Chapter 8: Rematch

In a desert, a large mechanical golden dragon flies to the base of a thin mountain with a ring of clouds surrounding its peak. Shinji and Yami, who happened to be standing at the edge of a nearby cliff, take notice of this.

"Whoa, what was that?" Shinji gasped.

"The Winged Dragon of Ra, one of the three Egyptian God Cards," Yami explained. "I acquired all three Egyptian Gods after the events of the Battle City tournament, but now they have been stolen from me…again." Yami pulls out photos of Ra and Obelisk the Tormentor. "I recovered Osiris before running into you, and now I may have a chance of getting the Winged Dragon of Ra back as well."

"But what about Amuro? Aren't we going to rescue him?" Shinji asked.

"We will, Shinji, but I fear that my deck as it is now will be insufficient in stopping our new enemies. This is why I must retrieve all three Egyptian God Cards first," Yami justified.

Shinji nods and goes along with it. "Okay, I'll do my best to help you get your cards back," Shinji promised.

And so, the two heroes head for the base of the mountain. They get there to find the entrance to an ancient temple.

"These ruins make me feel like I'm back at ancient Egypt," Yami observed. "The Winged Dragon of Ra must be inside."

"So, we meet again, pharaoh!"

Yami and Shinji look up to see Marik standing on top of a pillar. He jumps down and lands right in front of the two heroes.

"Marik! I should've known you'd be involved in this!" Yami spat.

"That's right!" Marik grinned. "And it looks like I'll be able to get back at you for defeating me last time, pharaoh!"

Marik sticks his tongue out gleefully. Memories of Marik holding up Amuro flash in Shinji's mind. Shinji clenches his fist tightly.

"It's you!" Shinji said angrily, pulling out and aiming his pallet gun. Yami, likewise, holds up a Duel Monster card, ready to summon. "Where's Amuro!?" Shinji demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Marik taunted. "But what exactly are YOU going to do if I don't tell you? Run home and cry to your mommy? Oh, wait, I forgot! You don't have a mommy! Well, sort of."

Marik laughs at his own mocking, but Shinji's had enough. He pulls out a progression knife and lunges at the maniacal Egyptian. However, Marik easily dodges his attack and kicks him down as he passes by.

"My, my, struck a nerve, didn't I?" Marik continued sarcastically. "Well I'll strike more than that with this." He pulls out his Millennium Rod and shoots Shinji with an energy blast.

As Marik continues his fight with Shinji, Yami stands idly by, doing nothing. Inside his mind, the little Yugi protests. "Aren't we going to help him?" Yugi argues. "No, this is something Shinji must do on his own. It is the only way he'll learn to gain confidence in himself," Yami assured his other half.

But Marik was still toying around with the Eva pilot, smiling blissfully the whole time. "You are weak, Shinji. But then again, we ALL knew that already!" he insulted. "Why don't you just let the grown-ups handle this and you can just go back to feeling sorry for yourself while jerking off on comatose girls and fetishizing a clone of your own mother! You motherfu…"

Marik is cut off by the sharp pain in his gut after getting impaled by a sword. The Magarok E sword, to be precise. The Rare Hunter leader howls in pain as Shinji pulls his sword back, splattering blood across the ground. But Shinji wasn't done with Marik yet.

"UNISON KICK!!"

Shinji leaps high into the air above Marik and drops a pole on top of him. Marik is still stunned as Shinji lands and shoots the villain with a barrage of bullets from his pallet gun. Afterwards, Shinji does several backflips to distance himself and then continues the assault by blasting Marik several more times, this time with his positron rifle. Shinji yells out a battle cry as he runs up to Marik, uppercuts him and ax kicks him away. Shinji finishes the bombardment by jumping in the air with his leg extended, kicking Marik in the face and dragging him across the ground and into a wall, causing a MASSIVE explosion. The force of the explosion blows back a trophified Marik, as well as Shinji, who lands gracefully on his feet next to Yami.

"Now THAT'S overkill!" is the only thing Yami can say.

"Actually, that attack was only half as strong as it should be since I'm suppose to use it together with Asuka," Shinji informed him.

"Well, either way, well done, Shinji," Yami congratulated.

Shinji and Yami high-five each other, but Shinji suddenly realizes that Amuro is nowhere to be found. He scans the area, but finds nothing.

"But…where's Amuro?" Shinji asked sadly, lowering his head.

Yami places a hand on Shinji's shoulder, comforting him. "Do not worry yourself. I am sure we will find your friend before our adventure is over," Yami reassured him.

They both hear a grumbling sound echoing out the entrance of the temple.

"But for now," Yami stated as he turns to face the temple, "I must reclaim the Winged Dragon of Ra."

Shinji nods in agreement and they both venture into the temple.

Meanwhile, back at Itachi's hideout, Itachi dusts off Amuro, Krillin, and Chi-Chi, all of whom he has lined up in a row.

"Alright. Everything is going according to plan," Itachi told himself. "Now it's time to get down to business."

He pulls out two brooches, both shaped like the Uchiha clan insignia, and places one on Amuro's chest and the other on Krillin's forehead.

"Wait a minute, where's the other one I made?" Itachi fretted as he searches himself frantically. He finally looks down at the Uchiha Brooch that he was wearing himself.

"I guess I'll have to use the one I intended for myself," Itachi said as he took off his Uchiha Brooch and placed it on Chi-Chi.

"It's only a minor setback. I'll just make another one later, and after that…"

Itachi is interrupted by a sudden earthquake. He looks up and sees the ceiling caving in on him. A large piece of the ceiling lands right on top of Itachi's head, knocking him unconscious. The three trophies get buried in the rubble.

Frieza, followed by his henchmen, jump down into the wrecked room from the roof.

"What the hell? Itachi should've been able to dodge that debris easily," one of Frieza's soldiers pointed out.

"Who cares?" Frieza retorted. "Let's just find those trophies and get out of here."

Frieza examined his surroundings until something caught his eye.

"Wait, is that who I think it is?" Frieza blurted, seeing Chi-Chi laying face down under the wreckage.

"Perfect," Frieza smiled evilly.

Just moments later, Goku's group breaks into the wrecked room, only to find it empty.

"Whoa! What happened in here!?" Luffy exclaimed.

"It looks like somebody brought down the house literally!" Yusuke joked.

"I don't know what's going on here, but I don't see Chi-Chi or any of the other trophies anywhere," Goku observed.

"Damn! Itachi got away again!" Naruto cursed.

"Not necessarily," Kenshin said as he pointed to a hole in the wall. "That must've been where Itachi made his escape."

"So we better get moving then," Goku told the others.

The five heroes entered the hole and found themselves in another cave. They once again trek trough it until they reach the other side. Once there, the group sees Frieza making his way towards the edge of a cliff.

"You won't be getting away from me, Frieza! KAIO-KEN!!" Goku shouted.

With a red aura surrounding him, Goku speeds towards Frieza and raises his fist, ready to pound the tyrant. However, Frieza holds up the Chi-Chi trophy, using her as a shield. Goku redirects his attack at the last second and hits the dirt.

"Ha! You're not so tough now that I have your wife as a hostage, now are you, you no-good Saiyan monkey!" Frieza taunted.

"That's just low, Frieza! Even for you!" Goku gritted as he jumped back and rejoined the other heroes.

"Where's Sakura!?" Naruto demanded.

"I suppose I'll humor you," Frieza decided. "Your little girlfriend is being held as our prisoner, and soon, the wife of the monkey will join her."

"Not if I have anything to say about it! SPIRIT GUN!!" Yusuke interjected.

Yusuke shoots out a bullet of spirit energy, but Frieza sidesteps and dodges, only to tumble and fall off the edge of the cliff. Unknown to Yusuke, however, was that the Uchiha Brooch on Chi-Chi flies off her and hits the ground.

Frieza slowly rises back up, manipulating his ki in order to fly. "Well, I'll be going now. Oh, and one more thing," he specifically directed towards Goku. "If you try to follow me, I will break her in two," he threatened as he flew away towards the Kaiba Craft.

Goku clenches his fist in anger. He couldn't take the chance of Frieza not bluffing. "You won't get away with this, Frieza!" he growled.

"Don't worry, Goku. We'll get your wife back. I guarantee it!" Naruto encouraged.

"Yeah! Let's go kick some alien tail!" Luffy added, cracking his knuckles.

With that, the group of heroes left the scene, except for Kenshin, who was fixated on the brooch that fell off of Chi-Chi.

"Hmmm," Kenshin pondered before hiding the brooch in his sleeve and running off to catch up with the others.

Not long after the heroes left, two Zaku set up and activate a Shadow Realm Bomb in front of Itachi's hideout. The Mysterious Minister was there, overseeing them.

"So, are you guys ready to do this?" the Mysterious Minister finally spoke.

"Y-yeah. We think so," one of the Zaku answered nervously. "At least we got all of our affairs taken care of, anyway."

"You know, I'm really sorry about this," the minister apologized.

"No, you don't have to say anything," the other Zaku said sadly. "But just promise us one thing."

"Anything," replied the Mysterious Minister.

"Be sure to tell those tykes that we built that we love them," both Zaku said together.

With that, the Mysterious Minister slowly floats away as the timer on the bomb reaches close to zero. The two Zaku nod to themselves just before the Shadow Realm bomb explodes, destroying the Zaku couple and sending Itachi's lair (along with everyone inside) into the Shadow Realm.

Back at Light, he receives an incoming transmission. The static image on the monitor screen changes, revealing the one who brought him, Frieza, and Marik together to lead the offensive on the world, as well as the CREATOR of the anime world of trophies; a teenage girl with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a high school uniform, a red armband, and a yellow hair ribbon wrapped around her head.

"Everything's going according to plan, right?" Haruhi Suzumiya asked sternly.

"That's right," Light reported. "So far, three parts of the world have been sent to the Shadow Realm."

"What!? Only three!?" Damn, what's taking those mobile suits so long?" Haruhi whined impatiently.

"Well, we have been running into a lot of opposition," Light tried to explain. "I've also lost all communications with Marik awhile ago, so I can only assume that he's been taken out."

Haruhi lets out a grunt in frustration. "Do I have to do everything around here?" she complained loudly. An idea then hits her. "You know what? Tell those mobile suits to gather a bunch of Shadow Realm Bombs in one place and set them all off at once!" she commanded in an enthusiastic but still loud tone.

"So, I assume this means you're planning on using that?" Light guessed.

"That's right!" Haruhi cheered while giving him a thumbs up.

"So, any ideas on how exactly we're going to accomplish this?" Light suggested.

"How should I know? You're the magnificent bastard chessmaster around here! YOU figure it out!" she shrugged.

"As you wish," Light assured her, bowing down to the S.O.S. Brigade leader.

"And if you mess this up, it'll be the death penalty!" Haruhi threatened Light while giving him the pointer finger.

But what Haruhi couldn't see, due to Light's bowed head, was Light giving off his signature evil smile.

"Just you wait, Haruhi Suzumiya. Once my plan is complete, you'll be watching from the other side as I show how a TRUE God rules the world!" Light thought to himself.

A/N: Whoo. Took a lot longer to write this than I expected. Anyway, Yami and Shinji continue their quest to retrieve the remaining Eqyptian God Cards, next time on the Shadow Realm Emissary!