The Darkness Returns Part II

Marik laughed maniacally. 'You could use a rest, little Joey.'

'And you could use a haircut,' Joey retorted, 'so what's your point?'

'Don't you understand?' Marik sneered. 'Thanks to these Dark Energy Streams, every time your monsters are attacked your body is drained of strength.'

Joey glared across the field.

'It's my move. Farewell.' Marik drew. Without a word, he played the card he'd drawn…until he'd set the second card. 'I place two cards face down and now I'll end my turn.' The cards appeared in front of him.

Why isn't Freak Boy attacking me? Joey wondered. He's got his Drillago on the field in attack mode and no cards left in his hand. Hm…He looked down at the remaining cards in his own hand. Not that my cards are anything to brag about. Come on, I need a winner. 'Here goes.' And Joey drew.

He'd drawn Insect Queen.

Aw, yeah! He added it to his hand. There's just one problem. Since it's a high-level card, I gotta sacrifice two monsters to play it. That's too risky right now. He took a different monster card. 'I summon Baby Dragon in defence mode!'

The Baby Dragon appeared on the field, curled defensively. An energy stream quickly connected Joey to his Baby Dragon.

I bet at least one of his face down cards is a trap, Joey thought. And as soon as I attack, he'll spring it on me.

'Proceed,' Marik said. 'The Shadows are growing impatient, little Joey.'

Joey ground his teeth.

'Are you too frightened to attack me?' Marik goaded him. 'Perhaps you fear my three face down cards and the possible devastation they could cause.'

I can't let Marik bully me like this!

Marik apparently really wanted Joey to attack him. 'I'm waiting!'

'Don't let him push you around!' Tristan called out to him.

'Yeah!' Duke agreed. 'He wants you to attack him!'

'You can't!' Even Téa knew it. 'Cause he'll just activate one of his trap cards!'

Neither Yugi nor Sharee spoke up…which meant it was probably the Pharaoh and Mayet in control of the bodies right now.

My friends have a point, Joey thought. But what am I supposed to do? Just sit around and wait? For what? I'm through waiting! I need to take action!

'Wait, Joey!' Tristan called again. 'Don't attack!'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yugi…or rather, the Pharaoh, speak and everyone else but Sharee…uh, Mayet, turned and looked at him in surprise.

YGO

'No,' the Pharaoh had said. 'He should attack.'

'Huh?' Everyone else, except Mayet, looked at him in surprise.

'In order for Joey to win, he must force Marik to reveal his traps right away,' the Pharaoh explained. 'Once Joey knows what Marik's cards are, he can devise a strategy to destroy them.' The Pharaoh called up. 'Take him down, Joey!'

And Joey listened.

YGO

'Rocket Warrior, activate invincible mode!' At Joey's command, Rocket Warrior snapped his armour into place. Then it attacked, slamming into Drillago and lowering its attack points to 1100.

Marik laughed. 'That's precisely the move I wanted you to make, you fool! For you have allowed me to activate my Card of Last Will!' The card in question flipped up. 'Now I can draw five cards.' He drew the five cards in question.

'Aw, man,' Joey said.

'Looks like my hand is full,' Marik crowed. 'Now which of my new cards should I use against you first? Let's see…'

Joey did not like the smirk he saw on that face.

'I don't care what cards you got, Marik,' Joey said. 'I'm still gonna mop the floor with that hair of yours! Goodbye, Scapegoat! Hello, Panther!' The final Scapegoat flew into the Panther Warrior's sword and his Panther Warrior attacked again. This time, Drillago was weak enough to be the one destroyed.

Marik growled in pain and shuddered as his life points dropped down to 2900. But he still lifted his gaze and chuckled.

'How d'you like that?' Joey crowed.

His friends cheered down below.

Marik chuckled though. 'Now I activate the trap card, Coffin Seller!' The second of his face down cards flipped up.

'What?' Joey demanded.

'Now each time one of your cards is sent to the graveyard, 300 life points are deducted from your total,' Marik crowed and laughed again.

'No way!' Joey protested.

'Yes.' Marik said. 'And there's more – much more. Remember Helpoemer?'

Joey's eyes darted down as the ghostly arm burst out of his duel disk for one of his cards again. It's that monster he put in my graveyard! It snatched the most powerful card in his hand. It just took my Insect Queen! That was the best card in my hand! For a "random" selection, it had twice taken his most powerful monsters.

And worse…

Now I lose 300 life points! Joey's life points dropped to 3700.

'It's over for you,' Marik declared. 'I've deprived a foolproof system of depleting your life points each turn, without having to do anything at all.'

YGO

'I'm afraid he's right,' the Pharaoh said when he was asked. 'Joey loses one card each turn, and if that card's a monster he loses life points.'

'That's not good!' Tristan declared.

YGO

'And don't forget that my Plasma Eel is still attached to your Panther Warrior, which lowers its attack points even more.'

Joey watched, unable to do anything but yell out as he felt the pain too, as the Plasma Eel zapped his Panther Warrior and lowered his attack strength to 1000.

'My move.' Marik drew. 'At last!' He saw his card and, once more, laughed. 'First, I'll place this card face down on the field.' He set the card in his duel disk and it appeared in front of him. 'And then I'll activate this: Premature Burial!' The card appeared on the field. 'This allows me to summon any monster that resides in the graveyard!'

Oh, that wasn't good. 'What are you bringing back?'

'Once I give up 800 life points, I shall revivie Drillago from my card graveyard.' Marik held up the card and his life points dropped to 2100.

Joey ground his teeth.

Marik's Drillago reappeared on the field. 'But there's still more! Next I'll sacrifice Drillago…' The monster vanished again, along with the magic card that brought it back, and Marik held up a new card. '…so I can bring forth this card.' He played the card.

The monster appeared on the field and roared. An energy stream appeared between it and Marik.

Joey stared up in horror at the ugly face. 'Ung! What is that?'

'I've summoned an unstoppable creature known as Legendary Beast!' Marik declared.

'Wait,' Joey said. 'He's only got 1500 attack points.'

If possible, Marik's smirk deepened. 'You should know things aren't always what they appear to be.'

'Huh?' Joey asked. 'And just what do you mean by that, Marik?'

Marik chuckled. 'My Beast gets stronger by 700 attack points each turn.' He watched Joey grit his teeth for a moment. 'Now, make your move…if you dare.'

Joey stared across the field. Marik's totally got the upper hand in this duel. If only I had my Jinzo, I could destroy all his traps. He looked down at the discard slot in his duel disk. But that card's in my graveyard. If I don't draw something good now, I'm a goner! 'Come on…' And Joey drew. 'Now!' He looked at it.

Little Winguard? He's too weak!

Marik laughed again. 'You look disappointed.'

'The only thing I'm disappointed about is that I didn't kick your butt sooner,' Joey retorted. He was past sick of that laugh. 'Now I summon Little Winguard in defenc—'

'Not so fast!' Marik cut him off. 'I activate the trap card, Nightmare Wheel!'

The card flipped up and the effect took shape. The Wheel appeared on the field and one of Joey's monsters found itself pinned to the thing.

'Hey, my Rocket Warrior!' Joey exclaimed.

'Your pitiful little monster is now held captive by my Nightmare Wheel, which means he can't attack me or defend you as long as my trap card remains on the field,' Marik said. 'So, basically, he's completely useless to you.' Marik laughed braggishly.

'I'll pick up where I left off: summoning Little Winguard in defence mode.' Joey set his card on the field. The monster appeared on top of its card, crouching defensively. 'Then I'll switch my Panther Warrior into defence mode.' He switched the monster around. 'So try and get me now.'

Marik chuckled. 'Drain him, Plasma Eel! Weaken his Panther and his body!'

Joey braced himself, but it didn't help. He still screamed in pain as his Panther Warrior's attack strength was cut in half…down to 500. Marik's crazy laughter was still ringing in his ears. And, once again, Joey found himself collapsing down to his knees.

'That…didn't…tickle…' Joey forced himself to look up. I don't know what's worse: the fact that I'm losing, or the fact that I'm losing to Marik. If I don't gain control of this duel, I'm outta the tournament, and Marik advances to the final round. And even worse…I won't be able to rescue Mai!

Marik drew. 'Let the duel continue!'

Rocket Warrior was rolled on the Nightmare Wheel. Joey suddenly felt a strange pain in his chest.

'Oh, I forgot to mention!' Marik noted. 'You lose 500 life points every time my turn begins…'

Joey's life points dropped to 3200.

'…thanks to the special ability of my Nightmare Wheel trap card.'

'Whatever!' Joey snapped, his voice strained.

'And, of course, my Legendary Beast gains 700 attack points!' Marik said as the monster gained power and its total came to rest at 2200. 'Now it's time to feel his wrath!' And he called the attack. 'Legendary Beast, attack his Little Winguard!'

The Beast charged across the field and slashed Joey's defence with sharp talon-like claws. Joey managed not to react as it was destroyed. 'Oh, no!' But it didn't last.

'And there's more!

Soon he was cringing and curling in on himself in a vain attempt to fight off the pain. 'What's…going on?'

'Everytime one of your monsters goes to the graveyard, Coffin Seller takes 300 of your life points,' Marik said.

Joey's life points dropped to 2900.

'Next I'll place one card face down,' Marik did exactly that and it appeared in front of him, 'and end my turn.'

'Finally,' Joey grumbled.

Marik's stupid smirk didn't move an inch. 'Make your move – although it's hopeless!'

YGO

'This doesn't look good,' Mokuba said. 'Not for Joey, at least.'

'Well, I must say,' Kaiba responded. 'I'm not surprised.'

Even if he was being more level-headed than the norm for him.

YGO

'Time for my comeback.' Joey reached for his deck and then looked across the field. Marik's trap cards are doing me in. Each one is worse than the last. I guess, like Yugi says, I gotta put my faith in the Heart of the Cards.

Marik cut into his thoughts. 'Why are you hesitating? Perhaps you've finally realised that there's no way you can win this duel. Trust me, before long you'll be trapped in the Shadow Realm, fool!' He laughed.

'We'll see!' Joey shook in rage.

'Yes,' Marik crowed, 'we'll see how long you last before I banish you into the darkness!'

Joey forced himself to calm down. 'It's my move, Marik,' he poured all his faith into his draw and pulled it, 'and you're going down!' Now it was Joey's turn to chuckle. 'The card I'm holding in my hand right now is gonna put an end to your entire duelling strategy.'

'You lie!' Marik insisted.

'I'm afraid not. Check it out, Marik.' Joey set the card in his duel disk and it appeared on the field. 'It's a card I like to call…Question!'

'Huh? Question?' Marik asked.

'This bad boy forces you to guess which of my monsters is at the bottom of my graveyard,' Joey said.

'What?' Marik demanded. And Joey knew why. Marik knew exactly which card had landed in his graveyard first. Or…he thought he did.

'Now, if you guess right, that monster is out of the game for good,' Joey stated. 'But if you mess it up, I can summon it to the field and I can use it to take control of this duel.'

Marik growled.

'Come on!' Joey raised his duel disk. 'Are you scared? Just take a guess, tough guy! I'm waiting. The worst that could happen is you guess wrong and I crush you.'

He could practically see Marik thinking it over. Joey had a distinct advantage here: Marik had never seen the card that was sitting at the bottom of his graveyard.

'You're in trouble,' Joey gloated. 'Wanna know why? Well, I'll tell you. The first card that went to my graveyard was chosen randomly by your Helpoemer.' He pointed across the field at him.

Marik growled.

'So guess what?' Joey snapped. 'There's no way you can remember the first monster you destroyed. Cause you never saw which one it was.' Honestly, the fact that Joey had the Question card was the only reason Marik's strategy had fallen apart so brilliantly. 'How much time left, folks? Five seconds?' He began counting back on his hand. 'Five…four…three…two…one. Time's up.'

Marik growled in agitation again.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Joey sassed him. 'Stunned silence was not the answer we were looking for!'

Marik's lips curved upwards. That wouldn't last.

'Oh, well.' His duel disk spat out the card in question and Joey took it. 'Guess what? You guessed wrong, so I get to summon this!' He set the card in attack mode and the monster took shape on the field. 'Jinzo!'

The energy stream immediately appeared between Jinzo and Joey.

Sure enough, the smirk vanished and Marik drew back with a cry of alarm. 'Not Jinzo!'

'That's right, pal,' Joey said. 'And I bet you know what that means. It's time to say goodbye to every trap card you have on the field!' He gave the order. 'Jinzo, strut your stuff!'

The lasers shot out of Jinzo's eyes and three of Marik's cards were destroyed, leading only one remaining on the field…and Marik's Legendary Beast. Marik jerked back and cried out in anger as he covered his face. The Nightmare Wheel was destroyed and his Rocket Warrior was freed.

He immediately returned to Joey's side of the field.

'I just turned your entire game-plan completely upside down, Marik,' Joey stated, 'and it serves you right.'

'Nice one, man!' Tristan cheered from below. 'It's all you!'

'Well done!' the Pharaoh called. 'Without the use of his trap cards, Marik needs a new strategy.'

Now it was Marik shaking in rage. 'All right. Go!'

'What's the matter, Marik?' Joey mocked him. 'In a bad mood? I'd be mad too if I were on the other side of Jinzo!' This was the first card I ever got in Battle City. I wasn't alone back then, and I'm not alone now. I got Mai and my sister, Serenity, to inspire me. He looked down at his friends. Plus, I got the rest of the gang down there, cheering me on. He refocused on the duel. 'All right, tough guy, I'm not through with you yet. After all, you still have a monster on the field protecting your life points…And that's just not gonna work for me! So let me start things off by switching my Baby Dragon into attack mode!' He flipped over that card, and the other as well. 'And Panther Warrior too.'

Both monsters shifted into attack mode.

Joey called the first attack. 'And, now, go Jinzo! Blow away his Legendary Beast!'

Jinzo lifted his hands and generated the black glowing ball of energy and fired the beam across the field. With a roar, the Legendary Beast was blown away. Marik growled and covered his face as he suffered through the blast. When the smoke cleared, he glared up at Joey.

Marik's life points dropped to 1900.

Down below, the gang cheered him on.

YGO

Mokuba looked up at his older brother. 'Hey, Seto. It looks like Joey may win after all.'

'I'll only believe that when I see it, Mokuba,' Kaiba responded. Never underestimate a duellist who holds an Egyptian God Card.

YGO

This is it, Joey thought. I'm gonna do it. Mai…I'm coming to save you!

'It's over, Marik,' Joey declared. He then called out to his two remaining monsters. 'All right, guys, attack his life points!'

Baby Dragon and Rocket Warrior charged.

But then Marik chuckled.

Joey saw it. 'Hm?'

'Do you think it's that easy?' Marik demanded. He activated his only remaining face down card. 'Dark Wall of Wind!'

A visible barrier appeared around Marik's body.

Joey jerked back. 'No way!'

Baby Dragon fired a fireball at Marik, but it bounced off the barrier. Marik laughed. Rocket Warrior launched himself at Marik but he bounced off the barrier. Marik took no damage to his life points at all. The Dark Wall of Wind then vanished, leaving a still laughing Marik still standing there.

'Now Helpoemer destroys another card from your deck,' Marik said as the ghostly hand reached out of Joey's duel disk and took yet another card from his hand. Marik laughed again. 'And that's not all, Little Joey. Go, Plasma Eel! Drain his Panther!'

The Eel shocked Panther Warrior again and, again, Joey screamed in pain. Panther Warrior lost the last of his attack points.

'It looks to me like I don't need monsters,' Marik gloated, 'to bring you to your knees!' He sneered. 'You thought you could defeat me, didn't you? You should have known that's no easy task. Remember: your little friend, Mai, made the very same mistake, and you know well what fate befell her: an eternity of darkness and despair. And you'll soon join her!'

Joey ground his teeth.

'My move!' Marik drew. 'Just what I needed!' He sneered. 'I'm about to call forth an extremely powerful beast.' He turned the card around so Joey could see it. 'It's an eight-star monster known as Lava Golem.'

'Slow down there, cowboy,' Joey said. 'You can't play a monster that strong without making a sacrifice first.'

If anything, Marik's smirk deepened. 'How perceptive of you. I have every intention of making a sacrifice. Lava Golem allows me to sacrifice two monsters on your side of the field.'

Joey's eyes widened as the implications, and Marik's likely next move, sunk in. 'You're kidding me!'

'Look on the bright side,' Marik said. 'I said Lava Golem stays on your side of the field.'

Suddenly it was very, very hot…and Joey found himself standing in a narrow metal cage. He heard two of his monsters scream as they were destroyed. He could still see Rocket Warrior and Panther Warrior, so he was perfectly aware of which ones he had lost. Joey wrapped his hands around the bars. They were warm, but not too hot to grip.

'Marik, what's the deal?' Joey demanded.

'What's wrong?' Marik asked with vindictive glee. 'I thought you'd be pleased to receive a monster with 3000 attack points, Little Joey.'

Joey glanced back at a bright monster that seemed to be made entirely of lava. 'You mean this thing is mine?'

What was the catch?

YGO

'Hey, I don't get it, bro.'

Kaiba glanced down at Mokuba before he regarded the field once more. 'Lava Golem is not Wheeler's monster, so all of its weaknesses become Wheeler's problem. Just watch.'

And, boy, did it have some doozies for weaknesses.

YGO

'Take a look,' Marik said. 'Your monster's beginning to melt.'

'Say what?' Joey spun around.

'Molten lava!' Mayet explained. 'Slow moving, but if it touches you than you're cooked – literally.'

'Each turn, Lava Golem melts and you lose life points,' Marik said as a drop of lava landed by Joey's shoe.

Joey cried out and jerked away. 'That's hot! I should've packed my sunscreen.'

'And now that your Jinzo is back in the card graveyard, I can set as many traps as I want.' Marik laid down one card. 'So I'll place this card face down.' The card appeared on the field in front of him. 'Now, then, why don't you attack me with your monster? He does have 3000 attack points, which is more than enough to wipe me out, so what are you waiting for?'

'Well…' Joey had a feeling using the monster to attack would be several shades of bad idea. He wished for Yugi's encyclopaedic knowledge of Duel Monsters.

'I must say…there's not much else you can do,' Marik crowed.

'Come on!' Tristan called from below. 'Think this through, man!'

'Stay calm!' Téa coached him.

Marik laughed again. 'Are you beginning to sweat? It's quite hot inside Lava Golem's cage. Better make a move before your monster turns up the heat even more.' He resumed laughing.

Joey cringed. 'Stop! Get me outta here now!' He reared back with a displeased groan. 'It's getting way too hot in this thing. I gotta do something right now!'

'Come on!' Marik called. 'Attack! Or are you scared? You don't really have much of a choice, Little Joey.' He laughed again.

'Laugh it up, Freak Boy!' Joey snapped.

'What's wrong?' Marik sneered. 'I thought you wanted to rescue Mai from the Shadow Realm. Well, now's your chance! Attack me and save your friend!'