Clash in the Coliseum Part V

Down in the KaibaCorp blimp's med-bay, everyone stared out the window.

'Do you guys see what I see?' Téa asked in a shaky voice. 'That's Obelisk! Kaiba must have brought him back!'

'Yeah, but Yugi's Egyptian God Card is still gone,' Duke pointed out.

'What?' Tristan demanded. 'How's Yugi gonna stand up to Obelisk without Slifer?' He spun around and walked over. 'All right.' He grabbed Joey. 'Sharee, help me get this stuff off of him.'

'Are you sure?' Sharee asked. 'That "stuff" is monitoring his vitals right now, and if the doc walks back in we'll get in trouble.'

'It's all good,' Tristan said. 'Trust me. Joey needs to see this.' Tears formed in his eyes. 'It might make him wake up.'

'How?' Téa asked.

'He'll see that Yugi's in trouble,' Tristan said.

'So?' Duke asked.

'So, that should be enough to snap him out of it.'

'You really believe this?' Sharee asked.

'Completely,' Tristan said.

'Okay, then.' Sharee leaned over and unhooked everything.

Tristan pulled one of Joey's arms over his shoulders and pulled Joey up. The others hesitated for a moment before they let him drag Joey over to the window. Sharee grabbed a nearby stethoscope and came up behind. If Tristan insisted on this, really believed in it, then this would suffice for monitoring his vitals.

Sharee used the stethoscope to listen to Joey's heartbeat as they looked out the window.

'Tristan, please,' Serenity said, 'be careful with my brother.'

'I will,' Tristan promised. 'Now, come on, Joey! I know you can hear me. Wake up, man. Yugi's in trouble and he needs your help now, Joey!'

YGO

'Your Egyptian God Card won't be around for long, Kaiba!' the Pharaoh stated.

'That doesn't matter,' Kaiba said. 'Obelisk has served his purpose already. I won't be needing his services to finish you off.'

The Pharaoh ground his teeth. 'Very well then. I place one card face-down and end my turn.' He played the card and it appeared on the field. 'Your move, Kaiba.'

'Well, as you've already pointed out, it's time for Obelisk to return to the graveyard,' Kaiba said. 'Now, my Egyptian God Card, begone.' Obelisk sank back into the ground. 'The wrath of Obelisk may be over, but the worst part is yet to come.' He laughed. 'There's nothing you can do to save yourself at this point. As soon as I make my next move, you're history.'

It can't end like this! Yugi insisted. I have to defeat Kaiba to get to Marik! It's the only way to stop his evil plan. Cause if the three Egyptian God Cards and my Millennium Puzzle fall into Marik's hands, the world could meet the same fate it did in the past. The vision crossed his mind's eye. Even so, the Pharaoh had a feeling that vision had been significantly toned down from the reality.

YGO

'Come on,' Tristan urged. 'Wake up, Joey!'

YGO

On the duelling field, the Pharaoh looked across the field to Kaiba. 'Go ahead and make your move, Kaiba.'

Kaiba's smirk was firmly in place. He drew. And he was clearly pleased with whatever he drew. 'I'm afraid this is the final turn. It over. I switch Lord of Dragons to defence mode!' Lord of Dragons crouched down. 'Then I activate the magic card, the Flute of Summoning Dragon!'

The Pharaoh scowled. He'd been afraid of that. 'This can mean only one thing.'

'I take it you're familiar with my strategy,' Kaiba remarked. 'As soon as my Lord of Dragons plays this flute, two more dragons will be summoned to the field.'

Oh, that was even worse. 'You're planning to call fourth two more Blue Eyes White Dragons, aren't you?'

'That's precisely what I'm doing, Yugi!' Kaiba declared.

Then, with a bright blue glow encompassing the field, the other two Blue Eyes White Dragons were summoned, each of them roaring.

The Pharaoh drew back.

YGO

Sharee stood at Joey's back, continuing to listen to his heartbeat.

She found feel it – or, more accurately, Mayet could. There was still fight in his heart, and fighting he was, and he was fighting hard against the shadows. It was even likely what was going on in his head was symbolic of the fight he was waging against the darkness of the Shadow Realm.

So both of them kept an close watch on him.

YGO

Kaiba stood in front of his three Blue Eyes White Dragons with a smirk firmly in place. 'Looks like I have four monsters on the field now. And you…all you've got is your Dark Magician and your pathetic Magnet Warrior, Yugi. And you know what that means.' He barked out a laugh. 'I can annihilate them and wipe out your life points.'

The three Dragons roars.

'Yugi, just give up now,' Kaiba said.

Yugi ground his teeth though.

YGO

Everyone stood at the windows.

'What do you think is going on up there, guys?' Serenity asked.

'Let's hope that Yugi's winning so that this whole nightmare can end already,' Téa said.

'Everything's gonna be just fine, guys.' Tristan looked down at Joey. 'Isn't that right, Joey.'

'Stay strong,' Sharee murmured.

Joey was coming to end of his fight.

…She could feel it.

YGO

'This is where it all ends, Yugi!' Kaiba declared. 'There's no way you can escape the devastation of my three Blue Eyes! The moment I've been waiting for is finally here!' He laughed.

I'm in major trouble, Yugi said. With three Blue Eyes White Dragons, Kaiba can easily wipe out both of my monsters and the rest of my life points. What am I gonna do?

Kaiba called the order. 'Now my three Blue Eyes, attack! Finish him off and end this duel!

'Oh, no,' the Pharaoh muttered.

'Once my Dragons attack, this duel is over!' Kaiba declared.

The Pharaoh shut his eyes as pain sparked in his head.

'Hold on, Yug,' a familiar voice suddenly said in his mind.

The Pharaoh snapped his eyes open.

Joey? Yugi asked.

They looked over to find themselves standing in the void.

Joey was standing to their left. 'Yup, the one and only, pal.'

I'm about to lose this duel, Yugi told him.

'Guess again, Yug,' Joey told him. 'It's like you always tell me. Look closely and consider all of your options.'

All my options?

'Yup.' Joey began to fade. 'I think you'll find the card that can save you.'

Let's see. The Pharaoh looked at his hand. He's right! There's still hope!

And the Pharaoh was back on the field.

Kaiba was still gloating. 'Nice try, Yugi! But you're no longer the top ranked duellist! What…?' His eyes widened as the Pharaoh summoned the card he needed onto the field. 'It's Red Eyes Black Dragon! Where did that come from?'

'If you'll recall,' the Pharaoh said, 'you used your Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon your Blue Eyes to the field. But you may have forgotten that your Flute works on my hand as well.'

Kaiba ground his teeth.

'So I owe you a thank you,' the Pharaoh declared, 'for bringing out this card – which is a gift from a very close friend of mine, Kaiba!'

The Red Eyes snarled.

'This doesn't change a thing, Yugi,' Kaiba retorted. 'I can destroy you and your Red Eyes! Now, my Blue Eyes White Dragons will destroy all three of your monsters. Attack now! Annihilate his Dark Magician first.'

The first Blue Eyes attacked the Dark Magician.

'Say goodbye to your favourite monster!' Kaiba snapped.

'Not so fast, Kaiba! Activate trap!' The first of his face-down cards flipped up.

Kaiba's eyes widened again. 'Magician Selection? That protects your Dark Magician from my attack, which means you and your monster will escape unharmed!'

'That's right, Kaiba,' the Pharaoh agreed as the trap took effect. 'But my card also sends your weakest monster to the card graveyard.'

The White Lightning attack bounced off the shielding that had been afforded to the Dark Magician…and hit Lord of Dragons instead.

Kaiba grunted in annoyance. 'Fine, but you'll never escape my other two attacks!'

Beta the Magnet Warrior was destroyed, it was true.

'Beta the Magnet Warrior is gone and your Red Eyes is next!' Kaiba declared. 'So much for Wheeler's gift!'

'That's what you think, Kaiba! Reveal face-down card!' The Pharaoh activated the second card and it flipped up to reveal…the Spell-Binding Circle. The Circle shot across the field and encased the Blue Eyes that had attacked the Red Eyes Black Dragon. 'My Spell-Binding Circle card puts an end to your Blue Eyes' attack, and lowers its strength by 700.' He fired back. 'Nice try, Kaiba.'

The Blue Eyes White Dragon's attack dropped to 2300.

'Time for Red Eyes to fight back!' The Pharaoh gave the order. 'Destroy his Blue Eyes White Dragon with Inferno Fire Blast!'

The Red Eyes let loose the blast. The weakened Blue Eyes was instantly destroyed.

Kaiba flinched as it happened. Then he glared up at him. 'All right. You may have saved yourself for now but this duel's far from done.' Kaiba's life points dropped to 1900.

Well, Yugi remarked with a sigh, it looks like I made it out of that mess. And I owe it all to you, Joey.

'All I did was remind you of the advice that you gave me,' Joey said. 'Now…win this fight, pal.'

You too, Joey.

YGO

In the medical ward Sharee heard, through the stethoscope, Joey's heart rate pick up.

She slowly took lowered it and removed the black tips from her ears. Then she moved around and looked at Joey's face. His eyelids were fluttering and slowly – ever so slowly, his eyes began to open. Inside her mind, Mayet felt his heart signature coming back to him.

'Here we go,' she said.

Serenity gasped. 'Hey, guys, look!'

Tristan looked down. 'He's waking up!'

'Are you okay, Joey?' Serenity asked.

'Give him a few minutes, Serenity,' Sharee told her as Tristan shifted and let her move in front of him and let her look at his still glazed-over eyes. 'He'll need them to get a sense of where he is.'

YGO

Kaiba looked across the field with a bitter smirk.

I must admit, Yugi's move took me by surprise. But if he thinks this is the time to celebrate, he's sadly mistaken. Victory will be mine!

YGO

I have a long way to go, Yugi acknowledged. But as long as I have faith in the Heart of the Cards, and in my friends, I know I can win this.

YGO

Sharee watched as Joey's eyes cleared. 'Congratulations. And welcome back.'

AN: NO ARTWORK OR ARTWORK COMISSION REQUESTS ACCEPTED.