Hello everyone. Well, glad to see everyone has enjoyed my story so far. Ah yes, let me explain the idea of a five way duel. Pretty much, it's a simple five person free-for-all. It's five people, all after the win. Basically, it's kind of like the four way duel that was on the show between Kaiba, Marik, Yugi, and Joey, except with five people this time, lol. Also, there are two of them, one for the bottom five ranked duelists, which goes from 6th to 10th place, and then the other for the top five duelists, which is 1st to 5th. Thought I'd clear that up before everyone got confused.

Well, now that that is explained, I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 35

The day's stats were finally tallied up later that afternoon. Illidan had won his duel, leaving people open for a move. Yugi won his duel against Seto, which was a clash of the God Cards to be remembered. Marie remarkably won her duel against Marik. She even faced down the Winged Dragon of Ra and still won. The next duel was won by Mai. Keith was defeated easily by her. The final duel was between Bakura and Noa. Noa nearly won, but the Bakura edged Noa out of a win.

The rankings were slightly altered to the following: 1st Yugi Moto, 2nd Illidan Stormrage, 3rd Marie O'Dell, 4th Marik Ishtar, 5th Seto Kaiba, 6th Bakura Ryou, 7th Noa Kaiba, 8th Mai Valentine, 9th Joey Wheeler, and 10th Bandit Keith. With the few changes to the tournament rankings, the question was still up in the air, who would be #1 at the end.

After the day of dueling ended at 3:00 P.M., the intercom came on with Gozaburo saying "Attention duelists. I'm impressed by your duels today, and I think it's time to kick this tournament up a notch. Today, starting at 4:00 P.M., there will be the first of two 5-way duels. The first 5-way duel will be between ranks sixth through tenth. The winner of this duel will receive an Intercontinental Title shot on the tenth day of dueling. Also, the winners will improve their rank to whatever position they finish. The winner of this duel will become the new sixth ranked duelist, and so on down the line. Finally, the second 5-way duel will be between ranks first through fifth. They will be competing for something more. They will be competing for Illidan's Intercontinental and World Championships!"

Illidan was sitting in his room when he was hearing this, and yelled out "No way!"

Illidan was in total shock. Now he had to defend his titles against four opponents at once! The odds were being stacked against him, that much was for sure.

Gozaburo then continued on after an evil chuckle, saying "Also, the order will be the winner as first ranked, and so on. I hope you all enjoy this set of duels. Also, I should mention that at 8:00 P.M. tonight, there will be a Tag Team Championship duel. It will be Illidan and Marie vs. Joey and Mai. I hope you all will enjoy this as well! That is all!"

The intercom then blared an evil laughter till finally it shut down.

Growling slightly, Illidan said a loud to himself "That darn Gozaburo! He just had to throw me into a duel that will be almost impossible to win. He knows that those four will do all they can to get my titles. I guess I'd better start preparing for this duel though."

There was suddenly a knock at his door though before he could grab his deck from the table where his Duel Disk lied. Illidan slowly went over to the door and opened it to find Marie standing there.

Surprised, he said "Marie…"

Slightly smiling, she asked "May I come in?"

"Umm, sure." he slowly responded.

"Thanks."

Walking in, the two then sat down on the couch where Illidan had been sitting moments before.

Turning to him, Marie had a look of uncertainty on her face, and said "Illidan, what are you going to do about this 5-way duel?"

Lightly chuckling, Illidan responded with "The only thing I know how to do. Duel with all I have and hope I win."

Nodding, Marie then said "Illidan, the odds are against you, and you know it. There are three Egyptian God Cards against you, and you know that you can't fend off even those odds."

Sighing, he replied "I know it will be hard, but I will find a way. I have to if I'm to fulfill this prophesy of yours, or am I not the one?"

Taking his hand in hers, Marie stared into Illidan's eyes and replied "I have no doubt you are the one. But even you must admit the odds aren't in your favor this time. Along with three Egyptian Gods, you have to contend with me, and you know I won't hold back on you."

He slightly nodded, and prepared to speak, but she then said "But I have a suggestion to make to you."

Staring into her eyes, Illidan wondered what she could be talking about, but half guessed and said "Ok, you're not going to say quit and give up shamefully, because you know I won't. I've never backed down, and just cause I have these kind of odds against me I won't start now."

Slightly giggling, she shook her head, making Illidan slightly sigh and say "Alright Marie, what is your suggestion then?"

Smiling at him, she said "We could ally against them. We are after all the Tag Team Champions, and we should be able to take on three opponents rather than each of us take on four duelists. What I'm saying is that we take out the other three opponents together. Once we've gotten rid of Seto, Yugi, and Marik, we finish the duel the way it should be, which is me vs. you, winner takes all. What do you say?"

Smiling, Illidan thought for moment and said "Your idea is an intriguing one. I like it. We should ally. That way we have a better chance of survival, but are you alright with this idea? I don't want you to feel you should have to help me."

Giggling once again, she looked straight into his eyes, seemingly looking into the depths of Illidan's soul. He stared back, thinking "Those eyes are so beautiful. It seems like forever since I've seen them, yet I see them each day. And I saw them for so long in ancient Egypt. Wow, it's been five millennia since I've just sat and stared right into her soul like this."

Smiling, she brought his hand up to her cheek, slightly rubbing it against it and said "You know I wouldn't purposely ruin my chances of winning Illidan. I want to help, because I know it will be difficult to take down all three of the others. Each holds an Egyptian God Card, thus making them extra dangerous. But more than anything, I want for each of us to have a chance to win the duel. This way, we will."

With a smile playing across his face as she rubbed his hand across her face, he said "Alright Marie, we'll do it. We'll help each other as a team in the duel. But we need to formulate some sort of strategy."

She then slowly let go of his hand and "I agree. Who do we need to take out first?"

Thinking slightly, Illidan finally said "Seto is the most dangerous and most explosive of the three. Plus, knowing him, he'll not help anyone. I think Yugi and Marik will probably team up like we are."

Nodding, Marie replied "I agree. Seto must go first if we're to succeed."

Illidan then thought again, and said "Marik is next. The Winged Dragon of Ra is the strongest of the God Cards, and will be the hardest to take down. I think once Seto is gone, we need to focus on Marik."

Marie shook her head, and said "I'm thinking Yugi though Illidan. Slifer is powerful, and will take some team work to take down."

Shaking his head, Illidan responded "Slifer is powerful, but it takes Yugi longer to summon him. I think we should take out the faster of the two. Marik can summon Ra easily by using Monster Reborn if necessary, so we should focus on Marik. Once he's gone, Yugi won't take too much to beat."

Sighing, Marie finally said "Alright, we'll play it your way, but if Yugi looks like he's going to summon Slifer, I'm going after him."

Nodding, Illidan said "I understand. Don't worry, we'll get them both out of the duel, hopefully."

Smiling, Marie then stood up and said "Ok. Well, I should start getting ready. We don't want to be late for the first 5-way duel."

Nodding, Illidan replied "Nope. I'll meet you there."

Smiling brilliantly, she said "Ok."

As Marie prepared to leave, Illidan took her hands and kissed the tops of them.

With much love shining in his eyes, he said "I love you so much Marie."

Staring back into his eyes, she said "I love you too Illidan."

Slowly, he cupped her chin and kissed her strongly, letting the small amount of passion flow strongly from his lips to hers. Finally, the both separated and she slowly walked out of his room.

Once she was gone, Illidan smiled at himself and said "Some things will never change."