Tenku no Seiiki was lit up as their helicopter descended, narrowly passing through a gap in the golden dome that hid the nearby airport from view and landed next to the battle stage, which was built in the style of a temple. Its gold and white marble ceiling was supported by black, white and gold marble pillars. Seats surrounded the stage as if it were the Colosseum of Rome and the Duelists who were competing, the gladiators fighting to the death.

The Greco-Roman pillars and statuary that surrounded the arena where Rebecca and Yugi were to duel, sat upon a tiled floor of many blues. Those tiles were interspersed with a speckling of whites and grey shimmering slates.

As Meisa stepped out of the helicopter, the flash of cameras trying to get first images of the Duelists couldn't stop her noticing the Celestial Transformation store, where Duel Disks of different skins and casings decorated in the style of fairies and plants hung in the window. Nor did it hide the Madolche Chateau, where desserts and baked goods of every kind were displayed in the windows, waiting to entice the guests who were arriving overnight to attend the grand opening of Kaibaland Hekigan.

To the right of the stage was a carousel of white, pale blues, pale pinks and gold, whose horses had been replaced with various fairy monsters, including Winged Kuriboh and Watapon. While to the left of the stage, a huge climbing wall and obstacle course was stood. From where she was standing, the Pharaoh could see that if you could climb to the top and ring the golden bell, you would be able to see right across the region, which, Meisa's tired mind finally realised, was based on the field card "Sanctuary in the Sky", or as it was known in Japan, 'Tenku no Seiiki.'.

In hindsight, the name should've given it away.

While they shuffled each other's decks, the Dueling Press fanned out to get the best views, while Anzu and Honda grabbed seats near the arena. As Yugi's cards passed through her hands, Rebecca fumbled the deck, nearly dropping it. She managed to catch it before it went everywhere, but it allowed her to get a glimpse of the Blue Eyes White Dragon within.

And that was what she wanted. She didn't care about the 'God Cards'. When she defeated Yugi in a fair duel and stopped Yugi's cheating in its tracks, she was going to take back her grandfather's dragon.

"You alright?" The spirit possessing the other Duelist asked, making Rebecca startle and hold her opponent's deck out. The Pharaoh took it quickly, trading it for Rebecca's and slotted her deck into position.

"I'm fine." Rebecca slotted her own deck into her Duel Disk and headed for her place on the sky field, her hand slipping into her pocket. "You ready?"

Rebecca's nervous grin made the Pharaoh give her a reassuring smile in return. "When you are. You want the first move?"

"Yes, but first." Meisa's heart froze as Rebecca pulled a compact from her pocket.

A compact steeped in the same Shadows as every other Memento she had faced today.

"Rebecca, wai…"

The Pharaoh was too late, the pink plastic was slammed into the floor and shattered. The darkness erupted from the shards, sweeping through the arena. Meisa suddenly found her feet swept out from under her. Ripped from the body, and her connection to her twin, she went tumbling back into the Puzzle, whose door slammed shut behind her.

Yugi seized control before the body could hit the ground, her eyes wide and her shock making her breath come in short gasps as the world around her spun.

The iciness of the darkness, the painful torn edges of her soul and the hollow echoing of the magical senses she had spent the last few months training, made her tremble as she asked, "Why?"

Rebecca too shivered as she drew her opening hand, her head spinning slightly, "You want everyone to respect your title? Time to win without any tricks, any treats. Just you and your deck in front of all the world."

She gestured to the traditional dueling press, who were taking photos and the sole reporter for Digital Duelist, who was livestreaming the event

"If you can't do that, I'll take you down here and now. I'll get your Blue Eyes and you'll never play a game again! Now, I set a card in defence mode, and a card face down!"

As the two cards appeared on the field, Yugi tried to reach across the soul bond to her sister, only to find that she couldn't feel or hear anything. Her heart was as silent as it'd been before she'd completed the Puzzle and the steady hum of magic that'd been a constant companion since she had solved the Puzzle was just gone.

The feeling wasn't a comfortable one. It reminded her too much of the old days.

The bad days.

Before she'd had friends.

Before she'd had her sister.

Before she'd had anything.

Ignoring the racing of her heart and heaviness of her limbs, unsure if it was because of the situation, or because both things hadn't really stopped since her revival, Yugi drew.

Just because she felt awful, just because she was alone, didn't mean she planned to lose here. Games had kept her alive, kept her from doing something unfix-able, when she had been battered and bullied and all alone and she refused to lose them, just because Rebecca refused to believe her.

She had done everything in her power to help Rebecca get into Battle City and prep her deck. She had gone above and beyond to prove to the girl that she wasn't a cheat. And even after that, she was still having to defend herself.

And, after everything she had been through today, she was done playing nice.

She wasn't Crawford. She didn't need her magic to win. And she'd prove that here and now by ending this duel quickly.

"I summon my Double Coston, in attack mode!" She called, slipping the monster card into place. The Duel Disk's projection fizzled for a moment before the dual ghosts appeared on the field, spinning on the spot with none of the life they'd previously shown.

Confusion flickered through Yugi for a moment, before she realised that the Duel Disks channelled a little Shadow magic to make their holograms so lifelike and with the Shadows blocking all magic, they were little but a projection.

She suspected Kaiba would never admit that magic was involved. He probably thought it was entirely something he'd done. And it mattered so little, she wasn't going to fight him on that.

She missed the liveliness but welcomed the relief. With the monsters of the game only being holograms, there was no magical strain to summoning them.

Ironically, this was the exact duel she'd needed. One with no magical cost, or extra strain. She just wished it hadn't come at this price and prayed that Rebecca was as noble a Duelist as she claimed to be.

Because if she wasn't, Doctor Hopkins wasn't going to be Jiisan's friend anymore.

"Double Coston, attack her defence monster!"

The moment Rebecca's defence monster flipped up, revealing Giant Soldier of Stone, Yugi winced. The huge stone golem just ignored the tiny zombie ghosts, who bounced off, taking 300 lifepoints from Yugi's total.

"I set a card face down, and end my turn."

"I've made a few changes since our last duel." Rebecca grinned at her, pleased to have drawn first blood, even if it was a self inflicted wound, "This one's new too. I sacrifice my Giant Soldier of Stone for the Millennium Shield!"

The huge red and gold metal shield appeared on the field, floating between Yugi and Rebecca, the eye upon it matching the eye upon Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, the system revealing its 3000 defence points.

"And I equip it with Ring of Magnetism." A ring of sparking metal shards spun around it. "Taking away 500 defence points but making it the only thing you can attack. Now you can't just rip through my lifepoints! Your turn!"

It was a good play, Yugi had to allow. With its defence sitting at 2500, there wasn't much in her deck that could take it down.

But one of those things was in her hand.

"I sacrifice my Double Coston for the Dark Magician!"

Watching the Dark Magician arrive on the field was surprisingly painful. She had always had a connection with the spellcaster, even before she had known that her ancient friend's soul lived within the card and the life that he'd displayed any time he was summoned had been a delight.

Watching the Dark Magician now, just another flat, lifeless monster, hurt her heart.

But she could make this quick.

"I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Double Coston, then activate Magical Dimension, allowing me to make a second summon this turn by sending them back to the graveyard."

The golden casket closed around the zombies, who seemed unbothered by their immediate destruction. When it reopened, the Dark Magician Girl appeared on the field, floating next to her mentor without the joy and bounce that Yugi was used to.

"Then, I activate Thousand Knives." Yugi's call shocked Rebecca, who watched with dismay as Yugi's Dark Magician summoned a slew of knives which launched forward, slamming into the Millennium Shield and destroying it, leaving Rebecca wide open.

The young Duelist took a step back, shaking her head.

She'd shuffled Yugi's deck. She'd been careful to make sure that there was no way the deck could be stacked. That this duel was already over was ridiculous.

And undeniable.

"I don't cheat, Rebecca. I've never, ever cheated." Yugi's words washed over her, slamming into her like a truck. "I earned my title fair and square, by doing the best I could against the hardest opponents."

It couldn't be true. It couldn't.

She had to have done something to influence the duel. She had to.

Except Yugi couldn't have. Rebecca had shuffled her deck, envisioning the defeat she was going to hand Yugi the entire time, and the magic that the child could feel swirling around them, was supposed to have stopped any magical cheating.

And that meant one thing.

Yugi had wiped her out without even trying.

And short of punching Yugi, which she wasn't going to do, no matter how tempting it was, Rebecca had no way to stop her.

"Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl! End this duel!"

The Dark Magician's 2500 and his student's 2000 was more than enough to blow through Rebecca's 4000 lifepoints and end the duel.

On turn two.

Humiliated, Rebecca watched as the holograms faded away, unaware of what she'd brought upon herself. So caught up in her self-inflicted embarrassment that she missed the tide of Shadows gathering to inflict the loss conditions on her.

After all, Shadow Games had to be fair.

As Yugi's magic reignited, she could see the dark tide surging forward. She tried to grasp it before it could envelope the girl opposite, not wanting her to suffer. The Shadows pulled against her, fighting for their valid victim and the exhausted Queen of Games gritted her teeth as she battled back.

Meisa surged out of the Puzzle the moment she was able, wrapping around Yugi's soul and bolstering her strength as their connection rekindled and they dragged the Shadows back, fighting for every inch as the Memento summoned darkness slowly, far too slowly, faded away.

Together they reached for their satchel, hoping to pull out something, anything, they could contain the magic in order to prevent it from hitting the twelve-year-old Duelist who'd summoned them.

"I won't lose next time!" Rebecca swore, upset and fury pulsing through her. As unaware as the leaving press about the magical battle of wills going on before her. "Are you listening to me?! Yugi!?"

Rebecca's shout was a distraction that cost the Pharaoh and her sister the fight.

The magic reacted violently to their interference, leaving Meisa just enough time to dive into the corridor between Soul Rooms and pull Yugi's soul behind hers before the last remnants of the Memento magic crashed into them, knocking them both backwards.

Meisa slammed into Yugi, knocking her off her feet, and they hit the wall at the end before falling to the ground.

The Shadows swept toward the pair as Yugi pushed herself up and threw her hand forward, calling up the magic she'd trained so hard with, trying to mimic her sister's Mirror Force activation from the demon's attack in the bedroom. The darkness slammed into it and bounced back, burning away in streamers of light.

The moment the Shadows were gone, the Mirror Force fell and Yugi collapsed on top of her sister.

Honda shot forward as the body started to fall, catching Yugi with ease as Anzu rushed over, giving Rebecca a dirty look.

"I…is she okay?" Rebecca stammered, guilt pulsing through her and shame making her want to hide but trying to push through to face the repercussions of her actions, unaware of what Yugi had just done to protect her.

"Hopefully just tired."

The KC medical team weren't taking any risks, having been alerted to her condition before she had arrived, by Kaiba and Kawai. They hurried forward and stowed the collapsed Duelist in a medical vehicle, handing the Puzzle, along with Yugi's satchel and Duel Disk, to Honda to get them out of the way.

Honda caught Anzu's arm as she started to climb in behind her friend, "I'll go with her. You let Jou know where she's going so he can catch up after his duel?"

Anzu thought for a moment, then nodded. "Ishizu won't have landed yet, so it should be safe and Umi's only the next section over."

"Still stay safe."

"I will. Go on, before they leave."

Honda nodded and climbed into the car, which took off, weaving between attractions, while Anzu, unsure she should be going, but trusting Honda to have Yugi's back, turned to Rebecca with a scowl.

"You. With me."

The blonde girl nodded, staying silent and fully aware she'd just burned every bridge Yugi and her friends had tried to build.

As Honda scrambled into the medical vehicle and spotted Kawai with the team, having landed alongside them, he paused. Kawai had been determined that Jou and Yugi shouldn't have to be in danger, so if he did something to keep Yugi in the medical bay until the duels were over, he would have an ally in Kawai.

He caught her eye, making her pause and tilt her head at him. He shut the doors behind him and gestured for them to go, hoping she would understand that he was on her side. At least for now.

Jou's mother opened her mouth to say something, paused when she realised her colleagues were listening, then nodded and turned to do her job, hoping she'd finally found a sane ally amongst the insanity that'd been brought into her life.

And that he would help her keep the others safe.