Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, but I do own the characters that you don't recognize. Unless you don't know who Mai Valentine is.

Chapter 18: The Final Match

Kou rose from his hospital bunk and took a deep breath. After all that had happened to him and Shisei, he was in the final round of the 5th annual Japan National Tournament. To be invited to such a tournament was a great honor, but to make it to the final round…. 'Seto Kaiba won this tournament four times in a row, if I can win…"' he began to imagine himself surrounded by money and paying people to do his laundry and polish his sword.

'Oh yeah, big man, win the National tournament win the World Champion doesn't participate!"' commented Chiro, with a mental snicker.

'You shut up!"' Kou retorted. Chiro's voice was heard laughing in his head. Kou then only rolled his eyes as a beautiful blond, dark skinned woman entered the room.

"Are your ready?" Namia Shashimi looked at Kou and his bags. Kou smiled weakly.

"Yeah!" he said, perhaps a little to hearty. "As ready as I'll ever be!" he finished. He heard Chiro's laughter again. 'SHUT UP!"' he thought forcefully. Chiro laughed harder. Kou could just picture another version of himself (of course he had never seen Chiro) laughing insanely. He shook the image out of his head.

"Well, then you should get a move on!" Namia informed him. She could tell by the look on his face he was arguing with Chiro on something.

"Hey, aren't you going back to London today!" Kou suddenly asked. Namia, having lost her last match in the tournament, had no reason to stay in Japan, and would most certainly be returning to her home in London.

The female duelist nodded sheepishly. She felt as if she were leaving something hanging in the air, out in the open, by just leaving. She wouldn't even be allowed to watch Kou's next match. The schedule of a Regional Champion was very busy, after all. "Yeah, I- I have to go back today." she stated quietly. Kou just looked at her for a moment.

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'll see you again soon anyway." Kou said, vaguely. He turned and smiled at Namia with genuine happiness. "And even if I don't…" he continued. "I'm glad to have met you." with that, he picked up his bag, and left the room.

Namia blinked, for a small instant, in confusion. Then she too picked up her bag, and left the now quiet hospital room.

Osmos looked at the statistics he had gathered from the tournament's duelists. So far, only a few of the duelist were actually skilled enough to match someone like Yugi Moto. 'Hmm, I better get down to the arena, I have to make the announcement after the final match."' Osmos thought. Then his mind flashed back to the posting he had seen on the participates of the finals. 'Ah, yes, Mr. Nandao and Mr. Aragashi are going to be facing each other."' he, for a second, thought of interfering with the match. Perhaps turning it into a Shadow Game for fun. 'No, I have to keep those two alive if I want to have any hope of succeeding in my plan."' he thought. 'I just hope Chiro let's the kid duel with his own skill.'" Osmos thought, getting up and, for the final time of the tournament, left his special room in complete darkness.

Shisei stood ready in the arena, he had his deck, his priorities, and his goal, straight. 'Okay, I will beat Kou, no matter what. He will give me his all, and I'll give him my all!"' he told himself, as Kou entered the stadium. "Don't fail me, Dark Magician!" he looked from his deck to his best friend from so long ago.

"OKAY FOLKS!" the announcer did his usual announcements, but Kou and Shisei heard nothing of it. They also didn't see the LP score set. The only thing that broke their concentration, was one word. "DUEL!"

Kou-8000

Shisei-8000

Shisei drew his sixth card, he felt as though he had rehearsed this entire match, though he couldn't quite picture losing or winning. "I'll now set three cards, Kou!" he slid three cards into his own disk. Kou nodded to acknowledge this. "End turn." Shisei finished. Kou drew.

"I'll summon, Warrior Dai Grepher (1700/1600) in attack mode!" Kou inserted another card facedown at the same time as summoning a black clad swordsman with bulging eyes and muscles. "Now I'll end my turn." Kou told him.

Shisei raised an eyebrow. 'Usually Kou would be reckless and attack."' he thought to himself. Then he smiled slightly. 'Looks like Kou really has learned something from this tournament."' he slipped the top card off his deck. "I'll play the card I drew, say hello to Ring of Destruction and Barrel Behind the Door!" a glowing ring of bombs suddenly attached to Kou's monster. It's eyes bulged even larger as it was blown into pieces.

"Oh no!" Kou yelled, seeing his foremost defense gone and such a huge chunk missing from his LP. "Nice Sei!" he complemented his blond buddy.

Shisei smirked and flashed the thumbs up. "I'll end my turn there!" Shisei finished and Kou drew.

Kou-4600

Shisei-8000

"I'll start my turn with my Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) in defense mode, end turn." the ancient warrior appeared in a kneeling position.

Shisei responed by drawing a card. "I'll end my turn as well." Kou bit his lower lip. Shisei was obviously trying to lure him into an attack.

'I could attack… but then I might lose my last defenses."' he though, still biting his lip. Then he drew, seeing his loophole in Sei's strategy. 'Ha, Total Defense Shogun, if he's counting on me playing an attack mode monster, he'll be more than disappointed by my summoning this baby!"' he finished contemplating. "I'll sacrifice my Celtic Guardian, for Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500)!" a deadly looking warrior with his blade crossed over himself appeared.

'Oh no!"' Shisei gulped. 'His monster won't be affected by my Widespread ruin trap card!"' Shisei had to admit, if he didn't draw a good card in his next few turns, he was dead meat.

"I'll now attack you directly! And remember, my Shogun (1550/2500) is switched into defense mode, where it can attack!" he informed Shisei and the audience.

Kou-4600

Shisei-6450

Shisei drew after Kou ended his turn, his Shogun (1550/2500) back into a defensive position. After drawing, he looked at his facedown card and smirked. "Now I'll activate, Reverse of Reverse, and use your set card!" he pointed to Kou's facedown card.

Kou shrugged and flipped the card as per Shisei's card effect. "I don't know what you'd want with Zero gravity Sei…" he looked puzzled at Shisei's smirk. Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500) suddenly stood upright.

"Now I'll also set this card!" Shisei finished, leaving him with two cards facedown and four hand cards.

"I'll start by summoning Throwstone Unit (900/2000) in defense mode, and now I'll switch my Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500) into defense mode!" Kou began, just as he finished, a card on Shisei's field flipped.

"Say hello to a card I like to call Tragedy!" Shisei's trap glowed as its effect activated. "This baby allows me to destroy all defense monsters on your field." Kou looked shocked at this. "the only catch is, you have to have switched a monster from attack position, to defense position the turn I activate it, your Shogun (1550/2500) fits that role!" the blond flashed a thumbs up as Kou discard his monsters.

"Alright Sei, your really handing it to my monsters, but what are you going to do if you can't draw any monsters?" Kou asked. Sei shrugged the comment off. "I'll set two cards and end my turn, go!" Kou didn't sound forceful or snide at all. He was truly enjoying this duel, a duel against a friend, as much as his blond best friend.

Shisei drew. "I have more ways of getting a monster onto the field than normal summoning, Kou!" Shisei stated mysteriously. "I now play Autonomous Action Unit," the magic and trap duelist was on a roll now. "this allows me to revive a monster of yours at the cost of 1500 LP!" Shisei yelled across the ring at Kou. "And I choose… Total Defense Shogun!" he smirked as the creature was summoned.

"Yeah, but It'll be in attack mode." Kou would have hated to see his favorite monster in the hands of another duelist normally, but when it was Shisei who controlled his monster, he could bear it.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, I plan to use him as a tribute." Shisei told him, not as proudly though. He felt bad for offering another duelist's monster as a tribute all the time, but this was horrible. 'I had to make sure the monster I used was weak, so Kou wouldn't be tempted to use a trap."' he reasoned with himself, selecting a card in his hand and inserting it into the disk. "I now activate Monster Gate!"

The audience and Kou gasped. "Hey, Sei, that's a little reckless, don't you think!" Kou knew full well the effect of Monster gate, and for Shisei to use it, meant he had nothing to lose.

"I know what I'm doing. Now I offer your beast." the Shogun roared as an odd panel appeared on the field and sucked it in. "Then I pick up card until I get to a monster, if the monster can be normal summoned, I special summon it." he drew one card, two. Three..four…five…six…eighteen…twenty…. "Now, I discard these twenty-six cards." Shisei discarded most of his deck, and slid a card down onto his monster card slot. "And I'll summon, Dark Magician Girl (2300/1700) in attack mode, since she gets an extra three hundred points from me discarding Magician of Black Chaos, I only need two turns to end it." Shisei finished his brilliant move, and Kou had to admit he wasn't feeling as confident as he could have been.

"Okay, then are you going to attack?" he taunted. He was close to losing again, and that meant it was time to play head games.

"I think I will, attack, Dark Magic attack!" his female mage sent a stream of black energy at Kou, who held up his hands in a blocking action. "I'll end turn with two more cards facedown." Shisei smirked, pushing the glasses he wore up on his nose. 'We can win, Dark Magician Girl (2300/1700)!"' he thought to his female mage.

Kou-2300

Shisei-4950

"Okay, Sei, now it's my turn!" Kou drew and looked at the hunter with Seven Weapons (1000/700). "I'll summon, Hunter with Seven Weapons (1000/700) in attack mode." his short, yet powerful hunter appeared in a fighting stance. "And I'll also declare Spellcaster as the type of monster he fights to gain 1000 attack points!" Kou felt better by seeing his warrior look mightier, just knowing it would get the bonus when it did attack.

Shisei raised an eyebrow. "Um, Kou, you must realize you're a few points short in attack power?" Shisei asked. The audience laughed, making Kou blush and scowl at Shisei.

"I know what I'm doing!" Kou declared, now as red as a tomato. "So now I'll activate Blast with Chain!" he smirked, thinking about how sweet of a movethis wasalready. "Now I'll attack you with my Hunter (2500/700) who gains a total of 1500 attack points from Blast with Chain and his effect!" he smirked as the Dark Magician Girl (2300/1700) shrieked and was cut to pieces.

"Activate Call of the Haunted!" Shisei yelled, he watched as his deadly formidable Magician of Black Chaos (2800/2600) rose from the grave. Kou gulped. "Now I have an even stronger magician, thanks Kou!" Shisei told him.

Kou-2300

Shisei-4750

"I'll set another card facedown then!" Kou ended, with a slight growl. "I guess your not planning on running out of cards to draw, huh?" Kou then asked his best friend.

Shisei looked at his dwindling deck. He had about 7 cards left. Which left him seven turns, to end this. "No, but now, you get to face my real power! Get ready, Kou!" Shisei drew.

Next time: Shisei and Kou continue their duel. There may not be the soul of someone important on the line, but Kou and Shisei still give the duel their all. Who will win, with Shisei running out of deck, and Kou out of strategies, find out next time, on Duel Monster :Maximum!