Eliminator

Magicman: Good lord, time sure does fly. I believe the last time we left off Joey had just received some interesting information about psychopaths with millennium items. Furthermore the villains were revealed as an unholy trio of…villainy I suppose. There were Marik, Kaiba, and the spirit of the Millennium Ring, who will henceforth be called Bakura. Incidentally, if anyone actually knows his real name I'd be more than pleased to hear it. I've been wondering for a while.

Smokegirl: Get on with it.

Magicman: Right, right. To the point. By the way, I'm referring to some Yugioh GX characters and one of my originals in this chapter.

IIIIIII

"This is Sandra Walker, bringing you the sports news. Maximilian Pegasus' Duellist Kingdom tournament is reaching its final stages. The strongest duellists around the world have fought each other for the right to enter the castle and face the master himself. However there is some confusion in the air. Out of a possible eight finalists, only five have made it before the cut off time has lapsed. Mr. Pegasus has offered to give us an interview in order to clear up this curious event." The news reporter passed the microphone to a beaming Pegasus sporting his fancy red suit. "Could you please tell us why so few duellists out of so many have made it to the finals?"

"Absolutely Sandra" Pegasus said cheerfully. "Part of it is no doubt due to a poor sense of direction among the competitors."

The reporter blinked and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Er, of course."

Pegasus continued in equally cheerful tones. "Of course my eliminators are employed specifically to defeat other duellists and give my tournament an extra challenge so the credit really does belong to them. I must say that they're a talented bunch who more than earned their pay. And of course the duellists go after each other with a vengeance. The tournament is set up so that multiple duellists have to lose in order for just one finalist to qualify. The competitors who have made it this far deserve to be here because they've had to fight through eliminators and their own colleagues, desperate for a shot in the finals."

"Can you tell us who has made it to the final round?"

"But of course! The first to arrive was Rex Raptor, who seems to have bounced back from the drubbing he took last time. Just after him Bastion Masawa came in. Then Miss Mai Valentine-"

Suddenly a blond girl with really fuzzy hair rushed between the reporter and Pegasus. "Hi dad. Bye dad" she said breathlessly as she hurtled by. As Pegasus and Walker wondered what was going on another blonde figure ran past the camera.

"Shannon! Give me back my cookie!"

There was a moment of silence as the reporter appeared to wonder what on Earth was going on while Pegasus beamed happily. "And the final two duellists would be Mr. Chaz Princeston and Miss Ami Ryuta. Since we have an odd number of finalists we'll have to have a short preliminary round to determine who stays and who goes home. In the meantime, I am keeping the competitors-"

At about that time Simon strolled by, his arm wrapped around Mai's waist, bragging about his first tournament win. "So the moron says 'You'll never get past my Big Shield Guardna! It has too many defence points!' Well, he sure didn't take it well when I played Stop Defence, I'll tell you that."

Mai laughed in amusement. The reporter was starting to look creeped out.

"-overnight and beginning the final rounds in the morning" Pegasus soldiered on through the distractions. "The least I can do is treat them to a hot supper, hmm?"

"I suppose so. We all look forward to hearing the results of your tournament." Walker looked at the camera and adjusted her glasses again. "And now for the baseball update."

As soon as the camera was off her Sandra Walker quickly gathered up her stuff and rushed from the castle, followed by her camera crew. Pegasus watched her go with a hint of regret in his eyes. "There goes another member of the press that I've alienated."

"I can't say I'm surprised that she ran. She can tell what a hack you are" a cold voice from behind him answered.

Duellist Kingdom 2 was a huge celebrity event. Pegasus had gone to great lengths to organise his tournament. He had personally scouted out the world's best duellists and the most promising of newcomers to the sport, and extended invitations to them all. The billionaire had also invited wealthy and famous spectators to watch the events. He hadn't expected Seto Kaiba to actually accept his invitation, especially since he already refused to participate.

Pegasus beamed with delight. "Kaiba-boy! What an unexpected surprise! And here I thought that our friendship was at an end. How have you been?"

Kaiba, looking colder and less pleasant than ever, regarded Pegasus nastily. "I'm not here to be your friend Pegasus, and I'm certainly not here to watch every worthless weakling try to gain some recognition by beating you. I'm only here to pick up my brother, though why he'd want to come here at all is a mystery to me."

Still grinning, Pegasus shrugged. "Ah well, at least you're consistent Kaiba-boy. I wouldn't have expected anything less from you. As for young Mokuba, the dear boy played quite well, though he ultimately didn't make it this far. If I recall my database correctly he is somewhere in the wasteland zone with three star chips under his belt."

Despite his claims, Kaiba seemed rather uninterested in Mokuba. He looked about the large room suspiciously, analysing each duellist and their potential threat. A few like Chaz glared back but he ignored them pointedly. His eyes glossed over most of the people and eventually settled on Joey, who had retrieved his cookie and was now ruthlessly tickling Shannon. For the first time a tiny smile graced his lips.

"I'd heard that you were desperate for duelling talent, but when I heard that you hired that loser I just couldn't believe it! That dog is good for nothing but barking at his betters."

Pegasus never lost his smile. If anything, it widened. "You are certainly brave when insulting a man who can't hear you. Perhaps you'd like to mock him to his face"

Kaiba glared at Pegasus, who waved over his eliminator. Releasing his tickle victim he approached with his hands in his pockets. Joey nodded at his boss before catching sight of Kaiba. "Well" he grunted, his smile frozen in place. "Look what the cat dragged in. You wanted something boss?"

"Oh not me. Kaiba-boy here was just telling me about how he doubts your skills as a duellist."

"Is that right?" Joey turned to Kaiba but kept talking to Pegasus. "Well I'm not surprised that he thinks that, but that wash up really doesn't mean squat to me. So you can tell him that he's welcome to insult me all he likes."

"Joey says-"

"I knew it." Kaiba smiled tightly. "You've got a new place on the duelling circuit but you're still a loser. You don't even have the guts to stand up and defend yourself."

"You just don't get it, do you Seahorse?" Kaiba frowned at the mocking nickname. "You just don't matter anymore. You used to be world champion. You used to be the best at anything. You used have everything at your fingertips, and that used to get me riled up. But I'm happy where I am. I can watch you rant and rave about how great you are but I know that you're all washed up." Joey chuckled. "How ironic, eh? Power was all you had and now you lost that too."

Kaiba did not erupt like Joey expected. Instead he adopted a cold smile. "You don't know the meaning of power. Let me show you what power is." He pulled one card out of his pocket and flashed it to Joey. "You should feel honoured to even get a glimpse of a God card" he taunted.

Joey looked closer at the card and read out loud the words that he saw. "'Obelisk the Tormentor'. This thing is supposed to be an obelisk?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "You unsophisticated mutt. This is the greatest card ever made by your moronic employer." Pegasus bowed at the 'compliment'. Kaiba ignored him. "Only a chosen few can summon and control an Egyptian God card. You're lucky to even be looking at one."

Joey shrugged. "What's the big deal? I've got one of those too." He removed the card he'd taken from the lunatic Strings at his last duel and flashed it out. "Meet my God card, Slifer the Sky Dragon."

Joey missed the glint in Kaiba's icy blue eyes as he saw the card.

"You don't deserve that card" Kaiba hissed, surprising Joey with his intensity. "No amateur deserves it. It belongs to me and it's only a matter of time before I get it!"

"Sheesh! Chill Kaiba. It's just a card."

Kaiba did not chill. Kaiba fixed his eyes on Joey's face and the intensity almost scared the blonde duellist. "Duel me. Right now."

"What?"

"Duel me! By your own tournament rules the loser will give up his rarest card." His voice turned low and smooth. "If you beat me you'll win my Obelisk. Then you'd have two God cards."

Joey briefly considered then shook his head. "Nah, don't think so. It's pretty cool but-" he was interrupted as Kaiba grabbed the collar of his jacket and twisted it angrily.

"Listen to me you little bastard" Kaiba snarled, "I want that God card. You are going to duel me for it now or I'll just take it later under less pleasant circumstances!"

Joey grabbed Kaiba's hand and tried to force it away. "Let go of me you psycho!"

"Is there some trouble here?"

Kaiba's eyes burned into Joey's one more second before releasing him and stepping back. "None at all…" He turned to regard the newcomer and his eyes froze up once again.

Simon eyed Kaiba with a strangely unreadable expression. His arm was still wrapped around Mai's waist casually and he had a can of cream soda in his other hand. There was nothing in his light green eyes or the smooth tone of his voice to suggest any hostility. But his posture…he was only standing in place but he still managed to look aggressive.

Kaiba stared hard at Simon for several seconds before speaking. "I've wondered before where you were hiding."

"Not hiding, Kaiba. Just living by myself for a while."

"So now you're coming out of retirement? After years of obscurity you want to be number one again?"

Simon shrugged and sipped his pop. "I haven't really decided. I might just want to hang out with my charming companion here."

Mai laughed a bit. "Flirt" she accused.

"And proud of it."

Kaiba smirked. "Pegasus seems to have a knack for employing washouts. I remember when you could have been the best in the world. Now you're picking up after that outdated freak."

Joey scowled. "Hey listen, Kaiba," he began but Simon cut him off.

The black haired duellist reached into his pocket and withdrew something obscured by his hand. With a practiced flick of a wrist he presented with a flourish a set of Duel Monsters cards. "Twenty six" Simon said carelessly. "One for each duellist I've eliminated from this tournament." He sifted through them and showed off Chaos Emperor Dragon. "This one was the best of the bunch. He was using a Chaos deck that's become popular lately. He almost had me. But then he got cocky, and that's what finished him." He exchanged cards to show off Agent of Judgement Saturn. "She wasn't bad either, but she just wasn't vicious enough. Fairies are actually a lot stronger than people think if they're used properly." Now he showed off a Jinzo. "Now he was just easy. The ones who use Jinzo tend to think they're invincible, but they never think things through. He played three facedown traps before summoning the android. Can you believe it?" Simon packed up his trophies again and smiled for the first time. It was not a pleasant smile. "All of them thought that they could beat me in a duel. All of them learned the hard way that they were wrong. So you see I've been keeping in practice. Now, which one of us were you calling a washout again?"

Kaiba was unimpressed. "Just because you can beat some amateurs doesn't mean that you're still the best."

"And who is the best? You?"

The millionaire glared at his duelling predecessor with something approaching hate in his eyes. "I earned my title. You walked away from it. You don't have the right to criticise me!"

"You know Kaiba, this has the makings of a very interesting duel" Simon mused carelessly.

"Maybe some other time Corona. I'm here to pick up my brother, nothing else."

"You wanted to duel Joey."

Kaiba's glare returned to Joey, who once again missed the glint in the millionaire's eyes. "Wheeler deserves all the humiliation he can get. I might be able to respect you though. I'll save our duel for some other time. Until then stay undefeated."

"I wish I could say the same thing to you" Simon called out to Kaiba's back. The final parting shot did not seem to faze him though as he stalked from the large reception room.

Pegasus re-entered the conversation and eyed Kaiba's exit speculatively. "Now what was that all about?"

Joey shrugged. "Ah, who cares about that snob? I'm off to the buffet table- whoa!" Shannon had jumped on his back, taking him totally by surprise.

"Thought you could get away so easily, huh?" she cackled maliciously.

The play fighting couple stumbled over a few people before crashing down on a couch in the corner of the room. Shannon finally relinquished her almost-boyfriend and let him clutch his chest theatrically. "Criminey Shann, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

Shannon beamed at the compliment. She was feeling hyper today. "Come on! Let's go bug the girls."

Joey sighed. "Alright, let's go." He heaved himself to his feet and followed Shannon around through the large room.

As he went, he found himself wondering what would have happened if Simon and Kaiba really had duelled. Joey had first hand experience with Kaiba's deck…but Simon had eliminated twenty six duellists in the tournament. There were only about two hundred entrants to begin with. He himself had only beaten fourteen duellists, and he didn't always eliminate them entirely.

Suddenly Joey found himself thankful that he didn't have to duel with Simon.

"Hey Tea! Serenity! There you are!" Shannon nearly yanked off Joey's arm dragging him over to his sister and friend.

IIIIIII

Ishizu paced down Pegasus' empty halls discontentedly. She wasn't sure why she was disquieted. It wasn't like a vision. This was nothing definite at all.

The Egyptian woman reviewed the facts to herself. The tournament had gone quite well. One of the God cards had been recovered and several of Marik's henchmen had been put out of commission. Ra was still in her brother's possession. Kaiba still had Obelisk but he wouldn't keep it. She could even use her millennium Necklace to determine what Marik was scheming next.

Ishizu stopped in the hallway and frowned. "If everything is just fine, then why am I so edgy?"

"I've had moments like that. I never can figure out why though."

The strange voice scared Ishizu into jumping a bit. She spun around and found herself looking down upon a young man who smiled pleasantly at her. He looked a bit girlish but hardly threatening. Embarrassed, she coughed a bit and nodded a greeting. "Hello. Who are you?"

"No one special. Just Ryou Bakura, that's all."

"Well what brings you here Mr. Bakura? The welcome party is still going on in the audience hall."

"The same thing as you I guess." Ryou shrugged. "I don't really like big parties. They're too crowded. Sometimes I just have to get out and think."

Ishizu nodded again, her sense of anxiety slowly fading. "I agree. I came out here because I have a lot on my mind, that's all. I'm sorry if I interrupted your own musings."

Ryou smiled politely. "That's quite alright Miss. Joey is much more distracting than you are."

Ishizu raised an eyebrow. "Joey Wheeler?" Ryou nodded. "How do you know Mr. Wheeler?"

"I'm just a friend of his from Domino. I was in Duellist Kingdom for the last tournament."

Come to think of it, Ishizu had heard something about that. Maximillian had told her about the villain who had stolen his millennium Eye.

Alarm bells suddenly started going off in her head. The idea that this innocent seeming boy could be a criminal who spanned millennium was preposterous. Still, something made her hair curl slightly.

The silence was deafening and Ishizu hastened to fill it. "Well I'm afraid I must be going now. I've been away for too long."

"May I walk back with you? I need to talk with Joey."

Again Ishizu hesitated a moment before answering. "If you like." She was probably starting at nothing. Even if this Ryou had a millennium item she could fend him of with her own.

As she turned her back on the young man she braced herself mentally for an attack. None came.

Ryou chuckled slightly. "Am I making you nervous?"

"Of course not" Ishizu answered, determined to be polite.

"Meaning that you are of course. I wouldn't blame you, running into a total stranger by surprise and then having to strike up a conversation with him. You could have no idea what I'm doing in Pegasus' castle. I mean, for all you know I could be here to kidnap you and drag you off to my hidden fortress for some stereotypical evil plan!"

Admittedly amused, Ishizu turned to Ryou and raised an eyebrow. "Well, I think I'm pretty safe in here. Pegasus' castle is built for security, and those kinds of people wouldn't be able to break in so easily. But isn't that kind of thought a little strange to be having?"

"Not at all" Ryou replied cheerfully. "I've had some bad experience with that kind of people. Besides, I AM here to kidnap you and drag you off to my hidden fortress for some stereotypical evil plan."

Ishizu was not an idiot by any means of the word. Her feeling of uneasiness was in full swing and she could have seen that response coming from three words away. However, just as she started to spin around to face the semi-unexpected threat she found herself wrapped up in a golden energy. The strange glow paralysed her totally. Her eyes could and did widen in shock but that was all. For a moment she pit her own magic against the strange powers that held her but then another force intercepted her will and locked her magic back into her necklace.

It was all over in five seconds.

The young man who was clearly not Ryou Bakura stepped forward, walking around her until they were face to face. From this new angle Ishizu could see her assailant's eyes, which were a strange crimson colour, and his face which twisted by greed and evil. She briefly wondered how he could have kept up the charade of innocence as long as he did.

"You want to know how I've stayed unnoticed, hm?" The fiend chuckled. "Simple really. My own millennium item, the Ring of course. The boy Ryou Bakura was given it by his father one day. Neither of them realised that it housed my spirit."

'He possessed the boy!' Ishizu gasped mentally.

"Yes I did." He chuckled again as Ishizu's eyes flickered toward him again. "I believe that Pegasus also told you of how his Eye was stolen?" He reached into his pocket and withdrew the glowing form of the millennium Eye. "Combining its powers with my own, it was a simple matter to break into this castle. It was even easier overcome your strength. One millennium item is no match for two."

'What do you want from me?' The thought was furious but held an undercurrent of fear and the spirit relished it.

"You haven't guessed?" He traced one finger down Ishizu's cheek and rested it upon her millennium Necklace. "You brother Marik promised me the millennium items for my assistance. The moron doesn't know what he's missing, but who am I to complain? I get what I want, and he gets what he wants. Besides" he added, "I even get to watch the pharaoh lose after millennia of waiting."

'You will never beat him!' Ishizu thought-yelled. 'He is the pharaoh! He is infused with the strength of the gods!'

"True. But he is still a human with human weaknesses." Bakura grinned. It truly made him look like a devil. "This ridiculous notion of 'honour'. It will be his downfall. And you get to be the bait. But first I can't have you using your magic to try and escape."

Bakura grasped the necklace around Ishizu's neck and jerked hard with demonic strength. The clasp that held it together broke under the force and Ishizu mentally gasped as she felt a part of herself ripped away. The sudden loss made her dizzy.

The fiend held the necklace aloft, examining it like a fine jewel. "Impressive" he crooned. "Most impressive."

Ishizu gathered herself for one last mental challenge but without her item the fiend's magic was sapping her consciousness rapidly. 'You can't use it! It's powers are useless to you!"

"I know. But I also know that if you give it up freely it's powers will pass over to me."

'I will never give you that power!'

Bakura grinned again and allowed more of his magic to infuse Ishizu's body. "Oh yes you will. You can't stop it. The pharaoh is doomed and the millennium Puzzle will be mine. It's only a matter of time."

When Ishizu was at last rendered unconscious, Bakura scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. He didn't want her harmed too much. He still needed her item's magic. And she would make a valuable hostage.

IIIIIII

Magicman: At last the plot kicks in!

Smokegirl: It took long enough!

Magicman: Hopefully things will move on a bit faster here.

Smokegirl: Don't count on it.

Magicman: As soon as the rest of the evil plot is set up then you can have a glimpse at the scheming of our villainous triumvirate.

Smokegirl: Meaning that he'll never get this moving.

Magicman: -/ (Stuffs Smokegirl in a closet) Well THAT was therapeutic. Until next time folks!