Chapter 10

The next morning, Illidan awoke in a cold sweat. Since he had come into possession of the Millennium Key, he'd had all kinds of weird dreams. Really, they weren't just dreams. They were visions of his past memories from the ancient days that were five millennia ago. Also, he saw images of the forging of the Millennium Crown, and realized one thing for sure. Gozaburo was there. He was the blacksmith that forged the Millennium Items. With that terrible knowledge know weighing on Illidan's mind, he realized that the tournament had become much harder than he thought originally.

"From what I can tell of my past memories that have been shown to me by the Millennium Key, Gozaburo was the blacksmith that created the items. That means he knows each item's strengths and weaknesses. As well, he should know each one's power. But maybe his memories haven't been awakened yet. If they haven't, then those of us possessing a Millennium Item have the advantage for now."

Finally tired of thinking about something that he may have no control over, he decided it might be time to get up. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was already 6:30 A.M. "Man, it's way to early to be getting up."

Grudgingly, Illidan got up and walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. Then he went back into the kitchen and ate some muffins that were in the refrigerator. "I must say one thing for Gozaburo, he spared no expense on furnishing us a place to stay and stuff to eat."

Once he finished eating his breakfast, Illidan decided he needed a shower since he hadn't had one since the day before. He quickly took a shower and came out drying his hair. Looking through his duffle bag, he finally decided on a set of clothes to wear for the day, which was a red t-shirt and blue-jeans.

After finally getting his hair dried, he picked up his deck and Duel Disk. Quickly, he made sure all his cards were in his deck still, just in case. "Never can be too careful I guess."

Suddenly the intercom buzzed to life and someone came on the air.

"Attention duelists, you can now check to see who you will duel today. You will be able to access this by logging onto your account on the computer we supplied you. Good dueling to you all."

Sighing, Illidan walked over to the laptop that sat on his desk It was already on, so he just sat down to have a go at it.

"Well, I'd better check to see what my Deck Master's effects are and who I'm dueling today." he silently said to himself.

After logging on, Illidan then checked out his Deck Master's abilities. From what he saw, there were three, much to his delight.

The first one Illidan already knew. It allowed one monster, once a turn, to attack a second time if that monster had already destroyed another monster.

The second effect allowed Illidan to bring one Chaos type monster back from the Graveyard or removed from play pile at a cost of 1000 life points. "Hmm, that could come in handy in bringing back Dark Magician of Chaos since he's removed from play when he's destroyed."

The final effect was if Illidan removed 2 light and 2 dark attribute monsters from his Graveyard, his Deck Master could then be called back from the field if it was about to be destroyed. "Excellent. That means I can actually put Black Luster Soldier on the field, and bring him back if I'm in danger of losing him."

After memorizing the full list of abilities, Illidan then decided to see who he would face on that day. Much to his surprise, it was Bandit Keith, the Intercontinental Champion, and it was for his Intercontinental Title! And more shocking, it was at 8:00 A.M.!

Still in shock, he said aloud "Well, this is a shock! I wonder why I got Keith right off the bat though."

After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that Gozaburo might be trying to take him and Marie down early in the tournament.

Out of curiosity, Illidan then checked to see who Marie was to duel. Scrolling down the page, he finally found out she was set to duel Mai Valentine. He had a feeling Marie would win that duel.

Once again, the intercom suddenly buzzed to life. "Duelists, the first match will begin in the next few minutes. It will be Illidan Stormrage vs. Bandit Keith for the Intercontinental Championship! Will Illidan Stormrage and Bandit Keith please report to the main elevators so we can begin the duel. Thank you."

Looking at his clock, Illidan said "Crap, I'm almost going to be late! I'd better hurry and get to the elevator!"

He quickly logged off of the computer and then ran and brushed his teeth. As fast as he could, he grabbed his deck and Duel Disk and began running down the hall to the main elevator.

Along the way, Illidan accidentally plowed into Yugi, nearly knocking both of them over.

Feeling already pressed for time, and now on top of that embarrassed, he lightly bowed and said "I'm sorry Yugi. I was kind of in a rush and didn't meant to plow into you like that."

Smiling, Yugi said "It's alright Illidan. No one was hurt."

Nodding, Illidan then hurried on down the hall to the elevator. Once arriving, Illidan saw a guy in a black suit lightly tapping his foot and Bandit Keith leaning against the wall.

Smiling, the man said "Good, you made it. I'm the judge for this tournament. By the way, you should try to get here on time from now on. Now, let's hurry up to the top."

With that, Illidan, Keith, and the judge got into the main elevator. The elevator seemed to be going rather fast to Illidan, but he didn't mind. For what seemed only a long minute came to an end fast. They were at the top, ready for the duels. All three then stepped out one by one.

Looking around, Illidan saw a set of stands on the side of the tower, then a middle ring, and finally four semi large walls. Scanning the stands, he quickly saw Marie and all everyone else. Illidan guessed that attendance might not be mandatory, but it could be since everyone was there.

Interrupting his thoughts was the judge, saying "Alright duelists, walk with me to the center."

Both Illidan and Keith followed the instructions handed out and met in the middle of the Duel Ring with the judge.

Seemingly repeating something he had memorized, the judge said "Alright duelists, I want a good clean duel. You each know the rules. Now, since this is a match for your Intercontinental title, you have choice of who goes first Mr. Keith."

Keith only smirked and said "I'll go first you suit."

Nodding, the judge then said "Very well, Bandit Keith has elected to go first. Illidan, you will go second then. Both of you shake hands and then shuffle each others decks."

Illidan then extended his hand and began to shake. During the shaking, Keith began to squeeze harder, but Illidan squeezed back just as hard.

Keith snickered and said "I'm going to destroy you, you little punk. Don't think you're going to win, cause I'll break you in half with ease."

Illidan then began squeezing back harder, making sure Keith realize that he was much stronger than he appeared. Then with a smile, Illidan replied with "Better watch out yourself, Keith. Underestimating your opponent is one way of losing quickly."

With that, Illidan let go of Keith's hand. Keith brought it back, shaking it to get the pain out. Scowling, he then handed his deck to Illidan. Illidan did the same thing at the same time for Keith. Both then shuffled each other's decks and finally handed them back to one another.

"You'll lose you little twit." snickered Keith.

"Now duelists, to your marks." called out the judge before Illidan could respond to Keith's insult.

Illidan and Keith then went to the positions marked on the floor of the Duel Ring. Looking over at the sun as it was still rising in the sky, Illidan realized just how beautiful a morning it was to be out dueling. "Such a shame that I can't just have fun with duels anymore. Now its time to get down to business and find out what is truly going on with this tournament."

"Duelists, activate your Duel Disks and fire your holographic projectors. Due that the tower's built in projectors are currently not installed, you shall have to use the ones on your Duel Disks. Next bring out your Deck Masters." instructed the judge.

With that, Illidan and Keith both fired little holographic projectors from their Duel Disks. Once they landed on the tower floor and activated, the Duel Disks then unfolded and lighted up. Each Duel Disk life point counter then went up to 8000.

Putting on a big grin, Keith then said "I'll bring my Machine King (2200/2000) out now!" With that, a huge blue and red machine monster with large looking arms appeared beside Keith. It's metal gleamed in the early morning sunlight.

As a slight breeze blew by Illidan, he gave off a small shiver. "Wow, it's rather cool with that wind. I should have put a coat on for this duel."

Putting those thoughts aside, Illidan then said "I'll summon my Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500) out now!" The large warrior then appeared right beside of Illidan. His monster had powerful, shiny black armor and a brilliantly shiny sword and shield. Giving off a hint of a smile, Illidan then turned his attention to Keith.

The judge then gave his final orders, saying "Duelists, draw your first five cards and then begin the duel Mr. Keith!"

Both then drew their cards and yelled "It's time to duel!"