AGKamon: So, since all of you awesome people waited so long for the last chapter, I thought I should update fairly quickly. Besides, I want to get as much written as possible in case my writers' block decides to strike back. Dear Ra, I hope it'll be gone for a while though. The chapter title also comes from a song - which I don't own - you get simple praise and the satisfaction of being right if you can guess what it is in your review. I'll reveal it next chapter.

Bakura: I doubt anyone wants to read about your writers' block. End this authoress note and get on with the chapter.

Kayla: ...You somehow seem moodier, Bakura. Is it because of the duel?

Bakura: Of course not.

Marik: It totally is! *laughs*

Ryo: Marik, I don't really think that's a good idea.

Tiikeri: *sighs* AGKamon doesn't own anything related to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise; she only owns her OC's, Kayla Kossori and I.

AGKamon: *laughs nervously at seeing Bakura getting angry at Marik* Start the chapter!

Bakura's P.O.V.

I revealed the coin to myself, showing that I had indeed guessed correctly.

"Well, what'd you get?" a feminine voice asked.

"Heads. Which means I can destroy one of your monsters, and I select your Armaill." Her expression twisted into an angry one as the relatively weak monster she had powered up was destroyed along with her equip card.

"I end my turn." Silently acknowledging that she seemed slightly frustrated and her playing style could possibly change because of that fact, I drew a card and set it with the other cards in my hand.

"First, I'll set one monster in facedown defense, and I'll also switch The Portrait's Secret to attack mode. Now, Portrait's Secret, attack her Chain Thrasher!" As her monster vanished, I noted her now-tensed form and suspected that she was getting more angry with me. "Your move, Kayla."

"Whoever said you could say my name, Betrayal King?" she growled as she drew a card. She huffed and placed it in her hand. "I'll end my turn without doing anything more."

"I've called you 'darling' before, would you rather I called you that?" I wondered, hoping to jog her memories of when I protected her, trying to see if I could snap her back into her senses; while I spoke, I drew my card. "I summon Night Assailant in defense mode and end my turn."

"Tch, no. Whatever, just don't get used to saying my name in such a casual tone, Betrayal King." She seemed slightly less angry as she stared at the card she'd just drawn. "I summon Darkfire Soldier #1 in attack mode. Now, Darkfire Soldier, attack The Portrait's Secret!"

As my monster disappeared in a mass of multicolored flecks, I frowned as my life point meter decreased and I remembered the effect of her continuous trap card. Due to her Robbin' Goblin card, I had to discard a card now, and I stared at my hand for a moment, trying to decide which card I could probably survive without. After a few seconds of thought, I sent my Mask of Darkness to the graveyard.

"Good, you remembered my trap's effect. I end my turn." With that, I drew my card next and tried to keep my frown from deepening, as this monster wouldn't help with defeating her monsters, at least not right away.

"I summon one monster facedown in defense mode and end my turn."

- Kayla: 7500 Life Points - Bakura: 7650 Life Points -

"It seems you're still getting bad draws, Betrayal King." The grip on my cards tightened to keep myself from making any other reaction to my new nickname.

"That seems to be true," I retorted.

"Such a shame, and I thought you were going to start making a comeback when you destroyed my Armaill." Suddenly, she stopped, looking past me intently. Already wary of anything she was doing, I looked over my shoulder cautiously, not seeing anything but…

Wait.

What was that?

Racing towards us at what was probably the average running speed for a human, a pitch-black shape came into my view. It frequently switched from racing along the floor to the wall and then back again. For a reason I couldn't place, I suddenly felt as if another ancient presence was nearing me. However, it couldn't be this mysterious shadow-like thing.

Could it?

My brain's thoughts about this shadowy creature were ceased when my ears registered the sound of laughter. Her laughter, and I turned back to my opponent, seeing the glowing shape on her forehead grow brighter as an almost red glow shone from her dark eyes.

"This is getting fun now, Betrayal King!"

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, still watching the shadow creature as it continued to move towards us.

"You'll see in due time, but it's my turn now!" She drew her card, not even sparing it a second glance before she placed it with the other cards in her hand. "Darkfire Soldier #1, destroy his Night Assailant! And now, because of Robbin' Goblin, you have to discard the last card in your hand." I was silent, not daring to say anything as I knew she'd twist around my words, as I discarded the final card in my hand.

"Are you finished?" I asked, hoping that my next draw would have things looking up for me, even though I still wasn't looking forward to defeating her and having her lose her soul.

"Yes, you can take your turn." I drew my next card, revealing a monster. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it could defend me for now. However, I now had some sort of plan for my turn as I remembered one of the facedown cards I had placed earlier in the duel.

"I summon The Portrait's Secret in defense mode. And next, I activate one of my facedown cards, The Shallow Grave! This allows the two of us to summon a monster in our graveyards to the field in facedown defense mode." As I explained the effect of my spell card, I selected my Night Assailant monster card and placed it facedown - she selected a monster and summoned it facedown as well - and then sent The Shallow Grave to the graveyard. "My turn is done."

As she drew her card, I noticed the black moving shadow race past me. She smirked as she looked at the card and saw the shadow again, and I got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I summon Command Knight in attack mode, and due to his effect, all Warrior-type monsters on my side of the field gain four hundred more attack points as long as he's on the field, giving my Darkfire Soldier #1 a total of 2100 attack points. Next, I flip my facedown monster right-side up, revealing my Dancing Fairy. And, since she's in face-up defense mode, from now on, I gain one thousand life points during each of my Standby Phases." The horrible feeling I was getting only grew worst at realizing she wasn't even done with her turn yet. "Now, before I end my turn, I'll destroy The Portrait's Secret with Darkfire Soldier #1!"

So, knowing that her turn was done and over with, I drew my next card and hoped for the best. I stared at my newly drawn card, quickly realizing that I could use it now and destroy a card that had been bothering me pretty much since the beginning of the duel.

"I activate the spell Mystical Space Typhoon, allowing me to destroy one of your spell or traps, and I choose Robbin' Goblin! I also gain another five hundred life points from Spell Absorption." I relaxed slightly at seeing my life point meter rise again, giving me more points than my opponent.

"Is it my turn now?"

"Yes."

- Kayla: 7500 Life Points - Bakura: 8150 Life Points -

She nodded, obviously confident about something, and drew her card.

"Alright, first I gain one thousand life points due to Dancing Fairy's effect, and next, I'll attack your facedown monster with Darkfire Soldier #1!" And as soon as my facedown monster disappeared, so did her Darkfire Soldier. "…What?"

"My facedown monster was Man-Eater Bug, meaning that when he's destroyed while facedown, the attacking monster is destroyed as well."

"Whatever, I can still destroy your other facedown with Command Knight!"

"And this time, the effect of my Slate Warrior activates when it's destroyed in battle. Command Knight loses five hundred attack and defense points."

"…I end my turn." I briefly noticed her sudden attitude change once again and noted that she tended to get quite frustrated whenever I countered one of her moves. Wondering whether she was always like this when she dueled or if it was simply because of whatever daze she was under, I drew my card.

"I activate the spell Goblin Thief, giving me another five hundred life points while you lose five hundred. Also, I gain an additional five hundred life points because of Spell Absorption's effect."

"Hmph, simply because you keep restoring your life points, doesn't mean you'll win."

I know that, but there's nothing else I can do, for now…

"I end my turn."

- Kayla: 8000 Life Points - Bakura: 9150 Life Points -

"Alright, I summon Armaill in attack mode, and it gains four hundred more attack points due to Command Knight's effect. And, of course, I gain another thousand life points because of Dancing Fairy." She chuckled a bit, as if mocking how I was forced to keep using spells in order to restore my life points when she was doing so without using a single card because of her monster's effect. "Now, Armaill, attack his facedown card!"

"Because my facedown monster was Night Assailant, your Armaill is destroyed too."

"That doesn't bother me at all. You want to know why? Command Knight, show him why!" Unable to avoid flinching at the unsettlingly real impact of the monster's attack, I watched as my life points decreased once again. "It's your move, make it worthwhile."

Disregarding her not-so-thinly-veiled threat, I drew my card. It was, for now, useless. Sure, I could use Monster Reincarnation eventually, but it couldn't help me right now, and that's when I needed help.

"I set one card facedown and end my turn."

- Kayla: 9000 Life Points - Bakura: 8450 Life Points -

Smiling at the obvious lead she now had on me in terms of both life points and monsters on the field, she drew her card while watching that still-present shadow circle the duel field.

"I summon Chain Thrasher in attack mode, and I also switch my Fire Sorcerer to attack mode. Of course, I gain one thousand life points thanks to Dancing Fairy." The feeling in the pit of my stomach was rapidly spreading to the rest of my body as my mind quickly realized why she'd bothered to switch the mode of her Fire Sorcerer and summon another monster.

This isn't going to turn out very well…

"Fire Sorcerer attack him directly, and Chain Thrasher, do the same! Also, because there is already a Chain Thrasher in my graveyard, this Chain Thrasher can attack again! And, for good measure, I'll also attack with my Command Knight! With that, I end my turn."

Feeling the stress from the duel catch up with me, I hoped that I could find a way to turn this duel around quickly. With those hopes fueling my draw, I selected the top card of my deck and drew it, feeling my hopes shatter instantly. This card, it couldn't help me at all.

"I set this card facedown and end my turn." Nonetheless, I set the spell card on the field anyway.

"You know, Betrayal King, with the way you reacted, I have to think that you didn't get a very useful card. On my next turn, I could win, I do hope you're aware of that."

But there isn't anything I can do to stop that…

- Kayla: 10,000 Life Points - Bakura: 4750 Life Points -

"I have to say that I was hoping you'd put up a better fight than this, since you don't really care, I was sure that you'd duel like you normally do. It's like you're holding back, but I can't imagine why."

"I do care. I don't understand where you could get the idea that I didn't care about you, Kayla. I've cared for what seems like a long time now."

"Hah! Like I'm going to believe that; it's my turn. I'll finally beat you into the dust like you deserve after abandoning me." As she drew her card and glanced at her hand shortly afterwards, her expression grew into a mixture of anger and some kind twisted form of delight.

Am I really going to lose…? After trying so hard to bring her back to her senses?

"I summon Absorbing Kid from the Sky in attack mode and gain one thousand life points because of Dancing Fairy's effect. Now, Absorbing Kid from the Sky and Fire Sorcerer, attack him directly! Also, Chain Thrasher can attack you twice due to her effect!"

Just one more attack. That's all it will take…

"Now, Command Knight-!" And suddenly, she stopped mid-sentence, and I looked at her, instantly recognizing the shine in her eyes.

"…Kayla…?"

"Bakura? …Why…am I doing this?"

Marik's P.O.V.

With Tiikeri's voice still ringing in my eyes and her eyes still in the back of my mind, I continued to follow Ryo through this building's vast expanse of hallways.

"Do you think…we're almost there…?" he panted, having a hard time breathing due to all the sprinting we'd been doing in trying to keep up with that shadow we were sure was going to lead us to where Bakura was dueling Kayla.

"…Don't know…" I replied, having an equally hard time filling my lungs with air. Almost as soon as I'd spoken, I spotted a head of white hair that certainly didn't belong to Ryo, who was beginning to lag behind me. Besides, this figure's hair was too wild-looking. "…I think…that's him…!"

"Yeah…me too…" We slowed our steps despite our want to support the ancient spirit we now considered to be like a friend to us; simply put, we just couldn't continue running.

"Baku-!" I was in the middle of calling out his name when suddenly, it was as if a wall of black material rose up between us and him, and I instantly suspected that weird shadow - whatever it was - was to blame.

"Should we wait?" Ryo wondered, still sounding a bit out of breath.

"Y-Yeah. Somehow I doubt this black shadow wants us getting near that duel." And thus, we settled ourselves on the floor, our backs against the wall, and kept our eyes on newly-formed black wall. We were waiting for it to lower itself back down to the ground so we could pass, as I had a strange instinct that as soon as the duel was done, we'd be let in.

All we had to do was wait.

AGKamon: Don't get your hopes up because the duel isn't over yet!

Bakura: Tch, just reply to the reviews already.

AGKamon: Alright, alright...

sorecess of the nile -Thanks, I'm glad that the quality of the chapters didn't go down because I haven't written for these characters in what? Three months? Yeah, that sounds right. Writers' block is really frustrating for me because it tends to last a long time, which stinks because I don't like keeping my readers waiting.

Kuraki-chan -Haha, I can't help it when writers' block strikes, but thanks! Was I able to make this chapter just as great too? I'm hoping that my writers' block is gone for a while now, but it'll probably come back. However, hopefully it'll be blocking a different story because I have so many plans for this little series of mine.

AGKamon: Anyway, the duel will go into the next chapter as well, and you can place your bets who you think will win in a review if you would like, but it's already been decided.

Kayla: So, there isn't much else to say, so thanks for reading and reviewing!

Ryo: Yeah, and you should keep doing so! ...Are you okay, Marik?

Marik: *nursing his new black eye* ...Yup. Read, review, and we hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one should hopefully be up, real soon.