"Hmph," said Bakura, the spirit of the Millennium Ring, "that kid only had one locator card, and with the finals drawing closer, I have a lot of work to do. I'm going to have to pick my next victim carefully." Bakura wandered into the streets of Domino, carefully considering his options. "No, to weak, I bet he only has one locator card. Pathetic. Worthless. Ugh, is there no one worthy enough to face me!"

"How about me," said a voice behind the spirit. Bakura turned around and saw a young man with short brown hair. He was wearing a gray shirt with the Japanese symbol for dark in white letters underneath a black trench coat. He wore dark gray cargo pants and black boots. Around his waist was a black belt with a pack for a dueling deck. He also wore a duel disk on his arm in standby position.

"And who are you, I might ask?" asked the spirit, intrigued by the man.

"I am Darius Rhodes, and I'm your next opponent," said Darius, pulling out five locator cards. "And I'm willing to wager all five of my locator cards for a chance to make it into the finals."

"How did you get five?"

"It was easy. I won one from a guy named Bandit Keith. The next two I got from two brothers named Para and Dox who insisted on dueling me 2-to-1. They were really easy. I won my fifth from a twerp named Bonz who tried to ambush me in a graveyard," Darius explained, ticking his victories off on his fingers. "So are we gonna duel or not?"

"Fine by me," Bakura said, smirking. "And when you lose, you will lose so much more that your locator cards. Hahaha."

"Whatever."

"LET'S DUEL!"

Bakura: 4000
Darius: 4000

"I'll go first," said Bakura drawing a card. "I summon Headless Knight (1450) in attack mode." A knight wearing white armor holding a sword appeared in front of Bakura. Notably the head of the knight was missing. "Then I play one card facedown, and end my turn."

Bakura: 4000; Headless Knight: ATK 1450 One Facedown
Darius: 4000

"My turn then," said Darius. "You are about to enter a realm of pure darkness, uh… You know I never did get your name."

"You can call me Bakura."

"Bakura, okay, then. Nice ring by the way."

"Thank you for noticing. This ring will be the instrument of your destruction."

"Whatever. Anyway, you are about to enter a realm of pure darkness, Bakura. I summon my Arcane Sorcerer (1800) in attack mode." A sorcerer garbed in deep crimson rose up from the shadows wielding a scepter of pure black tipped with a ruby gem on the top. "And now my sorcerer's ability will activate. I give up 500 life points to destroy one monster on your side of the field." As Darius' life points dropped, Bakura's knight was obliterated by a blast of magic.

Bakura: 4000; one facedown
Darius: 3500; Arcane Sorcerer: ATK 1800

"Now, Arcane Sorcerer, attack Bakura directly with your Arcane Spell Casting!" Darius' monster raised his stave and with a blast of magic, blasted Bakura for 1800 points of direct damage. "I'll end with a facedown card." One card appeared in behind the Spell caster and the turn passed to Bakura.

Bakura: 2200; One Facedown
Darius: 3500; Arcane Sorcerer: ATK 1800, One Facedown

"Fine, then, it's my turn," said Bakura drawing his card. "I underestimated you, but I won't make that mistake again. I activate my Shallow Grave. Now we both may summon a monster from the grave in defense mode. So I shall re-summon my Headless Knight (1700)." The knight that was sent to the graveyard last turn now returned, and knelt down in front of Bakura. "And now I sacrifice him in order to summon my Earl of Demise (2000)." The knight without a head was replaced by a zombie looking monster with a fancy outfit and a long rapier. "Now my fiend, rid the field of that pesky spell caster with Death's Noble Strike!" Though the Arcane Sorcerer stood bravely, he could not withstand the assault of the fiendish Earl and was quickly struck down, taking 200 of Darius' life points with it.

Bakura: 2200; Earl of Demise: ATK 2000
Darius: 3300; One Facedown

"You've activated my trap card, Dark Regeneration," said Darius revealing his facedown. "Now by sending one card from my hand to the grave, I can summon a monster that has been destroyed this turn by battle. So by discarding one card, I bring back my Arcane Sorcerer (2000) in defense mode." The crimson clad mage returned to the field kneeling in front of Darius.

"Fine, I end my turn."

Bakura: 2200; Earl of Demise: ATK 2000
Darius: 3300; Arcane Sorcerer: DEF 2000

"Now it's my turn to take control," Darius remarked, drawing a card. "I now sacrifice my Arcane Sorcerer in order to summon my Shadow Lady (2300) in attack mode." After the spell caster disappeared, a woman garbed in a silver dress adorned with black stars appeared and stood next to Darius. "Now my Lady, attack with your Hidden Blade!" The women ran quickly across the field and struck the Earl with a blade that was hidden in her dress. The Earl was not ready for it and was quickly struck down.

Bakura: 1900
Darius: 3300; Shadow Lady: ATK 2300

"And now you have nothing to protect you. I end my turn."

"I'm not out of this duel yet, my friend," growled Bakura. "I activate Monster Reborn to revive my Earl of Demise (2000). Then I activate another magic card called Spiritualistic Medium. By discarding my entire hand, I can increase the attack of my Earl by 500 for every card I discard." Bakura discarded all three of his cards and his Earls attack points increased to 3500. "Now, Earl of Demise, destroy his Shadow Lady!" With a thrust of his rapier, the zombified noble struck down the Lady of the Shadows, and with a final cry, she disappeared to the graveyard. "I end my turn."

Bakura: 1900; Earl of Demise: ATK 2000
Darius: 2100

"You are now one step closer to losing everything. Muahahaha!"

"Oh, please," said Darius. "Do you really think that this Shadow Game scares me?"

"What?" Bakura was shocked. He didn't think that this young man had felt the presence of the Shadow Realm when he brought it forward. "How, did you…"

"Know?" Darius finished. "Please, you don't think that I didn't notice this creepy fog, or the fact that all the attacks have actually hurt? I noticed it from the beginning; I just never said anything about it."

"I meant, how did you know about the Shadow Games?"

"Anyone with a Millennium Item knows about the Shadow Games," said Darius, pulling the collar of his shirt down far enough to reveal a golden pendant with the Eye of Wdjat on it.

"What Item is that?" asked Bakura, alarmed.

"This is the Millennium Pendant, and it is the eighth Millennium Item."

"But how…"

"That is not for you to know. As it is, it's my turn, and I activate a magic card called The Coming Storm." Darius then drew a card and activated it without even looking, and sure enough, the card Darius called was indeed the one he drew.

"But you didn't even look at the card. How did you know?" Bakura was officially scared beyond his breaking point and could barely keep himself from collapsing.

"That is also not for you to know. Anyway, my magic card will, for the price of discarding two cards in my hand, summon my ultimate monster." Darius discarded two cards and placed the last one on the field. "I summon my almighty Knight of Storms (2800) in attack mode!" Out of the fog rose a knight dressed in dark blue armor. On his back was a cape that had an insignia of some kind that no one was able to translate. He wore no helmet and his sword was suspiciously shaped like a lightning bolt. "Now when my knight is successfully summoned, he is able to destroy one card in your hand, however, thanks to your magic card, you have no cards in your hand. So I'll just attack. Go Knight of Storms. Take down his Earl of Demise with Cyclone Saber Slash!" Darius' warrior charged across the field, his sword swirling with water and wind. He lept high in the air and cleanly cut the earl down to size, taking 800 of Bakura's life points. "I end my turn."

Bakura: 1100
Darius: 2100; Knight of Storms: ATK 2800

Bakura couldn't believe it. Not only did Darius possess a Millennium Item he didn't know about, but he was completely dominating the duel. There was nothing he could do. His only hope was on the card he was about to draw.

"My turn," Bakura could barely hold his hand steady as he drew his card. Thankfully it was a monster he could summon to protect his life points. "I summon The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams (1800) in defense mode and end my turn." Please don't draw a monster.

Bakura: 1100; The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams: DEF 1800
Darius: 2100; Knight of Storms: ATK 2800

"Then it's my turn," Darius said drawing a card. "This duel's over."

"What? How?"

"I equip my knight with his Twister Staff." Darius' warrior sheathed his sword on his back and pulled a staff from the sky. "With his staff, my knight gains 300 attack points and the ability to deal damage to you equal to the difference between my monster's attack and your monster's defense when your monster is destroyed my mine. And now, Knight of Storms, end this duel. Strike down his ghost with Tornado Wind Gust!"

"NOOOO! THIS CAN'T BE!" Bakura could only watch in horror as his ghost was consumed by a twister that appeared when Darius' knight swung the staff.

Bakura: 0000
Darius: 2100; Knight of Storms: ATK 3100, Twister Staff
Winner: DARIUS RHODES!

"And that's the duel. Now hand over your locator card, Bakura." Bakura was in no shape to do anything as he screamed as the darkness consumed his soul. His locator card was blown from his hand and landed in Darius'. Darius turned away from Bakura, and slid his six locator cards in his duel disk, getting the directions to the finals.

"Finals, here I come."

Original Cards

Arcane Sorcerer: (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect): (LV4/1800/2000): When successfully normal summoned, you can pay 500 life points to destroy one of your opponent's monsters regardless of position.

Dark Regeneration: (Trap): Discard one card from your hand to bring one monster back from the graveyard in defense mode that was destroyed in battle this turn.

Shadow Lady: (Dark/Warrior): (LV6/2300/1500)

The Coming Storm: (Magic): Discard two cards from your hand to special summon one "Knight of Storms" from your hand or deck.

Knight of Storms: (Dark/Warrior/Effect): (LV8/2800/2700): This card is also treated as a Water attribute monster. When this monster is successfully Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned to the field, your opponent must discard 1 card from his hand.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think.