~Sabrina~

"Attention duelists, the first round of the Battle City finals are complete. Our four finalists are; Yugi Muto, Sabrina Cafford, Marik Ishtar, and Seto Kaiba. The duels will continue tomorrow when we reach our next destination. For tonight, please enjoy yourselves." Roland says over the intercom.

"I guess we're not dueling on the blimp anymore." Yugi says.

"But I guess the important thing is that we made it this far." I say.

"Yeah."

"Well, you guys should probably get some rest. I mean, who knows what will happen in the duels tomorrow." Tea says.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But first, how about we check on Mai?" Yugi says.

We walk over to Mai's room, and are about to enter it- "Greetings." Ishizu says. We turn around to find her standing behind us.

"Oh, hello Ishizu." I say.

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend. May I pay her a visit with you?"

"I don't see why not." Yugi says.

We all enter the room to find Serenity still sitting by the bed watching Mai. But, Mai still seems near no point of waking up soon. "Has she even moved?" Joey asks.

"No, she really hasn't done anything." Serenity says.

"Poor Mai. I wish we could do something." Joey says.

"There is still hope though." Ishizu says, "When there is evil, there is also good. Mariik was good once… He was a mere innocent child, but that innocence grew into rage, leaving nothing but the person you see now."

"But what if it's too late to save Marik? You told me that I needed to defeat Marik in order to save the world, and that's my goal right now." Yugi says.

"That's right. I mean, what if the Good Marik is destroyed along with the evil one?" I say.

"Yeah, and I really don't see Marik of ever being a nice person." Joey says.

"You must trust me. I know my brother isn't gone, there's hope out there." Ishizu says.

"By the way. If you don't mind me asking, how did Mariik turn evil?" I say.

"It wasn't long ago that Marik began to lean into the darkness. For generations, the Ishatr family was given the task of guarding the Pharaoh's tomb. We lived in secrecy, deep within the desert sands. All of us were kept in a bunker near the tomb, and we weren't allowed to exit the bunker and go outside.

"The first born Ishtar son is required to wear the Pharaoh's secret on his back; which Marik was the one who fit that role. Our father was very strict about the idea of us going outside, but Marik always dreamed of it. Even after Marik received the Tombkeeper's Initiation, he still dreamed of visiting the outside world; it was a topic that he always discussed after Father went to sleep.

"About a year after the Initiation, I finally agreed for Marik and I to go outside for an hour. Odion insisted that he would cover for us. On the dawn of one morning, we opened the door to the outside world and began our quest. Of course, I knew we were violating thousands of years of tradition. And I also knew that Marik deserved to see the outside world at least once in his life. But I didn't know that this exposure would allow his inner darkness to grow.

"Marik was hard to keep up with. It seemed like he never wanted to leave the outside world. Soon enough, I realized that I needed to get Marik home; he'd already seen too much. Before we reached home, we encountered a strange man, he said "The Pharaoh will return soon and that if you reject your duties, the future will hold nothing but darkness." I now know what he meant by that. Before I could ask him to tell me more, he vanished. By that time I knew that I made a huge mistake, I should never have exposed Marik to the outside world. But now that he'd seen that world, he would never forget it.

"When we reached home, Marik noticed an alarm just above the door. I didn't see it in the dark. But by the time we reached the tomb, Odion was missing and our room was a mess. We had found Odion soon after, but he had been whipped badly by our father. With seeing Odion in such pain, Marik's darkness had finally reached the surface. We were unable to stop him from murdering our father. But Odion was able to return Marik to his original self. The stranger showed up again out of nowhere, and Marik believed that he was the one who killed our father. From then on, Marik started devoting his life to collecting the Egyptian God cards and gaining the Pharaoh's power."

"So are we supposed to feel bad for that spoiled brat?" Joey says.

Ishizu just seems to ignore him though, "Yugi, I realize now that it is possible to destroy the evil within my brother, without destroying the good side. I also know that destinies can be changed. With the Pharaoh that lives within you, I'm sure you'll be able to do it."

"Attention, lights out in two minutes." The intercom says.

"Alright! Time to crash in Joey's room!" Tristan says.

"What! No way! You're not going anywhere!" Joey says. Joey, Tristan and Tea run out the door, leaving Ishizu, Yugi and I.

"There is also one more thing I must give to you two." Ishizu says. She unties the Millennium Necklace from her neck and holds it in her hands, "Fate chose me to hold this Item, but I think it's time for me to pass on its power to those ready to save the world from darkness. So here, take it."

"Wow, thanks Ishizu." Yugi says taking it.

Yugi and I exit Mai's room and go into our own rooms. I take off my shoes and the black shirt I'm wearing over my white tank top and get into bed. I fall asleep soon after.

I wake up a while later in the middle of the night. I look around and then hear a banging coming from upstairs. What on earth could that be? "Ari, what do you think is going on?" I ask her.

She appears next to me, "I don't know. It seems like it's coming from the roof. I can sense Marik up there though." She says.

"I'm going to check it out." I say as I get my shoes on.

"Bring Yugi. You may need him; who knows what Marik is planning."

"Alright."

I get up and walk over to Yugi's room. I knock on his door and wait for him to answer. Nothing. I knock again; still nothing. "Yugi, open the door!" I say.

"Huh? Who's there?" I hear him say.

"Who do you think?"

The door opens to find a sleepy-looking Yugi standing there, "What is it?" he asks rubbing his eyes.

"I heard a banging coming from the roof." I say.

"It's probably just the air conditioning or something."

"I can sense Marik up there."

Yugi's face then turns serious, "Alright, let me get my shoes on." He says.

Yugi reappears wearing his shoes and blue jacket. The two of us walk over to the elevator quickly, but are careful not to wake the others. "So, what do you think Marik is doing?" Yugi asks as the elevator starts moving.

"I don't know. But it can't be good." I say.

The elevator stops when we reach the roof and the doors open. Right where the dueling field is supposed to be is a cloud of swirling black and purple smoke. The Shadow Realm. "Who do you think he's dueling?" I say.

"I don't know." Yugi says.

"You guys should let us take over." Ari says.

"Yeah, this could get dangerous." Yami adds.

"Alright."

~Ari~

The air is cold out, which makes me shiver. "You okay?" Yami asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I say.

"Let's see if we can get inside that dome."

"Okay."

The two of us walk up to the dome of shadows and try to walk through it. Surprisingly, we get inside with ease. Inside, is Marik just standing on top of the dueling field. "What are you doing here Marik?" I ask.

He turns around to face us. I notice that he has something in his hand, but I can't tell what it is. "Hello Pharaoh, I'm afraid you missed the big show." Marik says.

"What are you talking about?" Yami asks.

Marik lifts the thing he's holding. It hangs from a rope and looks golden. Wait, is that the Millennium Ring?! "Where did you get that!" I say.

"The Spirit within it apparently was teamed up with my good side. But of course, they lost and now live within the Shadow Realm. Now if you excuse me, I have some unfinished business to attend to." Marik says.

The Shadow Realm disappears, and the night sky is visible. Marik walks by us as he spins the Ring in his hand. I clench my fist as he disappears inside the elevator. "Man, I hate that guy." I say.

"It's hard not to. This gives even more of a reason for us to stop Marik." Yami says.

"Yeah, but he'll be defeated soon; that's a promise."

"But for now, we should get some sleep. The finals will continue tomorrow."

"Alright." I kiss him goodnight and then we head back downstairs.

Sorry about the delay for this chapter, but my computer broke a week before my 7-day vacation, so yeah. The computer I'm using at the moment is super slow and absolutely will not cooperate usually, so this will drive me crazy until my laptop is fixed. I may be able to release the first chapter of the Virtual World soon, but when the chapter comes when Sabrina starts dueling there (spoiler) the wait will be longer, since I can't get onto Dueling Network to construct the duel.

FYI: THE VIRTUAL WORLD WILL BE IN THE 'BATTLE CITY' STORY BECAUSE THE END OF SEASON 3 STILL HAS BATTLE CITY IN IT. (Sorry for caps)