Chapter 82

At about 6:45, all the duelists headed to the top of the tower. Once there, they all noticed Gozaburo was sitting in the spot where his throne would come up through the floor.

The judge noticed everyone was finally at the top, and said "Alright duelists, I will now discuss how this duel will take place. First, the first team to be in this duel will be Illidan Stormrage and Marie O'Dell."

Silently, Illidan thought "That's not to surprising, seeing how me and Marie are champions."

"They will both start with 4000 life points each. The other team that will start will be Bandit Keith and Bakura Ryou."

"WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DUEL THEM SO EARLY!" yelled Seto in great irritation.

Sighing, the judge replied with "This is due to the order everyone dueled. See, Bandit Keith and Bakura Ryou dueled last for the titles. Once a team is eliminated, you and Noa Kaiba will duel the remaining team. Next will be Joey Wheeler and Mai Valentine, followed finally by Yugi Moto and Marik Ishtar. Do you understand now Mr. Kaiba?"

Seto only snorted and walked off to a corner of the tower and leaned up against it. He seemingly looked like he was pouting to everyone, but no one dared to ask.

Shaking his head, the judge continued saying "Now, allow me to explain all the rules. First, the champions will get 4000 life points to start with. All challengers will start with 4000 life points each as well. When both team members' life points drop to 0, a new team will be moved in to continue the duel. There is an incentive by the way to win each round. When you win the round against a team, you not only continue your chances to win the Tag Team Titles, but you gain an additional 1000 life points. That means one of your team mate loses during a round, they are brought back in with 1000 life points. Also, there are rules about new teams coming in. When a team is eliminated, the new team cannot be attacked the same turn. The turn count is reset to the original duelist who began the round before. Also, when this happens, no one can attack till each duelist has had one turn. As well, you can defend your partner with your own monsters, but only when they have no monsters on the field obviously. Those are all the rules. Does everyone understand?"

All the duelists nodded that they did. The judge nodded back and said "Then we shall begin. The first round will have Illidan and Marie, the current champions, facing off with Bakura and Keith. Will all four step forward now?"

Slowly, Illidan and Marie, hand in hand, moved to the middle of the dueling field. Keith and Bakura moved to the middle as well. Seeing that all four were there, the judge said "Shuffle your decks now and then shake hands. Then head to your positions."

The four quickly shuffled their decks and then placed them back in their Duel Disks. Illidan and Marie extended their hands to each of their opponents.

Keith accepted Illidan's and said "Good luck dweebs, you'll need it." He then snickered at his comment and left for his position. Bakura shook Marie's hand and wished her luck and then took his place beside Keith. Illidan and Marie then made their way to their positions as well and turned to face their opponents.

Seeing everyone was ready, the judge said "Illidan shall go first, followed by Keith, followed by Marie, followed by Bakura. That is the turn settings."

Up in the stands, Tristan, Tea, Duke, Ishizu, Shadi, who had decided to join them the evening, Mokuba, Serenity, and Odion looked on.

From his throne, Gozaburo only smirked at the field. "They'll never pull this one off, I can almost guarantee it." he thought smartly.

Back on the field, the judge raised his hand and said "Duelists, fire your holo projectors and bring out your Deck Masters. Then draw your first five cards and begin!"

All four quickly fired their projectors out onto the field. Once the projectors landed and powered up, their Duel Disks unfolded and powered up.

With a smile, Illidan said "Come on out Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)!" The large black armor clad warrior then appeared beside him.

Keith yelled "Let's do this Machine King (2200/2000)!" The large blue and red machine monster let out a groan as it appeared beside Keith.

Smiling, Marie called out "I call you forth Guardian Angel Joan (2800/2000)!" The pink skinned angel with a white dress and golden wings then appeared beside her master.

Sighing, Bakura slowly smiled, saying "I call on you Dark Necrofear (2200/2800)!" The purple skinned fiend quickly appeared beside it's master.

The four then drew their cards and called out "Let's duel!"

Illidan drew his next card and glanced at his hand. He had in it Gamma the Magnet Warrior, Blade Knight, Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, and Mirror Force in his hand. His newest card was his Valkyrion the Magna Warrior.

Smirking at his hand, he decided to hold off on summoning Valkyrion. "I'll start by summoning my Blade Knight (1600/1000) in attack mode." A knight in full body white armor appeared on the field, shield and sword ready to do battle.

"Next I'll set one card face down. That ends my move." (Illidan 4000, Keith 4000, Marie 4000, Bakura 4000)

Keith drew and snickered at his first draw. He then smirked and said "I summon Fusilier Dragon, The Dual-Mode Beast (1400/1000) in attack mode." A metallic dragon with tank tracks then appeared on the field and let out a mighty roar at the white knight, which seemed to only laugh.

Illidan lightly chuckled, saying "Your dragon is weak Keith. Besides, you can't summon a level seven monster like that."

Keith only continued to smirk and said "That's where you're wrong Illidan! Fusilier Dragon's special effect allows me to summon it like a level four at a cost of half its points. So, I was able to easily summon this dragon. Next, my dragon gets a power boost thanks to my Deck Master (1600/1200)." The red and blue machine monster's eyes glowed and a blast was fired from them into the back of the dragon, who roared as his power increased.

"I'm not done yet! Now I play the magic card called Metamorphosis. This card allows me to sacrifice my Fusilier Dragon in order to summon a fusion monster of the same level. So now meet my Labyrinth Tank (2400/2400) in attack mode!" The dragon began glowing brightly at that. Slowly, the glow changed shape and a rather large blue tank appeared in the dragon's place. It wielded huge drills and appeared rather dangerous.

"You fools will lose this duel! Next my Deck Master gives him a power blast to increase its power (2600/2600)." Once again, the blue and red machine monster powered up and fired a laser from it's eyes at the tank. The tank glowed slightly as its power increased.

"Next I set one card face down and end my move. Make you move chumpet!" (Illidan 4000, Keith 4000, Marie 4000, Bakura 4000)

Marie only glared daggers at Keith, but drew her next card and said "I'll summon my Winged Kuriboh (300/200) in defense mode." A brown fur ball with green arms and feet with small white wings on it's back appeared on the field. Everyone gave off a huge laugh at the sight of this monster.

"I don't know whether to be more frightened by the fact that card exists or that you'd play it!" declared Keith.

Marie did let a little smile escape her, but she then continued. "Next I'll set three cards face down. That shall do for now." (Illidan 4000, Keith 4000, Marie 4000, Bakura 4000)

Bakura drew and said "Alright chaps, my move. I summon Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in attack mode." A purple like fiend monster appeared on the field. It appeared to have a cape to cover its powerful body and had large horns on it's head.

"I now set two cards face down to end my move." (Illidan 4000, Keith 4000, Marie 4000, Bakura 4000)

Illidan drew and looked at his Jinzo card. Smiling, he said "I sacrifice my Blade Knight in order to summon Jinzo (2400/1500)!" The powerful cyborg in green and black appeared on the field, just crossing his arms in usual fashion.

Keith snickered, saying "That tin can can't even compare to my Labyrinth Tank, Illidan. It's only a matter of time before it's crushed!"

Illidan lightly laughed, and replied with "Funny Keith, because I'm about to compact your tank right now! I send from my hand Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, and Gamma the Magnet Warrior in order to special summon my powerful Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500/3850)!" The three separate magnet creatures then appeared on the field. Slowly, they broke apart into pieces, and then reformed into one larger creature with a large sword.

Keith's jaw dropped and yelled "NOOOO!"

Lightly chuckling, Illidan mockingly said "But yes Keith. Valkyrion, attack Keith's scrap heap of a Labyrinth Tank with Magna Slash!" The powerful monster leapt across the field and slashed the tank, causing it to spark and sputter till it exploded in a horrendous explosion.

"And now, I activate my Deck Master's special ability. Since Valkyrion succeeded in its attack, it can attack again. Valkyrion, attack Keith directly now with Magna Slash!" The warrior quickly charged Keith, who could only scream as the monster struck him hard with it's sword. Keith's life point counter quickly drained to zero, causing his Duel Disk to power down. Keith, with anger flashing in his eyes, slowly got up and stormed off the field.

Illidan then turned to Bakura, saying "Sorry Bakura, but it's your turn now. Jinzo, attack Bakura's Archfiend Soldier now with Cyber Energy Shock!" The cyborg raised one hand till it's palm faced the fiend monster. It then released a blast of black energy from it's palm which struck the fiend monster, causing it to shriek in pain till it was destroyed.

"I'll end my move now." (Illidan 4000, Keith 0, Marie 4000, Bakura 3500)

Marie drew her next card and in a serious tone, said "Since Keith is now out of the way, time for me to get down to business. I summon The Agent of Creation – Venus (1600/0) in attack mode." A lovely angel with golden wings and golden skin appeared on the field. Surrounding her in front were three spheres, which consisted of a red one, a purple one, and a blue one.

"Next I play the field card known as Luminous Spark!" A ball of light then flew up into the air, blinding the field momentarily. When the glow died, they saw a huge blinding sphere of light in the middle of the field, making it nearly unbearable to look at.

"Allow me to explain this card. This card gives all light attribute monsters an additional 500 attack points, but drains them of 400 defense points. That means my Winged Kuriboh and The Agent of Creation – Venus now gain 500 more attack points, but lose 400 defense (800/0) (2100/0)." The winged fur ball and the angel both began glowing with power. It seemed to be coming directly from the sphere of light in the sky above them.

"Next I activate Venus's special effect. At a cost of 500 life points, I can now special summon a monster known as Mystical Shine Ball to the field. So, I pay 1000 life points in order to special summon two Mystical Shine Ball's (500/500) to the field in attack mode. And don't forget, they each get 500 additional attack, but lose 400 defense (1000/100)." Just as the name suggested, two small spheres of light appeared on the field. Both seemed to just shine with power.

"Now I'll switch my Winged Kuriboh to attack position. Time to finish this round. Winged Kuriboh, direct attack with Flying Tackle!" The little winged fur ball flew fast and furiously across the field, smacking Bakura with a head butt, making Bakura slide back slightly.

"Venus, attack with Tri-Sphere Beam!" The three spheres formed a triangle and began glowing. Then a beam formed out of each, and the three combined into one as it neared it's target. The beam collided hard with Bakura, making him slide back even farther from the attack. The attack even went so far as to make him drop to his one knee.

After a moment of panting, Bakura struggled to stand back up. He had a look of pure determination still on his face, saying he wasn't done yet.