Hey guys. This week was a fun one. I got a year older, plenty of reviews, saw my fiancé (real life Marie, whose middle name happened to be Marie, hence the character Marie O'Dell was born, lol), and nearly finished writing my sequel to this story. Anyways, onto answering some reviews.
Metal Overlord 2.0: Yes, Gozaburo has a thing for Marie. As the story goes on, you'll see more and more about it. I believe you learn more about it in a few more chapters actually. But yeah, what a lech, lol. And yeah, I like the spirit of the Millennium Ring as a villain mostly due that he was always up to something. He always has a plan, even when he appears defeated, like with Marik when he lost his duel to Yami Marik. Btw, you're welcome for the review. Your story is interesting, and I look forward to finishing up my reading on it.
pink-kiss-candy: Thanks for the comment. I tried to capture both of their characters, as well as all the other show characters. You never see the side of Mai that was very softhearted, but I thought I'd add it in. Sadly, you'll never see it in the show, so I thought why not give her a chance.
Isis the Sphinx: True, Mai's surrender was sort of a copy of Duelist Kingdom, but if you knew you was going to lose and didn't want your favorite monster finished off, I'd possibly surrender as well. And yeah, Bakura usually does his best work on his own, but look at it this way. He is facing someone who is several times stronger than himself. Would you want to defy that person in all reality, lol? Thanks for telling me about that one fan fic btw. I started reading it, and it's interesting so far. I haven't gotten very far, like one chapter, lol, but I'm reading it as well as Metal Overlord's. Lol, I have so much stuff to read. I read all kinds of Inuyasha fan fics as well, not to mention a few other fan fics, and then I am constantly writing on my sequel to this story. Sheesh, I read too much, lol.
Well, I think that's about it. I can't wait to see more reviews. Till then, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 47
Marie was staring at Illidan with her eyes slowly growing dark. She had just screamed his name, but he couldn't get to her fast enough. She slumped over into the floor, with a pool of blood forming on her back. Illidan struggled to get up and quickly as he could ran to her side, screaming her name. He was terrified of losing her, for she was his life, his hope, his dreams, his everything. Life without Marie was impossible for him to dream of, but he knew it would be sterile and boring. All the while that this was happening, that monster Gozaburo was laughing, taking pleasure in her pain!
Illidan then awoke, drenched in sweat. "A nightmare, only a nightmare. But why the time she was almost taken from me. Why?" he screamed in his thoughts.
Slowly getting up, Illidan searched for the light switch. Once he found it, he stumbled into the bathroom and took a washcloth out and ran it under some cool water. He slowly wiped his face off and stared at himself in the mirror to only notice the Millennium Key was glowing around his neck.
He wondered why till he felt something. It was something that felt cold and dark. Quickly realizing what this feeling was, he could only label it as evil. This made him realize something sinister was on the prowl.
Pondering to himself, he thought "Who is this? The only evil I've sensed in the tower so far has been Gozaburo, but this evil is different. It's strong, but not as strong."
Illidan quickly grabbed a shirt and walked to his door to look down the hallway. He slowly opened his door, taking a glimpse down the hall. There was nothing there yet, but the evil feeling was coming closer. Quickly closing the door as quietly as possible, he then waited for whatever was coming.
He could hear footsteps slowly coming closer to his room. Once they got closer, Illidan looked out the peep hole of his door. There was Bakura in full view in front of his door, who seemed to be roaming the hall. As well, he noticed that the Millennium Ring that Bakura had been wearing all tournament long was now glowing, and the small pointers on it were pointing straight towards Illidan's room.
"What is he doing up at this hour? And more importantly, why is his Millennium Ring glowing and pointing at my room?"
About that time, Bakura stopped at his door, seemingly staring a hole through it. Slightly gasping, Illidan thought "Can he sense me? Wait, knowing how the Millennium Ring works, I bet his ring is sensing my Millennium Key's power. I'd better make myself scarce just in case he decides to come in."
Illidan then used his Millennium Key to place a veil of darkness around himself, thus making him invisible.
Out in the hall, Bakura's Millennium Ring suddenly stopped glowing and the pointers returned to their normal position. Mumbling to himself, he said "Odd. Illidan's Millennium Key was active till a moment ago. He must have went back to sleep, or he stopped training with it. Whatever the reason is, I'm leaving. My Millennium Ring has led me on a merry little tour. I'll destroy him tomorrow and take his item, helping me become one step closer to achieving my goal!"
Bakura then let out an evil laugh as he slowly walked down the hall towards his room.
Something then hit Illidan's mind, making him aware of what was going on. It all made sense at once. "This isn't the real Bakura. No, he isn't the same one that me and my other friends know. This is the great evil spirit that I once sealed within his Millennium Ring, the same one that that tried to steal our Millennium Items five millennia ago."
Sighing, Illidan's thoughts then pressed on. "So, he's finally returned. I see that his spirit remained intact after all. Now I have to stop him before he hurts the others, or the boy that is his vessel, if he hasn't already done the unthinkable to him."
Illidan looked out his door again, making sure that the spirit was gone. Once sure, he let his veil of darkness down, becoming visible once more. Sighing, Illidan then realized that their confrontation would have to come to ahead soon or later. "He's after me only at the moment, so no worries. That's alright though, for I knew this day would come again. I'm sure he's rather angry with me for what happened, but that accident was his own fault."
Turning to his computer, Illidan walked over to it and checked the tournament's site to see who would duel who that day. Just as he suspected, there was his and Bakura's names set to face one another.
"Yep, as I thought. Gozaburo is trying to get rid of me now, and what better a way than with an enemy that hates me. I bet he's responsible for freeing the spirit since I haven't sensed him all tournament long. Gozaburo must be getting desperate." Illidan thought as he lightly chuckled.
Then something dawned on him. "The duel, I bet it'll be a Shadow Game. I'd almost bet money that the spirit decides to make it one since he's that angry at me. If he does, then I should be able to lock away his spirit forever when I win. That way, the boy won't suffer any more from that evil spirit."
Illidan then noticed Marie had to duel Bandit Keith for her duel, and lightly chuckled, knowing Marie would take Keith out with ease.
Yawning, Illidan looked over at the clock to see what time it was. It was 2 A.M.! Shocked, Illidan slowly rose back up and went back to bed. After only a few moments, sleep crept up on him, that was till her heard Marie's blood curdling scream in the beginning of a dream again.
Bolting right up, Illidan decided to try and meditate in order to calm his mind. He often did this to help him sleep, to stay awake, or even to concentrate on a task at hand. It worked almost always on him, one way or another. Usually, it depended on his mood and what he wanted more than anything.
He began to slowly relax as he deepened his meditative state. Bit by bit, his mind cleared of all the worries he had, and of all the problems that seemed to bother him.
Smiling inwardly, he thought "Good thing I kept up with my training. After all, I did study martial arts for many years, and I learned to help cleanse my thoughts through meditation or fighting. I wonder if the reason I learned so much was due to my heritage. I remember I was always a good fighter, not to mention a fast learner. Possibly I'll find out someday, once all my memories are restored."
Once he finished his meditation, Illidan laid back down onto his bed to sleep. It was now 4 A.M., but he didn't care. His mind and body both screamed for sleep, which came quickly.
About three hours later, his alarm loudly went off. Illidan rolled over towards the clock, thinking mostly about bashing it till it broke, but decided against it and turned it off. As usual, he got up and grabbed some clothes for the day and took his morning shower. Once he returned feeling slightly more awake, he ate some breakfast and then sat down to look at his deck.
After a thorough run through, Illidan decided he was ready. He quickly grabbed his Duel Disk and placed his deck back in it's holder. Once out the door, Illidan made a beeline straight for the elevator.
When he arrived, he noticed that Bakura was already there. A fake innocent smile was on his face, as he made some small talk.
"Good morning chap. Sleep well?" Bakura asked.
Realizing quickly that this wasn't the real Bakura, Illidan came to one conclusion. "He's just hiding now. He must be trying to lull me into a fake sense of security."
Putting on a strong front, Illidan smiled and replied "Yes I did. Did you?"
Grinning, Bakura replied "I can't complain. I slept like a baby."
The judge then interrupted, saying "Duelists, please get into the elevator."
Quickly boarding, the three entered and arrived at the top of the tower within moments. Everyone was already up and filling the stands as usual. The two and the judge then proceeded to the center stage.
Once there, Bakura turned to Illidan, saying with mischief in his eyes "This shall be great fun Illidan."
There was an evil grin and a tint of evil in Bakura's voice with those words said. Illidan could feel the evil that surrounded Bakura slowly being revealed. "It's only a matter of time that he reveals himself. He's about done hiding, but isn't quite ready."
The judge then had Illidan and Bakura shake hands and shuffle each others deck. The two were then instructed to take their marks once done and bring out their Deck Masters, and finally draw their first five cards. Since Illidan had decided to go second, Bakura would start things off. They each then placed their decks in their Duel Disk's deck slots. Both moved into position and fired their holo projectors. Once the projectors landed, each Duel Disk folded and powered up at the same time.
Smiling somewhat evilly, Bakura said "Illidan, meet my Dark Necrofear (2200/2800)!" An evil blue skinned fiend then appeared on the field with glowing eyes that slightly creped Illidan out.
Slowly regaining his confidence, Illidan said "Come forth my Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)!" The large soldier with black armor that shined greatly appeared with his sword and shield in hand.
Smiling evilly at Illidan, the spirit revealed himself as a gust of wind from this revealing blew over the field. This revealing caused Bakura's body to change due to the power of the spirit itself. His face became more evil looking, his eyes more crazy, and his voice changed as well.
He then glared at Illidan, saying "Illidan, I've been waiting for this moment for five millennia. It's time I take your soul and your Millennium Key! Prepare yourself for a Shadow Game!"
Suddenly Bakura's Millennium Ring then glowed brightly, which caused a huge sphere of darkness to appear on the field. It totally engulfed the two duelists, but pushed the judge backwards out of the way. Once done, the sphere was left on the field. Bolts of electricity flickered from it as things proceeded within the black sphere.
Inside, Illidan looked around and saw that only him and the spirit were in the Shadow Realm. "Hmm, so it's just me and him. Good. Now I won't have to worry about the others as much." he thought as he slightly smiled inwardly.
Lightly chuckling, Illidan then boldly said "So, I was right all along. You are the spirit of the Millennium Ring, or better known as a former friend known as Bakura who tried to become too greedy at the end of his last life. I'd think you'd have learned your lesson from long ago about trying to steal things that don't belong to you."
Growling, the spirit pointed a finger angrily at Illidan, yelling "Shut up Illidan! I'm tired of seeing you alive! You could have saved Egypt long ago by using the Shadow Games to control the people, but instead, you went along with that foolish pharaoh and locked the powers away into eight items. And then, you foolishly sealed the items away due that you was afraid of them! Why would you do such foolish things Illidan? Answer me!"
Sighing, Illidan then lowered the cloak of darkness that surrounded his Millennium Key. All throughout tournament, Illidan had kept it hidden while dueling, but he would need it in this duel.
Looking up now at the spirit, Illidan said "I see you are going to force me into a Shadow Game, but that's fine. What are the rules?"
"Don't get smug with me! I want answers!" spat the spirit with fire burning in his eyes.
Sighing again, Illidan looked at him and calmly said "You just don't get it. You started sealing your fate the day you attempted to steal from Yami's tomb, and then fully sealed it the day you attempted to take the Millennium Items. Those were your only mistakes in life, yet you don't see them that way. I won't stand here and argue all day, so again, I'll ask what are your rules?"
Smirking, the spirit said "The rules are simple Illidan. The loser of this duel will have their soul fed to the Shadow Realm and the winner gains the loser's Millennium Item."
"I don't want your item. I want the boy you possess freed instead. Promise to free him and then it's a deal." replied Illidan.
Showing a twinge of anger, the spirit replied "Do you take me for a fool Illidan? I will never release my vessel! Him and that fool Yami managed to trap me within my Millennium Ring for a short time, but I was still able to whisper to him. Every day, I would whisper to him how horrible he was, and how I would fix everything. Yet he wouldn't listen to me, saying I was the problem."
"Imagine that." called out Illidan with a smirk.
Frowning, the spirit then continued, saying "Now that I'm free, I never plan on letting that fool run the show again. So, I deny your request Illidan."
Staring right into the spirit's eyes, Illidan said in a demanding voice "I will only warn you once right here and now. Release the boy if you lose, or suffer a fate far worse than the last time you and I met. I promise you no harm if you release the boy. You have my word that I won't do a thing if you free him."
The spirit then began laughing evilly, realizing Illidan wouldn't drop it, but said "You think you will defeat me? You're that confident I see. Fine then, have it your way. If you can somehow or another beat me, I'll release the boy. Happy now Illidan?"
Smiling, Illidan nodded and said "That works for me. Now, let's duel!"