Wow, I'm impressed of how many reviews I got. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, believe it or not there was some leftover cake.

Disclaimer: don't own yu-gi-oh or 3 of the awesome oc's.

"And now the third letter. A." Bakura announced. Yami was now down to 750 lifepoints, Bakura had a magic card The Dark Door in play making it so Yami could attack only once.

"I have two turns left." Yami said worriedly. Bakura smirked cruelly.

"There is no weakness in my occult deck, give up now."

"I'll never give up. I play two cards face down," Yami started off. "And now I'll play Monster Recovery. I'll take back all my monsters and leave Kuriboh in attack mode, since Kuriboh's the only one left your spirit will possess him."

"so what?" Bakura asked frowning.

"Now watch, I activate Chain Destruction destroying Kuriboh and your spirit." Yami said with a grin.

Bakura growled "You may have gotten rid of my spirit but now the Destiny Board points to the fourth letter. T."

"D-E-A-T..." Yami smirked "I see, your message spells out Death, too bad it won't come true. I don't intend to die."

"We'll just see."

"Come on Yami!" Cat cheered.

"Why don't you tell your little girlfriend to pipe down." Bakura snapped "In one turn all five letters of the Destiny Board will be spelled out and you will lose."

Yami just smirked "Sorry Bakura, but I don't think your Destiny Board will complete it's message, I will destroy it in one turn."

"Is it a bluff?" Bakura questioned himself. He Bakura had 3700 lifepoints, one monster on the field and of course his powerful combo, Yami only had 750 lifepoints, no monsters and a face down card. If Bakura simply attacked him with one monster he'd win.

"Not so brave are you Bakura?" Marik asked appearing beside him, Bakura merely scowled at him. "Now just hear me out, I admire this strategy of yours but unfortunately for you Yami figured out your weak point."

"What?"

"Dark Necrofear who moves the planchette must be buried in your graveyard in order for the Destiny Board to continue it's terrifying message."

"Monster Reborn." Bakura hissed, "That's his facedown card, and if I attack he'll use it defensively, if I don't he'll activate it on his next turn destroying the Destiny Board."

"Now hold on, there may be a way out of this..." Marik started off

"Shut up, I don't need your help."

Bakura drew and laughed.

"Alright Yugi, on my turn I sacrifice Earth-bound spirit in order to summon Earl of Demise." Bakura said. "Now Earl of Demise attack his lifepoints directly."

"I activate the magic card Monster Reborn and I will bring back Dark Necrofear!" the Destiny Board disappeared as Dark Necrofear took Yami's spot and attacked Earl of Demise bringing Bakura's lifepoints to 3500. "Your combo is as dead as the corpses you play with."

Bakura chuckled darkly "Are you sure Yugi?" he asked, Yami blinked in surprise. Destiny Board was back, along with Kuriboh, Dark Magician Girl, and Magnet Warrior. "Despite your trick there you couldn't escape the death sentence I have in store for you."

"B-but how?" Yami asked.

"Did I miss something?" Anzu asked

"Yeah, all of Yugi's monsters are back and that weird board thing is still in play." Jounouchi exclaimed.

"Shall I reveal the trick? I played this. De Ja Vu."

"What?"

"The nightmare from a turn ago returns, except Chain Destruction, Monster Reborn, and Monster Recovery do not go back to your hand. There's no way to climb out of the grave I've dug up for you, It's over!"

"Oh no. Come on Yami don't give up," Cat cried.

"You've got this Yami!" Kay cheered.

"We're here for ya!"

Yami closed his eyes and drew his next card, it all depended on this last turn.

"Prepare to meet a power like no other." he exclaimed. A sudden wind picked up and lightning emitted the air. Bakura let out a cry of surprise "I sacrifice my three monsters in order to summont he almight Slifer the Sky Dragon." (insert dramatic music)

a Big Red dragon with spikes appeared. He had terrifying yellow eyes and two mouths full of sharp teeth, he let out a roar.

"H-how can this be happening?" Bakura yelled. "I was so close to defeating Yugi, and I don't have a card in my hand to turn this all around."

"whoa!" Kim gasped staring up at the terrifying monster.

"S-so this is Yugi's God card." Jounouchi said in awe. Kay's eyes were wide as well, she had never seen the God in action before.

Bakura had a fleeting hope that the evil spirit would possess Slifer, however the attempt was proven futile. "There's nothing I can do..."

"Thank you Bakura, your defeat will serve my purpose very well." Marik said inside his head.

"It's all over Bakura, Slifer Attack his lifepoints-" he paused, he had an eerie feeling. Just then Marik Ishtar walked onto the blimp.

"Marik!" Jounouchi kindly pointed out,

"Listen here Yugi, that boy is being held under my control." Marik said pointing to Bakura.

"What?"

"I'll show you proof, I'll release the evil mind that possesses your friend."

Kim blinked in confusement, she was so sure the evil Spirit was acting of his own accord. There was a pause and everybody looked anxiously over at Bakura, he stood there for a mere moment then let out a pained cry falling to his knees.

"M-my arm, it hurts!" he cried.

"Bakura!" Yami cried worriedly at the same time Kim yelled "Ryou."

"Y-yugi? What am I doing? What happened to my arm?" he asked weakly. Kim rushed forward a little

"Ryou, hey are you alright?" she asked. Ryou looked over to her and she could see this really was her friend.

"Kim? What's going on?" he asked her.

"Just hang on, we'll help you!"

"As you can see the boy is badly wounded, an attack from Slifer will devestate him, perhaps even take his life."

"What?" Kim exclaimed.

"You coward!" Yami yelled angrily.

"You filthy-" Jounouchi started to yell but stopped,

"Yugi continue on with the duel." Roland said, Yami stared over at his friend as he crouched on the ground whimpering in pain.

"what do we do?" Kim asked with clenched teeth, she didn't think the spirit would sink this low. Or maybe she did.

"Yugi! What are you waiting for? Just finish him off!" Kaiba yelled. Kay twitched.

"Ryou's life is in danger you idiot!" she shrieked towards him.

"If you don't continue the duel you will be disqualified." Roland threatened.

"Hey you!" Jounouchi yelled climbing up "If you don't stop this duel and get Bakura some help then he's not the only one who's gonna be hurt."

"If you don't get down you will be disqualified as well."

"What? Why you-!" Jounouchi was about to give him a piece of his mind but Otogi and Honda tackled him to the ground. Yami still hesitated about attacking.

"It seems we have won." Bakura said coldly looking down at his host.

"Yes," Marik agreed with a smirk. Bakura frowned at him before looking back down to Ryou who was still whimpering about his arm. He heard Kim's voice call out to him,

"Ryou! It's ok, we'll get you out of there, just hang on,"
Bakura's brow furrowed

"Even I have ways that I like to win and lose." Bakura said then smirked "Marik, I must step in, I need him."

there was a sudden flash and Bakura picked himself up from the ground.

"Yugi, go ahead strike."

"Bakura?" Yami exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't worry, your little gaming friend won't be harmed," Bakura assured him, he had a mad glint in his eye "go ahead attack me!" he threw his arms wide open.

"You asked for it, go Slifer, attack him and destroy the rest of his lifepoints."

Bakura laughed maniacally as the blow hit him. "I'll let you win this duel, but in the end, the power of darkness will be mine!" A moment later Ryou lay wounded on the ground as his lifepoints hit 0.

"And the winner is Yugi Muto!"

Kim climbed upwards and ran towards Ryou.

"Ryou! Are you alright?" she asked kneeling down just as Yami slid an arm around him. Ryou opened his eyes weakly and looked over at Kim.

"W-what happened?" he asked "Where am I?"

"You're safe with your friends now." Yami assured him. Kim gave him an assuring smile as she placed a hand on his forehead gently stroking his white hair. Everybody else had gathered around him.

"We gotta get him back to the hospital." Jounouchi said worriedly.

"So we need Kaiba to land this thing." Kay said.

"Here place him on my back." Honda instructed crouching down. Together Kim and Yami helped Ryou onto Honda's back and he began to carry him off the chilly battlefield.

"Speaking of health, are you alright Kim?" Yami asked, his violet eyes flickering to her shoulder. Kim nodded,

"I'm fine Yami, thanks though." she turned and began to follow the group. Yami stood there and began to ponder some things about his duel.

"Yami?" Cat asked quietly, Yami turned to her and gave her a half smile. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that the evil spirit and I aren't so different. We both depend on a person to keep us safe and we take control now and then." he trailed off "I don't know what I would have done if the spirit hadn't stepped up and taken back control."

"it must have been a tough spot." Cat sympthesized. "But if you really do think about it yes you do have some things in common but remember you are good, he is evil. You're trying to help us and you have friends. That spirit has nobody and he's doing all he can to destroy everything."

Yami smiled "You're right, thank you Cat." she just smiled back and gave him a thumbs up.

"No problem."

there was a flash and Yugi now took Yami's place.

"Hold it, Battle City regulations say you may take Ryou Bakura's rarest card."

"That's ok. Bakura's already had enough on his plate." Yugi said then ran to join his friends.

Unbeknownst to everybody Anzu had picked up the millennium ring that had fallen from Ryou's neck.

"Attention finalists, round two of the battle city finals will take place in twenty minutes."

"We've got to get Kaiba to land the blimp and get Ryou into a hospital." Honda said, Kay nodded,

"He's definitely been through a lot." she agreed. Kim sighed,

"Some crazy stuff went down in that duel," Jounouchi looked away, "especially when Marik showed up. What exactly happened back there?"

"For some reason, Marik didn't want the Spirit of the Ring to lose. So when I was about to play my Egyptian God Card and win the duel, Marik used his Millennium Rod to free the real Bakura. Since he was injured, Marik knew I would forfeit the duel instead of attacking him. But the Spirit must have been afraid I would attack Bakura, because he took control again at the end." Yugi explained.

"So, wait, do you mean to tell me the Dark Spirit of the Millennium Ring let you win?" Jounouchi asked.

"Yeah, because he depends on Bakura to survive and if I attacked Bakura with Slifer, the Spirit might have been in danger too."

"I'm confused."

"What else is new?" Kay muttered.

"Even though the evil spirit was in control, you still ended up attacking Bakura."

"No. Since the evil spirit was in control of Bakura when I attacked him, the real Bakura was spared." Anzu looked at Yugi.

"This is all so confusing."

"Not really." Everyone looked at Kim. "If Yugi had attacked Ryou with Slifer, Marik pointed out that the overwhelming power may have been enough to kill him. But Ryou's still alive, which means the spirit took the full blown attack." Yugi nodded.

"Right." Anzu pursed her lips.

"The way this all sounds, it seems that Marik and the evil spirit were in this together." Kim looked up at her hopefully. Cat nodded.

"Right, I really can't see the Spirit letting himself get controlled so easily," she trailed off.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how or why. I just know we can't let Marik win this tournament, and hopefully that evil spirit won't be coming back again." Yugi sighed. "I don't know about you, but I've had enough of evil spirits and mind controlling for one day." Jounouchi stood up suddenly and everyone gasped in surprised.

"Grr, I'm sick of that Marik! Come on! Let me at him!" he yelled.

"Hey! Don't get yourself in trouble again!" Shizuka said.

Kay sighed and started for the door "I'm going to go get kaiba to land this blimp. Bakura needs help." Cat jumped at her side.

"I'll come with."
Everybody agreed and started to follow Kay out,

"I'll stay here with him." Anzu volunteered,

"I'll be here too." Kim offered. Kay smirked.

"Oh by all means." she said then disappeared out before Kim could tackle her. When they all disappeared she let out a breath of relief. Anzu went to stand over at the window looking out, she said nothing. Kim remained in her spot on Bakura's bed starting to ponder, would this change in Marik's plan?
Bakura was defeated and currently unconcious, did that save her from his evil scheme? She sighed and placed a hand on Ryou's cheek,

"You saved him." she murmured softly. "I guess I can see why...but you would have won, Yami wouldn't have attacked. Did you underestimate him or were you playing it safe?" she asked to nobody in particular.

The door opened and Kim was surprised to see that it was Marik, he smirked down at her.

"Protecting your boyfriend are we?" he asked standing beside her.

"He...is not my boyfriend." she said through clenched teeth. "what do you want anyway? Anzu's here with me." she turned only to see Anzu's back was still turned to her, Kim frowned.

"Your little friend is under my control now, she'll have no memory of what happens in here between you and me."

Kim glared at him "You're such a coward Marik." she spat.

"Testy." Marik taunted then smirked at her "I came to make sure you'll still hold up your end of the agreement between you and the spirit."

"It's not an agreement you idiot." Kim seethed. "Maybe I will and maybe I won't."
Marik simply chuckled.

"I hope for your sake that you will. Even if he's gone that doesn't mean that you're free. After all if worst comes to worst I can always take control of your mind." his tanned fingers began to stroke her cheek "We wouldn't want that would we?" he whispered.
Kim swatted his hand away and stood up,

"Keep your hands off of me." she said angrily. Marik chuckled some more, "I'm not afraid of you Marik, there is nothing stopping me from telling them."

"I beg to differ." Marik replied then glanced down at the sleeping Ryou. "They're both in very critical condition and I know you at least care for one if not both of them."

"Both? No way, and leave Ryou out of this, he's gone through enough already."

"Don't test me my dear." Marik threatened narrowing his eyes at her dangerously then lifted the real millennium rod up to her, she backed away only to realize the wall was behind her, Marik placed a hand on the wall leaning in, the cool metal touched her bare neck and she flinched upon contact. "Really. I do not wish to harm you, keep quiet and nobody gets hurt."

With that said he placed the rod back into his belt and began to walk off.

She scowled behind his back and sat back down at the edge of Bakura's bed.

"Hang in there," she murmured.

Meanwhile Jounouchi was pounding his fist angrily against Kaiba's door."OPEN THE DOOR! LET'S GO, KAIBA!" he yelled.

"Are you nuts?" Mokuba cried, waving his arms to try and get Jounouchi to stop. "He's preparing for a duel! Stop it!"

"I'm talking to you, Kaiba! Get out here now-" The door opened and Seto glared down at a rather surprised and somewhat frightened Jounouchi coldly.

"If it isn't Jounouchi. You're lucky to even be in my tournament, and yet you insist on making a nuisance of yourself over and over again."

"Grr…THAT DID IT!" Honda stepped in front of Jounouchi before he could do something stupid.

"Hey, this is no time to pick a fight, so just calm down, man."

"Honda is right," Kay said shoving Jounouchi out of the way.

"Kaiba, you've got to help us!" Yugi said.

"Now what?" he asked, annoyed.

"Bakura's hurt! We have to land now! He needs to see a doctor right away, Kaiba."

"You're asking me to do the impossible." Seto sat in a chair. They were in his room at this point. "We can't make an unscheduled stop."

"Don't you understand? Bakura needs help!" Honda nodded.

"He's been unconscious since losing his duel." Jounouchi glared.

"And if he gets any worse than he is right now, you'll be responsible!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Kay stepped forward.

"Please Kaiba, show some mercy." Shizuka said bowing her head.

"How can you say no?" Honda asked.

"He shouldn't have left the hospital in the first place. This is Bakura's own fault."

"Kaiba! Please!" Kay started. "Someone's life is more important than a game! What if it were someone else? What if it was Mokuba instead of Bakura who was hurt? Would you refuse to land and get him help too?" she asked. Kaiba blinked in both annoyance and surprise, he tried not to show how that kind of affected him.

"Listen to her, Kaiba."

"Yeah, she makes a good point."

"What's wrong with you?" Jounouchi snapped..

"Stupid girl..." he thought.

"I've had enough of this attitude, Kaiba. Find a way to land this blimp, pronto, or get ready to say hi to the business end of my fist!"

"I told you, we're not landing, Jounouchi." He stood up.

"Then let's dance!" Seto turned and walked away from him. "Hey! Come back!"

"Relax, Jounouchi!" Yugi said, holding him back.

"What gives?" Honda asked. Kay watched him. Seto pushed a button on a device on the wall.

"Send a medical team to Bakura's room."

"Good call, Seto!" Everyone looked at Mokuba. "Kaiba Corp's on-board medical staff has better training than the doctors at most hospitals do. Bakura's in good hands here." Everybody nodded, Kay smiled slightly.

"That's a relief." Adelinda nodded.

"Yeah!" She turned to Seto and bowed. "Thank you, Kaiba-sama."

"Hmph." He shrugged.

They exited the room and decided to use the remaining ten minutes to have a little bit of time to themselves. Honda and Otogi had gone up to the stratos level for some unknown reason.

"Hey Kay," Cat began "Have you noticed something strange with Kim?" she asked quietly.

"No..." Kay trailed off.

"Come to think of it," Kristen imputed. "she has been looking rather stressed. And earlier she seemed to really dislike being around Bakura."

"I kind of figured she was just worried about their injuries." Kay said thoughtfully, but she remembered Cat saying that Kim generally called Ryou by his first name, nobody else did. Yet she had addressed him by his last name except when Ryou was hurt on the field.

"Well, maybe. But I don't know." Cat said worriedly. "Maybe I should go check up on her."

"No, give her a moment to be with Ryou." Kay said "Besides they're both injured, just give her a moments peace before the next duel,"

Honda and Otogi were dangling off the edge of the blimp, dangerously close to falling.

"Oh no, Otogi I'm sorry." Honda cried as his hand slipped. Suddenly a tanned hand grabbed his, when they looked up they were surprised to see a young man dressed in robes and a turban holding onto them. But when they were safely aboard once again the man had disappeared; he later appeared in Yugi's room to give him a message.

"My Pharoah." he said respectively kneeling down, "It is an honor. I have great confidence in you, but Beware of those around you, not everybody is who they seem to be. Win this tournament." he warned. Yami nodded.

"I will Shadi."

"all finalists please report to the main room. The next two duelists will be chosen."

"Ishizu." Shadi said, the young woman looked over at Shadi who was now sitting at a vacant chair "Once again evil is threatening our world."

"Yes, but I never thought it would be my own brother." the woman said sadly "Oh Marik, how could you? But-I will save you, I know there's still some good within you."

Shadi felt something disturbing, frowning slightly he opened the door that felt eerie. All he saw was a young girl sitting on the bed of another young man. Another girl stood at the wall holding a millennium item."My key shileds me from their sights. Wait...this feeling, it's strongest in this room." he mused, he gazed at the sleeping Bakura in wonder, but beside him, the small girl that was looking at him concerned made him feel even more distrubed. "I feel that the destinies of certain millennium items are being manipulated, and until harmony is restored the entire world is in danger."

His cold blue eyes looked again to the girl "This girl, she gives off a strange aura. Darkness surrounds her heart but her mind isn't. What is this?" frowning he thought about having a look into her mind but in the end decided against it. "I do not think she's a great threat at the moment." again his gaze flickered to the sleeping boy and he frowned thoughtfully before disappearing from the room.

Everybody gathered back to the room from earlier.

"Finalists and guests, may I have your attention please, the second round of the finals is about to begin."

"and the duelist is..number two, Katsuya Jounouchi."

"Aw yeah baby!" Jounouchi crowed "Who's my opponent."

"The duelist facing off Jounouchi will be...number seven, Marik Ishtar."

"It's go time." Jounouchi said, Marik only gave him a somber look. "I hope you brought a parachute because I'm going to blow you off this blimp."

"Once again, duelists follow me, the rest of you are free to watch the duel." Roland said and began to lead the two.

Kim ran into the room just as everybody was hurriedly going towards the elevator.

"i-I heard Jounouchi was dueling Marik." she said, Kay nodded.

"Yep. I gotta see this."

"Er..." Kim started off lookingn for Yugi, but one look at the real Marik made her stop. She scowled slightly at him and followed her friends up. "good gosh, I can't get a break." she thought to herself.

They all arrived at the top and Marik and Jounouchi began to shuffle one anothers decks, however after only a few rounds of that Marik held onto Jounouchi's deck patiently waiting for Jounouchi to finish.

"Man, Jounouhchi looks really fired up." Yugi said. Kristen nodded beside him in agreement.

"Of course when that happens he tends to shoot his mouth off." Honda remarked.

"Doesn't he always do that?" Kay asked.

Kim stayed silent watching the two, in a way she kind of felt sorry for this Marik poser, she glanced at the real Marik who was only gazing up at the two.
"Enough's enough," she thought to herself "Hopefully I can get my message to one of my friends, I just need to wait for a few more minutes."

"Jounouchi has to stay focused...and stop shuffling his deck." Mai said.

"I hope he does alright."

"Oh, Shizuka, I almost forgot that this is your first time seeing Jounouchi duel." Anzu said.

"That's right,"

"Well I'm sure with you here he won't lose." Kim raised an eyebrow, when did she get there?

"That is if he gives up Marik's cards." Kay said.

"Alright that's enough, you've shuffled his deck enough for ten duels, now take your positions." Roland commanded.

"alright you bald freak, according to my math you'll be all washed up in nine turns." Jounouchi declared.

"Uh...where did he come up with nine?" Otogi asked.

"With Jounouchi it's best not to ask." Kim sighed.

"I'm guessing Jounouchi's not the brightest at math." Kay said with a snicker. Cat and Kristen merely sweatdropped.

"My brother's so awesome, he's already calculated the duel in his head,"

"That's right Shizuka you keep believing that." Mai said.

Suddenly Marik brought out a strange object. It was gold with a ball tip and bat like wings at opposite sides with a eye carved into the middle. It looked simmilar to the millennium rod Marik had threatened Kim with a few minutes ago.

"Hey, point that thing somewhere else and duel like a man." Jounouchi shouted.

"Very well." he said,

"Let's duel!"

they each gained 4,000 lifepoints and Jounouchi began the duel with "Marik Ishtar" vowing revenge for himself and his friends.

To Be Continued.

Alrighty's, since it's pretty much a part of the show I figure if you really want to watch the duel just find it online or read the manga.

So review, have a nice day and brush your teeth.

See you next chapter.