Hello once more everyone. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the Tag Team Gauntlet. I think it turned out better than I originally thought back when I wrote it, for I was uncertain if I could do a gauntlet or not, but I did figure it out finally. At any rate, time to answer some reviews.

Ultimate Legendary Master: Lol, yeah, she seems unlucky with that monster. She's just unlucky due that it's mostly been against Yami when it's happened.

Tomb Robber Vicky: Yeah, kind of a deju vu. I never realized it, but it is sort of like that. Lol, he's like the real life Illidan, which is rather tired, hehe.

Isis the Sphinx: Yeah, it does sort of remind me of Battle City now that you mention it, but not entirely. Gozaburo has enough decency to go make house calls, rather than just barge in, lol. Yeah, the past three were meant to be released in a way that I left you all with a major cliff hanger on the middle chapter, but that didn't work out, but oh well. As for news on The History of the Millennium Items, my fiancé is kind of busy. She's preparing to move so she can start work, so it's been hectic, so no time to write, sadly. She did pass along some good news though that she has ideas for the next chapter, so it'll come up soon, hopefully.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Yeah, she's taken a good bit of abuse, and mostly due to Illidan or Yami. Hmm, I sense a pattern, lol. Unbalanced you say? How so, lol. As for him being the only player or not, we'll see, hehe. Could someone be behind the scenes and orchestrating something bigger? We'll see, or maybe it's just me being evil and screwing with everyone, lol. The Dragon Knight card was actually from the show. I got it from Joey's duel with Mai in the Seal series. I'm sure as you've noticed I borrowed quite a few cards from that section of the show, as well as Battle City. I believe the Seal series was on when I was at this stage of the story, which is why you see many of those cards. Pretty much, that Dragon Knight card works like Paladin of White Dragon, except you get a Red-Eyes Black Dragon instead of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I'll try to check out your story tonight btw. Hopefully I'll get to it.

pink-kiss-candy: LOL! Watches Ryou running away. Ryou: "Someone save me!" Smacks him in the head with the baseball bat, instantly knocking him out. That help?

Well, that was fun, hehe. Btw, I do have some news. Anyone who happens to like Inuyasha will be interested as well. I'm going to do a one-shot on Inuyasha, mostly due that I got an idea from a song I listened to that kind of describes him and Kagome's relationship. It'll be titled Why is it? I started work on it last night, but stupid computer deleted it due to an error I had when installing Yim. Grumbles about installing Yim. I've tried installing it three times already, and all three times, I get the same problem at the end. Sighs

At any rate, that's all I have for now. I would talk more about what's going on, but I just don't feel like it at the moment. Anyways, till tomorrow, enjoy.

Chapter 89

About 6 A.M., Illidan abruptly woke up. He sat up with sweat dripping off his face and body as he shook. "It was that vision again. It was the one where Marie is stabbed by Gozaburo. Why am I constantly reminded about that by my Millennium Key?"

He glared down at the key, seeing that it was still glowing. "What are you trying to show me?" he cried out.

The key only continued to glow. Illidan's eyes narrowed as he grabbed it and brought it up to his face, staring into the glow. "Answer me! I want to know why you haunt my dreams with this cursed memory!" he demanded.

As before, the key only continued to glow. "Yeah, be silent. Just you wait till I figure it out. Then I'll break you off in a door!" he threatened.

Illidan smiled at his threat and realized he wouldn't get any more sleep that morning. Sighing, he got up and started towards the bathroom. The day before had drained him physically and mentally. His duel with Yami had taken more of a toll on his body and mind than he cared to admit, and the Tag Team Gauntlet Match had just worn him down further. Not to mention, he had stayed up till four in the morning watching over Marie, not once ever falling asleep. His body ached from the lack of sleep, but he knew he had to press on.

At last, he entered the bathroom and took a quick shower. Normally a shower would wake him up, but it didn't help this time. Once he had dressed and took care of his hair, he made his way to the refrigerator and decided to see if he could find anything to drink. There he found the perfect things to wake him up. In there he saw some energy drinks, so he grabbed three. One was Element Dragon Fruit, which always seemed to wake him up, another was Amp, and the last was Frappachino.

Deciding on eating something other than his usual breakfast, he grabbed some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, one of his favorite cereals. Once he had a full bowl and had the milk on it, he went to the table where he had set his energy drinks. He quickly devoured his cereal and then began chugging the three energy drinks. Of course, he had to drink the Frappachino first, seeing how it was like drinking cold coffee. After that, he had the Amp, and topped off with the Element.

Sighing happily, he said aloud "That was good."

Once placing his bowl in the sink and his empty bottles into the trash, he went to the computer to check on who was dueling who for the day. Sure enough, as he suspected since it was the tenth day of dueling, he was set to duel Joey Wheeler.

Slowly, Illidan tried to remember all the previous duels he had had with Joey. Each duel, Joey had thrown something new at him. The night before, Illidan had seen a few cards he'd never saw Joey play in fact. Illidan only pondered just how strong Joey would be for this day as well. "Knowing Joey, it'll be a real tight duel, and it'll go down to the wire with us. I just have to be ready for anything he does."

Illidan glanced at the clock right quick to see it was 7 A.M. He decided to read for a while now, hoping it would calm his mind. He went to a fan fiction site that Marie had shown him and read a fan fiction that she had told him about. It was called Opposite Ends. This fan fiction was about one of his favorite anime's, which happened to be Inuyasha. He read for a while, just enjoying himself.

Basically, the plot was that Kagome, a girl from the future who found her way back to the past, was really the reincarnation of a priestess. "How ironic that I'd read about someone that was reincarnated." mused Illidan silently.

She had met a half dog demon named Inuyasha back in the past, who happened to have been in love with her previous incarnation named Kikyou, and slowly was falling in love with Kagome. "Yes, very ironic." he thought yet again.

They eventually teamed up with a perverted monk named Miroku, a demon slayer named Sango and her pet cat demon, and a fox demon child named Shippou. In this fan fiction, Kagome was transformed into a half demon, and the group was setting out to find a cure. Only problem was Inuyasha's demon side was strongly attracted to the now half demon Kagome. It was a rather hilarious fan fiction, but a decently long one as well.

Illidan could only laugh because he sometimes pretended to be a half demon when he and Marie were on an internet forum. She would be his school girl, which made Illidan feel pretty good. "Unlike Inuyasha, I'm not afraid I love her." he mused yet again.

It was a humorous game they played quite often on the site. A few others joined in the acting. There was Freed the clown, Randy the vampire with his secretary Sky, then Tela the vampire who Randy created by biting her, and others. It was all fun and games for the group. Of course, none of them lived close to one another, but it was all fun.

Illidan suddenly broke out of his gaze of the computer screen and realized he'd be day dreaming about all the fun times him and Marie had had on the site. He checked the time, and realized it was close enough. It was 7:30 already, and he had yet to check his deck. He logged off the computer and went over to run through his deck.

After a quick look, he was satisfied and set his deck in his deck holder. He then strapped on his Duel Disk and headed for the elevator.

Along the way, he met Shadi, who appeared to have starlight eyes. Illidan only glanced at his friend and laughed, saying "She's already got you whipped, doesn't she?"

Shadi popped out of his dream and realized Illidan had said he was whipped. "I'm not whipped. You're the whipped one as I remember." he commented back.

Illidan only chuckled and replied with "At least I admit it!"

Shadi only laughed at his friend and continued on his way. Illidan went his own way as well and soon came to the elevator, and was on time for once in a great blue moon.

The judge just stood there shocked that Illidan was there at all. "Wow, you actually made it on time for once. This is rather odd." commented the judge.

Illidan only nodded, and sarcastically replied with "Yep, I'm that way sometimes."

The two then waited for Joey. About three minutes before they had to go, he came running down the hall, screaming "WAIT FOR ME! WAIT FOR ME!"

He got there, completely out of breath and leaned over, hands on his knees for support. After panting for a minute, he said "I'm ready. Sorry I'm late, but I had to say good bye to someone."

Illidan only smirked and slyly thought "I bet it was Mai and instead of good bye, it was more like a passionate kiss that lasted a little too long."

He then noticed a small bit of lipstick on Joey's lips and commented "Yeah, saying good bye with your lips aren't you Joey?"

Joey looked at Illidan puzzled, saying with a small stutter "Wh… what do you mean?"

Illidan only chuckled and said "You have lipstick on your lips. I do believe that's Mai's shade."

Joey suddenly realized it was still on and he was busted. He quickly rubbed it off, making the judge only sigh and shake his head. He then led the two into the elevator and they quickly headed for the top.

On the way up, Illidan closed his eyes, trying to remember their previous duel. Joey had fought so hard throughout the duel. He had even had Illidan backed into a corner a few times. Illidan had fought with all he had and had won the duel, but it was still close. This time it would be another tough and brutal duel, yet Illidan looked forward to it. "He pushed me to my limits and beyond last time. I think this time he'll do the same again." Illidan thought in hopefulness.

Illidan opened his eyes once again and glanced over at Joey. Joey had a look of pure determination on his face.

They finally arrived at the top and exited the elevator. Everyone was already there in the stands. Even Gozaburo sat in his throne, eager to watch. Once in the center of the ring, the judge began his normal speech.

"This is the tenth day of dueling. This duel was set up due to several other matches to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinental and World Championships. Both matches were won by Mr. Wheeler, thus making him the number one contender. Duelists, please step forward and exchange decks. Then shuffle and return your opponents deck, then shake hands."

Illidan and Joey both complied and handed one another their decks. Once Illidan and Joey finally both deemed their decks shuffled enough, they handed one another their decks back. They then each extended their hands and shook.

Joey had a look of pure determination on his face, but Illidan had the same look. Both wanted to win. This was for pride, as well as the right to call themselves the best in the world.

Smiling genuinely, Joey said "Good luck today, Illidan."

Returning a genuine smile, Illidan replied "Good luck to you today also, Joey."

Finally, both released their handshake, and the judge said "Duelists, go to your positions and wait for my signal."

Both complied with the judge. Each reached their marks, knowing that this was it. The duel that both wanted to find out who was the best in.

The judge then spoke up again, saying "Now, both of you activate your Duel Disks. The tower's holo projectors are now working, so no need to fire your Duel Disk's projectors. Then bring out your Deck Masters, and draw your first five cards. Illidan shall go first due that he is the current champion."

Both nodded and then activated their Duel Disks, which unfolded and lit up.

Joey took a deep breath and said "I'll bring out my Flame Swordsman (1800/1600)." The powerful orange and blue armored swordsman appeared, swinging his sword wildly with flames flying off of it. When he finished swinging it, he placed it on his back.

Taking a deep breath himself, Illidan said "I call you forth, my Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)." The strong soldier in black armor appeared with his sword and shield in hand as always. His armor was so shiny in the early morning light.

Both then drew their cards and cried out "Let's Duel!"