Chapter 31

The Darkness Returns: Part 4

"Joey Falls"

"The time has arrived! Winged Dragon of Ra, destroy his monster and drain his strength!" Yami Marik shouted before his creature started to dive towards Gilford. "There is nothing that can prepare you for the devastation you're about to endure!" he declared before laughing. In moments, an INCREDIBLE BLAST sent ripples throughout the sky that pierced through the shadowy cloud. Serenity, calling her brother's name, saw the light of the impact and felt the earth itself tremble.

Up on the tower, Joey was SCREAMING in pain as he felt the flames from the fire cyclone of the Immortal Phoenix form of The Winged Dragon of Ra as it engulfed Gilford the Lightning. "There's no escaping the fury of the monster supreme Egyptian God Monster!" Yami Marik declared. Down on the ground, Serenity heard Joey's screams and felt his pain. "I'm coming, Joey!" she shouted as she rushed inside.

Up on the ground, everyone in Joey's corner urged him to fight it off. "Who can withstand the fury of a level ten Divine attribute monster like The Winged Dragon of Ra?" Spike asked, worried. Twilight and the others were too worried to answer. "Can you feel every ounce of energy leaving your body?" Yami Marik asked before laughing wickedly. "Twilight, you and the others have to stop this!" Tea begged.

"But that's just it, we can't! Thanks to the fact that this is a Shadow Game, our magic might not be able to stop the divine powers of an Egyptian God Monster!" Twilight replied. "And that means every ounce of Joey's strength is being burned away, for real!" Rainbow added. "Whoa, this is nuts. I think Marik is going way over the line this time. We better call off the duel before these holograms do some serious damage to Joey's body." Mokuba suggested.

'There no way we can stop this duel now. It's so close to the finish that I can practically taste it. But all the same, this proves that The Winged Dragon of Ra is the most dangerous of the Egyptian God Cards, if not the most dangerous card in all of Duel Monsters.' Seto thought. Soon enough, Gilford was destroyed.

"Your Gilford is gone, and you're about to follow, Little Joey. Now I end my turn, meaning my great beast returns to the graveyard, its task is now complete." Yami Marik said before The Winged Dragon of Ra returned to his graveyard. "When the smoke clears, we will see nothing but a motionless body. And without any inner strength, the Shadow Realm will easily consume both your mind and your soul. At least your beloved Mai won't be alone, because you'll be wandering the land of shadows together." he gloated.

But to his shock, and to that of everyone else, Joey was still on his feet. "It can't be! No one can withstand the devastating fury of an Egyptian God Monster! NO ONE!" he shouted. "Sweet Celestia!" Rarity shouted. "That's... That's impossible!" Spike declared. "He's standing!" Yami Yugi said in surprise. "But how?!" Rainbow asked. "That's what I'D like to know!" Pinkie replied. "How is he still on his feet?!" AJ asked. "It's a miracle!" Fluttershy declared. "But he was almost burned alive!" Twilight pointed out.

"No! It can't be! You should be wiped out by now!" Yami Marik shouted as Joey weakly opened his eyes. "In, your, dreams." the underdog weakly said before imagining he was dueling against Yami Yugi. 'Speaking of dreams, where am I? Is that Yugi in front of me, or is Marik messing with my head?' he wondered. 'It's me, Joey. I'm getting ready for our duel. The last match of Battle City.' Yugi replied, mentally.

'What are you talking about? Aren't I in the middle of a duel with Marik?' Joey asked. 'Last thing I remember is that he attacked me with his Egyptian God Card.' he added. 'Hey, where is that freak anyway? And the rest of the gang? What's going on here?' he asked. 'Your mind is in a state of shock, don't you remember, Joey? Your willpower was strong enough to resist the forces of The Winged Dragon of Ra.' Yugi replied. 'OH! Right, and that means Marik is wide open for an attack.' Joey said, realizing that now was his chance.

'Exactly, now get back there and finish him off so you can help me save the world.' Yugi replied before the dream/vision faded back to reality. "Time, to put an end, to your evil, for good!" Joey stated, though still weak. "If he succeeds in attacking my life points, I'll lose the duel and my Egyptian God Card!" Yami Marik said as he grit his teeth while sweating bullets.

"Alright. This, is it. It's, my turn, now. And you're, wide open." Joey said, weakly. "This can't be happening!" Yami Marik shouted, still in disbelief that he couldn't finish Joey off. "Come on, Joey, you just need to stay standing long enough to call an attack!" Rainbow shouted. "And if you do, Marik is finished!" Spike added. "He could just do it!" Mokuba said, clearly excited while his brother was shocked. "How did he withstand the powers of The Winged Dragon of Ra?" he wondered.

"Make your move, Joey! End this madness, now!" Yami Yugi shouted. "Here goes, nothing." Joey said before weakly drawing his next card. 'Gearfried the Iron Knight. He's got more than enough power to end this. After all, Marik is down to just 900 life points thanks to the effect of his Winged Dragon of Ra draining 1000 of them.' he thought. "You guys see the card he drew?" Pinkie asked. "Alright, Marik, I summon Gearfried, the Iron Knight!" Joey declared before his knight appeared, thought slightly more transparent.

"No! This can't be possible!" Yami Marik shouted. "Joey! Call your attack! NOW!" Spike shouted. At the same time, Serenity arrived just in time to see everything. "Joey, no!" she shouted as she saw her brother fall to the ground before he could call an attack while the hologram of Gearfried faded away. "Joey! Get up! GET UP!" Rainbow shouted as Serenity looked on with devastation, shock and worry in her eyes.

"Mr. Kaiba, you have to get a doctor, now!" Twilight urged. "I can't, according to the rules of the tournament, if a player collapses, they have only 30 seconds to get up, and only five minutes if both players go down." Seto replied. "KAIBA, STOP THIS! FORGET YOUR TOURNAMENT RULES AND GET JOEY SOME HELP!" Rainbow shouted. "Darn tootin' right, Rainbow. For all we know, he could be in critical condition!" AJ pointed out.

"Correct! There's nothing that can be done for him, now!" Yami Marik retorted. "The 30 second time limit has expired! The duel is now over!" Roland announced as the shadowy cloud faded, indicating the end of the Shadow Game. "Forget the duel! Can't you see that Joey needs help?" Mokuba asked as he got up on the battle field and checked him over. "He's not breathing!" he shouted, worrying everyone on the sidelines, even Kaiba. "As I was saying, Joey was unable to get up within the allotted time limit, so therefore the winner is Marik Ishtar!" Roland declared.

Meanwhile, everyone was running up to Joey, worried that the duel killed him. "Roland, call in the medical staff, ASAP! We have to save Joey's life!" Mokuba ordered. "Yes, sir!" Roland replied before running off to get the medical team. 'I can't believe that Wheeler could withstand an attack from the strongest form of the most powerful Egyptian God Card! Maybe he's not a second rate Duelist after all.' Seto thought.

"Your friend is very fortunate that he didn't lose our Shadow Game, but he didn't win, either. So therefore he won't be fed to the Shadow Realm." Yami Marik said. "Joey, come on. Don't do this to us." Rainbow said as tears began to form in her eyes. "Joey, it's Serenity. Please, tell me you can hear me!" the poor, heartbroken girl pleaded. "Stop kidding around and get up, man!" Tristan shouted.

"STOP IT, TRISTAN! JUST STOP IT!" Pinkie shouted before slapping him while crying. 'Joey can't be... He can't!' Yugi thought, worried that his best friend was gone. 'I never should've let him duel. I NEVER SHOULD'VE LET HIM DUEL MARIK!' he mentally shouted in despair. 'I must say, Wheeler's performance today was quite impressive. Perhaps I owe him an apology, as long as he's still around the hear me say it to him.' Seto thought before they all heard Yami Marik laugh.

"Now that your friend is out of the way, I'm one duel away from world domination, Pharaoh!" he stated. "Enough! When will all this madness come to an end?" Yami Yugi asked, having heard enough from his arch-enemy. "When the infinite power of the pharaoh belongs to me!" Yami Marik replied before laughing. "Think again, Marik. You'll be dueling against me in the final round, and I intend to win." Seto stated. "Is that so?" Yami Marik asked.

"Yes. First I'll face off against and defeat Yugi, and once I strip him of Slifer the Sky Dragon and his world title, I'll be ready to crush you and claim your Winged Dragon of Ra. You see, I've studied it quite carefully, and I have just the card to destroy it." Seto replied. "Well, you have it all figured out, don't you? But perhaps you should focus on getting past the semi-finals, first." Yami Marik said before continuing to walk away.

Soon, the medical team arrived to take Joey away for treatment. "Get him on that stretcher and take him to the medical room, immediately!" Mokuba ordered, but Yami Marik just chuckled. "You may very well be wasting time. He may never awaken." he said as the med team got him on the stretcher and lifted him up. "Hang in there, Joey. We're all right here." Serenity said as they all ran with the med team.

"The next duel will begin in one hour! Yugi Muto will face Mr. Kaiba! The winner will go on to face Marik in the finals." Roland announced as Yami Yugi started to join the others. "I've been waiting for this moment, Yugi! My long awaited victory over you will soon be at hand!" Kaiba declared, brining the ancient one to a stop. "Right now, Joey needs me. Once I know he's still alive, I'll deal with you, Kaiba." Yami replied before walking away. "I'll see you an one hour." Kaiba said as Yami went down the stairs. 'And I'll take you down once and for all.' he thought.

Meanwhile, aboard Kaiba Craft 3, the doctor was looking Joey over. "Doctor, how is he?" Twilight asked. "Well, his brainwaves are normal and his heartbeat is slowly coming back up to strength, we're lucky we managed to bring him back from the brink." the doctor answered. "Lucky is right, if he didn't have that determination of his, than there's no way he'd still be here!" AJ stated as Serenity fell to her knees in tears.

"Joey! Please! You have to open your eyes!" she said, tearfully. Meanwhile, inside Joey's subconscious mind, the underdog found himself in a dream. In said dream, Tea, Yugi and Sol were trying to get Joey moving so that he could attend a tournament. "It's strange. Joseph's brain activity is quite high and his heart rate is stable but he's completely unconscious. To be honest, I've never seen anything like this at all." the doctor said before Ishizu approached.

'Joey's will is very strong, I'm glad his mind was able to fight off the power of the Shadow Realm.' she thought before putting her hands on Serenity's shoulders. "It's alright, Serenity." the kind Egyptian said. "I just want my brother back." the girl said as she sobbed. 'I understand. Your brother is more fortunate than mine.' Ishizu thought before Mokuba arrived.

"Mokuba, please, tell me. When are we going to move Joey back to Domino City to get treatment at the hospital?" Fluttershy asked. "Bad news. We can't get Kaiba Craft 3 to go anywhere. The explosion from Noah's fortress did a bit of damage to the engines that's starting to set in." Mokuba answered. "You've got to be kidding!" Rainbow and Tristan said at the same time. "And Seto says that the doctors will tend to Joey as often as they need to." Mokuba added.

The very mention of the engines being damaged brought back memories of when Gozaburo's spirit tried to consume the blimp in order to kill Seto, though to no avail, as they remembered. "Wait, if the engines are down, that means we're stuck here!" Rainbow said, realizing what that meant. "Don't worry, in case we can't get the engines online, I'll see to it a helicopter is brought here to make sure everyone gets off KaibaCorp Island." Mokuba replied.

"Thank you, Mokuba." Yami said. "I better go and see how repairs are coming along." Mokuba said before leaving. "Please. Hang in there, Joey." Serenity said as Yami and Yugi looked at their fallen friend. 'It's my fault this happened to Joey. I should've faced Marik.' Yugi said. 'No, Yugi. Don't blame yourself.' Yami said, trying to comfort his young friend before Yami left the room. 'I knew that duel would be too dangerous, and I could've stopped it. But I didn't, and now look what's happened.' Yugi said.

'Marik is pure evil. First he got Mai, then Bakura, now this! It's not fair. Maybe we should stop fighting. It only seems to make things worse. I can't take it anymore.' the heartbroken boy continued as Yami started to take his Duel Disk off. "Wait, Yugi. We've come too far." the wise one said before a flashback to the first day of the tournament flooded his and Yugi's minds. 'I know this is hard for you, Yugi. Marik is the toughest foe we've ever faced, but if we walk away now, he wins.' he added, mentally.

'True, Joey never gave up and neither should we. We have to finish what we started, no matter what.' Yugi concurred. 'Marik's madness has to stop, now! He's caused way too much damage already, and I'm NOT gonna lose another friend!' he continued before Yami punched the wall. "I won't give up if you don't, Joey! So please, hang on." he said. Meanwhile, within Joey's dream, he was dueling against a Duelist who had only 70 life points left and a single monster on the field, a level three, Earth attribute Machine with 1100 attack points and 700 defense points called Holograh.

Joey then fusion summoned his Flame Swordsman to destroy the creature to move on to the next round. Back in the real world, Yami was still distressed. "Marik's path of destruction is so, unpredictable. Whatever's next, I wish I knew." he said, before he could've sworn he heard Joey's voice tell him to check his pocket. "Was that you, Joey?" the ancient one asked, but, of course, he saw no one when he looked around. 'Guess not. Must've been wishful thinking.' Yugi thought before Yami felt a glowing energy coming from his pocket.

"What's this?" he wondered before taking out what was causing it. "Yugi, the Millennium Necklace!" he said in surprise. 'Oh, yeah! Now I remember, Ishizu told us last night that she didn't need it anymore.' Yugi pointed out, remembering the moment she gave it to them. 'This necklace can show us events before they happen! But the last time Ishizu used it to predict the future, it was wrong because Kaiba didn't do as she predicted.' he continued.

'Can we trust what it shows us?' he wondered. "Maybe we can." Yami replied. 'Right. If we concentrate, the Millennium Necklace will show us the future.' Yugi said before they did so. Soon, the necklace showed them an event that was destined to happen in the future. 'It's me, and Joey!' he said in surprise before he heard Yami and Joey agree to a duel, a day after the Battle City tournament ended.

'Was that the future? Maybe the Millennium Necklace is telling us that Joey's gonna be okay! But who knows if its right?' the young boy wondered. "Attention, Duelists. Please report to the top of the Duel Tower for the next match in the semi-finals! Yugi Muto will face off against Mr. Kaiba in a world championship match! The winner will continue on to the final round." Roland announced.

'I've got to believe what the necklace predicted. Soon, all of this insanity will be over and Joey will be alright. I just have to get past Kaiba so I can defeat Marik and END this.' Yugi thought as Yami put his Duel Disk back on. Meanwhile, Mokuba was trying to send out an SOS to KaibaCorp HQ on the mainland. "Can anyone hear me? KaibaCorp Headquarters, this is Mokuba Kaiba. I need a transport helicopter right now! Come in!" he said.

"I think our distance from the mainland is interfering with all communications, sir." Roland said. "Come in! Can anyone hear me! This is Kaiba Craft 3! We're stranded and need assistance!" Mokuba said into the radio. Back in Joey's room, Serenity refused to leave his side. "I'm right here." she said before Yami came back in. "How is he?" he asked. "Same as he was for the past half hour. But knowing Joey, he's trying his hardest to wake up." AJ responded before Yami picked up his fallen friend's Duel Disk.

"Then he'll need this." the ancient one said before putting the Duel Disk on Joey's arm. "His Duel Disk?" Serenity asked, puzzled. "He'll want it to be close by." Yami replied. "Close by? What for?" Rarity asked. "His toughest fight yet. Look after him." Yami answered before walking out. "Yami? May I come with you?" Fluttershy asked. "And me, too?" Twilight asked. "Very well. But we must return from this duel as soon as we can." Yami replied before they walked out and started down the hall.

"Yugi! Guys, wait up!" Tea called as she flagged them down to a stop. "Are you actually going to go through with this duel? It could mean having to face Marik." she said. "He is and he knows what it means if he wins." Twilight replied. "But have you three forgotten how many people have gotten hurt in this tournament so far?" she asked. "No, we haven't." Fluttershy answered before she and Twilight thought about the last duels involving Yami they witnessed throughout the tournament.

"Please, Yugi. Enough is enough. I can't stand the thought of losing you, too, and neither can Fluttershy! Just forfeit and let Kaiba take your Egyptian God Card, it's not worth all this suffering! This tournament has been nothing but a play for power and Kaiba knows it." Tea said. "I know." Yami replied. "We all do." Twilight added. "But if Yami walks away now, that means everyone suffered for nothing. And I don't think even Kaiba would have what it takes to defeat Marik's shadow magic." Fluttershy said.

'And I've got to have faith in the vision that the Millennium Necklace showed me.' Yugi thought as he remembered what he and Yami saw. 'Everything's gonna be back to normal soon, likely the very next day after this. I just have to win this tournament, first. And I'll start, by defeating Kaiba.' he continued. "Tea, do you remember what we, Fluttershy, Twilight and their friends learned from our trip to the Domino City museum? About my destiny?" Yami asked.

"Yes. We all found out that you were a pharaoh in ancient Egypt and that you have to save the world again from some evil force like you did 5,000 years ago." Tea answered before the memory came back to her, Fluttershy and Twilight. "So, Tea. Do you understand why Yami backing out of the tournament isn't an option?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, but..." Tea began to say. "No buts, Tea. The reason I joined the Battle City tournament was to fulfill Ishizu's prophecy and stop this great evil from endangering mankind." Yami interrupted as the rest of the group cam out of Joey's room and listened in.

"And when Joey found out on the first day of the tournament, he vowed to help, and so did I on behalf of my friends, no matter how tough the fight." Twilight added. "And that's why I must press on. Otherwise, not only would I be giving up on Joey, I'd be giving up on the entire world." put in Yami as the rest of the gang joined.

"So you stay here while Fluttershy and Twilight accompany me to my duel with Kaiba." he concluded. "Don't go easy on him. For all of us." AJ said with a tip of her hat. "I won't. There's too much at stake to lose." Yami replied. "We're all right here for you." Duke said. "Good." Yami replied before he, Fluttershy and Twilight walked on. 'I know you can win this, Yugi. Because I don't want to think about what will happen if you don't.' Tea thought.

"Don't worry, Tea. He'll show Kaiba why he's the world champion and why he's called The King of Games." Pinkie said with a hopeful look on her face. "The second duel of the semi-finals will begin in five minutes." Roland announced as Kaiba waited at the top of the Duel Tower. 'Well, I guess this is it. Dueling against Kaiba won't be easy, especially since it's been so long since the last time we dueled, and I've never faced Obelisk the Tormentor before. I really wish Joey was going to be there to watch, but I know he'll be there in spirit.' Yugi thought.

Yami then came to a stop and looked up at the Duel Tower. 'Alright, Kaiba, you may have been considered the world's greatest Duelist and want my title to prove you still are, but the fate of the world is riding on MY victory.' Yugi thought.