Here it is, Kira vs. Kaiba, with one of Seto's precious Blue Eyes White Dragons on the line!

The two duelists stood across from each other on the top of the newly rebuilt Alcatraz Dueling Tower. Seto hadn't planned to use the tower so soon after the last Battle City Tournament, but he was glad that he had finished having it built (only after several months and the firing several incompetent contractors). He wasn't planning to hold another tournament, not for a while anyway. From his vantage point, Kaiba could see everything he had worked so hard to obtain and build in a short time. On his left, the gleaming glass tower of Kaiba Corp rose out of the center of the surrounding buildings. To his right, the promising signs of the construction of KaibaLand were evident. The young CEO smiled to himself, then looked out in front of him, at the sky. The Dueling Tower. It was his favorite arena for dueling. He loved the way it made him feel to be up there – powerful, invincible, in control. Things he hadn't felt when he was younger, trying to protect his little brother at the orphanage and then trying to stand up to Gozaburo. But now he had the control and the power. Alcatraz and the expanded KaibaLand were proof of that. Kaiba adjusted the duel disk system on his left wrist. Just love the way the bottom of my coat blows in the wind up here . . .

"Are we going to actually duel, or do we all have to just stand here while you daydream?" Kira asked from the other side of the arena. Duke, who had come to watch the duel, stood nearby, looking rather uneasy as he gazed around.

"Yeah! Let's go, Seto!" Cheered Mokuba, standing on his brother's side of the field. "Good luck, Kira! You're going to need it if you think you can beat my big brother!" She smiled and waved at him in appreciation. In spite of his brother's overly obvious apprehension, Mokuba liked Kira a lot, but as always his loyalty remained with Seto.

"Just get it over with fast, Kira," Duke whispered loudly enough for both of the Kaiba brothers to hear.

"Time to duel!" Kira simply nodded in agreement as they both drew six cards. "My field, so for my first move, I place this face down, and summon Sword Stalker to the field. Your move."

"Then I place one card on the field face down, and end my turn." Seto stared at his cards, trying to determine his next move. I wish I knew what that card was . . . I'll just have to risk an attack.

"I summon a new monster to the field – the Rude Kaiser! Now I have two monsters, while you have none to defend yourself. Rude Kaiser! Attack her life points directly with fore-arm slash!"

"Activate Mirror Force trap card! Destroy his monster!" Seto shielded his eyes with his right arm as his Rude Kaiser shattered and then disappeared. So it had been a trap card. Straightforward move. Would her entire strategy be this obvious?He lowered his arm and started to laugh Kira's smile faded when she heard him.

"So you stopped my Rude Kaiser. Minor loss for me. But because you destroyed that weaker monster, my Sword Stalker gets twenty percent more attack points. It's your turn." Kira frowned slightly in response, but said nothing as she studied the cards in her hand. "What's the matter? Don't have anything good enough to play? You're not giving up already, are you?" Seto mocked.

"Unlike most of your past opponents, I'm not that easy to defeat, Kaiba," his opponent warned calmly. She placed another card face down on her disk, and it immediately appeared on the field. Seto was still trying to figure out her strategy, though she didn't seem to have one. I'll bet anything it's a monster this time. Same maneuver Pegasus made earlier. "One card face down, and I summon my Tri-horned Dragon to the field in defense." A powerful monster by most standards, but just one of his Blue Eyes Dragons would wipe the floor with the creature. What he didn't understand was why she didn't attack him. Even with the power boost he had just received from the destruction of the Rude Kaiser, his Sword Stalker was a much weaker monster than the dragon Kira had just summoned. She could easily send him to graveyard, leaving only his face down cards standing in defense of his life points. There had to be some unusual strategy involved, but what was it? "Your move." She won't expect me to attack the face down card. The CEO smirked.

"Then I will summon Versago the Destroyer to the field," he announced as the placed the card face down on his disc. And now I will attack! Sword Stalker, attack her face down card with vengeance strike!" Suddenly, Kira's Freed the Brave Warrior was revealed, only to be destroyed by the Sword Stalker's attack. She really is crazy if she thought I was going to attack that dragon. Kira smiled broadly as her life points dropped 600 points down to 3400. Yes. Kaiba had played right into her hand. Kaiba was still at 4000, and couldn't understand why she was still smiling. If I'm going to win this, I have to figure out her strategy!

"My move. First, I will summon Silent Swordsman to the field. Then, playing my magic card Cross Soul I will sacrifice your Sword Stalker along with my Swordsman and 1000 of my life points." What is she doing? She can't hardly afford to lose so many life points so early in the duel! "And now all of your monsters go to the graveyard as well."

"WHAT? No, you can't do that!" Seto protested as Versago also disappeared, along with his face down card. Then his life points dropped by 2400 points.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. This special summon means that you lose 300 life points for every card on the field and in your hand, while we both have to discard all cards in our hand and draw five new ones." Kira took a deep breath and brushed a piece of hair off of her face. Dueling was work, but it was good to be back. The look on Seto's face was enough to scare his own brother into moving away. "And now my monster will be revealed! Chaos Emperor Dragon come forth!" The monster that appeared was the largest single dragon Seto had ever seen in all of his years dueling.

"Wow." Mokuba breathed. Seto looked down at him.

"Just another monster for me to destroy." He stated, but he was incredulous at how quickly his life points had dropped down to 1600 with one very creative move by Kira. His strategy would be slightly delayed, since he had already had one Blue Eyes Dragon in his hand, but now had none. And I played just the way she needed me to.

"I will place one card face down on the field and then summon the Tri-horned Dragon back to the field. Because I special summoned Chaos Emperor Dragon, he cannot attack this round, but that hardly matters since you now have no monsters on the field." Kira grinned. Just wait until you see the rest of what I have planned . . .

"That's what I'm talking about!" Duke shouted. "In your face, Kaiba!"

"This duel isn't over yet!" Seto yelled in response, then frowned at his own outburst. "I never lose, today's no exception." Kira smirked at his attempt to maintain the appearance of control. But it's close to being finished.

That's it for now, end of the duel in the next chapter. so will Kaiba win like usual, or does Kirastill have some moves to turn it her way? Let me know what you think! And thanks to everyone who reviews!