MG: Hi everyone, I'm just wanting to let you guys know that in this duel is it a mix of cards I've made up and real life cards. I didn't want there to be too much confusion about whether the cards are real or not. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

"Hey, Atem wake up…the tournament is starting." Set gently nudged Atem to wake him up. "Uhg…what?"

"Are you feeling a bit better? I know you had a really rough night last night. But you crashed right after whatever nightmare woke you up, to begin with." Atem rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

"Oh, Sorry I don't even remember what I got so worked up over."

Set rolled his eyes. "Eidetic memory failing you now?" Atem gave a playful punch against Sets shoulder.

"No! It only works with real life, although lately I've been a bit loopy so yea it's failing me on a nightmare I probably don't want to remember." Set nodded in agreement.

"Yea you're right. You were really shaken up. Maybe the nurse can give you a lower dosage of medications because I think that is dragging up bad memories. Like your time in the puzz…"

"I don't want to talk about that Set. Let's just cheer everyone on in today's round of events."

"Fine but look Atem, you don't have to be ashamed about your PT…" Atem gave a frowned.

"Set…I don't have PTSD, it was just a nightmare."

"But you've always avoided confined spaces and heavily covered riverbanks when we were dating. I can't count all the times you've woken up screaming because of a nightmare, that's when you fall asleep…you've never fallen asleep before me, except after sex. I just did my research and all signs point to PTSD."

Atem sighed. "I don't have PTSD, I refuse to believe that I have a disorder." With that Set decided to leave Atem alone and turned the television on.

"Hey look Kyo's match is up next. Her opponent is Alex Liddle from the Wonderland team."

Atem frowned as he looked up Alex Liddle on the laptop. "It says here that Liddle is a trickster…He is going to be tough for Kyo to beat."

"Hu? Why are you so negative now?" Atem shook his head.

"No, his deck is very tricky. Kyo is very direct with her dueling, so she needs to watch her footing with this guy and think outside the box. I have faith in her but she needs to have faith in herself."

Kyo got her deck ready for her first duel. "Okay, this Alex Liddle person shouldn't be too bad."

Carter shook his head. "Kyo don't get cocky remember what Atem taught you."

Kyo nodded as she gave her cards a final look over. "Right…level headiness is key. That and a balanced deck." With that Kyo went out to face her opponent. The crowd cheers as she and Alex Liddle, a strangely dressed man with a steampunk flare and a top hat, walked out onto the arena.

"You must be Kyo Anaki…I must say I am impressed with your courage to face off against the odds."

Kyo picked up on his accent and smirked. "You're from Wales aren't you?"

"I'm surprised, you know where my accent came from." Alex took Kyo's hand and gave a gentlemanly bow to her. "You are a stunning woman. Your team mate Mr. Caito is lucky to have such a stunning woman as his girlfriend."

Kyo turned bright red from Alex's assumption. "Whoa no no no! Atem isn't my boyfriend. He's my mentor and a really good friend."

"Well I'll send him my prayers for good health." With that they took their positions. The action field was a wonderland themed field. It was strangely fitting for Alex.

Alex Liddle: 4000

Kyo Anaki: 4000

"It's my first turn, I summon Runa the Moon witch in defense mode and then set two cards face down and end my turn." Kyo started off the duel.

Alex gave a dark smirk. "Runa the moon witch? say you don't happen to have a celestial deity deck do you?" Kyo narrowed her eyes in suspicion. How did he know her deck type?

She frowned. "I can't tell you that."

Alex smirked. "Oh well, you wish to do this the hard way. I summon Alice of aces in attack mode and I set three cards to face down. Go ahead My lady…May I say you have a wonderful head." Kyo blushed from the strange compliment.

"Uh…what…uhg nevermind…" Kyo contemplated her next move. "Should I attack? He has three facedown cards and I can't just run into an attack without thinking." Kyo shook her head. "I draw and I play Divine Dragon Ragnarok in defense mode. I end my turn now."

"You chose not to attack? Big mistake." He looked at one of his face downs and activated it. "I activate Looking Glass, this spell card will force your two monsters into attack mode." The second card flipped over, "when a spell is activated in my side of the field, I can activate my trap card. Red rose chains. This binds your monsters and keeps them from fighting and protecting you." The last card flipped over. "Lastly I activate the spell card. Vorpal blade. This equips my Alice of aces with a two hundred attack point boost. ATTACK WITH SNICKER-SNACK SLASH!" Kyo looked desperately around for action cards. On was stuck up one of the trees. She ran up and tried to reach it, only to have a smiling cat appear and take it from her.

"OH CRAP!" SLASH! Kyo fell to the ground after getting hit with the vorpal blade.

Alex Liddle: 4000

Kyo Anaki: 2400

Alex took a deep bow, "Forgive me for that harsh move, but this is a duel, it's not really a woman's game." Kyo growled from that last comment.

"Don't be so petty. I can duel as well as any man." Kyo knew she still had her two facedown.

"Well to finish my move I will set three cards face down and end my turn." Kyo gave a growl.

"Damn it another three face down card?" She contemplated about Alex move. Kyo thought of her first move and how not attacking didn't help. "Maybe attacking will help this time." Kyo drew her card. "I summon Dunames Dark Witch in attack mode and attack your Alice of Aces!" Alex smirked. "You fell again?"

"What?!"

Alex revealed his face down. "Stop attack forces your monster into defense mode." Then the next face down card activated. " Rose chains binds your monster and lastly I activate Jabberwocky's blood. This will increase Alice's attack by one hundred points! ATTACK WITH SNICKER-SNACK!"

Kyo darted to the side and nabbed an action card. "HA GOT IT! I ACTIVATE THE ACTION CARD MIRACLE! I negate your attack at the cost of half my life points."

Kyo Anaki: 1200

Alex Liddle: 4000

"Nice move Ms. Anaki…It seems I have toyed with you for long enough." Kyo narrowed her eyes.

"He's planning something…I just know it."

She watched as Alex took a deep bow. "For my main event I will summon up my ace monster. Since my lovely duel opponent graciously activated Alice's special effect."

"What special effect?"

Alex gave a Cheshire cat smile, "I activated two rose chains which allow me to use the monsters you graciously gave me to help me summon my new monster."

"WHAT NO!" but it was too late all three of her monsters were destroyed along with Alice of ace. In her place stood a tall man with a steampunk looking outfits and an iconic top hat with the card saying 10/8 on it. "You summoned…" Alex then finished her statement.

"The Hatter himself…yes, my lovely opponent. You will now see the true madness of the Hatter!"

Atem was watching Kyo's duel intently from his hospital bed. "Hey Atem, Kyo is really struggling out in that duel. Now she is wide open for an attack if she can't turn it around." Set sighed.

Atem shook his head. "No…she's got it…look at her eyes. They haven't falter one bit in this duel. She's staying level headed." Set frowned. "Atem…she's been hit twice and now she has no monsters. How can she win."

"Set trust me, there is something in her deck tha…" Atem then went quite as his eyes fell on the window.

Set noticed Atem's sudden silence and frowned. "Hey, babe what's wrong?"

Atem shook his head. "it's, Roderick…Eric Roderick is coming this way." Sure enough, a tall blond haired man walked in quietly.

"Mr. Caito?" Atem tilted his head and Set gave a dark glare.

"Yes? We weren't expecting you to be here."

Eric gave a deep bow and a sad look. "I am truly sorry for what happened to you Mr. Caito. It shouldn't have happened like that."

"This wasn't your fault Eric and please just call my first name. I don't really like the formalities."

Eric nodded. "Right uh…Atem we need to talk, about Mai."

Atem eyes grew. "What?! You know where Mai is don't you?" Eric gave a pained look.

"I think I do. I did a terrible thing Atem, I've made a grave mistake."

Set stood up and gave a dark glare. "You think you know where Mai is and you've made a mistake? I can see that you are talking out of guilt, so talk you scum! What did you do?"

Eric sat down in the chair and sighed. "I…I know who Amon is, I've been his partner in trying to get the Millennium spell books." Atem pushed himself up out of the bed quickly and gave Eric a hurt look.

"You're working with Amon?! Then tell me where I can find…ACK!" Atem hunched over and grabbed his shoulder. Set quickly helped Atem back in bed and looked over his left shoulder.

"You pulled some of the stitching." Atem frowned and looked up at Eric.

Eric flinched at the sight of Atem's fiery eyes. "Look the reason I'm here is to help you…"

Set then snarled at Eric. "HOW CAN WE TRUST YOU IF YOU WORK FOR AMON?! YOU COULD BE HERE TO FINISH THE JOB FOR ALL WE KNOW!"

"I know it's hard to trust me but I can tell you that Amon has the second book translated now. I think he plans to send Mai away to the asylums. I don't want he's planning to do there!"

Atem nodded and sighed. "Thank you for telling me this. It took a lot of courage to come here especially without Amon knowing."

Eric sighed. "I need to help you but I don't know how."

"You already did." Atem gave a kind smile. "

Set shook his head. "Atem you are much too merciful. That jerk wanted to stall us and gave Amon the chance to attack you and kidnap Mai!"

"And I don't wish to be spiteful either Set." Atem sighed as he turned his attentions back to the duel. He felt exhausted and his eyelids felt heavy.

"Damn…I'm really tired."

Set sighed. "Hey Eric…you should go back to the stadium and get ready for your duels."

Eric nodded. "Right…Get well soon Atem, the gods know that you'll need your strength."

Atem nodded and gave a quiet and tired smile. "Thank you, Eric. Again I am really grateful for your honesty and your bravery…very" Atem slipped into a slumber. Set sighed as he placed a hand on his forehead.

"He's burning up." Set decided to get a nurse. "Nurse! Nurse I think my friend is getting ill."

The nurse walked in and checked on Atem's temperature. "He has a slight fever. That is normal. I'll give him some medication for the fever."

Set frowned. "Wait normal!? This is a hospital isn't it supposed to be…"

"Sir this happens all the time because we have to be very sterile, Mr. Caito will be okay. He just needs to rest." Set frowned as he sat back into the chair and looked up at the tournament on T.V.

"Kyo please win this…Atem supports you I swear…but you know that already don't you."