Disclaimer: Take a guess whether I own Yugioh. If you guess right, I'll give you indigestion!

Chapter 30: A Remarkable Challenge

Shisei looked at the landscape in front of him. It was a dazzling sight, to be on the top of the mountain. He saw the sparkling ocean and the many forests glowing with their brilliant light. "Hey, were only a few miles away from the castle by what I can see!" he yelled to Namia and Ryuko, who were talking behind him.

"Alright!" Namia responded. She picked up the Swiss Army Knife she was using to cut open some fish that Ryuko had caught. "You'd think they'd at least have a food stand." she said in annoyance at having to carve and cat her own food.

"Ha, you just got to know how to do it, then it's easy!" Ryuko said. Namia looked doubtfully at Ryuko, who was already cooking his small trout.

"Whatever you say." she replied as Shisei came back from the edge, where he had inspected the view, and grabbed the last fish. As he began to scale it, Namia took off her fingers and set them down.

"Okay, how many do we have, not counting Kou's until we can find him?" she asked. Shisei took off his own fingers and set them beside Namia's. "One, two, three…" Namia counted aloud. Ryuko added the four he anted. Namia looked at him in shock.

"I lost didn't I?" Ryuko smirked Shisei's eyes suddenly got teary and he rushed over and hugged the young dragon duelist.

"WE HAVE EIGHT FINGERS! WE HAVE EIGHT FINGERS!" he shouted to the whole world. "NINE COUNTING KOU'S!" he finished, tossing Ryuko up and down he was so happy.

"Um, Sei, you wanna put that fire on your leg out!" asked Namia worriedly. Shisei stopped and looked down to see the flames on his left leg slowly moving up.

"AHHHHHH! HOT HOT HOT!" he yelled. He dropped Ryuko and began an odd dance around the entire camp, making Namia laugh until he stopped when his leg was safe. "Oh ha-ha!" he glared at Namia as she finished laughing and put the fish over the fire.

"Well at least we have something to look forward to." Ryuko said, looking up at the large castle where Osmos stayed.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Osmos sat in front of the top three duelists in the world. Ready to explain his tournament's rulings to them and what their place would be. Yugi Moto, Joey Wheeler, and Seto Kaiba all sat in nervous silence as Osmos straightened his tie and began. "I hope you enjoyed the plane ride over here, and I hope you enjoy your stay in this, my beautiful castle of the stars." he said, motioning around himself to the castle they were in.
"Why the hell did you ask us to come here again?" Kaiba asked, cutting straight to the point. Osmos smiled toward Kaiba.

"Very simple, Mr. Kaiba." he started, taking a seat across from the other three duelist. "I want a bit of publicity for my tournament." he stated. To say this was a bit untruthful would have been an understatement. The reason he wanted Yugi at the tournament, and only Yugi, was so that the blond boy would feel the need to participate. After all, Osmos had at first, thought Shisei harbored the spirit of the seal holder. 'Damn that blond brat, I went through all this trouble and I still didn't get what I need because it was his damn best friend!"' he though to himself, a sour expression crossing his face for a moment.

"Uh, you okay man?" Joey asked him. He nervously scooted his chair back a few inches.

"Fine, fine Mr. Wheeler." Osmos continued. "Now as you all know, this tournament will have many very good duelists, it is your main job to be the sort of "Final Competitors" that they must face," he began.

"So instead of having a finals round between the top two duelists…" Yugi began questioningly.

"You will be the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final contestants, in a way." Osmos said. "After you all have won or lost your duels, the duelists will move on to challenge me." Osmos smiled and awaited comments.

"Why would anyone want to duel you after us!" Kaiba asked rudely. Osmos glared at him. "By what my men told me, your hardly in the top twenty." he finished with a mocking smirk.

"Yeah well from what I heard, Kaiba, your hardly in the top twenty animals closest to human!" Joey glared. He loved insulting Kaiba, even when there was no reason for it. Yugi raised an eyebrow to his best friend. But Joey ignored this and smirked mockingly at Kaiba. "You didn't even rank in with the ape, isn't that something?" he smirked.

"Well at least I have more than twenty brain cells, something you couldn't vouch to in an alternate dimension, dog." Kaiba's lip curled into a cruel smile as Joey lunged, getting held back by Osmos.

"Enough bickering, allow me the time to finish." Osmos said, pointing to Joey's seat and motioning for him to take it. Kaiba rolled his eyes and muttered something about the ultimate boredowm. "To answer your question, Mr. Kaiba, the only reason I'm a lower contender is because I haven't the time to spend every second of my time thinking up new ways to beat a spiky haired midget in a child's game!" he said sinisterly, leaning in so that only Kaiba could here.

Kaiba stood up, just as tall as Osmos and glared at him. "Mokuba will be duelin in my place." he informed Osmos, who was standing up to his full height and smoothing his tie. "I'll be leaving to manage my company." Kaiba stated, striding out of the room, stopping only to grab his briefcase.

"You two may report back to your rooms, if you wish." Osmos stated. Yugi and Joey hurried out into the corrider, anxious to separate themselves from Osmos.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Kamishiro looked up as the clouds passed over him., seeing the bright sky made him happier than ever before. Well it wasn't really the sky that made him so ecstatic, it was actually the fact that he had creamed Chiro and his "host" , Kou in a duel. 'Fools though they could beat me, looks like they thought wrong!"' he said to himself, just as he crossed the final stretch of the mountain he was climbing.

"Hey, are you headed to the castle too?" Shisei's voice reached the ears of the cloaked man. Kamishiro turned and looked at the blond youth in surprise. "Cause we need another duel, want to bet us a finger or two?" Shisei finished. Namia and Ryuko appeared from behind him.

"KAMISHIRO!" Ryuko yelled suddenly, forcing all in his present company to cover their ears. "What are you doing here!" he added.

"Ah, young dragon, did you defeat the ones Osmos asked?" Kamishiro responded, wondering who the people with the young dragon duelist were.

"Nope, they said Osmos would betray me. Speaking of which," Ryuko began. "you should get out of Osmos's circle too, he almost stole these guy's souls!" Ryuko had been told the story of how Namia and Kou had a duel for their soul due to the soul eater on the mainland, and about other things.

"Ah, so these are the young, yet powerful Namia and Shisei, I presume?" Kamishiro asked silkily. He was going to enjoy this.

"Yeah, and you work for Osmos." Shisei stated. He didn't extend his hand, but Kamishiro wouldn't have shook even if he did.

"Um, are you guys okay?" Ryuko asked Namia and Shisei. He didn't really understand why they couldn't just all be friends. "Don't worry, Kamishiro wouldn't hurt a fly!" he finished.

"AH, but killing a fly I would do." Kamishiro stated. Ryuko looked up at him with shock on his boyish face.

"Wha-what do you mean, killing I would do?" he asked slowly.

"Kouichi Nandao was a very big fly, he had to be swatted." Kamishiro stated. Shisei's eyes widened in horror at what he was hearing.

"What did you do to him!" he asked in building anxiety. Kamishiro still unknowingly smiled.

"He's dead, his body is gone and so is his soul, but to a place more despicable than the Shadow Realm!" Kamishiro said.

"NO!" Namia yelled, unbelieving the man in front of her. "Your lying!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not, and soon you two will have to join him, right Ryuko!" Kamishiro finished. He then tossed back his head and laughed. Ryuko could feel the rage building inside of him, he could feel the pain of the others, he had to choose a side.

"I challenge you to a duel, Kamishiro!" he said quietly. Kamishiro stopped laughing and looked down at the young boy. "Well, do you except?" Ryuko finished.

Kamishiro slid his duel disk on his arm in happiness. "I have a better idea, we'll have a four way shadow duel!" suddenly the area around them was swept into the Shadow Realm and Shisei and Namia had their duel disk's on.

"You realize Ryuko will have to duel with us, and Namia's definitely dueling with me!" Shisei said. "So your outnumbered, three to one!" Kamishiro nodded as Sei finished.

"I understand perfectly, mortal, now lets make the stakes clear, we all betting souls?" Kamishiro asked. Shisei glared but knew he had no choice. Ryuko nodded with determination, but Namia spoke up with anger in her voice.

"You just killed Kou and now you want to kill us, well you won't win!" she said. "And if we win, you have to restore life to Kou and Chiro!" she yelled.

"Ah, fine, I suppose so, after all, the chances of that happening are none!" Kamishiro declared with a laugh. "And I will, unlike the usual way a duel of such caliber would take place, receive no extra draws, summons/sets, LP, or turns." Kamishiro replied boldly. "Now let's duel!" the four duelists adjusted their duel disks and their LP scores rose to full as they prepared to duel.

Kamishiro-8000

Shisei-8000

Ryuko-8000

Namia-8000

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Next time: The duel between are favorites and not so favirote duelists begin. Shisei's immediate strategy, is blocked by two cards, and with another simple card, Ryuko's dragons can't break through to attack. Can the three break through Kamishiro's defense and win? Find out next time on Duel Monsters: Maximum!

A/N: Okay, my keyboard stopped working for a while, well actually forever as we bought a new one, but I'm back and ready. Sorry for the delay of this chapter and sorry no actual dueling, but the next chappy will be doozy, so don't fall behind!

To Rex: Hm, didn't know that, but just so I don't confuse others, I'm going to refer to them as I did before, at least until the sequel!