Chapter 33 - Fate of The Pharaoh

Rose was suddenly disturbed from her sleep. Not by a sound however, a feeling. The Millennium Heart was trying to tell her something, as it glowed faintly on her chest. Something's not right, she thought. She sat up, the rest of the gang were sleeping peacefully just where they had been before. But there was one person missing. Yugi! Rose instantly jumped up and ran outside. The sun had just appeared on the horizon, and Rebecca's horse was missing. I should have known he would do this. Without a second thought, Rose jumped onto Mai's motorbike and it roared to life beneath her.

"Alright Millennium Heart," she said quietly, "lead me to Yugi." Her heart lit up and she knew exactly where to go, as the heart tracked the Millennium Puzzle just like it did when Yugi went missing a few weeks ago. Rose then sped off towards Death Valley without looking back, determined to reach Yugi before something terrible happened. She hadn't bothered to wake the others, for wherever Yugi had gone he obviously didn't want anybody to follow him. But she couldn't let him do this alone.

...

Joey woke up suddenly when he fell onto the floor. He pulled himself back up into a sitting position. Tristan and Duke were still sleeping on the couch and Joey had to restrain himself from laughing at them. He then looked up and saw Rebecca lift her head up from where she was sitting at the table.

"Can't sleep either huh?" he asked. She looked troubled. "Hey, where's Yugi?" he asked, standing up and, looking around, "And Rose?"

"Huh?" Rebecca turned around to where Rose had been sleeping behind her, "Rose is gone too?" she asked.

"Is there something you know Rebecca?" Joey asked suspiciously.

Tristan groaned and opened his eyes, "What's going on?" he mumbled, before pushing Duke off of him, who woke up also.

"Yugi and Rose are missing," Joey said, turning to them.

"What?" Tristan said in alarm. This then woke Tea, and soon they were all looking at Rebecca, waiting for an answer.
"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," she explained, "but Yugi went off to duel that Raphael guy. But I'm sure he didn't tell Rose about it, he didn't want anyone to know where he was going," she looked at her feet sadly.

"How could you just let him go like that?" Joey asked, aggravated.

"Take it easy Joey, it's not her fault," Tea said, going to sit next to Rebecca who was starting to become upset.

"I bet Rose went after him then," Tristan said, "So either she knew where he was going or she's going to get herself lost."

"And that will just cause more problems," Duke added.

Joey shook his head, "Nah, Rose will be fine. Even if he didn't tell her where he was going she could have tracked him down with her Millennium Heart, that's how we found Yugi when Bakura lead him to that old warehouse," he explained.

They decided to go after Yugi and Rose, but luckily as soon as they came outside they found Professor Hawkins limping back towards the caravan. Rebecca was relieved to see that her Grandpa was okay, and they took him inside to get some rest. Then, Joey, Tristan and Duke set off in Duke's car to go find Yugi and Rose, while Tea stayed back with Rebecca to look after the professor.

...

Rose knew she was close, she could sense the Millennium Puzzle as she grew nearer. She was riding along the edge of a narrow cliff, and in the distance she could see that the cliff stopped, dropping down into a deep chasm. There appeared to be two wooden stumps that most likely used to bear a bridge sitting at the edge of the cliff. She assumed that would have connected the cliff to the large chunk of earth sitting in the middle of the chasm. She noticed two figures standing there, and it looked like they were duelling. That's them! Rose sped up as she grew closer, and could see that Yami was standing across from Raphael just as she had expected. She soon reached the edge of the cliff across from where they were duelling, and skidded to a stop, only centimetres from going off of the edge. Oops, she thought, Mai's bike doesn't brake as well as mine, that could have ended badly. She looked up from the chasm to the duel, as she got off of the bike.

"What the?" Rose was puzzled. She could see everything clearly now, but what confused her was that the Pharaoh was holding a card in his hand, and Yugi was holding on to his arm, as if trying to stop him from playing it. "What's going on? Why are they fighting with each other?" That's when she saw the card that Yami was holding in his hand, and realised why Yugi had been trying so hard to stop him. Her eyes widened with terror. "Pharaoh!" she called out in alarm, "That card is evil! Don't play it!" she pleaded, but it was too late. He had already pushed Yugi away and placed the card in his duel disk. Rose watched on in horror as the Seal of Orichalcos appeared on the field, circling both duellists. But what looked the most terrifying, was seeing the seal on on the Pharaoh's forehead. "Oh no..." she said, unable to believe what she was seeing. Yugi was completely gone, she couldn't see his spirit anymore. She was afraid that the seal had locked him away somewhere, where he couldn't get through to Yami that he had made a horrible mistake. "I can't believe he played the seal," she said, shocked. "Even if it was the only way to free his dragon knight. Who knows what it's going to do to him now..." she watched on as the duel continued.

"The seal rests on my side of the field now!" The Pharaoh bellowed, the red tint in his eyes sending shivers down Rose's spine. "So all of it's ancient powers work on my monsters! Strengthening my Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight with 500 extra points!" His monster broke free from Raphael's crystal seal, but Timaeus thrashed around in complaint, before disappearing.

Raphael smirked, "Did I forget to mention that Timaeus and the Orichalcos don't mix?" he said with a laugh.

The duel continued, and although the Pharaoh was doing quite well, Rose almost couldn't bear to watch, because everything he said, and every move he made, was not like him at all. The seal was controlling him, and he had been taken over by the anger inside him. He sounded greedy and power hungry, and was willing to win this duel at all costs.

"This can't be happening," Rose said, clenching her fists. "Pharaoh!" she called out to him, grabbing his attention. "That card is controlling you! You don't need it's power to win this!"

He didn't look very happy to see her, "I don't need your help," he spat. "I know what I'm doing." Rose stepped back, his tone had caught her by surprise. He would never speak to anyone like that. She sank to her knees, unable to watch as this twisted version of her friend sacrificed valuable monsters to try and lower Raphael's life points. Tears formed in her eyes, but she stubbornly shook them away. That's when a car pulled up behind Rose, and Joey, Duke and Tristan quickly jumped out, running to her side.

"What's going on?" Tristan asked, looking out to the duel.

"Yeah is everything alright?" Joey asked, seeing Rose on the ground.

She didn't look up, only shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid everything is far from okay," she mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Duke asked, "It looks like Yugi is winning," he said.

"Take a closer look," Rose said sadly, "Raphael isn't the one who activated the seal," she refused to say anything else, afraid that her voice would fail her. She could feel a lump in the back of her throat, as the three men standing next to her gasped.

"That Orichalcos thingy is on Yugi's forehead!" Joey said, outraged. "But why? He knows that card is evil!" The duel then continued and the Pharaoh eventually shaved Raphael's life points down to 100, while he still had 600. He had a triumphant smirk on his face as he gloated to Raphael that there was no way he could win now.

"It looks like Yugi has this duel in the bag," Duke said.

"Yeah good moves, don't you think?" Tristan agreed. Rose and Joey stayed silent. "Guys? you there?"

"We're here," Joey said.

"But he isn't," Rose added quietly, inclining her head as she tried not to let her voice waver.

"He's been brainwashed by the seal," Joey said sadly. "He's sacrificing his monsters left and right and talking about power, that's not Yugi at all!" He threw his hands into the air, showing his frustration.

"The Orichalcos is messing with his head," Rose agreed, "And I have a gut feeling that although he has these extra powers that the Seal grants him, he may not end up on top..." As Rose had seen before, having power did not always mean you had the advantage.

Raphael laughed, "The Seal reveals all: this is you. And just as I suspected, you're evil Pharaoh!"

Rose then lost her temper, standing up to yell at Raphael. "The Seal doesn't reveal who a person is you creep!" She screamed at him, "It turns good people into power hungry freaks and poison's their minds!" She couldn't hold back the single tear that streamed down her face as her anger took over.

"Hey, hey," Joey pulled Rose back and tried to calm her down. "Easy, Rose," He said gently in her ear, holding onto her shoulders. "Yug let his anger take over and he ended up like that, don't let it happen to you, too."

Rose sighed and looked back at him with an apologetic look, "Sorry." She quickly wiped her eyes and Joey didn't let go of her shoulders, partly so she would stay clam and partly so he would. They all watched on in horror as Raphael summoned his most powerful monster and used it's special ability to turn all of Yami's monsters that he'd sacrificed against him. There was a shocking amount of monsters that delivered the final blow destroying the rest of his life points. The Pharaoh lost the duel.

"No!" Rose called out in horror.

"Yugi!" Joey called out desperately, looking at the defeated duellist with terror in his eyes.

"He lost..." Rose said, on the verge of tears again. "That means he loses his soul!" Joey had to grab Rose again and she struggled against him for a moment as tears fell down her face. She then noticed that there were tears falling onto her shoulder that did not belong to her. She looked up at Joey, who was holding her from behind, and instantly stopped struggling. He was crying also. The fear of losing his best friend was obviously too much for him. Rose turned back to look at the field and saw the Seal close in on the Pharaoh. She looked away as his cry echoed through the valley, but all Joey could do was stare. The Seal then disappeared, leaving their friend lying motionless on the ground.

"Get up Yug!" Joey called out desperately, "Please!" There was no sign from him though, and everybody slumped their shoulders, as the reality of the situation hit them.

A helicopter then appeared and Raphael grabbed the Pharaoh and climbed up the rope ladder as it carried him off.

"Hey you!" Joey let go of Rose to angrily call out to Raphael, "Take your hands off of him you creep!"

"Fine," Raphael replied, dropping him. Joey and Tristan tried to catch him, but the force knocked them off of their feet, and the three bodies were sprawled on the ground.

"Are you guys alright?" Duke asked. They got up, and Yami still lay lifeless on the ground.

"Can you hear us Yugi?" Tristan asked, kneeling over him. Rose and Joey stood back, unable to move.

"Come on, wake up!" Duke said.

Yami then opened his eyes, and everyone gasped. "He's awake!" Tristan proclaimed.

Joey let out a sigh of relief, "I knew you'd outsmart that big goon!" he said cheerfully. "So, how'd you do it, Yug? How'd you escape?"

Rose knew something wasn't right, and she could read it all over Yami's face. She then realised that Yugi's spirit was still gone, and her previous horror returned. Yami read her facial expression and turned away from her, guilt all over his face.

"Everything alright pal?" Joey asked.

"No Joey," Yami said, his voiced strained. "It's far from alright." He was holding back tears, his hands were balled into fists. "I didn't outsmart him."

"What do you mean?" Tristan asked. Yami shook his head and turned away from the rest of them.

"Don't you guys get it?" Rose said quietly, tears forming in her eyes again. "The Orichalcos never leaves without taking a soul, and the Pharaoh is still here. So that means..." she covered her mouth as her voice failed her, unable to finish the sentence.

"Yugi's gone," he said in despair, falling to his knees.

I don't even know what to say here. All the feels. God dammit Yami.

Anyway, i hope you liked the long chapter (well the last few have been quite long actually) and I'd love to hear what you think! seriously, i hope i haven't ruined this season for you :P cause its one of my favourites.

PharaohsThrone :)