Hello everyone. Wow, a new reviewer! Happy days! 'Does happy dance.' Uh, no one saw that, I hope…

Metal Overlord 2.0: Lol, yeah, Gozaburo always has a back up plan. The man lives to tear Illidan apart, and for good reason you could say. You'll see in upcoming chapters just how passionate he is about it. As for CED having tremendous significance to Illidan, it sort of does. It and a few other certain monsters were important to him in the past. They'll be more on that in future chapters, but for now, I'll just answer yes, it was important to him, but not the most important, lol. I'll check out your fic today or tomorrow again. I read the first chapter, but had stuff to do unfortunately yesterday… I hate it when I thought I was going to be doing nothing and instead had stuff to do, lol.

Isis the Sphinx: Lol, I like to write duels, but you have to figure, Gozaburo stated it would be ten days of dueling. Hence, there are ten duels at the least, plus other duels like the five-way duel and the tag team duels. So, there are a lot of duels, lol. But there are some filler chapters. There are quite a few filler ones coming up later on, so don't worry, it's not all dueling, but it does take up a lot of the story.

Divine Weapon: Thanks for the comment. I thought about bringing back Yami Marik also, but then I realized, it would a touch tough to explain that one, not to mention, I didn't want to drag every bad guy from the past out. But thanks for the comments, and I'll check your fic out also.

pink-kiss-candy: Yep, Illidan vs. Bakura should be interesting.

Thanks to all my loyal reviewers for your comments. If anyone else has a comment, please feel free to review. I love getting reviews, for it gives me a reason to reload a document, lol. But seriously, I do love getting feedback, good or bad. It helps me in my writing.

Now, for a special treat, just cause Tuesday is my birthday, lol. This week, I'm going to release a total of five chapters, so today, I'll put two up. Probably Friday, I'll place two also, and Wednesday, I'll just put one. So, I hope you all enjoy reading the chapters. For now though, enjoy the new chapters!

Chapter 42

When the second 5-way duel ended, the new standings were put out. Illidan moved to 1st, while Yugi moved to 2nd. Marie, Marik, and Seto remained 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The big news was really that Illidan moved to the top spot.

Most people congratulated Illidan on his win, but some grew even bitterer. Bandit Keith was one that grew bitterer. He had been robbed, according to him, of his Intercontinental Title in his first duel.

Another was Seto Kaiba. He had lost his World Championship to Illidan on the third day, and was now seeking some way to get it back.

Luckily though, for many, dueling Illidan had sharpened their skills. Noa had found that dueling Illidan had taught him a very good lesson. The same was applied for Marik and Joey. Both enjoyed their duel till the very end, for to them it was an honorable duel fought with pure enjoyment of the game.

There was one fact that remained, which was that there were 5 more duels that remained for all duelists. Illidan still had to face 5 more duelists before the final 10-way duel, and there would be tag team duels as well, plus other duels.

The dilemma that Illidan was facing was he still had a long time to go, and five days could be miserable if Gozaburo wanted them to be.

After getting congratulations and everything settled down, Illidan returned to his room, hoping to rest up. The five way duel had taken a good bit of his strength, and he was starting to fatigue after two duels, one of which was the 5-way duel, which had truly drained him more than the others. Not to mention, he still had one more duel to take on that night, the tag team one.

He was peacefully lying on his bed, nearly asleep when there was a knock on his door. Slowly dragging himself out of bed, he went to see who it was. Once at the door, he opened it to find Yami surprisingly standing there.

Smiling, Illidan said "This is an unexpected surprise. Welcome to my room Yami."

As Illidan began to bow, Yami said in an irritated voice "Don't!"

Smirking, Illidan then stopped and headed for his couch, motioning Yami on in to take a seat. Once seated, Illidan asked "Well, what brings you here Yami? Or do you prefer being called Yugi now?"

Smiling, Yami replied "Yami is fine. I just came by to wish you luck in your duel. I believe you'll need it. Joey and Mai make a fine team, and you and Marie will need to work together to win."

Nodding, Illidan said "Thanks Yami. I believe that the display we put on in the 5-way duel shows though that we're still a tag team. Me and her didn't attack each other on purpose, much like you didn't attack Marik on purpose too."

Lightly chuckling, Yami replied back "So you knew we were teaming up? I figured you and Marie would, so I asked Marik to help me get to where it would be just me and him. I knew you 2 would team up, so I figured the best bet was to ask Marik, seeing how we're tag team partners."

Smiling, Illidan nodded and said "I don't blame you one bit. It made no sense in taking on four people instead of just three for a while. As you saw with Seto, he was easily beaten down fast."

Nodding, Yami then turned serious and said "Illidan, I believe this tournament is getting slightly dangerous. Remember, Marie's predictions have yet to come true."

Serious as well, Illidan replied "Yami, the tournament is not yet over. And she said it will be one of the four of us. Remember, you, me, Marie, and Marik still have a chance to win."

Yami then replied "Yes, but she said whoever would be the one to face Gozaburo would be undefeated. You are the only true undefeated person in the tournament, other than Marie who technically lost due to the 5-way duel. Me and Marik have both lost in duels like tag team and 5-way, but I have yet to lose a singles match, which is why I think you're the only true undefeated duelist."

Thinking for a moment, Illidan said "I think you're wrong Yami. She said we'd be undefeated, but she didn't say in what type of matches."

Sighing, Yami said "I guess that maybe true. One thing is for sure though, we'll find out soon enough. Once you and I duel, as well as you and Marie, we'll know for sure."

Smiling, Illidan replied "Are you sure? It could be that I may lose the final 10-way duel."

Lightly chuckling, Yami said "I'm pretty sure. Once those 2 duels are over with, we'll know for sure. That is of course, if we can remain undefeated till then."

Chuckling as well, Illidan responded "True. I don't know who will win, but I know one of us will defeat Gozaburo. One of us has to."

Nodding, Yami said "Agreed. We can't allow him to have his way with the people of this world."

Nodding also, Illidan replied "Yes, we must stop him at all costs."

Slowly standing up, Yami then said "Indeed. Well, I need to go, plus you need to rest a bit."

Illidan rose up as well, and extended his hand to his friend. Then in a serious tone that matched his hardened eyes for a moment, Illidan said "No matter what happens though, I won't let anything happen like the past. I promise, I won't let him do the same thing he once done again."

Staring at Illidan, Yami nodded his head and replied "Don't worry Illidan. I don't plan on dying a second time at his hands. Good luck tonight."

The two then shook hands and Yami turned and left Illidan's room. Standing there, Illidan realized he only had 20 minutes till his duel. Sighing, he grabbed his Duel Disk and deck, and then proceeded to the elevator.

At the elevator, Marie stood with her arms crossed. She then turned to him, saying "You're late!"

Smiling, Illidan put his arm behind head and replied "Yeah, I am. Sorry. But the judge is late at least."

Sighing, but then smiling, Marie said "What am I ever going to do with you Illidan Stormrage?"

Lightly chuckling, he then kissed her, making Marie's slight irritation with him being late melt away in an instant. When they parted, the two then looked down the hall to see Mai and Joey coming up the hall, hand in hand. When the two finally got there, the elevator descended and opened to reveal the judge.

The judge walked out, asking everyone to get on. At the top, the 2 couples walked out. Illidan was holding Marie's hand, while Joey held Mai's hand. Everyone seemed shocked that Mai and Joey were holding hands. Almost everyone knew Mai and Joey were good friends, but they never believed that they'd take it up a notch.

Tea looked at Yugi, and said "I'm so happy that lunk head finally got the point Mai was trying to make."

Yugi laughed while Tristan and Duke yelled "Way to go buddy!"

Joey blushed a deep shade of crimson at their comment as Mai only laughed at him. The two couples then entered the center of the ring, where the judge explained the rules and told the four what to do. Then each shuffled their decks and moved to their positions on the field. The judge then told them to activate their Duel Disks and draw their first five cards, and to let the duel begin with Illidan going first, Joey next, followed by Marie and Mai.

The four then moved to their spots and fired their holo projectors. Once they were activated, each duelist's Duel Disk unfolded and activated.

Illidan then quickly said "Arise my Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)!" The mighty soldier with black armor then appeared out to fight for Illidan.

Joey then called out "Flame Swordsman (1800/1600), it's time to kick some butt!" The orange and blue armored warrior then appeared with his huge orange halberd on his back.

Marie smiled and said "Guardian Angel Joan (2800/2000), come show yourself." The beautiful pink skinned angel then appeared with her many golden wings.

Mai let a grin find her face and then said "I call you out to win this duel Amazoness Paladin (1700/300)." A female warrior with a sword in front of herself then appeared on the field.

Each then drew their first five cards, and said "Let's duel!"