DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.

Showdown in the Shadows Part II

Mana watched in some interest, and some trepidation.

The Evil Spirit of the Ring chuckled. 'Now that I've seized your precious Egyptian God Card, your defeat is guaranteed. One more turn and you will vanish into the Shadows. With your former self on my team, there's no way I can lose. Now proceed.'

'With pleasure.' Malik drew and looked at his card.

'Tell me, how does it feel to know that I am holding your most powerful card, the Winged Dragon of Ra?' the Evil Spirit asked, looking down at the card in question. 'For after it strikes, I'll win. And you will be consumed by the Realm of Darkness!'

'And I shall reclaim the body that you have stolen from me,' Marik said.

'You have it wrong,' Malik told them. 'You should be on your knees thanking me, for you would never be where you are today had it not been for me!' He chuckled.

'How so?' Marik demanded.

Malik lifted the Millennium Rod. 'Don't tell me that you've forgotten that when you were a child, it was I who took over your body and forced you to claim the Millennium Rod. Since that day the Rod's been yours while I stayed hidden deep within your soul, Marik.' He chuckled again. 'But now that I'm in control again, the Rod's power is mine!'

'Until the Winged Dragon of Ra destroys you!' Marik snapped.

'I'm sorry, Marik, but your ranting has become tiresome.' Malik tucked the Rod away again. 'This Shadow Game will determine who stays and who fades away. So allow me to continue by playing this.' He took a card from his hand and set it in his duel disk. The card appeared on the field before him. 'The magic card, Vengeful Fog Spirit. This card forces all monsters to wait one turn before attacking. So even if you can summon Ra, you can't use it yet. And soon it will be too late!'

The Evil Spirit scoffed. 'I'm afraid this desperate move will only delay your inevitable destruction.' He drew. 'Now watch this.'

'You must summon the Winged Dragon of Ra!' Marik insisted.

'I'm well aware of that!' the Evil Spirit snapped at him. 'Now then.' He took the card in question from his hand. 'Where exactly was I? I remember! Observe, as I sacrifice my three monsters to summon this card!' He took the card and played it. 'The Winged Dragon of Ra!'

Malik interrupted him. 'Not so fast. My trap card is about to render your Dragon useless!' He activated the card in question and it flipped up.

'What?' the Evil Spirit demanded.

'Before you sent those three monsters to the graveyard, Joyful Doom will strip their attack points and add the total to my life points.' Malik sneered. 'So that means your monsters will have 0 attack points when they go to the graveyard as my power grows.' Just that happened. As each monster vanished, its attack dropped to 0.

Malik's life points shot up to 6550. 'This will make Ra completely useless to you.' His life points rose further to 8550.

'That can't be!' the Evil Spirit insisted. 'Explain yourself!'

'Just look at your pathetic creature!' Malik crowed as Ra rose up behind the Evil Spirit of the Ring. 'It's powerless!' He cackled in triumph. 'You may have summoned the Winged Dragon of Ra, but thanks to my trap card he has no power at all.'

It was true. The Winged Dragon had 0 attack. The Evil Spirit looked back in astonishment. 'How can an Egyptian God monster have 0 attack points?'

'Because the monsters you sacrificed to summon Ra had 0 attack points,' Marik said. 'Once his trap card stripped away their power, Ra was left with nothing.'

'Why didn't you warn me that this might happen?' the Evil Spirit demanded of him.

Marik looked annoyed. 'I wasn't aware he was holding that trap card, you fool!' He glared across at Malik. 'Now all the strength that would have transferred to Ra has been added to his life points.'

'We'll see about that.' He adjusted the cards on his duel disk. 'For now I will switch Ra and my Puppet Master to defence mode.'

Malik laughed. 'You don't have much choice!'

YGO

Téa slowly woke up. Her head throbbed. It took her a moment to realise she was not where she last remembered being. She was kneeling by an empty bed. 'Huh? How'd I get here? This is Bakura's room! Wait a sec…Where's Bakura?'

Alarmed, Téa jumped up and hurried out of the room. She ran as fast as she could to Yugi's room. She had to tell him! She hit the door. 'Yugi! Wake up! Yugi! Oh, come on! Hello? Yugi!'

'Who is it?' he called, sounding half-asleep.

'It's me, Téa! Open up!'

'Just a minute.' He opened the door, still rubbing his eyes. 'It's kind of late, Téa. Can't this wait til morning?'

Téa quickly told him what was up. 'I was just in Bakura's room and he's missing!'

It seemed to take a moment for it to register, but Yugi's eyes widened.

YGO

'This duel,' Malik drew, 'is done.' He looked at the card in his hand.

'Just make your move,' the Evil Spirit said.

'If you insist.' Malik called the attack. 'Drillago, attack his Puppet Master with Spiral Thrust!' Drillago flew across the field, drills whirling. The Puppet Master was destroyed. 'And the Winged Dragon of Ra is next. Then you'll disappear.'

'Wrong,' the Evil Spirit said. 'I'll turn this around,' he drew, 'with just one card.'

'You can't be referring to your Egyptian God Card,' Malik stated. 'I told you, it's useless.' He sneered.

'Well, I disagree. Maybe I can't attack you with the Winged Dragon of Ra,' he pulled a card from his hand, 'but I can send it to the graveyard to summon something stronger in its place!' The Winged Dragon was shattered.

Mistake. Mana had not forgotten that Malik still had his Monster Reborn card in hand.

The Evil Spirit slapped a new card on his duel disk. 'Meet the Dark Ruler!' The card appeared on the field and flipped up. The goat-horned monster emerged from the card with a laugh and stood upon the field.

'So,' Malik said, 'you've given up on your Egyptian God Card already.' He looked down at the cards in his hand. 'You'll regret that.'

The Evil Spirit of the Ring didn't seem to register it. 'I sent the Winged Dragon of Ra to the graveyard because with 0 attack points it was far too weak.' Then again, he'd always been more arrogant than intelligent. He looked down at his own cards. 'Now, it's buried. I've discarded it so neither of us can use its power. For even if you do bring Ra back from the graveyard, it will have 0 attack points. So if you'd like to fight me with a useless monster by your side, go ahead and revive your Egyptian God Card, while I proceed with your destruction by feeding you to the Shadows. Next I shall continue my onslaught by sacrificing three monsters from my graveyard to bring forth one more beast.'

This would be a really good time to get rid of the Winged Dragon.

The Evil Spirit took a card from his hand. 'Now, allow me to introduce you to Dark Necrofear!' He played the card. 'A great beast of ultimate darkness that will show you no mercy! Now, go, Dark Necrofear!' It appeared on the field and the monster in question emerged. He took yet another card from his hand. 'Next I shall activate my Magic Burial card.' He played it. 'By giving up 800 of my life points, I can bring my Earl of Demise back from the graveyard.' The monster appeared on the field. 'With these monsters on the field, you'll think twice about attacking me now.'

The Evil Spirit's life points dropped to 1100, and part of his leg vanished.

Marik was, apparently, not happy. 'If you want to win, don't be so reckless with our life points!'

This, of course, set the Evil Spirit off. 'What do you mean "our" life points, you parasite? I'm the one fighting this duel, not you!'

'Wise up, you fool,' Marik told him. 'If you want the secret to the Pharaoh's power, then you'll listen to me.'

'But you haven't helped me at all!' the Evil Spirit snapped. 'Marik, in fact, you're the reason I wasn't able to play the Winged Dragon of Ra!'

Marik lost his temper too. 'And it's your fault we lost so many life points!'

Malik was watching this in amusement. 'Just look at those two. What a shame. It's so sad when such good friends can't work things out.' He lifted his head, then interrupted them. 'Your new monsters are impressive, but let me remind you my Vengeful Fog is still in effect which means they can't attack just yet.'

The Evil Spirit looked at him annoyed. 'I'm well aware of your magic card's effect. So go ahead and make your move while you still can.'

'All right, but I can barely see you over there. And soon you'll vanish completely.'

YGO

'I don't get it, Yugi,' Téa said. 'We've looked all over, but there's no sign of Bakura anywhere. Even on a blimp as big as this one he couldn't just disappear.'

Yugi closed his eyes and dropped his head. He had a very good feeling on what had happened. The only thing was that he needed confirmation. There was only one place he was going to get that. 'Well…maybe, with a bit of luck, Sharee might know how to find him.'

And if the Evil Spirit was back, Sharee would know.

'Good idea,' Téa said.

YGO

The translation was finished. Now, Kaiba needed weaknesses.

Now let's see what would happen if my Crush Card combination took on the Winged Dragon of Ra. The results made him jump. 'Ah!' Only a 13% chance of victory? Ra has even more power than I thought!

YGO

Sharee lifted her head as there was a knock at her door. She rolled out of bed and walked over to the door. Upon opening it, she found Yugi and Téa on the other side. 'Is something on fire?'

'No,' Yugi said.

'It's Bakura!' Téa insisted. 'He's gone missing.'

Sharee scoffed and went back into her room. 'Well, I knew that.'

'What?' Téa demanded as they followed her in. 'Do you know where he is?'

'Of course.' Sharee pointed up.

'He's not duelling Marik, is he?' Yugi asked urgently.

'Him, no. The Evil Spirit of the Ring, yes.'

'But the Evil Spirit's gone!' Téa insisted.

Sharee sighed. 'Téa, we've been through this before. Just because it looks like Bakura's back to normal doesn't mean the Evil Spirit's gone! It's not gonna go until we actually defeat it.'

'I don't know,' Yugi said. 'I mean, you saw what happened to Bakura when we duelled.'

'Yugi, this is war,' Sharee said. 'People are gonna die, and Bakura just might be one of them!'

'I don't want war!' Yugi insisted.

'Play the violin. It's too late.' Sharee turned away from them. 'No one likes war, Yugi, except for the idiots who start it. But once it starts you either fight or let the world fall. You're in a war now, and you have to be aware of quite a few things if you wanna win this. First of all, people are gonna die. By trying to save everyone, you're just going to lose all the more people.'

Yugi and Téa both gasped at the statement.

'You have to pick your battles,' Sharee said, more gently. 'This one is not ours. Leave it be.'

'But…' Téa tried to protest. She couldn't.

'At the very least,' Yugi said. 'Could you come up with us to check it out?'

'That, I can do.'

YGO

Malik drew and added the card to his hand.

'Hurry up and make your move,' the Evil Spirit of the Ring said.

Malik chuckled.

'What are you laughing at?'

'How I'll destroy you,' Malik said. 'With the Egyptian God Card you threw away.'

'You're bluffing!'

'Am I? Or could it be the Winged Dragon of Ra may possess a few special abilities that you're not aware of?'

Marik was, understandably, confused. 'But I thought I knew all of Ra's abilities.'

The Evil Spirit narrowed his eyes. 'Apparently you don't.'

YGO

Kaiba stared at the screen. 'What's this?' He'd just found a new ability of the Winged Dragon of Ra, and it was mind-boggling. '"Instant Attack"? According to my card database, the Winged Dragon of Ra has a special secret power. I must add it to my deck. I already possess the mighty Obelisk the Tormentor, and winning Slifer will be simple. But Ra is in a class by itself. The Egyptian God Cards have proven to be the most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters. Most trap cards are useless against all three of them, and magic cards only last for one turn.'

But the Winged Dragon of Ra seems to possess several abilities that aren't even written on the card. So even if a duellist is about to decipher the card's ancient text, they still won't know how to use all of its powers.

YGO

Malik was just staring down at his cards. He glanced over at the card he had on the field, and then back at the Evil Spirit of the Ring. 'This Shadow Game's about to end. Once I summon the mighty Winged Dragon of Ra,' he threw his cape over his shoulder, 'nothing you can do can hold it back!' He laughed triumphantly.

YGO

Kaiba continued his work, scanning relentlessly over the data for the Winged Dragon of Ra. He leaned forward as he finally deciphered this particular special ability. 'So that's what it means!'

If the Winged Dragon of Ra is brought back from the graveyard, it can attack right away using its power of Instant Attack. He folded his hands and leaned on the desk.

YGO

The elevator moved up. Téa stood there, worrying her lip. Yugi hugged himself. Sharee was the only one with any kind of appearance of normality. For all you'd know, looking at her, it could be any ordinary elevator ride. Téa didn't see how she could be so calm over the whole thing.

'Are you sure they're up here?' Yugi asked.

'We both are,' Sharee said.

She and Yugi looked at each other. Téa envied them that silent communication a lot of the time. To look at someone and know precisely what they were thinking, especially after having known that someone just a few months, was something she only hoped to achieve. But they did.

Téa was suddenly standing in the elevator with the Pharaoh and Shamee.

They came to a stop and the doors opened.

Téa was horrified. 'Yugi, look at all that fog.'

'That's not fog, Téa,' Shamee said. 'That's a Shadow Game.'

YGO

'Now you'll learn the secrets of my Egyptian God Card the hard way,' Malik announced. He took the magic card in hand. 'Prepare yourself, for once I resurrect the Winged Dragon of Ra you'll be engulfed in complete darkness.' He turned the card around. 'So I activate Monster Reborn. You're finished.'

Both Marik and the Evil Spirit looked confused.

Monster Reborn appeared on the field. 'Time to bring back the card you took from me! Awaken, Dragon of Ra!'

Sparks shot out of the Evil Spirit's duel disk graveyard slot. Those sparks erupted into a fire. The Evil Spirit cried out in alarm and threw his arm up. The Winged Dragon of Ra erupted from within and sailed across the field to its place in serving Malik. The Evil Spirit stared up at it in horror.

'Calm down, you fool!' Marik told him. 'The monster's attack strength is still 0. Plus his Vengeful Fog card is still in play, which means he can't attack now anyway.'

Stupid boy.

Malik smirked. 'I'm afraid you're mistaken. I told you, you don't know all the secrets of Ra.'

Marik's eyes widened.

'Prepare to witness Instant Attack!'

'Instant Attack?' the Evil Spirit demanded. 'What does he mean?'

'I don't know,' Marik said. 'I guess the Winged Dragon of Ra does have secret powers.'

Malik's veins were bulging in his face now as his power swelled. 'Ha! Correct. And once I release those powers you'll both be wandering the Shadow Realm for all eternity while I rule the entire world as Pharaoh!' His entire expression morphed into one of maniac glee as he laughed. Her son flinched into her side. Malik went on, evidently drunk on his power. 'Ra is back, and now it's mine once again. So prepare to witness its secret powers now. First I shall use Ra's powers of Instant Attack.'

'What's that mean?' the Evil Spirit demanded, seeming to be genuinely afraid.

Good.

'It means Ra can attack right away,' Malik said. 'But that's not the Winged Dragon of Ra's only secret power. There's also its Point-to-Point Transfer Ability.'

'What is Point-to-Point Transfer?' the Evil Spirit demanded. 'Any why is your body disappearing into the Shadows.' Sure enough, Malik seemed to be evaporating into nothing.

But that was only how it appeared.

'Tell me!' the Evil Spirit insisted.

'Oh, I will,' Malik said. 'I'm giving my life points to Ra in order to increase its attack strength. But don't worry. I'll keep one life point to make sure I don't lose. Now watch as my Egyptian God Card grows stronger, as I transfer my power to Ra!' The God Monster's attack points sailed up to 8549. Marik vanished, but he still spoke. 'And now that I have given my strength to the Winged Dragon of Ra, we have merged together to become one mighty creature,' he was now merged from the waist to the crown of Ra's head, 'and together we shall destroy you, while the rest of my body waits on the border of the Shadow Realm!'

The Evil Spirit stared up, only now seeming to comprehend what a bad idea this was. 'This can't be happening to me!'

'Oh, but it can!' He gave the order. 'Winged Dragon of Ra, let us attack now!' The Winged Dragon opened his mouth and let loose a single spherical blast. The blast sailed across the field, heading right for the Evil Spirit and his monsters. It wiped over the whole lot. 'The blast will destroy all of your monsters.' Just that happened. 'But that's not all! For now it's Marik's turn to disappear into the Shadows!'

Marik screamed and he was banished away.

'Stupid boy.' Mana made sure he heard her.

YGO

'I must put an end to Marik's evil plans,' the Pharaoh said.

'You will!' Téa insisted.

The Pharaoh lowered his head. 'You make it sound so easy, Téa, but he seems to get stronger and more evil with each duel.' He looked back at the Shadows-shrouded duelling arena. 'And I believe that the darker Marik becomes, the harder it is to shield the world from his wrath. Now Marik has begun to target my friends because of a grudge he has against me. He must be stopped before anyone else falls victim to his insanity!'

'I'll help!' Téa insisted.

The Pharaoh appreciated the sentiment, but he just didn't see what Téa could do.

He had the feeling Shamee didn't either.

YGO

The next attack was about to come.

'Get ready to enter the darkness at the hands of Ra!' Malik crowed.

'Don't you realise that I am the darkness?' the Evil Spirit sneered.

Well, that was true.

Too bad Malik didn't know that. He just chuckled. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'It's quite simple,' the Evil Spirit said, even as he appeared to fade away. 'It means I can't be destroyed. You haven't seen the last of me!' He laughed maniacally as the last of his physical form vanished.

The Millennium Ring clattered to the ground.

'Is that true, mother?' her son asked.

Mana nodded. 'I'm afraid so. The Evil Spirit of the Ring won't stay gone. Once the evil entity within the other boy is defeated by the king, the Spirit of the Ring will return. It's simply too powerful otherwise. It must be directly defeated and destroyed. Only the Pharaoh can do that.'

YGO

Shamee watched as the Shadows began to fade.

In the background, however, she noticed Téa enter some kind of a daze and wander away. She looked at the Pharaoh as the elevator doors closed behind her. He'd noticed too, but he kept his eyes straight ahead. Shamee wondered what was going on, but she still had to worry about the entity within Marik yet.

Instead, she just kept an eye on Téa's heart signature.

'The Millennium Ring.' Marik could be seen now leaning down to pick it up. He did so and looked at it. 'Look at that.' He scoffed. 'I guess a certain someone has no use for this now.'

'Marik!' the Pharaoh yelled, drawing his attention.

Shamee stood in her place at her king's back.

Marik looked down at them in annoyed curiosity. 'So, how long have you been here?'

The Pharaoh was under no obligation to answer that deflective question. 'Tell me what you did with Bakura.'

'I don't know who you're talking about.' Marik tucked the Millennium Ring away. 'If you mean the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, you tell me where one goes after losing a Shadow Game.' He turned. 'Don't be surprised, Pharaoh. It won't be long until you join him in the Shadow Realm!' That said, he walked away.

The Pharaoh turned to Shamee. 'Do you think he's really gone?'

Shamee shook her head. 'I doubt it.'

YGO

'Very interesting indeed.' Kaiba stared at the screen, his work done. It seems that certain secret abilities were added to the Winged Dragon of Ra when that Egyptian God Card was created. 'I must possess it if I am to regain my glory as the World's Greatest Duellist!'

Mokuba stirred in the other chair. 'Huh? Seto, what are you doing up? Even you need some sleep. There's another round of Finals tomorrow.'

'I'm aware of that, Mokuba.' Kaiba really did appreciate his brother's concern. 'That's exactly what I'm preparing for.'

As dawn broke, later, the two of them headed up to the bridge. 'We're currently oncourse for KaibaCorp Island. This is where the Finals will end, and the Champion will be crowned.' Mokuba stood at his side as they approached the island. He stared at the structure ahead. 'It's a fitting place for my victory, and soon we will arrive.' It was also the last place where the ghost of their dead old step-dad, so to speak, still lingered. It was like a cancerous tumour that needed to be smote. 'At the very sight where our step-father was last seen, after I took over the Corporation and left him with nothing!'

It had been his first great victory.

Kaiba went on. 'The tower I built, symbolising the new era of KaibaCorp, still stands as a reminder of my power!' He called his little brother's attention. 'Mokuba.'

'Huh?'

'Now do you understand why I've chosen this island for the conclusion of the Finals? Because I'm finally ready to return to the land where our step-father made his billions. For now I too have built a mighty empire, and I've done it all on my own terms. And that's just how I'll win this tournament.' He closed his eyes and smiled. 'With no help from anyone, except for myself. It won't be long now, Mokuba, before I prove to the entire world that there is no one on earth who's superior to me!'

Kaiba laughed in satisfaction.