Conner was making preparations for the finals of his tournament. He, Mila, and their employees were getting ready to go. All that was really left to do was wait for the other seven to show since Conner himself will be entering in the finals.

"It's almost time." Conner said.

"Our systems say that the necessary eight duelists who have the accumulated points have been made, including you of course." Mila said. "All that's left is to wait for them to show up. We already know that Ichika is one of them."

"Yes, and I'm hoping this Meldrick shows himself." Conner said. "Soon, I will have both Izanagi and Izanami, and become the strongest duelist in the world." Conner was ready for that, but he isn't aware of what else is on the line. Up in the stands, hiding in the shadows, was Oberin and Meldrick as they were getting their own plans ready.

"The stage is almost set." Meldrick said. "Soon, there will be nowhere for Ichika Orimura to run or hide. His power will soon be mine. Oberin, seeing as how you are my last servant, I'm going to need you now more than ever."

"I will do whatever I must to aid you." Oberin claimed. "What is your plan, Master Meldrick?"

"Those fools believe I am an acquaintance named Michael." Meldrick said. "They aren't aware of who I really am. We can use this to our advantage. You will enter pretending to be me, carrying a fake of my Mystic Gauntlet. With that, we will strike when they least expect it. Luckily, we will have a little help from the spirit that dwells inside the Mystic Pendent. With all this in place, all we have to do is win!" Meldrick can see his victory as he laughed it all out. However, Conner could hear him.

"Turn on the lights!" Conner ordered. The lights flashed on and he looked around, but Meldrick and Oberin were gone.

"Something wrong?" Mila asked.

"I thought I heard someone." Conner said as he knows there's something going on.

"Hey! Look over there!" Mila said as she pointed to one of the entrances. They all looked and saw Ichika and his group walking in. "The first three duelists are here: Ichika, Houki, and Hector."

"I'm not surprised to see you made here. I just wonder what took you so long." Conner said when they all arrived.

"Hello to you too." Ichika joked. "So this is where we're dueling?" He asked as he looked around and thought it was weird that it was empty. "There's no one else here. I figured there would at least be a crowd to see the finals."

"Are we really the first ones here?" Houki questioned.

"Yep. Including my brother, only four of the eight finalists have made it." Mila said.

"Well, at least we know we made it, but I was expecting a crowd to welcome us." Hector said.

"Don't worry. We'll address that soon enough." Mila said and soon spotted someone. "In fact, look over there. It looks like one of the other finalists made it!" They all looked towards the entrance to see who it was. What none of them knew is that it was Meldrick himself.

'My victory is soon at hand!' Meldrick thought as his plan was already placed in motion. None of them were aware that was really Meldrick, but Houki, Charlotte, and Laura knew him by a different name.

"Wait. We know him, don't we?" Laura said.

"Yeah! That's Michael!" Charlotte said as the three of them went over to greet him. "Michael! It's great to see you again!"

"I'm glad to see the three of you myself." Meldrick said as he acted like he was their friend. "I was worried about you when you were captured. Luckily, I was able to escape."

"Ichika, come here." Houki said with Ichika walking over. "This is Michael. He helped out Ryu when he was injured. We were worried about you, but assumed you were able to escape from the creeps that grabbed us."

"Nice to meet you, and thanks for helping Ryu." Ichika said as he held out his hand.

"It's all a pleasure." Meldrick said. The two of them actually shook hands. Two enemies shaking hands in a friendly manner, but it's nothing like that at all.

"I can't believe you managed to get all the points needed. You didn't say anything about the last time we saw you." Houki said.

"I can hardly believe it myself, but I'm certainly going to give it a best shot." Meldrick claimed as he continued on with his act.

"Hey. It looks like someone else is showing up." Rin said. All of them looked to see who the sixth duelist was. All of them were rather surprised to see that it was Ryu walking in. "It's Ryu!"

"Ryu?!" Laura said as they were all shocked to see him. "He shouldn't be here! He should be in the hospital and should be resting." All of them were rather concerned. It made no sense that he should even be here.

"Hey, guys. I knew I would find you here." Ryu said.

"Ryu, what are you doing here? You should be in the hospital. Are you really in any shape to be moving?" Charlotte said.

"Of course." Ryu said. "In fact, just look here." He said as he showed his duel disk. "I managed to get all the points needed to enter the finals." The surprises and shock just keep coming.

"You're in the finals?! Ryu, you shouldn't be moving around so soon." Houki said. "Besides, you never said anything about taking part in this tournament." This made no sense to any of them.

'Houki's right. If Ryu was really hurt, he shouldn't be here. On top of that, he never said anything about entering the tournament. Why would be here? Unless...' Ichika wondered as he was already suspicious of Ryu. Everything was going pretty well for Meldrick.

"Look sharp, people. It looks like we have another one." Mila said. All of them looked to the entrance and saw the seventh duelist arriving and it was Oberin. All of them were cautious of him.

"That guy looks like trouble." Cecilia said as they all had an uneasy feeling coming from him as he moved closer and closer.

"Identify yourself." Conner insisted.

"My name...is Meldrick." Oberin claimed as he did what his master told him. Claiming he was Meldrick caused him to gain glares from just about everyone.

"So you're him... The one who caused all the trouble." Ichika said as he feels he was finally faced with his enemy.

"Looks like you don't have a lot of friends here, pal." Mila said as she was right. It looks like almost everyone was against him.

"I should disqualify you for all the trouble you've caused, but you have something I want. Lucky for you." Conner claimed as he's putting his desires first. "Now, I think it's time we reveal the true stage of the finals." All of those competing were puzzled because they thought they were at that.

"Here's what you all need to know." Mila said as she began explanations. "Each of you will be assigned a number. My brother will be one. Houki will be two, Ichika is three, Hector will be four, Michael will be five, Ryu is six, and Meldrick will be seven. When the last duelist gets here, they will be eight. Now, even though you were all told to come here, this isn't where the finals will be taking place. They'll be taking place up there!" She pointed straight up to the sky and all the lights shined up there. They all looked up and were surprised at what they saw. A giant blimp descending into the arena.

"A blimp?! You mean we're dueling in the sky?!" Ichika said.

"Leave it to Conner to go the extra mile." Houki claimed as the blimp touched down.

"This blimp will be the stage to see which four will go to the semi-finals. You all will be dueling up in the sky for that." Mila said. All of that was rather surprising to them, but they just had to go with it.

"All right, everyone. Climb aboard if you're not scared." Conner said. The finalists went on with it as they climbed their way up and in the blimp. The duelists didn't have a problem, but the girls had a problem.

"Hold on. You four aren't competitors. You can't climb aboard this plane." One of Conner's employees claimed.

"Why not? We just want to watch." Laura said.

"Please. Can't we come along?" Charlotte said.

"Sorry. Conner's rules." The employee claimed with the four of them disappointed.

"Come on. That's a little unfair. I'm not a competitor either, but I'm coming along." Mila said as she sympathize with them. That left the employees unsure what to do.

"Let them on. I like an audience for when I win." Conner said.

"Just because this is his tournament doesn't mean he'll win, arrogant jerk." Rin whispered.

"Be silent. He could change his mind." Cecilia said. The four of them hurried on before Conner could change their mind.

"Prepare for flight as soon as the eighth duelist shows up." Conner said as he and Mila climbed onboard as well.

"How long are we going to have to wait?" One employee asked.

"As long as it takes." The other said. However, they didn't have to wait long. They both looked to the stadium entrance and could see someone in a blue cloak making their way towards the blimp.

"I believe you boys are waiting for me." The duelist said, sounding female. "Here it is." She said as she showed all her points.

"Thank you for coming. You're the last one to arrive. Please keep in mind that you have an assigned number and your number is eight." The employee said as they allowed her on. With all eight duelists arriving, the blimp was able to lift off the ground and took to the sky. The finals will soon be underway.

...

The Sky

With the blimp moving, everyone had a great view of the city from above. Ichika and his friends loved the shining lights that were shown in the night. It all looked beautiful.

"This is all looks magnifique..." Charlotte said as she and the rest of them were speechless.

"A guy could certainly get use to this." Hector said.

"I'll say. I've never seen anything so amazing like this." Houki claimed.

"Is that so? Better enjoy it while you can. I doubt someone like you will see it again." Conner taunted. "I don't know how you made it this far, but you're luck will soon run out. For your sake, you better hope you don't walk off by accident."

"What?! Are you saying I'm scattered brain or something?!" Houki said, but Conner just walked away. "You look at me when I'm yelling at you! Hey!" She called, but Conner just kept ignoring her. His focus was on Ichika.

"Ichika... I noticed that you haven't used Izanagi since you won it, but that better change." Conner said. "It's a waste to have a powerful card like that and not use it. If you really want to have a chance of winning my tournament, you better add it to your deck. Especially since I intend to make it mine." That was the warning for Ichika and that's something Ichika took it.

"The duelists are also given their own rooms while you're here. You can use them to rest and plan your future matches." Mila said. "Go on and take some time to rest. The duels won't start for the next couple hours." That all sounded rather good to them. They all divided and went to their own rooms.

...

Houki

Houki went to her own room and liked what she saw. It looked like a decent hotel room with her own bed and fridge. She certainly had no complaints about it.

"Conner might be a jerk, but he certainly knows how to bring in style." Houki said. She was getting excited for this and couldn't wait.

"Nice room, Houki." Rin said as she and the other girls entered in, Houki a little surprised.

"Look at what's in this fridge." Charlotte said as she had a look inside. "Fancy drinks, soda, and some cold treats as well. I feel like we're flying in luxury."

"What are all of you doing?" Houki said as she didn't like they were just barging in her room.

"We don't have any rooms, so we're all crashing with you." Cecilia said. "We would have asked Ichika, but we didn't want to disturb him. He needs to plan and mentally prepare himself for the finals."

"But what about me?! I'm in the finals as well!" Houki reminded as she didn't like being disturbed like this.

...

Ichika

Ichika was taking the time to get himself and his deck ready. He'll have some fierce competition, but he's got to do what he can. However, the one card he was the most worried about was Izanagi. It's a dangerous card, but it might be his best chance.

"I hate to admit it, but Conner might be right." Ichika said. "Izanagi is a powerful card, and maybe I should put it in our deck. Still, it's dangerous and it could really hurt someone. This card is more powerful than Conner realized."

"You're right, but let's not forget something important." Senshi said as he helped in this decision. "Meldrick is after that card and he'll do anything to get it back. He also holds it's counterpart: Izanami. We don't know it's capabilities, as well as what Meldrick himself is capable of. Izanagi might be the only card we have that can stand up to Izanami. No matter what, we can't afford to lose. Conner is also interested in acquiring the card for himself, but we can't afford that."

"Yeah, but that's not all that has me worried." Ichika said.

"What is it?" Senshi asked.

"It's Ryu." Ichika said. "Houki said that he was hurt and was taken to the hospital, so there's no way he could have recovered so quickly. Not to mention that he never said anything about entering this tournament before." He had an idea as to what was going on, but he remembered something else. "The only thing I can think of is that the evil spirit from his pendant is the one in control, but Rin got rid of the pendent."

"You can't predict the path of a Mystic Artifact. The pendent must have found a way back to him." Senshi said as he was agreeing with Ichika.

"Oh no! That means it must be the evil spirit in control!" Ichika said.

"All the more reason we must win. There's too much on the line." Senshi said and Ichika certainly agreed. There are fierce battles, dangerous enemies, and much more ahead. Even so, Ichika and Senshi can't lose. With all that cleared, Ichika added Izanagi to his deck and switched places with Senshi. "We're ready." The finals will soon be underway, and there's no turning back now.

AN: Okay. I'm putting on a break to this story for there for now. I still have a poll going on, so vote. Still, I would change my mind if I see some support for this story. So please review, fav, and follow.