As soon as Rishid introduced himself as Marik, he incurred the anger of many of those who were victims to the real Marik.

Jounouchi: "You bastard! There's no way in hell I'll let you off the hook!"

Rishid: "So we meet once again."

Jounouchi: "I wanna beat the hell out of you right here and now, but I'd rather settle this fair and square in a Duel. You better prepare yourself!"

Kaiba: "Leader of the tournament's evil organization, Marik. I'm free to disqualify you from this tournament. But rather than do that now, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp and take the god card away from you!"

Mokuba: "That's right! My big brother's going to take revenge for everyone!"

Rishid ignored them all and went to hand in his puzzle cards to Isono and Fuguta who handed him a qualifications card in exchange. It was taking a lot of willpower for Akia not to reveal the fact that Rishid was not Marik. She glanced at Namu and noticed that he was actually looking at her. When she caught his gaze, he quickly looked away and she thought she saw a faint redness on his cheeks.

Isono: "Will the eight finalists please give me your attention! I have an announcement to make. All of you have won the prelims and assembled here at the final location, Domino Stadium. However, this will not be the location of the finals."

Everyone looked confused at the statement.

Fuguta: "The real stage should appear before us momentarily."

Jounouchi: "What'd you just say?"

Yugi: "The real stage?"

Akia cocked her head in wonder. As if on cue, the spotlights got all angled upwards towards the sky. This naturally prompted everyone to look at what was above their heads.

Jounouchi: "What's that?!"

"This is…!"

In the sky, a gigantic blimp covered the sky. Akia's eyes sparkled in excitement. The blimp started descending to land in the stadium.

Honda: "Amazing…!"

Yugi: "That's the place of the finals?"

Mokuba: "That's right! And it's called the Battle Ship!"

Jounouchi: "Battle Ship?"

Mokuba: "That's right! The finals will take place one thousand meters in the air!"

The blimp's entrance opened up and stairs were laid out for the participants to board. Rishid was the first to board, followed by Marik. Mai then went next with Yugi, Akia, Bakura, and Jounouchi following behind her in that order.

Mai: "Dueling in the sky sounds pretty fun!"

Yugi: "Mhm."

"I love the enthusiasm, Yugi."

Akia chuckled while teasing her brother.

Yugi: "Heh, I wish I was as carefree as you sometimes."

Jounouchi: "I'm super pumped for this! Bet even you, Akia, can't match my enthusiasm."

"You're on!"

Anzu, Honda, Shizuka, Otogi, and Ishizu started boarding, but Fuguta and Isono stopped them.

Fuguta: "Hey, you can't board without an I.D. card!

Honda: "Huh?!"

Otogi: "No way!"

Anzu: "You're kidding!"

Shizuka: "No way… And I was looking forwards to watching my brother duel in the final tournament!"

Shizuka's eyes started filling up with tears. Otogi then came beside her. Ishizu observed, knowing that, in the end, they were all going to be let on the blimp eventually.

Otogi: "Can't you let it go?"

Honda joined in as well.

Honda: "Man, c'mon!"

Otogi: "Let us ride!"

Anzu: "Please!"

Shizuka: "I'm begging you!"

Fuguta and Isono, however, were having none of it.

Fuguta: "No means no."

Mokuba, having witnessed the whole scene, came forward.

Mokuba: "Hey! I don't have an I.D. card either. Just let them ride."

Fuguta: "But, Mokuba-sama…"

Mokuba then looked at Seto with an eager smile.

Mokuba: "Right, big brother?"

Kaiba: "Do as you wish."

Honda: "Then we'll accept your kind words!"

With that, they all went in, Ishizu getting through along with them. The Kaiba brothers then boarded the blimp, with the older one giving the order to set it off.

On the Battle Ship, the group of friends was all excited at how high up they were going. Akia looked back at Seto who was passing by.

"Well, you definitely did not disappoint this time, rich boy."

Kaiba chuckled.

Kaiba: "I never disappoint. As for you, I'm taking that title away from you in this tournament. You are way out of your league in this battle of the gods."

"We'll see about that. And I guess thank you for letting our friends on."

Kaiba: "I don't need your thanks."

Kaiba said as he walked away.

"You really make it hard to be nice to you!"

Akia yelled out at him. Even though she found him rude and insufferable, Akia was starting to dislike Seto less. She would never admit that, though. She then spotted Ishizu who was coming to her. They both smiled at each other.

"Glad you made it aboard."

Ishizu: "Wouldn't want to miss such an important event."

A voice then sounded in the Battle Ship's speaker, getting everyone's attention.

Isono: "We have arranged rooms for our eight finalists. You may access them with your I.D. cards. The tournament will begin in one hour. The match-ups will be announced at that time."

Akia looked at her card and then looked at Ishizu.

"Oh yeah, you don't have a room, right?"

Ishizu: "That's right. Only the duelists have them."

"Do you want to spend the duration of the tournament in my room?"

Ishizu smiled kindly.

Ishizu: "I'd appreciate that very much."

Mai came to join them.

Mai: "Did you just replace your bestie, Akia?"

Mai laughed. Akia linked her arm with Mai's and giggled.

"Never, you're my number one bestie!"

Mai: "Aww, Akia-chaaan!"

Ishizu couldn't help by smile at the heartwarming scene. All three women then went to find the rooms. Yugi and Kaiba went to their respective rooms right away, wanting to focus before the beginning of the tournament. Shizuka followed Jounouchi to his room, and, right behind them, Anzu, Otogi, and Honda planned to crash in Jounouchi's room as well. Bakura went to his room quickly as well, feeling that his host's body was in need of sustenance quickly, since the Spirit of the Ring had been overexerting him. Marik, trying to have as little contact with everyone as possible also headed to his room, just like Rishid. They both could not risk to have their ruse uncovered.

When it was just Akia and Ishizu in her room, the former called for room service since she was starving.

"Do you want anything, Ishizu-san?"

Ishizu: "Just a steak for me, thank you."

"JUST a steak?"

Akia exclaimed in surprise. Realizing that Ishizu was serious, Akia couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"I guess I'll take a nice big juicy lobster tail."

When the food arrived, they both started eating in silence at first. Ishizu was the one to break it, unexpectedly.

Ishizu: "You met my brother, right?"

Akia sighed, feeling a bit sad while remembering their meeting.

"Yeah, but I was blindfolded. One thing that I'm sure of, though, is that the guy claiming to be Marik is actually Rishid."

Ishizu nodded.

Ishizu: "Please don't hold it against him. Rishid also wants the same thing as me. We both want to save our brother from himself."

"I know. Rishid seems like a very caring person. I guess he is doing what he thinks is best to do right now."

Ishizu: "Thank you for understanding, Akia. I wouldn't blame you if you ended up hating all three us for what we've put you and your friends through…"

"I can't fault you or Rishid. As for Marik, no matter how much I might want to hate him, I just can't. Every time I want to forget him and fall in love with anyone, I literally can't. It's as if something outside of my willpower is compelling me to be with him."

Ishizu: "Destiny."

"Destiny? Destiny is what's keeping me from freely loving the one person who actually cares about me?"

Akia was getting heated. She wanted to want to be with Bakura, but it seemed that destiny had other things planned for her.

Ishizu: "Would you like to know more? I have seen more visions about the reason why you two are so inexplicably attracted to each other."

Akia looked straight into Ishizu's eyes and nodded firmly. She was extremely curious as to why all of this was happening to her.

Ishizu: "Very well. As you know, you are the reincarnation of the daughter of a priest that lived three thousand years ago."

Akia nodded again.

Ishizu: "Well, it turns out that Marik is also the reincarnation of a boy that lived during the same time as your past self. The vision were a bit blurry when I saw them, but it seems like you two had quite the intense love story. You promised each other that you would find each other again in the next lives to come."

The twin closed her eyes in contemplation.

"But what if I love someone else? Am I not allowed to feel that way? Just because of a promise that our past selves made to each other?"

Akia felt tears sting her eyes. She got up and headed for the door. Ishizu raised the front of her eyebrows in worry.

"I think I need some fresh air…"

Ishizu: "Akia…"

As Akia was walking though the empty corridors of the blimp, she decided to go check up on Bakura. She had seen the number on his keycard and knew which room he was in. As she was going there, one of the rooms opened up and Namu came out. They both froze as they looked at each other, completely taken by surprise by the other person.

Marik: "Oh…! Akia, right?"

His voice shook a little more than he intended.

"T-That's right! Namu…"

Akia stuttered, which was incredibly unusual for her.

"You're ready for the duels ahead?"

Marik: "Not sure… I got to admit I'm a bit nervous."

They both could not take their eyes off of each other, as if an external force was pulling them together. Akia, remembering Ishizu's words about her past life and destiny, was almost sure, within her gut, that this was Marik. Without thinking, they both started walking towards each other. Their hearts were beating faster and faster.

Marik: "You're so beautiful…"

Marik whispered longingly. Akia softly gasped at his words. She blushed, but did not break eye contact. It was taking every ounce of self-control from Marik not to hold Akia tightly in his arms and kiss her feverishly.

"I…"

As Akia was about to talk more to him, she felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind. Marik frowned at the sight. Confused, Akia turned her head and saw Bakura.

"Ryou…!"

Bakura: "Did you come to check up on me, Akia-chan?"

He said with a smile before looking up at Marik and glaring. Marik glared back. He wished he could just pull Bakura away from Akia and punch him, but he needed to prioritize his revenge.

"Yeah, actually. Are you feeling better?"

Bakura: "Now that you're here, yeah… Come with me to my room so that we can talk more privately."

The Spirit of the Ring, imitating his host, said cheerfully as he held Akia's hand and led her back to his room. Marik exhaled sharply and turned away. She was not his issue anymore. Why couldn't he just let her go?