flame Swordsman burst out too. Jounouchi swayed but remained standing.
"Magician of Dark Illusion! Dark Sage! Protect Aibou!" Yami Yugi ordered. The two shadow monsters were summoned out of the darkness and immediately flanked Yugi.
Yami Yugi nodded. "That should be good enough for now. Let's continue." Suddenly a Man-Eater Bug shot out from the darkness right at Jounouchi, who screamed and nearly dropped Kaiba. Aigami grabbed the unconscious Kaiba from behind before he hit the ground as Flame Swordsman catapulted over his head and incapacitated the monster with a single slash.
"Yugi!" Yugi spun around as two more monsters attacked from his side. Yugi ducked as Dark Magician shot off two blasts right behind him, leaving smoking piles of ash.
"Indiora the Cubic Emperor!" Aigami shouted. A large alien, white and blue giant appeared in front of Aigami. It had a metallic white body and four limbs, two of which were also white. Its body was covered in purple markings while its center had a tribal mask that glowed menacingly through the darkness. From its arms protruded giant metal spikes. Aigami fell over too, from the strain, but nevertheless the monster appeared triumphantly to shield them from the rogue Duel Monsters. Like Aigami, it was a monster that Yugi faced during a duel, but now stood on their side. Foe turned friend.
The group was now running while their monsters protected them on all sides, firing off attacks sporadically. But even with another Duel Monster, Yugi and his friends were vastly outnumbered. Monsters appeared from the shadows every second, and they could see gleaming eyes waiting in the distance. They were surrounded.
"Can we go faster?" Jounouchi wailed.
"We just need a good defense!" Yugi shouted back. He and Yami Yugi looked at each other. Yami Yugi nodded. Then they both closed their eyes.
Yugi and Yami Yugi lit up in blinding golden light. "Kuriboh! Multiply!" Like a torrent from an open dam, brown furballs exploded out of Yugi and Yami Yugi in all directions, hitting the horde of monsters surrounding them and exploding on impact. Yugi and his friends cheered with triumph before smoke filled their lungs, making them cough and obscuring their vision.
Aigami began shouting over the din. "This won't work for long. We have to run!" Then the earth began to shake, loud enough to rattle their ribcages and send shockwaves that clear the air of smoke. When it did, the Kuribohs had disappeared, and another monster army was slowly approaching. In the front of the army was a shadowy figure with wild, flowing hair, and a creepy mask that showed only one eye.
"What is that?" Yugi wondered.
"The monsters keep coming. If we don't escape, we will be destroyed," Aigami said.
"Aigami, take care of Kaiba for me." Jounouchi handed Kaiba to a very confused Aigami.
"Jounouchi, what are you doing?" Yugi asked. Jounouchi rolled his shoulders.
"I'm gonna do what I do best: create a distraction. You guys need to run for it," Jounouchi said.
"No!" Yugi said. "We're not leaving you here! We don't need to separate! We can do this together!" Yugi argued. But Jounouchi shook his head.
Jounouchi glanced back at Yugi. "Someone needs to stay here to slow that army down, and you need to find Kaiba's soul!" He argued. "Otherwise, all this crazy dark magic is going to get into our world, and I'm not going to let that happen!"
Jounouchi turned away from the group and stared ahead. "You have the best chance at finding him, Yugi. Kaiba needs you. I believe you can do it."
"Jounouchi, he needs you too," Yugi said quietly.
"Me? Nah, I'm not that important. But I'll be fine!" Jounouchi gave them a shit-eating grin. "I'm always fine! No one can defeat Jounouchi Katsuya! I'll get out of this like I always do!"
"Jounouchi-san, I underestimated you," Aigami said.
"Jounouchi, it's too dangerous," Yami Yugi said. "If you refuse to go with us, Aibou and I can combine our strength to summon you a powerful monster."
Jounouchi shook his head. "No Other Yugi – you should conserve your strength. I need you to look out for the others in my place."
Aigami cut in. "We need to hurry up. If Jounouchi is staying, then the rest of us need to leave now and get as far as we can. We need to use this opportunity." The words "and not waste Jounouchi's efforts and self-sacrifice" went unsaid, but everyone was thinking it.
"Go, Yugi. I will be fine." Yugi looked at Jounouchi's determined expression and nodded. Yami Yugi nodded too.
"When we find Kaiba-kun's soul, we will come back for you. We can meet you halfway," Yugi announced.
Jounouchi gave him a thumbs-up. "Sounds like a plan." Yami Yugi pushed them forward and they started walking away. Yugi took one last look back at Jounouchi. His back cut through the darkness, a lone vigil against the vast army approaching. Meanwhile Yugi and his friends made their way through the impenetrable darkness, their footsteps illuminated only by the Duel Monsters army and Yami Yugi's scarlet eyes.
Jounouchi did not turn around until he could no longer sense the presence of his friends by his side. Then he turned and stared unflinchingly into the darkness.
"Thanks for your help Flame Swordsman," Jounouchi patted his monster on the shoulder until it scattered into light. Then he took a deep breath and raised up his hand.
"Red Eyes Black Dragon!" A column of light appeared around Jounouchi and like a doorway, a gleaming black dragon materialized from its center with an earsplitting screech. The light dispersed and Red Eyes flew around Jounouchi before landing next to him. Jounouchi jumped onto his back.
"Let's go! Red Eyes, Inferno Fire Blast!" With Jounouchi on his back Red Eyes took off like a comet, soaring on the wind currents. Jounouchi's heart sped up as they got closer and closer to the monster army. Red Eyes gave another shriek before unleashing a volley of fireballs from its mouth.
The monster army surged forward like the ocean waves and engulfed Jounouchi and his dragon. Red Eyes fought valiantly as it tried to dodge oncoming attacks while keeping its master on his back. But it wasn't long before Jounouchi could make out neither heads nor tails of the situation as he was blinded by the smoke and flashing lights. A stray shot hit Jounouchi in the shoulder and he tumbled off his dragon.
He was hunched over, half walking, half being dragged along. It was silent save for the sound of cloth dragging across the floor. A sudden, foreign lurch suddenly threatened to pull him off his feet. His companion grabbed his shirt just in time. He tried to keep going but his feet had turned to concrete, and his heart slowly filled with dread. There was a terrific force suddenly tugging on his chest, and it burned.
Jounouchi's body bounced painfully off the ground. As he struggled to recover, he heard the faint sounds of his Red Eyes Black Dragon screeching over the roar of the monster army, and then he felt a pain like his heart was being torn out. Jounouchi gasped, his mouth thrown open in a silent scream. Red Eyes disappeared, taking Jounouchi's life energy with it. His fingers scrabbled on the ground helplessly from the pain. Meanwhile the army approached him, step by step.
Jounouchi blinked through the pain and looked up at a familiar one-eyed, teal giant. It lowered its head and Jounouchi stared into its single, unblinking eye. Jounouchi weakly raised a hand to shake his finger at it.
"I'm trying to rescue your master," Jounouchi scolded between breaths. "You wouldn't stand in my way, would you?"
Spots were beginning to appear before his eyes, and a terrible nauseousness had filled his head. He struggled to stay standing but quickly tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs. He knew his companion was shouting his name and trying to keep him conscious, but he could no longer understand what his companion was saying. With every passing moment he could feel his strength leaving him; not permanently, but as if someone was borrowing it...
Jounouchi flung himself to the side as Hitotsume Giant slammed his fist down where Jounouchi had been a second ago. Jounouchi barely escaped danger but he landed once again on his side, which was bruised greatly from his last fall. He tried to stand up and failed and ended up curling into a ball.
"Sorry Yugi," Jounouchi muttered. "Sorry, Other Yugi." The footsteps of the giant were loud enough to deafen him now. He could hear the monsters' roars and snarls and screeching from the sky above. He was going to die for certain. For a moment, shadows fell over his head.
"Kaiba…"
Then blinding white light cut through the dark canvas above their heads. At first it was a few shards, and then great columns appeared, chasing away the darkness to the corners of the earth. The monsters screamed in agony and shielded their eyes. Jounouchi turned onto his back and squinted at the source of this light.
A form descended through the clouds. Silver scales gleamed so brightly they looked white; wings so expansive they seemed to cover half the sky. As its domed head finally emerged as well, its serpentine tail whipped back and forth, impatient for blood.
Jounouchi could only lie on the ground in amazement as Blue Eyes White Dragon opened its mouth and let out an earthshaking roar. The Duel Monsters turned away from Jounouchi and began running away from Blue Eyes, but it didn't give its opponents a chance to prepare. The dragon threw its head back and unleashed white light everywhere, searing the ground and smiting its opponents where they stood. Its power was so great pieces of the earth were ripped out from the impact. It was the undisputed strongest monster.
Finally, the air grew quiet and Jounouchi stood up. Blue Eyes White Dragon slowly flew towards him as Jounouchi surveyed the area in amazement. Because the dragon had banished the darkness, Jounouchi could see now that he was standing in an empty desert, with sand stretching all the way to the horizon. But other than sand, there was nothing else left.
The dragon landed before him. "Thank you, Blue Eyes," Jounouchi murmured. "Tell Kaiba we're going to rescue him soon." The dragon stared at him with familiar blue eyes, deep and sorrowful. Comforting. He gently patted it on the head, and it took off into the sky before disappearing.
In another world, "Yugi" was kneeling in front of a comatose Kaiba and shaking him with increased urgency. Then Blue Eyes appeared. As it faded into nothing, the color slowly returned to Kaiba's face, and he groaned.
"Kaiba! Why did you collapse?" "Yugi" hoisted him once more onto his feet.
"I could sense...someone calling for me," Kaiba admitted. "Someone that needed my help. But I don't know what I did."
"You must have summoned Blue Eyes White Dragon," "Yugi" replied. "But you don't even have your own body right now. You could have died." Kaiba didn't answer; his eyelids began drooping as he once again slipped back into unconsciousness.
"We have to get you back to your body." Kaiba felt himself lifted off of his feet and onto someone's back.
"Otherwise...your time may run out."