The island wind howled against the exposed hull of the blimp, rattling the loose panels like something alive. Rusted KaibaCorp insignias, faded by years of neglect, flickered in the dying light of the setting sun. Below the bow of the airship, the ground was a labyrinth of broken concrete and half-sunken launch bays, veined with dry weeds and steel cables that sang in the wind.
Inside, Yugi, Joey, Rebecca, Odion, and Connor gathered in what remained of the operations room. Dust and old machinery filled the air, and the faint tang of ozone hinted at systems still half-awake from Noah's takeover. The ceiling lights flickered irregularly, painting their faces in alternating strips of gold and shadow.
Joey leaned over a cracked terminal, tapping the edge with a knuckle. "Tell me again why we're not packing up and flying outta this horror movie set."
Rebecca, kneeling beside the console, didn't look up. "Because the controls are fried, Joey. Noah tied everything into the blimp's neural network before Jason forced him to erase it. We're stranded until Kaiba and Mokuba reboot the guidance systems manually." Her fingers brushed dust off the old keyboard, then stopped. "And… there's something still running in here."
Yugi turned, the Millennium Puzzle gleaming faintly in the dim light. "Something from Noah?"
"Yeah." Rebecca frowned at the screen. "Something like a dying message."
A crackle of static filled the room. The monitor blinked from black to gray to a wash of green code that began to align itself into a faint image. The lines pulled together, forming a boy's face—Noah's face. His hair shimmered a dull emerald, his expression pale and oddly serene. The digital distortion made his edges bleed like ink in water.
Joey stiffened. "Aw, great. The kid's back from the firewall afterlife."
Rebecca's fingers tightened on the keyboard. "It's a recording," she whispered.
"Jason was thorough in trying to hack me," Noah continued. "He forced me to delete my world. A laugh—dry, bitter. "And then he left me… half-formed. A dying echo in his shadow."
Yugi's eyes hardened, his voice low. "Jason made him destroy everything he built."
"If you're hearing this," Noah's voice went on, "it means I didn't vanish completely. I left this fragment buried deep in KaibaCorp's servers—beyond Jason's calculations. Call it foresight. Either way, I can still give you something he didn't want you to have."
The screen flickered again, showing a map—jagged lines of data forming the shape of the island and its surroundings. Three red points blinked across the surface. Then two faded out, leaving one glowing faintly at the island's northernmost point.
"That's where he is. Jason Smithson. Your scientist of chaos. He's gone underground—literally. KaibaCorp built a weapons testing facility beneath this island decades ago. Jason's converted it into a laboratory.
For a long moment, no one spoke. The sound of the wind outside filled the room, whistling through the cracks in the old metal walls.
Rebecca's hands hovered over the keyboard. "That's… it. The file's gone."
Joey exhaled through his teeth, rubbing the back of his neck. "So the little hacker ghost gave us Jason's address. Guess that's one way to make up for hijackin' an airship."
Odion, who had been standing silent, stepped forward. His face was as still as stone, but the muscle in his jaw twitched once. "Then we go. Now."
Rebecca looked at him. "You're thinking about Marik, aren't you?"
Odion's eyes flicked toward the ground. "He was my family. My master. Jason corrupted him, molded him into a weapon. I will not let that man's ambition desecrate him further."
Joey cracked his knuckles. "Then what're we waitin' for?"
The light from the screen flickered once more, dimming completely as the last remnants of Noah's signal died. The group stood in the quiet room for another few seconds, the hum of dead circuitry surrounding them like the echo of a memory.
Rebecca gathered her notebook and slung her bag over her shoulder. "The facility entrance should be on the north side of the island, near the old testing tracks. There's still power running through part of the grid—Jason must be using the leftover KaibaCorp energy cells."
"Then that's where we're headed," Yugi said. His tone had changed—calm but edged with resolve. The Pharaoh's voice intertwined with his own, ancient and commanding.
Joey tilted his head toward him. "You sure you're ready for this, pal? Last time we faced Jason, he wiped out Marik like it was nothin'."
Yugi's expression softened, but his eyes didn't waver. "With my friends at my side,Jason stands no chance against us".
"Listen," Connor said, voice steady but firm, "Jason's stronger than any one of us alone. He has four Millennium Items. He has Ra and the wicked avatar." His gaze swept over each of them. "If we go at him one at a time, we'll fall one at a time."
Joey raised an eyebrow. "So what're you sayin', kid? We gang up on him?"
Connor didn't flinch. "Yes."
Rebecca blinked. "All of us? At once?"
He nodded. "We use numbers to overwhelm his power. Jason's strength comes from preparation—he calculates variables, predicts outcomes, and manipulates people like test subjects. But the one thing he can't predict…" He paused, eyes sharpening. "…is the bond between us."
Yugi's breath caught. The Pharaoh leaned forward inside him, attentive.
"The power of friendship," Connor said plainly. "Not as some slogan or cheesy quote—but as the truth. Our different skills, our different decks, our different experiences. Together, we form something Jason can't factor into an equation."
Odion gave a small nod of approval. "Unity is what he discarded. It will be his downfall."
Connor continued, hands clenched at his sides. "We fight as one team. One duel. One front. We overwhelm him with every strategy we have combined. Yugi's bond with the Pharaoh. Joey's instincts. Rebecca's calculations. Odion's discipline." He looked down at his own Duel Disk, jaw set. "And whatever I can add."
Joey smirked despite the fear hanging over them. "Heh… not bad for a pipsqueak."
Rebecca elbowed him. "He just saved your life with one idea."
Odion stepped forward, checking the Duel Disk secured at his wrist. "Then let's finish what jason started when he corrupted my master."
Outside, the sun was a bleeding orange smear over the horizon, painting the island in rust and shadow. Broken cranes jutted from the ground like fingers clawing at the sky. Somewhere in the distance, the faint rhythm of machinery echoed—the pulse of Jason's laboratory, alive and waiting.
The blimp's hangar doors had been pried open by Noah's override before he vanished. A narrow stairway led down to the tarmac below, where the cracked pavement glowed faintly under emergency floodlights.
"Rebecca, stay in communication with Mokuba," Yugi said. "If we lose contact, he's our only chance of keeping the systems from crashing entirely."
Rebecca nodded, adjusting her earpiece. "Already synced. But the signal gets weaker the closer we get to the northern perimeter. Jason's probably jamming the bandwidth."
The group crossed the tarmac in silence after that, the crunch of gravel and wind their only soundtrack. Odion moved like a sentinel, scanning every shadow; Rebecca checked her handheld device, eyes narrowing as blips appeared and disappeared across its small screen.
They reached the outer gate—a wall of collapsed metal and old signage that once read "KAIBACORP TESTING GROUNDS – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." The lettering was mostly eaten away by rust, but the insignia remained visible. Rebecca crouched, pulling a small device from her bag. "Manual override should still work," she said, pressing the control pad.
The gate creaked and shuddered before finally parting just enough for them to slip through.
Beyond the gate, the landscape turned industrial and nightmarish—a graveyard of half-built weapons platforms, missile casings, and experimental engines left to rot. And in the distance, faintly illuminated by the pulsing glow of a dome-shaped structure, was Jason's lab.
Joey let out a low whistle. "Guy sure knows how to pick a place. Real cheery."
Odion's gaze hardened. "This place was built for destruction. Jason didn't choose it for irony. He chose it because it understands him."
Yugi's fingers brushed the Millennium Puzzle. The faint hum of power resonated through his touch, warning him of something ancient and awake within the lab ahead.
Jason Smithson stood before a machine the size of a sarcophagus laid sideways, its casing made of translucent transparisteel that looked strong enough to cage a god. Inside, black vapor churned and spiraled like ink in disturbed water. Every so often, the darkness seemed to flatten, forming sigils that pulsed like the heartbeat of something ancient. Odion felt the hair at the back of his neck rise—those symbols were older than Egypt, older than the Items themselves.
The lab hummed around them. A maze of cables snaked across the metal floor, connecting generators, holographic arrays, and a Duel Disk modified with extra ports and glowing circuitry. The air tasted metallic, brimming with ozone and shadow energy thick enough to make the lights flicker.
Jason stood in the center of it all like a conductor before an orchestra, his lab coat rippling in the ventilation wind. His sunglasses gleamed with unreadable blackness—mirroring the machine's abyss. Not a hint of humanity leaked from behind those lenses.
Then, beside him, the air rippled.
Darkness condensed, stretching upward into a lean white-haired teenager with a malicious grin that never warmed his face. The Millennium Ring swung from his chest, its six golden daggers spinning once as if smelling the fresh arrivals.
The thief spirit—Yami Bakura—rolled one shoulder with a lazy stretch.
"Mn. Flesh feels almost nostalgic," he purred, cracking his neck. "You didn't tell me we'd have guests, Jason."
Jason's jaw flexed just once, an unmistakable flicker of annoyance.
"I didn't invite them."
The steel door at the back of the chamber slammed open.
Yugi, Joey, Rebecca, Odion, and Connor stormed in—Duel Disks ready, expressions carved from determination and fury. But someone else came with them, stepping through the fractured light of the corridor.
A teenager in all white. Hoodie, spotless sneakers, glasses that reflected everything but revealed nothing. His expression was calm—too calm—and his movements smooth, deliberate.
Devin.
Jason's head tilted, the faintest irritated twitch visible in his jaw.
"…Of course. You would show up now."
Devin said nothing at first, just adjusted his glasses with one finger. But his presence alone shifted the air pressure in the room, as if the shadows themselves hesitated around him.
Devin finally spoke, his voice quiet, nearly monotone, but with an eerie clarity.
"I'm here to make sure your experiments end today, Jason."
Jason's lip twitched into something like a smirk.
"You can try."
He lifted a remote-like device and pressed a button. The entire lab shuddered.
WHOOMPH—
A wall of violet energy erupted between them—an immense circular barrier that shot up from the floor and curved overhead like a dome. Joey stumbled back, skidding across the metal floor.
Rebecca gasped. "It's sealing us out!"
Jason's voice echoed through the barrier like a taunt.
"Correct. A multidimensional phase wall. Only one duelist may pass before it completes its lock cycle."
Connor's eyes went wide. "Yugi—!"
Yugi was already halfway through when the barrier flashed. He rolled to the far side just before the energy solidified with a crack like shattering ice. He ended up alone—inside—facing Jason and Bakura.
The others slammed their hands against the barrier. Nothing. It didn't ripple. Didn't bend. It felt like solid stone.
Jason clasped his hands behind his back.
"So you've chosen to challenge me together. How predictable."
Then he waved a dismissive hand. "But before you can even dream of facing me—there is the matter of my associate."
Bakura's lips curled, revealing fang-like teeth.
"I believe this is where we play."
Yugi rose to his feet.
"Bakura… If defeating you breaks the barrier—then I will end this quickly."
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