As Kaiba Corps' driver was getting closer to the mysterious duel disk's location, Akia's heart was beating faster. She felt extremely anxious about what she was about to do. This could put everyone in danger, but it could also give them some kind of opportunity. The driver dropped her off in one of the alleys close to the location marked by Mokuba. Akia quickly got out and started looking around. The place was full of boathouses. She deduced that that signal had to come from one of them.
There was nothing on the outside that could give it away at first glance. Granted some of them had their doors closed, so Akia decided to start investigating those. She ran as quickly as she could, flinging the doors open as she went. Most of them were empty.
Marik had been alerted that there was a girl outside snooping around the boathouses. Just as he was about to give out orders to deal with her, he heard the door fling open. He got up from his seat quickly and made his way up to the top of his boat, making sure to hide himself from whoever had just entered. Glancing her way, his heart leapt as he realized who it was. It was Akia and she looked like she was determined to find him. He couldn't let her see him, though, or she would find out that he was lying about his Namu identity. He couldn't have any of that. He then turned towards Rishid who was always there with him and gave him his orders. "Deal with her!"
At the same time, he commanded two of his Ghouls who were now just around the corner to take Akia away from there.
Akia heard someone coming from behind her as she went in the boathouse. Two Ghouls walked towards her.
"Stop, don't come any closer. I wouldn't want to hurt you." She warned them as she reached into her backpack and quickly took out her Millennium Scale. Since the Ghouls didn't have a mind of their own, they just kept getting closer. She sighed and took out her Scale and launched herself at one of the Ghouls, making the Scale touch them. She didn't know what it would do since the Ghouls were not really in control of their minds. The Scale tipped over to the reveal the evil nature within Marik's underling. This caused him to scream in pain and the eye of Anubis glowed on his forehead, before disappearing fully. The man then collapsed on the floor, motionless. Akia didn't have time to wonder what was happening, so she did the same to the other Ghoul. When they were both on the ground, she checked their pulse and sighed in relief when she felt it.
Marik stayed hidden but was in disbelief at what had just happened. Akia had just banished him from the two Ghouls' minds. He could not let her find out about that or she would be able to undo all that he had worked for. Her scale was his rod's natural enemy. The three Millennium items of justice were the key, the necklace, and the scale. The three items of evil were the ring, the rod, and the eye. The puzzle possessed both justice and evil. If she learned to use her scale right, his rod would stand no chance against it. He hoped Rishid would be able to get her away from there.
Akia had started making her way to the boat. She was now sure that the Ghouls were trying to keep her away from Marik. Knowing that he was so close, she couldn't contain some of her excitement. As she got closer to the boat, a large cloaked man came out of it and blocked her way.
"Another one? Please, I just want to see Marik and talk to him. I don't want to hurt anyone," Akia said as she positioned her Millennium scale in front of her in a defensive manner.
Marik was hearing everything she was saying. A big part of him just wanted to get out there and face her. He wanted to talk to her, to be close to her, but he knew he could not jeopardize his plan like this.
"I don't want to hurt you either. Please, just leave. Nothing good will come of you being here," Rishid told to her.
Back at the pier, Jounouchi was showing signs of breaking away from Marik's mind control. Whether it was because of his will power or because Akia had distracted Marik, it was certainly a glimmer of hope for his friends. The pharaoh had let Yugi take back control of his body, since they believed he would have a better chance of getting through to Jounouchi. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon was also on the field, visibly weakened.
"Jounouchi-kun! I know you're in there! You can fight him!" Yugi called out to his friend.
"Yu....gi...!" Jounouchi struggled to get the words out as he was clutching his head in pain.
Akia clutched her Scale and brought it to Rishid's heart. To her surprise, however, it did not tip to the evil side.
"You're... a good person... Then you probably are doing this because you also care for Marik, right?" Akia said as she looked Rishid in the eyes. She saw a glimmer of sadness.
He closed his eyes and sighed. "I am Marik."
Now that was not what Akia was expecting at all. This man claimed to be Marik. It could very possibly be true, but she definitely did not feel as though destiny was pulling them to each other as she had felt when they first met.
"I would have loved to be able to believe you, but I don't... Something in my heart is telling me that you're lying and I don't want to use my scale to prove it. I don't want your soul to be harmed," Akia confronted him.
Marik was dumbfounded but was also secretly happy that she could tell that Rishid wasn't him. How did she know? Did she feel anything when she saw him as Namu? So many questions were swimming in his head and he knew it was affecting his control of Jounouchi. He needed to do something about Akia before it was too late.
Marik then telepathically communicated with Rishid, "If she wants to meet me, tell her that she has to be blindfolded. If she agrees, proceed to blindfold her and lead her to the lower level of the boat. Sit her down until I am done."
Rishid looked into Akia's eyes. "Marik has agreed to meet with you. You will have to be blindfolded, however, and you will have to not resist. Any signs of resisting and I will personally get you far away from here."
Akia was about to smile widely at the thought of meeting Marik again, but she tried to control herself, knowing that this was not the way she had imagined it would happen. She slowly nodded in agreement with the conditions. She kept almost a death grip on her Millennium scale, making her feel a bit safer as she lost her sense of sight. Rishid tied the blindfold strong enough to make sure it did not slip, but he was also gentle with it. She felt his kindness with the care he used as he led her along. When they moved to the boat, she almost lost balance, but he was there to hold her up, making sure she didn't fall.
"Thank you..." She whispered. She couldn't see, but Rishid gave her the smallest of smiles. He sat her down on a chair in the lower level of the boat.
"Marik will be with you shortly. He needs to take care of a few things beforehand," Rishid informed her.
"...Does that involve Jounouchi and Yugi?" The girl asked, hoping it was not the case.
"...Yes," after hesitating to tell her, the man answered, feeling bad about worrying her.
Akia started to fidget again. She had wanted to be able to help out more, but she hoped that whatever little distraction she caused may have worked enough for Jounouchi to maybe break free of the mind control. She knew that he had a strong will and that he would succeed in beating this.
Yugi and Jounouchi's duel was coming to a close. Jounouchi, still under Marik's control, used Death Meteor to finish Yugi off. As the meteor was getting closer, Jounouchi felt a ray of light in the darkness. He was then finally able to break free of Marik's control.
"Don't die, Yugi!" The liberated young man yelled out to his friend.
"Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi called back with a smile.
Marik was in complete disbelief. This was the first time something like this ever happened.
"Yugi!" Jounouchi kept saying his friend's name.
Yugi smiled with tears in his eyes. He then activated one of his face-down cards. "Spirit's Mirror! A counter trap for when an opponent uses a Magic Card. This card allows me to redirect the attack."
"Yugi..." Jounouchi then realized that the Millennium puzzle was around his neck. "Why are we fighting?"
"It's alright, Jounouchi-kun. Our fight is over."
"Over?"
"I believed that we weren't the ones fighting in this duel. You were fighting Marik within your heart. And I was fighting to protect our friendship. And we both won!"
The counter was now down to the last thirty seconds. Kaiba was getting restless until he heard the blades of his chopper getting closer. He had called for one that was on autopilot to come and save Anzu from the ordeal. As the helicopter got closer, he drew a card from his deck, throwing it with expert precision at the Ghoul's hand that was holding the button that would drop the container on Anzu. He screamed in pain as the card pierced his skin. The Ghoul then tried to reach back for the remote, but Kaiba ran and kicked him right in the chin, knocking him out. The helicopter then caught the wire of the crane, pushing it away into the sea along with it and the container, which exploded in the water. Honda, Mai, Otogi, and Shizuka had all just arrived as well, barely escaping some of Marik's Ghouls. They all ran to Anzu, except for Shizuka who still had the bandages on her eyes, while calling out her name. Mokuba then undid her restraints.
"Everyone...! Thank you, Mokuba-kun," Anzu expressed her gratitude.
"Hehe, now we're even!" Mokuba replied.
"We have to hurry to Yugi and Jounouchi," the brown-haired young woman said to them.
"Right!" Honda agreed.
Yugi, exhausted from the ordeal, was still smiling at his friend, grateful that he was now free from Marik's control. "Jounouchi-kun. I wanted to buy us some time so that I can tell you everything at the end..."
"The end...?" Jounouchi asked, confused about what that meant.
"You taught me that I'm not alone and you taught me courage... You're my best friend."
"Yugi..." Jounouchi was coming to the realization of what Yugi was about to do.
The latter was now in tears. "Jounouchi-kun. I cherish you!"
Jounouchi's tears also started flowing.
"Spirit of the Mirror! Aim the Death Meteor attack at me!" Yugi declared his final move.
"Yugi!!" Jounouchi yelled out.
Yugi collapsed on the floor, mentally exhausted from the ordeal. Jounouchi's box opened to reveal the key to uncuff his foot. The timer for the duel had also run out and it was now counting down thirty more seconds until the bomb would detonate.
"Jounouchi-kun... hurry and use that key to escape... before the anchor falls into the ocean..."
"You idiot!! I can't leave you behind and run away!" Jounouchi shouted out at Yugi.
Yugi then took off his duel disk. "Thank you for fighting with me..."
"What should I do... What the hell can I do?" That was when he remembered that Death Meteor had another effect. He could force one of Yugi's monsters to attack. Red-Eyes Black Dragon was still out on Yugi's side of the field, although in a weakened state from what occurred in the duel.
"Red-Eyes! Attack me! Reduce my life to zero points!" Red-Eyes attacked Jounouchi, causing his Life Points to also drop to zero, which opened Yugi's box to reveal the key to release him. "Yugi! I will definitely not let you die! I don't have time to get my own key!"
Shizuka, hearing her brother's voice shout out, got the courage to take off her eye bandages. The first thing she saw as she opened her eyes was her brother putting down his duel disk and the Millennium puzzle to then jump to Yugi's side using the chain as a swinging rope. "Big brother!"
The anchor was then dropped down as the explosives went off, dragging both Jounouchi and Yugi down into the sea. Honda ran to Jounouchi, yelling out his name but couldn't catch him in time.
"No!! Yugi! Jounouchi!" Anzu screamed in horror.
In the water, Jounouchi had succeeded in getting the key in time. He unlocked the cuff around Yugi's ankle and pushed him upward. As Yugi surfaced, Honda got in the water to get him out. "I've got you! Hang on!"
"Where's Jounouchi?!" Mai asked in panic.
"The key...! Jounouchi didn't grab his key!" Mokuba noticed.
"Mokuba, go grab the key! I'll go down after him!" Honda told the young Kaiba.
As Mokuba was about to run to get the key, they saw Shizuka diving in with it already in hand. She dove down to her brother, uncuffing him and bringing him up with her. As he surfaced, his friends called out his name, Mai being the first.
"Shizuka, you..." Jounouchi said as he gasped for air.
Shizuka looked up at her brother and smiled. "Everyone helped to bring me here."
As they all got out of the water, they started to finally calm down from the events.
"Um... Guys? Where's my sister?" Yugi asked as he looked at Mokuba and Kaiba who were the last ones to see her.
"Don't look at me; I'm not her babysitter," Kaiba replied.
Mokuba looked to the ground, feeling slightly responsible for Akia's disappearance. "I helped Akia go after Marik..."
"What did you say?!" Jounouchi yelled out.
"Isn't Marik the guy who put you guys in this situation? Akia might be in danger! What the hell was she thinking?!" Mai questioned in worry.
"She wasn't thinking! She just acted on her own as always!" Jounouchi exclaimed, concerned for his reckless friend.
Everyone was getting really worried about her. Back at the boathouse, though, Akia was perfectly safe, since Marik did not intend on harming her. After Jounouchi broke his control, he decided to have that chat with Akia. He was more excited than he thought he would be as he went down the stairs to where she was waiting for him.