Chapter 1 - The Promise

The Promise



Prologue



Everyone who watches Yu-Gi-Oh knows that Marik dueled the Pharoh in the

finals of “Seto Kaiba's Battle City Tournament.” But what would have happened if he

didn't? Would if Joey Wheeler wanted a rematch? Would if his hot headedness got the

best of him? And would if this duel could save the life of his best friend? This is that

story.



Chapter 1



“A rematch,” exclaimed Yugi! “You can't be serious!”

“I am,” said Joey. His voice seemed tense and determined. “There's no way I'm

letting my best friend risk his soul against this creep. At least not until I get another try at

him.”

“But Joey…” by the look in Joey's eyes, Yugi knew there was nothing he could

do to stop him. “I know you can do.”

Joey stepped up onto the dueling plat form. “Alright phyco boy lets go! You and

me! Right here, right now!”

Marik was shocked. “What? No! I want the Pharaoh! But wait,” Marik pondered,

“If I send your soul to the Shadow Realm, I'll have even more power.” Marik laughed

manically. “Fine, I accept your pathetic challenge. Once I finally get you out of my hair, I

can set my sights on the Pharaoh.” Marik begins to laugh harder.

“ You know that laugh is really beginning to get on my nerves,” Joey smirked. “I

can't wait to shut you up for good.”

Marik stops his laughter and activates his duel disc. “Let's hurry this up so I can

destroy the Pharaoh.”

“You're not destroying anybody Marik, especially Yugi.” Joey looks over his

shoulder at Yugi and then right into Marik's eyes, “That's a promise.”

“You mean like the promise you made to Mia' Valentine? You swore that you

wouldn't let anything happen to her and what happened? You stood by and let me blast

her into the Shadow Realm. Some friend.” Marik grinned as he spoke.

Joey had tears running down his face. “I did everything I could to save her. I

know I let her down, but when I, or if things don't go as I plan, Yugi defeat you, her mind

will be freed from the shadows. Either way, you're going down.”



Chapter 2



Joey activates his duel disk, “Alright asparagus top, lets get it on!”

“Wait a minute,” Kaiba exclaimed! “This is my tournament, and we're supposed

to be having the finals! Your little rematch can take place afterwards. Besides, everyone,

including your geek squad, knows that you're just going to lose again anyways.”

“That's not true,” Yugi cried, “Joey will defeat Marik, just you wait and see!”

“Well I'm in charge, and I say it's time for Marik and Yugi's duel.”

“Well that's just too bad rich boy, because we're having this duel now!” Joey says



this with such force that, for once, Kaiba has nothing more to say. “Alright, I'll start

things off, and I'm summoning “Alligator Sword” in attack mode. And I'll also lay two

cards face down. Your move.

Marik begins to laugh again. It's my fist move and I already have a plan to

destroy you. Shadows begin to surround the dueling arena. “First, I must call forth the

shadow. Then, I'll play the magic card “Final Destiny.” This destroys all cards on the

field, as long as I'm willing to discard five cards from my hand. Now, I'll summon

“Revival Jam” and have it attack your life points directly. Then, I'll play “Reborn The

Monster” to bring back my “Winged Dragon of Ra” that I discarded. I'll use Ra's

special ability of Point-to-Point Transfer and give him all but one of my life points. Now

my Great Beast of the Sky, use your ability of Instant Attack, and wipe out the rest of this

fool's life points!”



Chapter 3



Joey's body lied motionless on the ground. Marik was laughing harder them ever.

“I told you that he wouldn't stand a chance against me. His mind may have been able to

fight off the shadows the first time, but this time I made sure to imprison him for good.

Don't expect him to make any miraculous recoveries Pharaoh. The only way you'll free

his mind is if you defeat me in a duel, and I don't need Ishzu's necklace to tell me that,

that's not going to happen.”

Yugi kneeled by Joey's side. Yugi's heart sank as he listened to Joey's soulless

body gasp for air. Two of Kaiba Corp's employees brought up a stretcher and load him

on to it. The rest of the gang followed the two men to the blimp, but Yugi stayed behind.

As much as he wanted to be by Joey's side, he knew there was nothing he could do there.

He turned to Marik. “Alright Marik! You wanted a duel against the Pharaoh and that's

just what you're going to get.”



Chapter 4



Yugi stepped up onto the dueling platform, the tears burning his eyes. “Well?

What are you waiting for? You said you wanted to duel me, so come on. Let's go.”

“I just figured you would have wanted to go make sure Wheeler was okay,”

Marik said with a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “Good for you. You're beginning to learn

that power is more important than friends. Maybe your not as pathetic then I thought.”

Yugi and Yami fuse their minds to become YamiYugi. (I'm only going to refer to

him as Yugi) “Wrong Marik! I'm staying behind so can free Joey's mind from the

shadows, not to gain power.”

“How sad… I thought that you had come around there for a second. Oh well.

Now I won't have any regret banishing you to the shadows. It's kind of sad to destroy

some one as evil as I. Like Bakura.”

“No one could ever be as evil as you Marik. And the only one going to the

Shadow Realm will be you!”

Isn't that what you said before little Joey's duel? You told Kaiba to wait and see. I

believe the only thing he saw was your best friend take a one way trip to the Shadow



Realm. And he's about to see the same thing happen to you Pharaoh.”

“I don't think so Marik! I must win this duel to save Joey and the rest of the

world.” Yugi still has tears in his eyes for the loss of his best friend.

“Those are some pretty big words coming from someone who has so many tears

in his eyes that they can't tell “Dark Magician” from “Spell Binding Circle.”

“I can see just fine Marik,” said Yugi, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Now let's

start this duel. The sooner I defeat you, the sooner I can get Joey back.”

“You had better stop worrying about your friend and start worrying about

yourself. Otherwise, you're going to go down just as easily as Wheeler did.”

“Finally,” Kaiba snarls, “I was beginning to think that I would never see the final

match. This is going to be very interesting,” Kaiba chuckled.

“This is no laughing matter Kaiba,” Yugi said angrily without even glancing at

him. Kaiba says no more. He sits back and prepares to watch a very unique, dangerous,

and downright surprising duel.



Chapter 5



“Okay, I'll begin this duel,” Yugi said. “ I'll summon “Betta The Magnet Warrior” in attack mode. I'll also lay this card face down and end my turn.”

“Alright Pharaoh, I'll play “Revival Jam” in defense mode and end my turn.”

“Now I'll summon “Alpha The Magnet Warrior” in defense mode. Since your

“Revival Jam” will just regenerate when I attack it; there is no reason to even try. So, I'll

end my turn.”

“I know what your planning Pharaoh. You're going to try to fuse your three

warriors. How amusing. I'll place one card face down and end my turn.”

“I activate my face down card “Brain Control”. I'll take control

of your “Revival Jam” and sacrifice it in order to summon “Gamma The Magnet

Warrior”. Now my warriors, fuse your electromagnetic energies to form “Valkyrion the

MagnaWarrior”. Now you've got my ultimate magnet warrior to worry about Marik.

Since you've got no monsters on the field to protect, your life points are wide open for a

direct attack. This duel is over. Valkyrion, attack!”

“Not so fast Pharaoh! I activate my face down card “Waboku”. This card

decreases your monster's attack damage to zero during this turn. Too bad, maybe next

turn. Oh wait! I forgot! That was your last turn.”

“What do you mean Marik?”

A crocked smile crept its way across Marik's face. “You're about to meet the

same fate that Wheeler did. First, I'll activate my face down card “Final Destiny”. You

know what that means. I discard five cards and your “Valkyrion” is destroyed. Now, I

play “Reborn The Monster” to revive my discarded “Winged Dragon of Ra”. I'll also

summon my “Plasma Eel” and add it's attack power to Ra's. Now for Point-To-Point

Transfer. Ra, take all but one of my life points. “Winged Dragon of Ra” wipe out the

Pharaoh's life points and bring me victory!” A ball of light bursts from Ra's beak and

flew towards Yugi.

Yugi closed his eyes and lowered his head, ready for impact. “I am so sorry Joey.

I let you down. I let the whole world down. And for that I am sorry. There is nothing I can do now, but join you for an eternity in the shadows. I wish I could have done more to

help, but now it's to late.”



Chapter 6



The ball of light was about five feet away when it was stopped dead in its tracks.

When Yugi didn't feel an impact he lifted his head. What he saw shocked him. It was

Joey! Or rather, Joey's spirit, his very essence.

“Joey?! What the…” Yugi couldn't believe what he was seeing, and by the looks

on Kaiba and Marik's faces, neither could they.

“I made a promise Yugi, and Joey Wheeler never breaks a promise to a friend.”

Yugi heard this, but Joey's mouth did not move, nor did Yugi hear it through his ears. He

felt in his mind, no, in his heart. When Ra's attack was done, Joey vanished.



Chapter 7



“Let's finish this,” Yugi shouted to Marik, who was still in disbelief of what he

had just seen. Yugi didn't know what he could do, but he put his faith in his deck, and

drew a card. He glances at the card. “Copy Cat?” Where did this…Joey,” Yugi says

softly to himself. “This duel is over. I play “Copy Cat”. This card lets me copy any card

that you have on the field, and I choose to copy your “Reborn the Monster”. I'll use it

to revive your “Plasma Eel”. I'll use Plasma Eel's special ability to attack your life points

directly. This duel is really over this time Marik.

Yugi watches both Marik's soul and his body fade into the shadows. Kaiba stayed

where he was, shocked at what he had seen, while Yugi walked towards the elevator.

He couldn't wait to see Joey and thank him for all of his help.



Chapter 8



When Yugi got to Joey's room he was very confused. Everyone was there, except

for Joey. And they were crying. “What's going on? Where's Joey?” No one would look

Yugi in the eyes and nobody said a word. Serenity began to sob harder. Tea` walked Yugi

out into the hall, but he no longer wanted to hear what she had to say.

“Yugi…” Yugi could tell how hard she was trying to speak. “Joey… well… he…

he's gone. About five minutes ago he…just stopped breathing. The doctors don't know

what happened. He was stable and then he just…quit. I'm so sorry Yugi.”

“Jo…Joey helped me up on the tower.”

“I know. I saw him slip “Copy Cat” in your deck after your duel with Kaiba. He

thought that you might need it since Marik had so many rare and powerful cards.”

Yugi burst into tears. “That's not what I meant! Some how he…he was able to

block Ra's attack using his own energy. He said that he wanted to keep his promise to

me. I didn't know that to do that he would…would…” Yugi fell to his knees. “Joey

why?!”

“He wanted to save his best friend Yugi.” Tea` too was on her knees, with her

hands on Yugi's shoulders. “If he hadn't done what he did, both of you would have been



lost to the shadows, and you know Joey would never let that happen. He'd do anything to

help you, just like you risked your soul to free him from the shadows. There was nothing

any of us could ever do to stop him from saving you, and there's nothing we can do for

him now.”

“I guess you're right. I just can't believe he's really…gone. I just wish there was

something I could do bring him back.”

“All you can do is let him go. He wouldn't want us feeling sorry for ourselves, or

for him. He'd want us to move on with our lives, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know, but how can I? He was my best friend and now…. he's dead!”

“I know it hurts now Yugi, but it won't hurt so bad as time goes on. Time heals all

wounds. Come on, let's just go home and put this nightmare behind us.” Yugi slowly gets

up and follows Tea` back into the room.



Epilogue



Three days later, Yugi, Tea`, Tristian, Duke, Mia`, and Bakura went to Joey's

funeral. Even Seto Kaiba stopped by to say his final goodbyes. As the cemetery workers

lowered the casket, the preacher read the tombstone. “Joseph Dameon Wheeler: A kind

hearted person, a loving brother, and a loyal friend. May your soul rest in peace now and

forever.”

After the ceremony, everybody left. Everyone that is, except for Yugi. Yugi slowly walked over to the open grave, holding Joey's deck. “Thanks for everything Joey. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you. I know that you'll always be with me. And even though you're not here, you're still my best friend.” Yugi dropped the cards into the grave, “Goodbye for now Joey. We'll see each other again some day. I promise”



THE END

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