Here it is! The biggest tag team duel of the century! In written form!

Now, here's how it's going to go: since it's difficult to keep track of everybody's thoughts in a first person POV, I'm going to try my hand at third person. Enjoy! :D

With the mood dire and the players anxious, the duel was well underway. Lumis was to take the first turn of the match. After him came Yami, Umbra, and finally Kaiba. After drawing the top card from his deck, he stretched a grin about as wide as the smile on his mask.

"Ready? I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn!"

Yami's eyes narrowed. "That's strange. To open up on his first turn with no monster, Lumis is at an obvious disadvantage. I would assume he knew that…" He eyed the facedown cards and Lumis's partner, Umbra. "What type of strategy will they play on?"

Yami drew his card. He was aware that no one could attack on their first turn in a tag duel except for the player who would go last in the round. That player in question for this duel was Kaiba. Kaiba was an astonishingly offensive duelist, so for him to be the first attacker would be ideal. Although, if he were to fall into a trap early in the game…

"I just hope we can work together, for the sake of everyone in danger." Yami selected a card from his hand. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in defense mode!"

A little yellow warrior with magnet clamps and antennae appeared in a crouched position in front of Yami.

Beta the Magnet Warrior DEF: 1600

"That should do for now."

"My turn!" announced Umbra. "I'll summon Shining Abyss in attack mode!"

A strange mechanized fairy with a sun-shaped mask appeared on the field.

Shining Abyss ATK : 1600

Lumis cackled. "The moment my partner's monster is summoned, I activate this Spell: Mask of Brutality! Shining Abyss is now 700 points stronger!"

Shining Abyss ATK : 2300

Kaiba cursed. "Fuck! It's just the first round and they have a monster with over 2000 ATK!"

Yami had not expected something like this. The two Ghouls were working together. They were selflessly using their own cards to support one another. And he dreaded that it was only the beginning.

It was now Kaiba's turn. He had noticed the teamwork as well. It did not surprise him at all; everyone knew that he would never work together with Yugi unless the situation called for it. It was not one of those times as of now.

Truthfully, he was still curious as to how well he could cooperate with Yugi when given the chance. However, he could not risk a test run, not when Ami was being threatened just a few feet away from him. He just could not afford to put her safety second in this duel.

Frustrated, he decided to confidently rely on his own skills. He was just going to have to crush these Ghouls himself for now…

"I play one card facedown! Then, I summon Vorse Raider to the field!"

A savage beast-man with a large halbred-like weapon appeared with a low growl. It sneered menacingly at the masked fairy across it.

Kaiba crossed his arms with a smirk. "He goes in attack mode. My turn's done!"

Vorse Raider ATK: 1900

Yami sent a perplexed look in Kaiba's direction. "Attack mode? Against the 2300 ATK Shining Abyss? Is this the setup for a trap?"

Sure enough, Yami's instincts were spot-on. Kaiba had a plan to get rid of the enemy monster, save his monster, and summon a stronger monster on his next turn. All he had to do now was wait for the enemy's attack. Then when it was his turn again, Vorse Raider would be sacrificed for the strong monster.

Unfortunately, Lumis could see the trap and the sacrifice coming from a mile away.

"My turn!" he announced. "You know something, Yugi? Not all of our mask cards affect only us. Anyone can wear them!" He held up a card. "Allow me to show you one! Mask of the Accursed!"

A disturbing mask with nails hammered into the face appeared on the field. In an instant, it flew over to Beta the Magnet Warrior, attached itself to its face, and lifted him up and off the field behind Yami.

"What did you do, Lumis?!" he hollered.

"Now, now, don't get your feathers all ruffled. I just gave him something to wear. Unfortunately for you, so long as he wears that mask, he cannot attack or defend! And you have to pay a fee of 500 Life Points at the start of every one of your turns he's still there!"

"If he cannot attack or defend, that leaves me wide open for a direct attack!"

Lumis placed another card facedown and ended his turn.

"Another facedown card?! Is Lumis's whole purpose in this fight to soften us up, whereas Umbra summons monsters to finish us?" Yami grunted. "That's diabolical…was this Marik's idea?"

Yami drew for his turn, allowing the Mask of the Accursed to take 500 Life Points away from his total.

Yami LP: 4000 - 500 = 3500

He continued his turn by looking at his new card. The Archfiend of Gilfer was a level six monster; it needed one sacrifice to be summoned. He would tribute Beta, get rid of the mask, and have a powerful monster to fend off their Abyss. However, that uneasy feeling began to surface once more as he glanced at Lumis's facedown.

He had no choice. "I'll sacrifice Beta the Magnet Warrior-!"

Again came that awful cackle. "Perfect!" Lumis said with glee. "You've fallen for it!"

"What?!"

"Go, Permanent Trap! Mask of Restrict!"

Lumis's new trap brought forth another evil mask. This new mask hovered beside him, emitting a purple aura. Beta was still present on the field.

"With this mask, you guys are unable to sacrifice your monsters! You can't summon stronger monsters!"

Umbra grinned. "That's right. That includes summoning your God Cards. They're useless now!"

Yami and Kaiba looked at each other with the same thought: how were they going to fight with weaker monsters? It was only a matter of time before Lumis and Umbra decided to summon something stronger than Shining Abyss. They could both feel it; they were pushed into a corner.

"Just so you know, Kaiba," Umbra began. "You guys aren't the only ones who had to face these masks…"

"We wanted to make sure that our decks were ready for the big show!" Lumis added. "So we fought that girl behind you, just to be sure. It was pitiful! She couldn't put up a fight!"

Ami cringed at the memory. Not long after she had regained consciousness, the two of them forced her into the duel. Two against one was never fair, especially if you had no idea what strategies your opponents played on. To top it off, they demanded for both of her puzzle cards and two of her rarest cards as soon as she lost.

"We already offered our cards to Master Marik," they had said. "And since you're easy pickings, no one would care if we had bent the rules a little."

She was just a pawn in this twisted game. A practice dummy, an easy kill, and bait. It ultimately crushed her to watch those two lockdown her deck in just a few moves. Even when she was able to summon Gogiga one time, not even he could measure up.

During the entirety of that duel, she only had one thought in mind.

"'If I can fight them both and win, maybe they won't go after him.'" Ami looked up. "That's what I told myself before accepting their challenge. God…I've never been so bull-headed before. Though my intentions were in the right place, it was the stupidest thing I had ever talked myself into. But…what choice did I have?"

Kaiba's ears burned. That knowledge of them cheating was more than enough to disqualify them both. He would call the Satellite Crew back at HQ to deactivate their Duel Disks in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the devilish duo had more than enough perks to slide by it.

"What good would it do?" he thought with scorn. "They could just hurt Ami for insurance! And to think, she took them both on, just so I wouldn't have to worry about them…"

Yami felt the disdain as well. The duelist Ami attempted a selfish, albeit noble act. She had heart, and it was stomped on by the boots of these Ghouls. She just wanted to stop them, but did not have the power to do so. He nodded to himself; he was going to pick up where she left off.

Just then, Yugi appeared beside him. The greeting was brief, for he whispered something in Yami's ear. After a short conversation, Yugi put his thumb up and disappeared once again. Now, Yami had a little "side mission" to perform.

The duel commenced.

"Since Beta could not be sacrificed, I will summon Kuriboh in defense mode! And with him, I will set one card facedown! That ends my turn."

Kuriboh DEF: 200

Yami offered a glance over to Kaiba. "Without Tribute Summoning, we have no chance if we follow our own tactics. There's only one way for us to win…we must combine our strength!"

Kaiba felt his partner's eyes on him. He already knew what was going through Yugi's head and he was not yet ready to oblige. They were in too deep a hole to change tactics yet. Once he turned the tables himself and they were a safe distance ahead of the game, maybe.

For now, the idea was absurd.

"My turn then!" Umbra proclaimed. "I'll have Shining Abyss attack Kaiba's Vorse Raider!

Shining Abyss ATK: 2300 Vorse Raider ATK: 1900

Kaiba smirked. "Just you try it! Facedown reveal! Ring of Destruction!"

A ring of grenades choked the masked monster, stopping it in its tracks.

"I hope you didn't enjoy having that monster so much, because he's not going to be sticking around for much longer!"

"That's what you think, Kaiba!" Lumis replied.

Ami was already catching on. It was happening all over again: the false sense of control. To her dismay, she could already tell that Kaiba was blinded by it. Just like she was when she activated Compulsory Evacuation Device on their ultimate creature, until…

"NO!" she screamed. "It's Curse Transfer!"

"Ding ding ding! You are correct! Go, Curse Transfer!"

Lumis's trap switched the target of Ring of Destruction without so much as batting an eye. Its new host was Kaiba's Vorse Raider. A second later, the grenades detonated, incinerating the monster in a hellish explosion. Now the damage had to be dealt to both Kaiba and Umbra.

Kaiba cursed. "Activate Ring of Defense from my hand!"

A new ring appeared on the board, acting as a spinning shield for Kaiba. Both Yami and Ami blew sighs of relief. Kaiba's Life Points were safe, leaving Umbra to take his share. That was until Ami saw the sinister grin that stretched across the visible portion of his face.

"No…you've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Looks like you remember a lot of our cards. Funny that, since you did get conked on the head pretty bad." Umbra waited for the snarl from Kaiba before selecting a card in his hand. "Chain! Spell Transfer!"

The spinning ring hovered over to Umbra's side. Thanks to that card, Kaiba was left in the dust.

Seto Kaiba LP: 4000 - 1900 = 2100

"Well then, I guess our strategy is going to pay off! Since Shining Abyss's attack wasn't technically 'negated', it can continue with its assault! And it looks like you're the prime target, Kaiba…"

Lumis cackled once again. "Finish him, Umbra! And so long, Kaiba! Enjoy your trip to Hell!"

Shining Abyss began to charge its attack slowly in its hands. As the ball of light grew bigger and bigger, so did Ami's resolve to save him.

Struggling to break free from her captors, she called out to Kaiba, "Kaiba! Don't you have anything to use?! Can't you get out of this?!"

Kaiba turned to her. There was a slow shake of the head, almost a shameful answer. There was a half-hearted smile, almost a pitiful sight. Then finally, there was a defeated look in the eyes…

Almost too hard to believe.

And then he turned away, to face his defeat - and ultimately, his death - right in its masked face with what little pride he had left. With this final attack, all of his ambitions, his triumphs, even his unexplored curiosities would be dashed. All that he worked for and toward would have been all for naught. With this final attack…

His dreams would be long lost.

After waiting long enough, the Shining Abyss completed its ball of light. Clutching it in its hands, it glared eerily at Kaiba.

"This is the end, Kaiba. Farewell…"

"KAIBA! NO! YOU CAN'T JUST-!"

"FIRE!"

The ball of light was released to head towards a braced Kaiba. As it drew closer, Ami's walls had finally crumbled for good.

"SETO!"

The thundering explosions covered the field in a thick smoke. Ami watched for anything to emerge from the gray clouds, but when nothing appeared, she bowed her head low and lost all hope. She had assumed Kaiba's bomb had already destroyed the glass beneath his feet, and he was now plummeting to the ground floor thirteen stories below.

Then, she heard coughing. "What the flying fuck just happened?!"

Ami's head shot right up to see Kaiba was still standing in position and coughing into his arm. Better yet, he did not look like he had been harmed. But she had to be absolutely sure.

"Your Life Points!" she cried to him hastily. "What're your Life Points?!"

Kaiba had wondered that himself. He checked his Duel Disk to make sure he was not imagining things. He blinked once…twice…

"They're…still 2100. But, how is that…?"

As the rest of the smoke cleared, so did the answer to his trailed-off question.

"…oh my God. They're everywhere."

Floating around the field in a massive hoard were Kuribohs. Lots of furry, big-eyed, attack-buffering Kuribohs. There were just enough of them to cancel out the masked fairy's attack and they were still appearing. Eye twitching, Kaiba glared at the smirking culprit. He earned a smile in return.

"Come now, Kaiba," Yami replied coolly. "Like I would leave you hanging out to dry like that without a plan. Thanks to Kuriboh and the Multiply I had, there are enough of them to protect us from attacks. Although, I had to choose the right moment to use them."

Yami looked over his shoulder at Ami. She was stunned; she was the 'right moment'? Just what did that have to do with anything? Then, Yami gave her a knowing smile before returning his focus to the duel.

Like Kaiba, she blinked once…twice…

"Oh my God…he knows I like Kaiba!"She paused her thoughts. "And that I was having trouble coming to terms with it! Oh God…what if I didn't say anything? Would he have left him to DIE?! I wouldn't think he'd do that…but just the thought-!"

"Ami…you called me by my first name."

Ami froze. Kaiba's statement rang true; she did use his first name. She looked up to see him just the slightest bit surprised. She was a little surprised too, especially now that she realized that he had been calling her by first name.

"…s-so? I-I thought that you weren't going to make it…so I thought you'd like the last thing you heard be your first name. I mean, I'd like that to be something someone says to me when-"

"Why can't you just say that you trust me now? Does it hurt that much to say it?"

There was a pause…then a sigh of defeat. "No…I just didn't think we were on first name basis yet. I didn't want to be disrespectful or anything. At least, not anymore."

Kaiba shook his head with a small grin. "I guess I should have said we were."

"Yeah…that would've been nice."

Yami watched the two with his grin still in place. Yugi appeared next to him once again. His grin was just as bright.

"You did a good thing," he said gently.

Yami nodded. "All thanks to your keen observation. Tell me, what made you decide on helping their newfound feelings along at this time?"

Yugi giggled. "I just thought Kaiba would play a little less arrogantly and a little more seriously if he had a little help from the sidelines. Plus, I kinda wanted to play cupid."

Yami chuckled. "Well, we'll see just how well your arrow affected Kaiba's skills shortly."

"Yeah. But it also wasn't like you were going to let him take the hit anyways, right?"

"…"

"Right, Pharaoh?"

"…Yugi. There are times I wish I just could."

God, this chapter! If you can't already tell, I mixed both the anime and the manga rules into this. For instance, Mask of Brutality really gives 1000 ATK and takes 1000 Life during every Standby Phase (they had this version of the mask in the show). But, it was simpler to do the manga version. You know, complications. And the Transfers were anime, and the Kuriboh/Multiply I believe was both (by that, I mean using it during Umbra's turn).

Anyways! Rate and comment! But definitely comment! I like getting reviews, even if they criticize! Makes me a better writer! See you next time!