Hello once more everyone. Glad everyone liked the end of the duel. Poor Crump got the cold shoulder, lol. Anyways, I'm glad everyone liked it. Well, as you can tell, the story is getting closer and closer to the end. How close, that's my secret, hehe. I will sell it though, if the price is right, lol. But seriously, the end is coming as you all can tell I'm sure. At any rate, time to get down to answering the reviews.

Tomb Robber Vicky: Yes, the penguin was put in the freezer. Yeah, he was always my favorite. Lol, it could have been his corny jokes that made him my favorite probably. But yeah, the poor judge is just there.

Metal Overlord 2.0: They're lasting, just not too long, lol. I believe most of them lasted at least 2 chapters or more, so it'll be alright. Actually, they've not had years. This story takes place after Battle City, like maybe a few months or so after it. For sure no more than six months, but more than one month. But yeah, the fact the Shadow Realm is waiting is a great incentive for them to really work hard. Yeah, there is something different about Ryon, but no worries. As long as he doesn't do any harm to me, or my client, it's all good.

Isis the Sphinx: Yep, he will be. Watches lawyer guy walk over and hand Isis a card. Lawyer dude: "The name is Johnson, legal attorney for…" He's suddenly slashed in half by my claws. Oops… I killed off the next person! Maybe if I duct tape him back together… Yeah, that'll work, I hope.

sweetxokissesxo: Interesting name, lol. But welcome to the story. Interesting tv show. Hurray, Bakura cursed! The evil is finally working on him!

Ryon Nakura: Ah, no killing? I'm truly sad now. You've gone soft man! Smiles at the evil thoughts though. Yes, kill them all! Oops, did that come out? I mean snuggle with them all. Yes…

Fire Princess: Yes, once you pay me. Not own actually. More like rent, lol. Ah, I wouldn't kill in your sleep. That's too simple. Yes, he's worse. He one of the IRS workers that collect taxes! Curse them all!

Strawberry Cake: Lol, too many questions at once for Ryon obviously. It's just a coincidence that the book spells that out backwards. He just can't be Yami Bakura. Turns to story Illidan. Right? Story Illidan shrugs. Sighs Good fictional characters is so hard to find these days.

Brianna Ishtar: Are you really sure he's not one? Sakura did suck pretty bad till she got the hair cut. Now she actually does something. Was amazed by that fact. And yes Ryon, her hair is pink. Hehe, someone will have pink highlights in the sequel. Waits till Ryon is asleep and colors his hair to pink.

pink-kiss-candy: I answered both, just at once, lol. Lol, at least Ryon supplied you some food. Mmm, human… Wait, I'm on a human free diet. Damn you low human diet!

Ultimate Legendary Master: It was slightly short. Not too short, but slightly shorter than the others. That happened sometimes, and for simplicity reasons, so as to not confuse everyone, I made it slightly shorter. But anyways, yeah, I'll keep posting.

Well, that's all I have. Hopefully, everyone has enjoyed the story so far, and it will continue till there are no more chapters left. Then the sequel can begin! Lol, sad thing is, I had hopes of working on the final sequel by now, but I've yet to get much time for it. I may sometime. At any rate, for now, enjoy this story. Later all.

Chapter 122

Illidan returned to his room and sat his Duel Disk and deck down on the table. With a heavy sigh, he sunk into the couch. He sat there, thinking how two of Gozaburo's associates had been targeting his deck differently.

Gansley first tried to just normally duel him and wear him down, but failed miserably. Crump this time though targeted Illidan's higher level monsters. If not for the two Egyptian God Cards that had survived the Crush Card Virus, he'd have more than likely lost. Sure, he had a few of his other cards that could have turned things around, but nothing dominant or permanent. If not for Slifer the Sky Dragon, he would have lost more than likely.

Now he had to prepare for the third of Gozaburo's associates. If he was anything like the other two, he'd definitely have a specific type of tactic to try against Illidan. What kind of tactic though, who would know. Illidan only sighed and sank deeper into the couch. He then closed his eyes, and slowly fell asleep.

He was awakened quickly by a dream though. It was one of the dreams where the world was devastated by the destruction of Gozaburo's wish. Most of the world was in ruins. The people of Earth were under his control, and worshiped him like a God. He had succeeded at doing what he'd wanted to perform. Worst of all, he had banished every one of his friends, with exception of Marie, to the Shadow Realm. Only he and Marie survived the awful banishing. Both were left to suffer through a world that hated and hunted them.

Eventually, he had died and Gozaburo had captured Marie, forcing her to become his slave for life. He had awakened at his death where he saw Marie being taken as Gozaburo's slave. Illidan was breathing hard, for the dream had felt so real.

"Could it have been a possible vision?" he said silently to himself. He then glanced down at his Millennium Key, which was glowing softly.

"Possibly since you're glowing." he said to the key.

He then stood and stretched out. It was already 2 o'clock.

"I need to train some, just to get these thoughts off my mind. After all, it was Squall that said to train the mind you must train the body."

He then went to the top of the tower and began stretching out. Slowly, he warmed up his legs and arms, as well as other essential joints.

Years before, when he was just a child of 6 years of age, he had started taking karate classes. To his sensei's amazement, Illidan had surpassed all the students in the class by the end of the year. He was truly gifted for fighting, as well as for memorizing fighting moves. By his second year, he had even surpassed the sensei. Illidan was then sent to another sensei that was stronger, but in no time, Illidan surpassed him as well. By the age of 10, Illidan was said to be one of the best in the state where he lived. He had won countless awards from tournaments. Even though he had won so many awards, it didn't matter to him. About the age of 12, he was finished with fighting after he had really hurt a competitor that wouldn't give up. From then on, Illidan vowed not to fight unless necessary.

Then at the age of 13, he found something that made him truly think while somewhat fight. It was the game of Duel Monsters. He had heard of it, but never truly seen it till this age. Within the first few weeks of being shown it, he bought some cards. Slowly, Illidan learned about the game. Over time, he began to develop some killer strategies, and really took his abilities up to a new level.

At the age of 15, he had started dueling in tournaments. It was in one tournament that he'd met Marie. He had barely beat her, and they had placed a wager on the friendly game. If he won, she'd agree to give him her phone number, and if she won, he'd agree to put on a pink tutu. Thankfully, he had won. He had only won with a handful of life points, but won none the less. From then on, the two had talked and dueled together quite often. Slowly, they grew closer till finally Illidan worked up the courage to truthfully ask her out. When he had made that wager earlier, he had been only half joking. Sure, he'd had opportunities to go with other girls, but he never took them up on it. This girl though, she was different. Everything just seemed to click with her. They seemingly were like long lost friends from another time. They slowly developed a relationship, and Illidan realized soon enough he did truly love Marie. Both had a hard time admitting it, but they finally did and both knew it to be true.

As they grew older, they won many tournaments. At one of them, Seto Kaiba had made an appearance. He sat there all clammed up and said hardly a word. In this tournament, Illidan had won first place. In a way, looking back, it had been to try and show he was the strongest. Seto had never said a word to him, nor congratulated him on his win when he walked up to receive his trophy. He just handed it to him and left. Illidan had shrugged it off and never gave a second thought to it.

By the time Illidan was 17, he was still practicing his karate on his own time. He had heard a quote from somewhere that to train the mind you had to train the body as well. He continued to follow this principle always. Before a Duel Monsters tournament, he'd go and warm up with some training.

After he had received the Millennium Key only a week or so ago, it all made sense then why he always continued to train his mind and body. It also made so much sense to why him and Marie got along so well also. Everything had basically repeated itself, for the most part. Now he was in a tournament to save the world from Gozaburo and the Millennium Crown.

As he continued to practice and work his body, he slowly thought of his task before him. He had to finish off the remaining three associates, then the final task itself would be before him. Gozaburo most likely had a strong deck, for he'd need it. In order to combat three Egyptian God Cards, he'd need one heck of a deck really. After all, Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and The Winged Dragon of Ra were all three incredibly strong and had few weaknesses. He only wondered if maybe Gozaburo knew some and was counting on that to win his duel against Illidan. Why else dare to allow Illidan to use all three against him in a duel? After all, in order to activate the Millennium Crown, he had to survive the duel against Illidan. If Illidan won though, he'd get ownership and command of the Millennium Crown and it's full powers. Not to mention, more importantly, his friends would be free. That was his main goal. He had to free them, no matter the cost. This whole ordeal was already worrisome enough, but the fact that Marie was held by that madman made it worse.

As he continued to practice, his movements became faster and more powerful. Releasing his anger and frustration through these movements was the best he could do for now. If he used anger and frustration during his duels though, he'd lose more than likely.

"Anger only clouds your mind in battle, so remember to never use it against an opponent." Squall had lectured him during his training from long ago.

Illidan smiled, remembering his teacher had taught him that in his early training. He had been so mad at the Pharaoh of Egypt, Yami's father, for he'd tried to have himself, his father, and the band of nomads that had come to get him for training killed. They succeeded in killing his father and all but one, which was Squall, of the small group of nomads that had come. It had been rough for him loosing his father, for he had loved him dearly. Illidan had been so filled with rage and a need for revenge on that day, but if he had tried, he'd have been killed. Luckily, Squall taught him to let vengeance go.

"A man that kills for revenge can never be at peace. Remember my young student, for if you kill in anger and rage, you will never have peace. You will be lowering yourself to their level, thus making you as bad as them. I doubt truly that you wish to receive such a judgment." Squall had lectured to him at another time.

Illidan was rather thankful though for Squall's lessons and lectures. Because of Squall, Illidan had learned to control his anger and learned many life lessons. He learned so much from the man really. He also discovered how protecting someone seemed to raise a person's abilities to defend someone else.

Illidan had first noticed this when a small group of raiders attacked the nomads. Squall was defending his wife, Rinoa, who was pregnant at the time. The one raider went after her, but Squall slashed him in half, even though he had been very weak at the time due to a wound. It had amazed Illidan at how Squall had protected his wife with such incredible strength. Illidan had later asked Squall how he had done it, and Squall only laughed.

He replied with "When you have someone to protect, your own power seems to grow exponentially. That's how I defended Rinoa earlier."

As Illidan reached the more intense part of his workout, he remembered again how he had not really known what Squall had meant by those words. It wasn't till he met Marie that it all clicked. Soon after he had started teaching her, he realized how badly he was starting to long for her company, and how he felt he had to protect her from any harm. It wasn't till his second year of teaching her that he came to the realization that he truly loved her. Truthfully, he had loved her longer than that, but he didn't realize it fully till then.

He didn't fully realize till one month when Yami took Marie with him on a journey through Egypt. Illidan had stayed behind due that he had others to teach and Yami had placed him in charge of Egypt in his absence, but only a day after they had left, Illidan realized how badly he missed his favorite student. Not just due that he loved teaching to her, but due that he loved her company, her talks, the scent he always caught when she was near, the sight of her, and just the sound of her voice. It was that day he truly realized how badly he had fallen in love with her. Even though he felt such strong love for her, he knew better than to act on it. He didn't want to ruin her future by trying to win her favor. After all, the point of her training was to prepare her to help defend Egypt, plus the Shadow Court was thinking of asking her to join in the future. Not to mention, Yami had mentioned to him that once her training was complete, she would be freed from slavery. The last thing Illidan wanted to do was to mess up his student's future, so he left things as they were. But it was obvious to everyone that he was very protective of Marie. During their many months of training, he was very careful to never put her into situations where she would be in very much danger.

For the entire year till her final day of testing, Illidan continued to conceal his feelings. Luckily, she had not tried to read how he felt anymore. If she had, she'd have known how he truly felt easily probably. It wasn't till the day that Yami had pitched an idea to have Marie join the Shadow Court that Illidan let his true feelings be known about Marie to Yami. Yami had pitched the idea, but Illidan utterly rejected it, saying his student was far too weak to join. Yami and the others argued against Illidan's objections. Finally, knowing more than likely he was outmatched, Illidan asked to speak to Yami alone to discuss another reason.

Once alone, the young pharaoh sat down and said "What is wrong with you?" he demanded once the two of them were alone.

Illidan only looked away from Yami. He couldn't even look at his friend. "She's… she's not ready. That's just it. It's also far too dangerous for her to be on the council seeing how she's the weakest among us." he finally said.

Yami only sighed, and said "Illidan, you've told me for the last three years that Marie is one of the most amazing students you could ever have. In three years time, she has gone from being the level I'd have been at nine to the level I was at sixteen. That is eight years of training compacted into three. She has grown stronger at a faster pace than any of us ever did. Now, you can't tell me she is too weak still."

Illidan continued to only look away and remained silent.

"Illidan, tell me what is going on."

Illidan looked at Yami with an unreadable face. Yami could usually tell how Illidan felt, but not this time. Sighing, Illidan sat down near Yami's throne.

"Well, have you ever had one of those things that just happened and you had no idea how you got to that point?" Illidan asked.

Yami nodded, saying "Yes, I've had that happen from time to time."

Illidan then slowly said "Well, that's what is wrong with her. Slowly over the last three years, I've gotten to know Marie. Over that time, I developed… feelings for her. Not just feelings I guess, but most likely a strong connection, possibly even love. I think it's truly love, but I know how dangerous the Shadow Court is. That's why I can't allow her to join. My feelings for her would get in the way, and that would affect the Shadow Court. Due that I'm stronger, I feel bound to stay, but I can't let her on. If she joins, I just don't know what would happen…"

Yami only smiled softly at his friend. "Illidan, do you know if she has the same feelings or not for you?" he asked gently.

Illidan looked away again, and said flatly "No, I don't. If she does, I don't want to mess everything up for her, but at the same time, I can't put her in danger."

Yami then stood and placed a hand on Illidan's shoulder and said "Sometimes things in life are worth the risk though. Love is one of them. Do what your heart feels is right, but I will not let you break that girl's heart by not allowing her to join the Shadow Court. She has longed to join us, and I won't let you take that from her."

Illidan looked at his friend and sighed. He knew Yami wouldn't allow him to stop his quest to keep Marie off the court. It was then that he decided the only way to keep her off was to personally make her final test impossible for her to win.

Illidan had done just that the next day, throwing down a Monster Shadow Game, but to his surprise, as well as the others, Marie won the duel. Few had defeated Illidan, but Marie somehow beat him. It was during her recovery that Illidan finally revealed his feelings to her, and she revealed her true feelings for him. From that day on, the two were nearly inseparable.

Finally, Illidan hit the final part of his exercise. He stood there, shaking slightly from the work out. He then took in a deep breath and relaxed.

"That should do it. I think I've warmed myself up enough."

With that, he turned and grabbed a towel he had brought up with him. He then started to dry off and headed to the elevator. He went back to his room and got a quick shower and some dinner. Once he had eaten, he noticed it was already 6:30.

Illidan quickly grabbed his deck and took a quick look through. Once satisfied, he stuck it in his deck holder and grabbed his Duel Disk. Illidan then proceeded to walk towards the elevator with a purpose.

"Two down so far, three to go." he said softly. Finally, he reached the elevator. Sighing slightly, he got on. Once at the top, he saw the judge was already there, as well as the Gozaburo and his associates. One of them stood further out, signifying he was Illidan's opponent.

The judge started his usual speech. Illidan's opponent then walked up to Illidan and handed him a card from his pocket.

"The name is Johnson, future legal councilor to represent Mr. Kaiba against the world in any legal matters. Of course, seeing how he will control the world, my job should be easy." the lawyer said with a small chuckle.

Illidan only took the card and ripped it up and threw it to the ground.

"You'll need more than legal help to beat me. Let's do this."

Johnson slightly growled at his card being destroyed, but shrugged it off. The judge then proceeded with his usual speech. Both then went to their positions.

"Since Mr. Johnson is the challenger, he shall go first. Activate your Duel Disks and bring forth your Deck Masters, then draw 5 cards and begin." said the judge in simplicity.

Both then unfolded their Duel Disks.

"I call forth my strong legal advisor, Judge Man (2200/1500)." A monster in robes then appeared. He held a gavel in one hand and had a mask on his face.

"I bring forth my Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)." called out Illidan. Illidan's large soldier in black armor that had a beautiful luster appeared beside of him.

Both then drew their first five cards and said "LET'S DUEL!"