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Fanfic Chapter 184: Shadow Duel Pt 4: Surprise Help from Beyond
Yami: Panik decided to take things to the next level by activating Darkness Reborn, a powerful magic card that allows him to resurrect dark monsters from the graveyard by paying 100 life points. No matter how many times I destroyed his monsters, he always was able to bring them back. And even when I brought his life points down enough that he couldn't risk playing it, he found a way to bring them back up. So with no other option, I offered Panik an offer I knew he couldn't resist. That if he wins, I would take Tea's place as his prisoner. Yes, I volunteered to give up my freedom, possibly even my soul, to make sure Tea was saved. Yugi felt the same way I did. And so, with only 200 life points and no cards currently in my hand, Yugi and I are about to make our last stand.
"That's right, Panik, I'm changing the stakes of this duel. Instead of Tea's freedom, my freedom will be at stake."
"Yugi, look, I know you want to save Tea but pulling a kamikaze isn't the way to do it!"
"If you know any other way, Harold, I'm all ears."
"Yugi, please don't sacrifice yourself," Serenity pleaded. "I don't want to see anybody suffer."
"I don't know what you're trying to prove by this little stunt, but if Yugi wants to put his life and soul on the line, that's fine with me," Panik decided. "I'll win no matter what happens."
"Yugi, I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to put you in harm's way like this."
"Not much we can do about it now, Yami. Besides, you suggested that I prove myself to Tea by continuing to be her friend. Well I can't think of a better way other than doing whatever it takes to save her life. Remember when that punk threw a piece of furniture at me and knocked me out?"
"I remember challenging him to a Shadow Game and beating him."
"Well the reason I threw myself into the line of fire like that was because I knew how much our booth meant to Tea. I couldn't stand seeing her upset. So I fought to protect it for her. Now I'm doing it again, only this time on a more mystical scale."
Yami-Yugi's eyes shifted to Tea. "Don't be afraid, Tea, I'll set you free," he calmed her.
"Yugi…" Tea couldn't say any more. I had no idea the love you have for your friends was so strong. Or is it…
"Take your turn, Yugi," Panik ordered. "I'm eager to start torturing you."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Panik, I still have 100 life points."
(Y: 100)
(P: 400)
"A lot of good that will do you, you're up against a force of ultra-powerful monsters including one with 3500 attack points. Not even Seto Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon has that much attack points. And don't forget, your favorite monster has been removed from play. It all comes down to this next draw."
I'll agree with him on that, it all comes down to this draw. If there was any time I needed the heart of the cards, that time is now!
"Pharaoh!" Yami gasped.
He found himself standing in darkness. He couldn't see Joey, Tea, Harold, Serenity, Panik or any of his monsters. "Yugi, did you hear that?" Silence answered him. "Yugi?"
"Nobody else can hear you, Pharaoh," a voice said. The voice had a rich tenor to him, like honey and acid. "I am speaking to you through your heart."
"Who are you, how can you do this?"
"That is unimportant right now. But what I have to say is important. I can help you produce the card you need to win."
"But why, how can you do this?"
"Panik has the same power. He tried to create the Exodia cards for Ghoul during his duel against Joey and Serenity. As for why, all you need to know is you are needed for a great mission, a mission that will benefit both of us. But until that mission is completed, you must continue to live no matter what."
"I understand. Okay, what do I need to do?"
"First you need to take control of one of Panik's magic cards. Once you play the magic card, I'll produce the card you need."
Yami found himself back in Yugi's body in the Shadow Realm. He looked up with a determined look at Panik. "It's over for you, Panik." He drew a card. This is how I can take control of one of Panik's cards. "I play the magic card Spider's Web. Spider's Web allows me to take control of one of the magic cards in your graveyard and use it as my own. And the magic card I want is… Card of Sanctity." A wire shot out of the card and attached itself to Panik's graveyard. The card flew out and into Yami-Yugi's hand. "Next I play Card of Sanctity. Now we must each draw from our decks…"
"I know how it works," Panik interrupted as he drew his cards.
Yami-Yugi let out a little gasp. All of the cards he drew were magic cards, and even the magic cards were nothing that could help him. He then realized he was looking at only five cards, not six. He was pretty sure he drew six cards. Was one of the cards stuck behind another? Yami-Yugi sifted through his hand and saw that one of the cards had an extra corner. The sixth card was hiding behind his fifth one. Yami-Yugi unlatched the sixth card and looked at it.
It was a card he never saw before. It had the picture of a circle of symbols surrounding a green hole. The shadows of a humanoid monster could be seen flanked by a dragon-shape and a bird shape. I don't know what this card does, but if the voice is to be believed, then it will work. "Well Panik since this magic card worked for you, I guess it can work for me too. I play the magic card Cure Master raising my life points by 1000."
(Y: 1100)
(P: 400)
"Now I activate the card that will prove your undoing just as the Swords of Revealing Light were your downfall before. I play Help from Beyond."
"What magic card is that?" Panik asked. "I've never seen it before."
"What does that card do, Big Brother?" Serenity asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Serenity," Joey replied.
"Yeah, I never heard of it before either," Harold agreed. "But knowing Yugi, it's a real powerful one."
Yami-Yugi's life points went down by 1000. Mystical Elf and Giant Soldier of Stone popped out of the graveyard. Yami-Yugi removed them.
(Y: 100)
(P: 400)
"Now that I pay 1000 life points and removed monsters from my graveyard whose level equals 7, I can retrieve a monster that has been removed from the game as long as that monster's level is the same as the combined levels of the monsters removed."
"No!" Panik cried. "That means…"
"That's right it's time for the return of… Dark Magician!" A green portal opened up in front of Yami-Yugi. The Dark Magician appeared. "Welcome back, old friend," Yami-Yugi said.
Panik let out an uncontrolled laughter. "A lot of good that does, my Ultimate Obedient Fiend has over 3500 attack points. I doubt any of your cards can power him up to that amount. Face it your ultimate play was useless."
"On the contrary, my ultimate play has just begun."
"What?"
"Your right, I can't power up my Dark Magician to beat your Obedient Fiend, but I won't need to. My Dark Magician will win just as he is."
"But how?"
"I'll show you, but first, I need to get rid of your magic card so you won't be able to revive your Ultimate Obedient Fiend. I play the magic card Dark Magic Attack! This magic card allows me to destroy all of your magic and trap cards with my Dark Magician!" The Dark Magician leapt over Panik's monsters and fired an energy sphere which destroyed Darkness Reborn and Ultimate Offering." All of Panik's monsters disappeared except for Ultimate Obedient Fiend. "Darkness Reborn is bonded to each monster you resurrect through it. So if it disappears so does the monsters."
"Y… you still can't get through my Ultimate Obedient Fiend," Panik said.
"You think so? I play another magic card called Thousand Knives. This magic card can destroy any 1 monster on my opponent's side of the field as long as there are a . And since there's only one monster on your side of the field." A lot of daggers flew and stabbed the large monster and destroyed it.
"No, I'm defenseless!"
"That's right, and my Dark Magician hasn't even attacked yet. But he will now."
"No, you can't win; I have to win, I HAVE TO WIN!"
"You lose. Dark Magician, attack Panik directly!" Dark Magician charged forward, energized its staff and stabbed it directly into Panik. Panik screamed out.
(Y: 100)
(P: 0)
Yugi's friends cheered and ran forward. "Nice job kicking butt, Yug," Joey congratulated.
"Way to go," Serenity added.
Yami-Yugi turned to look at Tea. Her bonds dissolved and her body collapsed to the ground. Yami-Yugi ran up to her and helped her up. "Tea, are you all right?"
"Yu… Yugi, thank goodness, I was…" Tea moaned and her feet gave out from underneath her. Immediately Harold was aiding Yugi in holding Tea up. "I don't feel so good."
"Will she be all right?" Serenity asked.
"She will be fine," Edina said. She laid a hand on either side of Tea's face. Tea's body started to glow. Tea gasped and stood up on her own power.
"I'm all right!"
"That's Edina's healing magic for you," Harold said. "It's a miracle worker."
"I'll be all right too just as soon as we get out of here," Joey said.
"Help me! Please help!" Everyone looked over and saw dark ooze encompassing Panik's body. The former Eliminator's body was dragged under.
"All right, Panik's gone," Serenity cheered.
"Hopefully this time for good," Joey added.
Scowling at the spot where Panik once stood, Yami-Yugi stepped forward. "All right, show yourself!"
"Uh… Yug, what are you doing?" Joey asked.
Yugi just kept calling out, "I know you're out there! You tempted Panik with the powers of the Shadow Realm and used him to try to destroy me! But he failed and in turn you failed! So no more hiding!"
"Yugi, who are you talking to?" Harold asked.
But a deep voice resonated all around them. "YOUR SENSES ARE AS KEEN AS EVER, NAMELESS PHARAOH!" A pair of sinister red eyes peeked out from the darkness. Serenity ducked behind Joey and Harold.
"What the heck is that?" Harold asked again.
Serenity also asked a question, "And why did he call Yugi "Nameless Pharaoh?"
"Somehow he knows about the spirit inhabiting Yugi's Millennium Puzzle," Tea said.
"The who doing what to where?" Joey questioned.
"Yugi's Millennium Puzzle has a strange spirit inside it," Tea explained. "Whenever Yugi's in a jam, it emerges and helps Yugi win."
"So the only way Yugi's been winning duels is the help of some ghost?"
"Who are you?" Yami-Yugi asked the voice. The voice definitely didn't sound like the same one who helped him before.
"I'M HURT THAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME, NAMELESS PHARAOH BECAUSE I REMEMBER YOU ALL TOO WELL. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TRAPPED ME HERE SO LONG AGO! FOR COUNTLESS CENTURIES I HAVE WAITED FOR THE OPPORTUNITY! THEN YOU SENT PANIK HERE."
Yami-Yugi gave up trying to figure out the creature's identity. "And you saw your chance for revenge."
"CORRECT. ALL I HAD TO DO IS MAKE PANIK AWARE OF WHAT THE SHADOW REALM COULD DO FOR HIM AND HE TOOK CARE OF THE REST. BUT HE FAILED. NOT THAT IT MATTERS. IF HE FAILED, HE WOULD BE DESTROYED AND I WOULD BE NO WORSE OFF THAN I ALREADY AM. BUT IF HE DID BEAT YOU, THEN MY REVENGE WOULD BE COMPLETED. THE POWER THAT PANIK AND HIS MINIONS LEECHED OFF OF WASN'T THE POWER OF THE SHADOW REALM, BUT MY OWN PERSONAL POWER. EACH TIME THEY USED IT, THEY WOULD DRAIN IT FROM ME BUT NOW THAT THEY'RE GONE, THE POWER IS ALL MINE AGAIN!"
"How do you know me?" Yami-Yugi asked.
"YOU WILL DISCOVER THAT IN ALL DUE TIME. BUT UNTIL THAT DAY COMES…" A fierce wind picked up and blew everyone away. Edina quickly activated her teleporting powers.
The kids and Edina found themselves back in Domino, in the exact same parking lot where they left.
"Weird, we're back in town," Joey realized.
Harold looked at the town clock in the distance. "You know what's even weirder? We've only been gone ten minutes."
"Feels like we've been gone for hours," Serenity commented.
"I guess time really has no meaning in the Shadow Realm," Serenity commented.
Yugi (who had returned to normal) turned to Edina, "Thank you, Edina we couldn't have rescued Tea without your help."
"And you restored the balance between the three dimensions," Edina replied. "For that, I thank you."
"Yes, thank you for helping to rescue me," Tea said. "I'm grateful."
"Your friends once helped save my kingdom. And now they have done so again. It was an honor to fight by their side."
"Farewell, my friends, until we see each other again." Edina's body dissolved into light particles which faded into the wind.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but that was the longest ten minutes of my life," Joey complained as he yawned and stretched. "I'm beat, ready to leave, Serenity?"
"Yeah. Bye, Yugi, Tea, Harold."
"Serenity, wait," Harold said. His face grew red as he scribbled something on a piece of paper he found in his backpack. "Uh… here, it's my address. I… er… well…"
"I'll be in touch," Serenity said and kissed him on the cheek.
Harold turned towards Joey and shrugged. Joey chuckled and patted Harold on the shoulder. The Wheeler siblings then left.
"Well I guess seeing the fantasy movie is out," Harold said. "Seeing as how we just lived a fantasy movie, I'm going home. Bye, guys."
"Bye, Harold," Yugi said. He picked up his backpack and turned to leave.
"Yugi, wait," Tea called. Yugi stopped and turned to look at her. "Before I… before all this happened, you sounded like you wanted to tell me something. Well I'm sure we won't get interrupted again. So what was this important thing that you needed to tell me?"
"It's just that…" Yugi stared at the ground for a while. He felt Yami sink into the Millennium Puzzle, most likely to give them privacy. For a while, nothing was said between Yugi and Tea then Yugi looked up and smiled, "It wasn't that important, Tea, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, later," Tea said hesitantly. She was almost certain Yugi wanted to tell her something. Oh well, Yugi said it wasn't important so she would just have to take his word on it.
As Yugi walked down the street, Yami appeared. "Yugi, you didn't tell her…"
Yugi put up his hand silencing the Millennium Puzzle spirit. "This experience has made me realize something, Yami. I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to tell her how I feel just yet."
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Don't get me wrong, I do want to tell her how I really feel, but there's something I want to do first. I want to become stronger, Yami. I want to become the type of person she can be proud of. Someone who's strong, confident, courageous, and unafraid, the type of person… you are. I can tell that Tea's impressed with your strong will and noble heart. Once I am sure that I can be a strong person like you then I'll tell her how I really feel. But until then…"
"That's your choice, Yugi, but I think you're already the type of person Tea can be proud of." In his own mind, he thought and deep down, I know that she feels the same way about you as you do about her.
Harold entered his apartment and dropped his backpack on the floor. "Man, what a day," he said. He then saw the video case lying on the floor. He never realized it but there were similarities between how Trina and Mark acted and how Tea and Yugi acted. At the beginning of the movie, when it's first established who Trina and Mark were, Mark was apprehensive about telling Trina how he felt just as Yugi was about telling Tea how he felt. Talk about life imitating art. "I wonder…" He turned on his television and VCR and started the movie again. He fast-forwarded to the ending. His eyes widened, "I don't believe it." A smile crept into his face. "There may be hope for them yet."
The End
Well that's it for my first Avatar Original Story Arc (OSA). I'd like to know what you guys think. While I love the praise you guys have given me, I'd also like to know what about this you liked, what about this you didn't like, what you think I could improve. Sometimes criticism is a good thing especially if it can help improve your writing.
I'd also like your opinion on where I should go next. As you all know, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie takes place after the Battle City story arc but apparently before the Doma story arc. So should I avatarize the movie or go straight to the doma. I already polled a couple of people and right now we're split down the middle. So tell me which path I should follow next. Well until then, Sayonara!