Chapter 3

Kalcifer looked at Bakura and Ryou with a raised eyebrow, the light from his fire dancing across his face.

"And who might you two be…?" Kalcifer said but within a second his eyes widened as he spotted the Item in Ryou's hands. "Oh, another one! This just gets better and better!"

"Yes, is does," Bakura smirked. He snatched the Ring from Ryou's hands and held it up. "Pharaoh, combine your Puzzle's energy with the Ring's!"

Yami immediately complied, although he felt that he had no idea as to what he was doing. Like he did in the hospital, he decided to wing it. Upon focusing the power of the Puzzle with the Ring's, the wind picked up and golden light ricocheted outwards and hit Kalcifer. There was an explosion of energy that caused everyone to shield their eyes. When the light died down, Yami looked and saw no sign of Kalcifer. The once animated suit of armor now lay in a pile on the cement.

"Woah," Tristan said after a pause. "What'd ya do?"

"That was supposed to obliterate him, but I think it only teleported him instead," Bakura said, then glared at Yami in annoyance. "Nice going Pharaoh."

"That doesn't matter!" Ryou said waving his hands frantically, seeing an argument come on as Yami opened his mouth to retort. "What does matter is that he's gone right now, right?"

"For now, but what are we going to do when he comes back?"

"We'll have more people on our side," Ishizu spoke up. "If he comes back we shall be ready."

"Yes so about that…" Bakura said walking up to them. He stopped in front of Yugi and their eyes met for a few seconds before Bakura chuckled and looked at Yami. "I see…but your efforts are in vain."

"Don't say that!" Ryou said defiantly. He looked at everyone with an apologetic expression, as if trying to pacify them for Bakura's words. "He's just being pessimistic…"

Bakura smirked. "It's not pessimism, it's fact. His soul is on the brink of death. Surely, you've seen it Pharaoh. The kid is slowly being pulled back towards the void and you refuse to acknowledge it."

"That's not…!" Yami began to say then stopped himself. He didn't want to lie to himself and everyone else and say that it wasn't true. He could see that Yugi was fading and he didn't need Bakura to tell him that. Even now as they stood there, Yugi's eyes became a shade duller and he shuddered. They may have had less time than what Shadi had originally given them.

"We're not giving up hope," Ishizu said, glancing sideways at Yami. She pulled out the Millennium Necklace. "We are gathering everyone here in the hopes to save this world, and to save Yugi. Surely you would not have come if you didn't want to help?"

"Yes but…now that I'm here…" Bakura began but stopped when he saw Ryou's face, which was giving the thief a pleading look. He sighed. "Now that we're here, we'll help…"

Ryou grinned and everyone looked on in confusion.

"What…just happened?" Tristan asked. Joey grinned.

"Ryou! You've got him on a leash! How'd ya manage that?"

Bakura snapped. "What did you just say?!"

"Quick Ryou! Tighten the leash!"

"That's enough," Yami said before things escalated out of control. "Let's not fight now. We have bigger problems."

"Yeah, like who was that Kalcifer guy?" Tristan said pushing Joey back a few feet, as Bakura was glaring daggers at the teen. "He was nuts…"

"He claims to have started this whole thing," Ishizu said looking thoughtful. "We should look into who he is and how he found out about the Millennium Items…"

"We also need to gather all of the Item's holders as well." Yami said. "Ishizu, where is Marik?"

"He's in town, thankfully. I can go find him now if you would like."

"We should all stick together. We'll help you look for him."

"Wait, doesn't he have a phone or something?" Ryou asked. Ishizu shook her head.

"We never got around to getting one… But Marik is in the city somewhere. The last I heard from him, he was going to see the sites. Kaibaland was one of them."

Tristan sighed. "So I guess that we have to search the entire city then. Ya know, splitting up would be faster."

"BUT, thanks to the Pharaoh, that maniac Kalcifer, could have been sent anywhere and could reappear at any place at any time." Bakura said.

Ryou spoke up before any more fighting could be ignited, which Yami was grateful for. "Wow, you're calling someone else a maniac? That's saying something."

"Let's just get going." Ishizu interjected. "Kaibaland is about a thirty-minute walk from here. We can check there for Marik."

Tristan groaned. "Thirty minutes? Does no one here have a car?"

While Tristan did have a point and that they were on a tight schedule, Yami was glad to be walking to a new destination. It gave him a feeling that they had a good plan and that it was going to work. As they walked, he looked at Yugi and was growing more and more worried. He was being uncharacteristically quiet and seemed he had a hard time focusing. He fell into stride next to him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Yugi sighed.

"I'm… not sure."

Yugi didn't add on to his answer and Yami felt that it was because he was afraid to. However, the ex-pharaoh was feeling stubborn and wanted him to answer fully.

"Then tell me what you are sure about."

Yugi hesitated but didn't look at him when he answered. "I feel like I'm dying again… but in slow motion."

The statement made Yami's heart skip a beat. It due to a combination of the statement itself, and how Yugi had said it… without any emotion. It was like the fact didn't really bother him at this point, like he had planned on giving in to it.

"Yugi, you can't give up." He said feeling the emotion in his words. "We are going to beat this, but you have to believe in us too! If not… then we'll all die."

"Not if I die first."

Again, the statement was like a cold knife in Yami's heart, and it was all he could do to not shout.

"I won't let you die Yugi. You can count on that. If you do… then I'll die with you."

Yugi looked up at him in shock. "You… you can't do that!"

Yami looked out to the road ahead, seeing the outline of Kaibaland in the distance. "Believe what you want."

Yugi said nothing after that so Yami decided to then focus his attention to Joey and Tristan's plan of what they wanted to do to Kalcifer's face once they saw him again. All of their plans were quite graphic yet Yami felt surprised at himself when he gladly imagined their plans in his head as well.

"Alright," said Yugi suddenly. Yami looked at him feeling surprised that he spoke up suddenly with that amount of strength in his voice. "You win. I promise I'll do my best to stay alive."

Yami stared at him in shock for a moment, trying to find any lies within that statement. However, the fact that he and Joey were trying to get Yugi to stay alive must have finally sunk in. Yugi was now ready to fight with them.

"Good," Yami said.

Soon but not soon enough, they reached the front gate to the theme park. The word, "Kaibaland!" was stretched out across the banner of the gate. The blue eyes white dragon statue could be easily seen beyond the ticket stands. A building that looked like a duel disk stood to their right and the park fanned out after that. Rides could be seen in the distance as well as the duel arena. Everything was as it should be except for one thing: much like the museum, the amusement park was completely abandoned. Light were on for many of the attractions but it was as if everyone just randomly decided to get up and leave. It gave the park an eerie feeling and Joey shuddered as a slight breeze came through.

"Well this is creepy…"

"Marik can't be here," Ishizu said with a raised eyebrow. "This place isn't even open."

"Actually…" Ryou said. He was holding up the Millennium Ring it was pointing directly in front of them. "It seems that he is in here."

"Something's wrong," Bakura said looking around. "The land here is in unrest."

"So…what does that mean?" Tristan asked, scratching his head. Bakura smirked.

"It means that Marik is probably in trouble."

"Typical," Ishizu sighed. "Well let's get this over with."

She led the way into the park with everyone else not too far behind. The sounds of distant people going about their daily lives grew quiet, adding to the eeriness of the park. It was almost like they were being cut off from the rest of the world…which in a sense, they were.

As they walked past the life-sized Blue-Eyes White Dragon statue, Tristan broke off from the group to look at it.

"Kaiba sure is full of himself, isn't he?" he said. Joey slowed down to look at the statue as well.

"You're just noticing this now?" Tristan shrugged.

"I just like to point it out every once and a while."

Yami would have continued to listen to their conversation about Kaiba's ego but a change in the atmosphere caused him to stop in his tracks. Something changed in the air. It was the feeling that you get when you know a fight is about to start…

Yugi stopped too and looked back at him questioningly. "What is it?"

Yami didn't answer, but looked back towards the statue that Tristan and Joey were looking at it. Suddenly, its eyes shimmered as if a light had passed through it. Something wasn't right…

"Hey guys," Yami said. Joey and Tristan turned to look at him. "We should probably keep moving…"

Before Joey or Tristan had a chance to reply, there was a shout from behind them.

"You fools!" Bakura was yelling. "Get away from there!"

Suddenly, the sound of stone cracking filled the air. Joey and Tristan looked up at the statue, mouths agape. The eyes of the dragon turned red as if they filled with fire. Cracks appeared in the stone as it came to life. The wings flapped a couple of times, the claws flexed and it looked around. Once it spotted the humans by its feet, it opened its maw and let out an ear-splitting roar.

"Run!" Ryou yelled. Immediately, Joey and Tristan took off and ran past Yami faster than they had ever seen them go. Yami saw the Blue-Eyes White Dragon start to flap its wings and become airborne before he turned around and followed Joey and Tristan. He grabbed Yugi's hand and they ran towards everyone else, who had already started running.

The Blue-Eyes didn't sound any farther away after a minute of running so Yami knew that it was chasing them. Up ahead, Tristan was yelling angrily.

"I don't get it!" he yelled. "How is this possible?"

"It's probably that jerk, Kalcifer," Joey said panting. "He made that armor come to life…remember?"

The Blue Eyes statue suddenly gained on them Yami saw its shadow come over theirs.

"Stop!" Yami yelled, and he Yugi, Tristan and Joey all stopped as one. Then, not a second later, the Blue-Eyes statue landed right in front of them, right where they would have been had they kept running.

"Quick, get to the duel dome!" Joey pointed to a building to their left. Immediately, they all followed him Yami saw the dragon snap at them as they left. Thankfully, it missed.

As they ran towards the duel dome, Yami could feel the dragon running after them. Thankfully it was slow, but it didn't make the run any less frightening.

The building that they were running towards was just as it was called…a dome. Yami briefly wondered if running inside it would be a good idea before ignoring it as Tristan held the doors open for them. As fast as they could, the four of them ran inside, and Tristan held the doors shut.

Immediately, the sound of the dragon slamming into the side of the building left their ears ringing. The walls shook and debris fell to the floor, yet the building stood strong. The roars of the Blue-Eyes could be heard before it started to try and scratch its way through. Thankfully, the dragon seemed unable to get past the walls.

"Well…" Tristan panted as he held the doors shut. "That could have gone worse…"

"Good thing moneybags makes some strong buildings." Joey said looking around. Yami looked too and noticed that the entire building was made up of the one room that they were in. Multiple dueling platforms were scattered throughout and stands for spectators lined the sides. Everyone jumped as the dragon slammed into the building again, causing the walls to vibrate.

"Yes, it's made well," Yami said. "But we can't stay here forever. Ishizu, Ryou and Bakura are still out there…"

"Um…is it okay if we rest first?" Yugi spoke up. Yami looked at him and noticed that he was swaying where he stood. Quickly, Yami put his hands on Yugi's shoulders to steady him.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Yugi sighed.

"Yeah I…I'm just tired."

"Here…" Yami led Yugi to one of the stands a few feet away and had him sit. While he rested, Yami observed him. He seemed paler than he did earlier and his frame shivered in a subtle way. Yami berated himself for letting Yugi come along. He was weakened to begin with and now he's gotten worse. Bakura's words continued to echo through Yami's head. "His soul is on the brink of death…the kid is slowly being pulled back towards the void and you refuse to acknowledge it."

Another giant slam from the dragon hitting the building snapped Yami from his thoughts. He looked up and saw cracks forming in the ceiling.

"Joey…look." He said.

Joey had not been paying attention at first, as he was looking at Yugi but when Yami asked him to look, he was on full alert.

"Oh man…this isn't going to last much longer…"

Then, Yami heard the dragon aim for one more attack. He wanted to yell a warning but it was too late.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon slammed into the building and it busted a hole through the ceiling. Large pieces of the building started to fall as the dragon regained its bearings. Without thinking, Yami grabbed Yugi by the arm and pulled him away from the falling debris. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joey running right behind him. They got away enough from the falling building parts but the dust clouded their vision.

"Oh man…" Joey said shielding his eyes from the dust. "There goes our defense…"

Yami looked around them and realized who was missing.

"Tristan!" he yelled. "Where are you?"

There was no response.

Despite the dust flying around, Joey's eyes grew wide. "He was holding the door…"

Yami looked back and realized that all of that debris fell right where Tristan was standing. Did he get out in time?

"Tristan!" Joey yelled. "Say something!"

Their only response was that of the dragon roaring. Yami realized that it couldn't see them as much as they could see it. He wanted to escape while they still could, but Tristan could be injured and they couldn't leave without him.

All of a sudden, a large gust of wind came. The dust blew away as did a lot of the lighter debris. When the wind stopped, Yami looked up and was dismayed to see the Blue-Eyes staring at them from on top the pile of pieces of the ceiling and wall. Its massive wings were outstretched as if it just finished flapping them to create the breeze. Without the dust to hide them, they were fully exposed.

"No…n-no…." Joey started mumbling. "Tristan…"

Yami wondered why Joey was saying what he was saying, until he looked at the dragon again. Hanging out of its mouth was what looked like a piece of cloth. It took Yami less than a second to realize that the cloth came from Tristan's shirt, and another second to realize that half of it was soaked in blood.

"It can't be…" Yami said to himself. Could this dragon really have killed Tristan? It seemed all too possible. Despite the fact that the dragon had a piece of Tristan's blood-soaked clothing hanging from its mouth, the Blue-Eyes is standing directly on top of where Yami last saw him. If he wasn't eaten alive, then he was crushed to death. There was no sign of the teen and Yami could feel the weight of the loss starting to weigh him down. However, it was Joey's voice that kicked him out of his thought process.

"You stupid….dragon!" Joey yelled. Yami could feel the fury radiating from him. Joey started to run towards the Blue-Eyes in a rage but Yami stopped him…and it took all of his strength to do so.

"Joey…no! Stop!"

"Let…me…GO!" Joey yelled and Yami saw tears streaming down his face. "I'm going to kill that dragon!"

"No Joey!" Yami said and he forced Joey to look at him. "That dragon will kill you. Don't do anything reckless. I'm not losing you too!"

Joey looked like dying trying to avenge Tristan's death was a small price to pay but then Yami's stern gaze caused him to change his mind. While looking furious and upset, Yami's look seemed to get through to him and Joey nodded.

"Now let's get out of here." Yami said holding back his own tears.

A growl came from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and drew them back down to earth. They looked at the dragon and realized that it was starting to creep closer to them, hoping that they wouldn't notice.

"Run!" Yami yelled. He pulled Joey and Yugi with him and thankfully they both complied. There was another roar as the dragon missed them with a swipe of its claws.

They ran to the other side of the building, trying to ignore the sounds of the duel platforms being destroyed due to the dragon that was chasing them. More pieces of the ceiling began to fall around them as they ran to the opposite side of the building. Up ahead, Yami could see another door leading to the outside. He only hoped that they could reach it before the entire building collapsed on top of them.

The breath from the Blue-Eyes could be felt behind them as if its teeth were right behind them, ready to gobble them up. Yami urged them to put on one more burst of speed, and Joey sped ahead, opened the door and they ran through it. As they ran outside the building, the sound of the dragon hitting the walls at full speed could be heard. The entire building started to collapse and the dragon was still inside it. Yami, Joey and Yugi stopped once they were a safe distance away and looked back to see the Duel Dome completely fall to the ground in a haze of debris. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon did not emerge from the rubble. Running footsteps from behind them caused the trio to look to see Ryou, Bakura and Ishizu approaching.

"As much as I am a fan of destroying things, I don't believe Kaiba will approve," Bakura said looking at the mess with a smirk.

"Are you guys alright?" Ryou asked looking from them to the building. "What happened?"

"We…trapped it…" Yami said looking at the building in sorrow, only able to think about Tristan at the moment. Ishizu must have realized something was off right away however and looked at them with wide eyes.

"Where's Tristan?" she asked. When no one answered, but gave her sorrowful expressions, she held her hand over her mouth in shock. "It can't be…"

Suddenly, the debris from the Duel Dome started to shift slightly as if the dragon underneath it was starting to regain mobility.

"Look, we can talk once we're in a safe place," Bakura said with an annoyed tone. "Right now, we should do just that, so let's go!"

No one could really argue with this so Yami, Yugi and Joey followed Bakura, Ryou and Ishizu to a building that they must have hid in to avoid the dragon statue. It looked like an office building but it didn't have very many windows so they could hide from the Blue-Eyes for a little while without being seen. They left the lights off to be sure and the only light they had was that of the little bits of sunlight streaming through the few windows that they had. They sat in what looked like a waiting room that was filled with a bunch of armchairs. Everyone gladly took a seat except for Bakura who volunteered to keep a lookout outside incase the Dragon came by. After he walked out, Ryou looked out after him but didn't say anything.

"Pharaoh," Ishizu said. "What happened?"

Yami took a deep breath and told her and Ryou the shortened version of what went on inside the Duel Dome. Thinking about it too much caused sorrow to build up in his chest and he stood up and started pacing. Ishizu watched him sadly.

"I'm sorry," she said when even Ryou started to get teary eyed. "He died a hero's death…"

Immediately after she said that, Joey stood, and looked at Yami with determined expression mixed in with his sorrow.

"Bring him back," he said. Yami blinked.

"W-what?"

"Like what you did with Yugi…you have to! You know how to do it…bring Tristan back to life!"

Ishizu stood too looking at Joey with a shocked expression. "Joey, think about what you are asking…your mind is clouded with sorrow-"

"No, it's not!" Joey almost yelled. He advanced on Yami and the Pharaoh resisted the urge to step backwards. "The world isn't going to get any more messed up than it already is, so I say, bring him back to life!"

Yami thought for a few seconds on what to say, but couldn't make it any less blunt to him. "I…don't think I can…"

"What?! What do you mean?"

"I mean…what I did to Yugi…we're connected through the Puzzle. I don't know if doing the same thing to someone else would do anything…there might be no effect…" Yami looked away from Joey, unable to look him in the eyes. He felt like he let him down by saying this but he believed it to be true. "I don't mean that I'm not willing to try, but...I don't think it would work."

"Well we have to try!" Joey said sounding more desperate. "We just need to go back there and find his body! Then I can tell him that I'm sorry…for not saving him…"

And there is was, Yami thought. Joey felt responsible for Tristan's death and wanted to make up for it. Yami wanted to tell Joey that it wasn't his fault but Ryou spoke up next and voiced what Yami was thinking.

"It's not what Tristan would want, Joey…" he said causing the blonde to look at him and then back to Yami, as if he knew that Ryou was right but didn't want to admit it. Joey still looked like he wanted to argue but he didn't say anything else. They all stood in silence for a minute before a sigh in the corner caught Yami's attention. He looked at Yugi who was slightly slumped over in his chair and was put on instant high alert. He walked over to him and sat next to him but there was no response from Yugi.

"Yugi?" he shook the teen but there was no response. He looked at his face and realized that he was unconscious. He shook him to get a response. "Yugi!"

Joey came over on the other side and checked for a pulse on his wrist. He sat there for a few seconds and looked up at Yami with a fearful expression.

"His pulse is really weak…" he said. "It's almost like…like he's dying…"

"No…no he can't!" Yami said, his voice shaking. Ryou stood now next to Ishizu, wanting to help but unsure of what to do.

"What should we do? We're nowhere near any doctors…"

Yami shook Yugi again. "Please Yugi, wake up! Don't give up on us now! You said you wouldn't!"

Again, there was no response, so the only thing that Yami could think to do was to try to put all his emotions into the puzzle's energy and direct into him, willing him to wake up. Yugi wasn't dead yet, but Yami didn't want to have to bring him back to life…he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to do it again.

"We are not going to lose you again…" Yami said in a low voice. The Puzzle glowed and the Eye of Horus appeared on his and Yugi's forehead, showing their link.

"C'mon Yugi…" Joey said, his voice shaky. "We can't lose you too…ya gotta snap out of it!"

Yami continued to pour his emotion and willpower into keeping Yugi alive…however, nothing was changing and after about thirty seconds, Yami realized that he was going to need more power. He looked at Ishizu and Ryou.

"Please, I need your help!" Yami said desperately. "Combine your powers with mine."

"I'll do what I can," Ryou said immediately. He kneeled next to Joey and the Millennium Ring started to glow, all of its points facing him. Ishizu slowly walked over seemingly uncertain as to what to do.

"My pharaoh…are you sure this is best?" she said sounding mournful.

"Ishizu, please…" Yami said feeling close to breaking down. Despite the combined efforts of the Puzzle and the Ring, he could still feel Yugi's life slowly slipping away. "I can't…"

Ishizu regarded him for a moment before kneeling next to Ryou and activating her Necklace. The combined light of the three Items cast a bright golden glow throughout the entire room. Yami briefly worried if this would give away their position but cast that concern aside. This was important.

Within another thirty seconds, Yugi shivered and took a deep breath. After an eternity, he opened his eyes, he looked up questioningly at them and Yami let up on the Puzzle's power. Ishizu and Ryou let out sighs of relief next to him.

"It worked!" Ryou said.

"What…happened?" he asked looking around at everyone, confusion written all over his face.

Joey bowed his head and sighed in relief. "We almost lost ya, pal…"

"Wait…what?" Yugi shook his head as if to clear it, and looked around at everyone in confusion.

"How are you feeling?" Yami asked, taking in his appearance. Yugi was still very pale and there was still a subtle shake that made his small frame tremble, but he didn't look like he was actively dying anymore, which was a plus in Yami's book.

"I'm alright…" Yugi said as if the reality set in that he almost died…again.

"You gave us a scare there, Yugi," Ryou said looking from him to back outside to where Yami was sure Bakura was at. "It took three Items to get you up. Are you sure you're alright?"

Yugi nodded, looking down as if ashamed of what happened. "Yeah…sorry guys."

Yami took a deep breath to relieve some of the tension he had been holding in. "It's not your fault Yugi…"

And it really wasn't. Yami didn't know how to fix all of this and it was starting to drive him mad. Here it looked like their situation couldn't get much worse but now Yugi was getting closer to crossing the void with no way to fix it.

"We need to gather everyone quickly," Ishizu said sitting back down looking worried. "I don't know how long that energy will last within you, Yugi. Plus, if this continues for too much longer, Kalcifer will pick everyone one of us off until there's no one left to save the planet."

No one said anything at first, but then Joey stood up and walked into the other room. Yami didn't follow him, because he wanted to make sure of something first. He looked back at Yugi.

"If you start to feel odd at all, you'll let us know, right?" he asked. Yugi looked up at him and nodded. Satisfied, he stood up and looked at Ryou and Ishizu. "Can you stay with him for a minute? I need to talk to Joey…"

"Yes," Ishizu said looking back and forth from him to the doorway to which Joey disappeared behind. "Take your time Pharaoh…"

"But not too much time," Ryou said with a weary smile. "We still need to find Marik, and I know Bakura won't wait forever."

Yami gave him a thumbs up before following Joey through the doorway. The room was almost completely black save a small sliver of dimmed sunlight that came in through the other room. It took Yami's eyes a few seconds to adjust to the lighting but when he did, he could see Joey's outline at the far end of the room. Careful not to walk into anything, Yami walked up to him, noting that he could hear the blonde sniffling.

"Joey?" Yami said to announce his presence but he felt that Joey already knew that he was in the room. He didn't turn around but sighed.

"Hey man," Joey said quietly. "I…owe you an apology. I didn't mean to yell at you and force you to bring back Tristan. I was….am…a bit upset, ya know?"

Yami didn't say anything, so Joey continued.

"I get why you hesitated on saying that you would bring him back to life…after seeing what Yugi's going through…the pain that he's feeling from being brought back…I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

Joey turned around to face Yami, and in the dim lighting, he could see tears flowing freely down Joey's face yet his expression remained determined.

"You had said yesterday that you believed that we could save everyone on the planet who was killed by this whole mess. Can you promise me…that we will find a way to do that? To save everyone…including Tristan?"

That was something that Yami was afraid that Joey would bring up. While he had said that to pacify Yugi about staying alive while they looked to fix the earth's balance, he truthfully had no plan on how to hold up to that promise. He wanted to find a way, yes. But would he actually?

However, looking at Joey's pleading expression, he found it hard to deny something that would give him hope.

"…I promise."


I guess I love digging holes cause Yami dug himself a deep one. Anyway, RxR

Yugisrose