I am so so so so so SORRY it's taken me so long to write this. I blame being out of the country, emotional damage, and writers block.

Thanks to battousaisgirl16 for fangirling over this story and editing it for all of you to enjoy. Thank you to all the readers who just joined, and my faithful readers who still read this despite my flaws.

I really hope this was worth the wait.

Chapter 48

Airi and Kaiba stared at each other from across the desert field. His expression was almost triumphant. Her's was unreadable.

Yami and the others moved to a position in the middle of the playing field. Mokuba joined them, though he stood a few feet away from them closer to his brother.

"This is familiar." Kaiba said. "To bad it isn't in an arena to make your comeback complete."

"This isn't a comeback Seto." Airi said. "We need a ride. Dueling is the only language you understand."

"You love this game too much to stay away from a chance to come back. You also never like being in debt."

"Debt?"

"You still owe me a duel."

"Really? I've had no sense of loss."

"You don't duel without reason, Airi."

"Well congratulations, you've given me a reason. I win this duel, you give us a ride and help us fight against Paradius."

"Strange, you're doing it and not your brother."

Yami glared at Kaiba. How dare he make Airi's pain deeper, even if he couldn't tell the difference between spirit and host. Surprisingly instead of getting upset, Airi gave a humorless smile.

"We know you can't beat Yugi." she said. "Where would the fun be in a duel between you two. You've never beaten me. This duel would be more interesting."

Kaiba grin disappeared. It was replaced by a civil smirk resembling her unamused expression.

"That's pretty bold talk from someone who's deck hasn't been updated in years. You're using cards from your first deck."

Airi looked skeptic. "And how long have you had your Blue-Eye?"

"I'm smart enough to update my deck. Your pro deck won't stand a chance against my updated one. The deck I gave you won't be worth much."

"It was actually worth quite a lot." Airi said. "Some of the cards went for a couple hundred and Phandom Dragon had several bidders."

There was a stunned silence. For the second time that day Kaiba looked completely dumbfounded. "What did you do with my cards?"

"Your cards?" Airi said. "You gave them to me and didn't care enough to ask for them back."

"What did you do with them, Airi?"

"I sold them." Airi's voice was calm. "Washout decks are still valuable, especially a CEO ex-girlfriend's deck."

"Oh no." Mokuba said in a low tone.

Kaiba's face changed from shock to anger. "You sold my cards?"

"You said they were mine." Airi was taken back by this statement. "You never came looking for them. The only card you wanted was my grandfather's Blue-Eyes."

Kaiba didn't hear this. "Those where KaibaCorp property and you will return them to me."

"I sold them, or weren't you listening."

"I heard you alright. Not only do you take advantage of our relationship by taking property but you insult my skill level by facing me with an old deck."

"You never defeated either deck so what is your problem?"

"Cockiness will be your downfall, Airi. It was that fool Alister's weakness and now it's going to be yours. You can't win them all."

Airi's lip curled. "If you want to make this duel personal, by all means I'll make this personal, but don't preach faults virtues at me. If you want cards so badly, go print your own."

Kaiba pointed at her. "When I win this duel, you will pay me me the debt you own my company for the loss of those cards."

"That's ridiculous." Tristan shouted.

"This is going too far, Kaiba." Joey yelled.

"Seto, just play." Mokuba called. "Discus this after it's over."

Yami wanted to add his own collection of choice words, but he couldn't think of any vile enough to describe his feelings.

Airi stood there. Yami could feel the anger coming from her but couldn't believe she wasn't allowing any expression. She stared at the sun scorched ground, clearly thinking it over, or she couldn't bare looking at her ex. But she had to face him. Yami couldn't see any other way they could get to the city soon enough to stop Dartz's schemes.

"Are my terms too great for you?" Kaiba mocked. "You can still walk to LA."

Airi straightened. Yami was surprised, and a little nervous. Something had changed. It was still Airi, but at the same time it wasn't her. It was like when people compared him to Yugi. It was clearly Airi Muto standing in front of them. But anyone who knew her could see her stance was like a cocked gun, ready to take out whatever stood in front of her. He could only see her profile. Her face was composed, but the glint in her eyes put a volcano to shame.

"Alright Seto." she finally spoke. "If you win, then I'll pay this debt you've invented. But if I win, beside the pleasure of your company, I call the right of your cards a compensation."

"Compensation? For what?"

"For the destruction of my Grandfather's Blue-Eyes White Dragon you destroyed."

"You think your deck was worth a single Blue-Eyes."

"I'll willing to overlook the difference."

There was a moment of silence. The group on the side lines waited.

Kaiba suddenly smiled. "Now you're speaking my language. Very well, I accept these terms." He drew his five cards. "Congratulations. You've made this duel personal."

"Oh, you have no idea." Airi drew her cards.

"Your move then."

Airi eyed his long coat. "White moves first."

"This isn't chess."

"Shame. You actually were good at that."

Kaiba drew. "You had your chance. I summon Spear Dragon in attack mode and I end my turn."

Airi drew. "I summon Herald of Creation and end my turn."

Dragon and figure in white sized each other up, like their masters.

Kaiba drew. "I summon Kaiser Sea Horse. Spear Dragon, Attack Herald of Creation."

The dragon's long nose skewered Airi's monster and it disintegrated. Airi calmly placed it in her graveyard.

"Why isn't she doing anything?" Tea whispered.

Kaiba continued his turn. "Kaiser Sea Horse, attack her life points directly."

Airi braced herself as the attack hit her.

Satisfied, Kaiba ended his turn.

Airi drew. "I summon Banisher of Light and Mystical Shining ball in defense mode. I place a card face down and end my turn."

"That's it?" Kaiba was as skeptical as the observers.

Airi didn't answer, but stood there waiting for him to move. Her monsters, not looking threatening compared to Kaiba's monsters, also waited.

Kaiba frowned as he drew. "I summon Dark Pitch Dragon. My Kaiser Sea Horse counts as two monsters. I sacrifice Kaiser Sea Horse, Spear Dragon, and Dark Pitch Dragon to summon two Blue-Eye White Dragons." Two dragons appeared on the desert floor, searching for a prey.

"Come on Airi." Joey called. "Show Moneybags your stuff."

Airi looked at the dragons with dislike. She was probably remembering her grandpa's card.

Kaiba pointed at her. "Blue-Eyes Attack Banisher of Light."

Again Airi didn't react as her monster was blasted by the first monster. All the onlookers inwardly groaned as Banisher disintegrated.

"Blue-Eyes, Attack Shining Ball."

The second Blue-Eyes opened it's moth.

"I activate Draining Shield." Airi turned over her face down. "This negates the effect the affects of your monsters attack and raise my life points instead of draining them."

"Finally." Tristan said. "I was worried the pressure was getting to her."

"It's Yugi's sister." Joey said. "She'll make it."

"Nice of you to wake up and join us." Kaiba said. "I end my turn."

"How kind." Airi drew. "I summon Dark Elf, and I sacrifice Shining Ball to summon Gardian Angel Joan. All in defense mode."

"Now things are getting good." Joey said. "She's getting ready for something."

"I place a face down and end my turn." Airi said.

"That's it?" Tea said.

"She can't attack two Blue-Eye with such small monsters." Yami pointed out.

"But she's got to do something or we'll have no way of getting Yugi back."

"Not to mention a ridiculous debt to repay." Tristan said.

Yami didn't answer. He agreed Airi would need all her skills if she was going to face all the Blue-Eyes Dragons. The fact Kaiba had summoned two in the first few moves meant he was already moving in for the kill.

"Blue-eyes." Kaiba ordered. "Attack Dark Elf." The first Dragon blasted . Blue-eyes attack-"

"I activate Smashing Ground, and use it to destroy the Dragon attacking Joan."

The blue-eyes disappeared in mid zap.

Kaiba glared. "Taking out one Blue-Eyes isn't going to save you."

"Are you finished?"

"I end my turn."

"Thank you." Airi drew. "I activate Guardian Angel Joan's special ability to raise my life points by the attack points of the monster you destroyed."

"She getting ready for his next attack." Yami said to no one.

"About time." Tea said. "He'll get the rest of his dragons out soon enough."

Airi continued. "I sacrifice Guardian Angle Joan to summon Athena."

"Why would she do that?" Joey said. "That monster was doing fine giving her life points."

Yami wasn't watching the monster, but Kaiba's face. He was staring at the new monster with pure surprise. There wasn't anything different about it. Yami had seen Athena summoned many times before. But Seto was staring at it the figure like a ghost.

Airi gave a small smile. "I didn't get rid of all my gifts."

Kaiba's expression darkened again. "I don't know what your talking about."

Airi's mask slipped slightly and Yami could see this statement hurt. He wanted to know what was going on. But talking to her during a duel was not a good idea. Airi regained her composer."I place two face downs and end my turn."

"Now it's time to end this." Kaiba drew, and he grinned in triumph. "I play Cloning. I can make a clone of your monster and summon it to my side of the field." a copy of Athena appeared on Kaiba's side of the field. "I play monster reborn to bring my Blue-Eye back to my field." the copy monster was flanked by two Blue-Eyes. "I play another Monster Reborn to bring back Spear Dragon." the smaller dragon reappeared. "I sacrifice these two monsters to summon my third Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Airi looked at the three dragons. Yami hoped she had something because they all knew the next move.

"I combine all of my Dragons to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

Flashing lights and rearranging of hologram molecules reassembled to create Blue-Eyes Ultimate. All three heads leaned down to get a closer look at their target.

"Ultimate Dragon, attack Athena."

All of them shielded their eyes as the attacks went through. When it was over, Athena was gone and Airi's life points were in serious danger.

Airi put her arm down from her protective position over her eyes. Her eyes met Yami's and he almost saw a smile.

"Now it's my turn."

He smiled back. "Kick his butt."

"You got it."

"I end my turn." Kaiba folded his arms, smugly waiting for her to make her final move.

"I summon Victoria in attack mode and place two face down cards." Airi said.

"That monster can't take out that thing." Tristan said.

"I end my turn." Airi said.

Kaiba drew. "Ultimate Blue-Eyes Dragon, Attack Victoria."

"I activate Mirror Force."

The group cheered at the monster was destroyed in it's own blast.

Kaiba wasn't impressed. "I end my turn. If you're going to make a come back, I'd like to see you try."

"Thanks for the confidence." Airi drew. "I activate my other face down." Mystical Space Typhoon appeared. "I use it to take down your face down card."

"It's over Airi. I still have one more monster reborn in my deck to bring back my Ultimate Dragon."

"It's not over until the last move. Or don't you remember that rule I-"

"Just play." Seto snapped.

This time Airi smiled. Seto probably didn't want the others to know she had been the one to teach him this game. She looked at the field, and then back at her ex. Yami predicted the next move would really tick him off, but that wasn't new.

"I activate Victoria's special ability. I can take a Dragon from your grave yard and summon it to my side of the field. I summon Blue-Eyes white dragon."

One of the white dragons appeared on her side of the field.

"I taught her that." Joey stage whispered to Tristan. Tristan answered with a smack.

"But, just one dragon?" Tea mused.

One was enough. Seto's expression darkened at the site of her with one of his dragons. Being on the side lines Yami was intimidated by Kaiba's rage.

"I summon Shining Angel and set a face down and end my turn." Airi visibly braced for what would follow.

Eyes narrowed even more Seto drew from his deck. "I activate Ring of Destruction and attach it to your stolen Blue-eyes." the ring attached to the dragons neck and activated. The dragon vanished with a agonized roar. Seto didn't flinched as both Airi and his life points decreased. Now that his dragon was no longer in her command his expression to his average dislike.

"To ensure you don't try that stunt again, I activate Card Crush. This virus infects your deck and prevents you from playing a monster with 1500 or higher life points."

The gang's voices protested as Venus disappeared from the field only leaving Shining Angel on the field.

But Seto wasn't finished.

"I summon Blade Knight and attack Shining Angel."

The blast hit the angel in the chest and he disintegrated.

"I end my turn." Seto said.

The field was almost deserted, except for Airi's face down cards and Seto's Blade Knight.

"You're scheme back fired, Airi." Seto announced. "You wanted to take revenge for your grandfather's Blue-Eyes by attacking me with my own Blue-Eyes. Now you're monsterless and I'm one monster way from destroying you."

"True."

"This isn't like you at all. You'd have summoned your trump card and wiped out any other opponent if you still had your game."

"Who said I was beaten?"

Seto paused, looking at her. Suddenly his expression cleared he stared at her.

Airi smiled. "So you do remember."


"I activate Crush Card." Seto placed the card on the edge of the card mat.

Airi groaned. "Awe man. I hate it when you use that."

"Do you give up?"

"In your dreams."

"I put Chiron the Mage in attack mode and end my turn." he leaned back, confident that now he'd won. She'd used up most of her spell cards in the first half of the duel and would have mainly monsters. Now she couldn't use the powerful ones. Bother their life points where low but hers were close to the danger zone. This time he'd win.

"I really hate your trap cards." she muttered. "You've got really good ones."

"Whining wont help."

"I'm not whining." she drew. "Sometimes I regret teaching you this game."

"Hurry up." Seto glanced at the clock. "Break will be over soon."

"The bell is always late." Airi was silent as she looked from her cards to the dueling mat.

Kaiba glanced at his school bag. He needed to give his gift to her before the bell rang. He'd have to beat her quickly.

"I summon Shining Angel in attack mode." she placed the card down. "and I end my turn."

Seto tried not to gloat as he looked at his cards. That angel wouldn't stand up to an attack. After he got rid of it he could take out her life points and finally beat her at Duel Monsters.

"Chiron attacks Shining Angel." he carred out the attack. Airi calmly removed her card to the grave yard pile. "Now-"

"I activate Shining Angel's special ability." Airi pulled another card out of her hand. "When he's destroyed another creature of light can be summoned to the field." she put her card down. "I summon Mystical Elf."

Kaiba looked down at the elf. The feeble attack points were laughable. But it was still a monster, and he only had one monster on his side of the field to attack with. He looked through his deck, but his hand didn't have anything.

"I end my turn." he muttered.

Airi drew, and her face lit up. He hated when she did that. She drew exactly what she needed. Still, his card was strong enough that elf couldn't take it out, and with his card crush she couldn't switch the attack and defense points.

"I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Card crush." Airi looked at Kaiba, and he reluctantly removed his spell card from the mat. "And now I activate Sword and Shield to switch Mystical Elf's defense points to her attack points. And she attacks Chiron and I think I win." she looked at Seto for conformation.

Seto put his cards down, and folded his arms. "You win, again."

"Cheer up Seto. You'll win next time."

"You said that last time."

"Well, it's got to happen some time. No one wins forever." she started cleaning up her deck. "You are coming tomorrow right? We can play after the party."

Seto felt a slight twinge of guilt. "I can't make it tomorrow." he kept his eyes on his cards to miss her disappointment. Missing her birthday was a small thing compared to his plans, or that's what he kept telling himself. "There's an important person coming to the orphanage and I need to be there to keep Mokuba out of trouble."

"Gorzabora Kaiba."

"How did you know?"

"You're the only kid here who reads the papers. And always leave them creased at certain pages on your desk."

Seto made a mental note to be more careful with his stuff.

Airi leaned in close. "What's your plan?"

"What plan?" he continued to put his cards away.

"Don't give me that. You always have a plan."

He knew she was one of the few people he could trust. "Don't want to jinx it."

She looked disappointed, but nodded. "I'm sure it's brilliant. So we'll play after your brilliant scheme?"

He nodded. It felt like a lie. He didn't know what would happen if his scheme to be the son of the KaibaCorb CEO fell through, or actually succeeded.

Seto reached into his bag and pulled out a small packet wrapped in a colored picture from the newspaper. It was the closest thing to wrapping paper he could find. "Here." he held it out to her.

"For me?"

"Tomorrow's your birthday right?"

"Yeah." she accepted it. "Thank you." she carefully opened it to keep the picture in one piece. Inside was a Duel Monster card. Athena.

"Wow." she breathed. "She's beautiful."

"Came in a pack I got at the second hand shop." Seto said. "It's too girly for me, so thought maybe you'd find some use for it."

The chair squeaked against the floor and the next moment Airi was on the other side of the desk gripping him in a hug.

"Thank you Seto." she said. "I love it."

"Don't kill me." he mumbled, but didn't make any moves to stop her.

The bell rang just then and footsteps could be heard coming towards the class room. Airi was back in her seat in a moment finishing up putting her cards away. She smiled at her new card and kept smiling through the long and boring math lesson. Seto used the time in class to finalize his strategy for tomorrow. Everything had to be flawless.

School finally ended. They picked up Mokuba from the younger grade and the three of them walked along the street together. Mokuba wanted to know is Airi really liked the card and she was happy to tell him. They also picked up her little brother, though Seto couldn't remember his name. He didn't say much as they went along. Seto still wasn't paying attention, still thinking about meeting Mr Kaiba tomorrow.

Airi left them at the entrance to her street. She gave Mokuba a hug and turned to Seto. To his surprise she rose on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"For luck." she whispered. Then she was running down the street towards the game shop. Her little brother trying to keep up.

"She likes you." Mokuba observed.

Seto roused himself from his shock. "Come on. It looks like rain."


Yami had no idea what Airi was talking about, but Kaiba was visibly shaken.

Seto stared at Airi. "You're not going to . . ."

"I activate Shining Angel's special ability. I summon a light monster from my hand to the field."

Mystical Elf appeared on the field.

"You can't use that strategy. You used your Space Typhoon earlier."

"Oh Seto. You know I'm better then that." she drew and her face relaxed into a smile. "Observe." she flipped over one of her face downs. "I activate Lightning Vortex. I discard one card from my hand, which destroys all your face up monsters." Kaiba's monster vanished.

"But she can't use that elf." Joey said. "If she switches the Defense and attack points it will be destroyed for being over 1500."

"Shhh." Yami ordered.

"I use my other face down card." Airi turned over her second face down card, Black Pendant. "When this card is sent from the field to the grave yard it takes 500 of my opponents life points."

His life points dropped to the three digits. Airi gave the final command.

"Mystical Elf, Attack directly."

Airi and Seto kept eye contact as the elf created a ball of energy and sent it right for him. He didn't flinch as the counter fell to 0.

Airi Muto had beaten Seto Kaiba, again.

No one reacted for several moments.

"Wow." Joey broke the silence. "That was . . . wow."

"Fine." Kaiba finally said. "You've earned yourself a ride."

"Thank you." Yami said.

Seto still looked at Airi. "This wasn't an official duel. I'll deny it took place if you bring it up."

Airi inclined her head. "Don't worry. No one believes a washout."

"Look, it's Roland." Mokuba spoke up.

Everyone turned to see a black chopper approaching them in the distance. Airi turned away from Kaiba and walked back to her friends.

"Great job, Airi." Tea said.

"That showed him." Tristan said. "beating him with an elf."

The others turned to watch the rapidly approaching helicopter. Yami stayed behind them with her.

"Are you alright?" Yami said softly.

"Yeah." she smiled. "Being a little ruthless is fun."

"Yugi will be jealous to have missed it." Yami stiffened, looking at her apolitically.

"He'll go green with envy." Airi gave a weak laugh. "Though, I'm relieved he didn't see me in my dueling mode."

The chopper hand landed. Roland emerged looking relieved that his employers were alright.

"About time." Kaiba snapped. "What took you so long?"

"There was some trouble getting the chopper, sir." Roland said.

"What trouble?" Mokuba said. "It's Seto's chopper. Why did it take so long?"

"Not any more, sir." Roland was really reluctant. "KaibaCorp was bought out."

"By who?"

Yami already knew the answer before Roland spoke.

"Paradius."


A/N: So . . . was it good? It took forever to figure out all the cards.

I promise not to take so long again . . . though i'm not a fortune teller so I hope I can keep this promise. At least i'm not making up anymore duels for a while.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I want to see who's still hanging in there to see how this crazyness ends.

love you all, and God bless.