Hi, guys! We have returned with a new chapter! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! These are some strange times we're living in.

*I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own Christine, my OC. If you recognize anything, it isn't mine.*

Thankful for the day off to recuperate from the main few rounds of the tournament, I was able to wake up before Yugi. I was apparently up before everyone as the hotel room was quiet when I peeked my head out. I didn't leave my room though so I shut the door again to get ready. I took another shower to try and get the rest of the infernal hairspray out and I seemed to have gotten the last of it with this. I dried my hair as quietly as I could, got dressed, then walked back into the room. It was just now eight in the morning and Yugi wasn't up yet. He must be exhausted. I felt bad having to wake him up but he needed to be up, today was the day.

"Yugi…" I said gently, rocking his shoulder. "Yugi…"

The boy groaned, turning his head further into the pillow. "Yugi!" There was a noise that immediately said he was annoyed. It made me laugh. "I've never seen you so grouchy! Yuuugi…" There was another groan and he finally looked up. He looked tired. I slid a hand through his hair, laughter fading for the moment. "Did you not sleep well?" Yugi shook his head.

"I slept really well but…" He gave a sigh. "Just a lot on my mind."

I gave a sad hum. I hated it when there wasn't a lot I could do. Yugi then gave a smile. "Thank you for checking in. I appreciate it."

"Not much else I can do. Not exactly a lot of people I can freeze to the wall."

That at least made Yugi laugh. He straightened up and stretched his arms over his head. I laughed when something in his back popped and he groaned in pain.

"I feel like Grandpa."

"At least you can still walk straight."

"True… What time is it?"

I glanced at the clock, not answering. Yugi took that as 'look himself' and I got the desired reaction. "Ack! I gotta get up!" The boy scrambled out of bed, jumping to get ready. I gave a laugh before climbing to my feet and walking out of the room to get breakfast ready.

There was a smattering of people up now but they were mostly eating the cereal that we had bought to hold people over. I was craving eggs and French toast and I thought others might have wanted them so I hopped into the kitchen. As I cooked, more people got up, including Rebecca, who greeted me at the entrance to the kitchen. She was excited about Leon facing against Zigfried in the final round but her words stopped when a set of arms wrapped around my waist. It took a quick glance to know who it was.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping." My ridiculous boyfriend hummed from his spot on my shoulder.

I flicked my eyes back at him, narrowed slightly. He looked awfully smug for some reason.

"Helping, you say? With what may I ask?"

"I'm helping Rebecca."

I raised my eyebrow now.

"Helping Rebecca? What on earth are you… Oh."

I peeked over at Rebecca to see her eyes narrowed and flicking between us. He was testing her ability to tell the difference between him and Yugi. It took less than 10 seconds for her to realize what was going on.

"Oh yeah! I forgot!" She gasped.

Yami gave a chuckle before leaning in to press a kiss to my cheek and giving Yugi control again as he stepped away. I rolled my eyes, continuing to cook the eggs.

"Before you ask." Yugi told Rebecca. "Yes, he does that a lot."

"Does he like to pick on her?"

"Oh yes. I think he likes to send her smartassery back at her and make her blush in the process."

"Oh… I see. Does he usually succeed?"

"From what I've noticed, yes."

A blush was starting to form at my ears at the talk. I was right here! I gave a loud sigh.

"Yugi… Rebecca…" I drawled. "Another word from either of you and I will beat the both of you with this spatula."

There was an 'eep' from both Yugi and Rebecca and they raced out of the kitchen. The blush was still spreading across my face even with them gone. I really was easy to make blush and not even Yami had to be the one talking!

Once we had finished eating, we all made our way back into the park and into the Kaiba Dome, where the final round would take place. It was all so very dramatic how Roland was introducing Zigfried and Leon but, frankly, I was getting annoyed with all the metaphors he was pulling out. When the roof of the Kaiba Dome opened, I was surprised with the sound of an approaching helicopter. Shouldn't they not be allowed in the park airspace?

…And why was Kaiba hanging from a ladder from it?!

"What's he doing here?!" Jounouchi whined.

"Just dropping by?" Yugi answered, a questioning tilt to his voice.

Dropping? Really, Yugi?

"Yeah but why?" Mokuba retorted. "Seto wasn't scheduled to be here."

Kaiba then dropped from the ladder, hitting the platform of the Dueltek still about 20 feet below. That was a long way down, Kaiba! Take some care with your ankles! He didn't seem to be in any pain as he straightened up and called out.

"Stop the duel!" He bellowed. "As President of Kaiba Corp, I declare this match invalid!"

The audience made their displeasure clear immediately. There were calls of 'What?!' and 'Boo!' and 'You can't do that!' What was going on to make the match invalid?

"He can't rip us off like that!" Jounouchi whined again.

"I think he just did." I told him, only receiving a growl in reply.

Kaiba then turned around to face Leon.

"As a result of a disqualification, the winner of this duel is Leon Wilson!" Kaiba told the crowd.

I should have been happy for Leon but… I was still confused about what was happening. Leon seemed to be feeling the same way I was.

"Any particular reason for this?" Zigfried's voice was cool even from where I was sitting. "Humor me."

"You broke your tournament contract. By entering under a false name. Zigfried Lloyd… Or should I say Zigfired von Schroeder! Of the Schroeder Corporation!"

Schroeder Corporation? What was that?

"Schroeder Corps?" Yugi asked aloud. "Wasn't that an old gaming company or something?"

Grandpa turned to look at Yugi, who had turned around to ask the question.

"Well, actually, it still is." Grandpa replied. "You just don't hear much about it anymore. Once Kaiba Corps became number one, everyone sort have forgot about the Schroeders."

So this was some sort of personal vendetta? I could imagine being angry about losing business but going to this extent? That seemed a bit much. Maybe I couldn't understand it. But all the strange occurrences all started to make sense. A rival of Kaiba Corps would want to make the tournament have a bad reputation so people would stop purchasing their merchandise.

"But since I'm a nice guy, I won't have you arrested for trespassing and fraud." Kaiba huffed, smile on his face. "On one condition, you get out of my life and take your bad hair with you. And mark my words, if your overpriced shoes step anywhere near me again, I'll destroy what's left of your pathetic company!"

Zigfried didn't seem to consider that a threat as he laughed at Kaiba's words.

"It looks like you've finally been exposed to the public for what you are." Zigfried's cheerfully said. "A complete coward."

Kaiba? A coward? Heck no! Where did he jump to that conclusion from? Mars? "The truth is you're afraid of my superior skills, so you're hiding behind a technicality instead of facing me. Unt now the whole world knows it! I don't blame you for throwing me out, Herr Kaiba, you know that if von this tournament and became the world champion, you would never vin that title back!" And you could beat Yugi? My eyebrow raised in suspicion. He was putting a lot of faith on himself to actually think he could do it.

Thankfully, Kaiba laughed.

"I'm throwing you out because I don't like you, not 'cause I'm scared of you."

Kaiba changed positions slightly, a very familiar smirk lighting up his face. "You know, I promised myself I wouldn't duel in this tournament, but since I have the chance to embarrass you, those plans have changed."

The audience seemed to like that idea based on the amount of cheers the words garnered.

"Kaiba's going to duel Zigfried!" Yugi gasped.

"Well…" Rebecca added. "There's never a dull moment!"

"Fine." Zigfried agreed. "But if I vin, I get to stay."

"And if you lose, you disappear, never to be heard from again!" Kaiba retorted.

Harsh on Kaiba's part but understandable. The two moved to the center of the platform and shuffled the other's deck. To decide who would go first, Zigfried flipped a coin. Despite winning, he let Kaiba have the first move. They then went to their positions. Leon came back down to the seats, still concerned about what was happening. Anzu told him not to worry, he'd get his chance to duel against Yugi. Jounouchi was quick to point out that, no matter how much he hated Kaiba, he hated Zigfried more.

Kaiba started the duel with his X-head cannon in attack mode then added two cards face down to end his turn. Zigfried drew his card, going on a monologue that annoyed Kaiba, but I heard the word 'Maidens' and I immediately froze. Did he draw what I think he just drew?

"Witness poetry in motion as I play Ride of the Valkyries!"

I knew it! He could now summon all the Valkyries in his hand! He apparently had three as Valkyrie Dritte, Valkyrie Erste and Valkyrie Zweite appeared on the field. Kaiba's cannon then suddenly exploded. What?! I apparently had missed a lot when I was hidden in my friend's clothing during his duel with Jounouchi. Apparently, Zweite's special effect means she can destroy a monster on summon… And Erste can banish it from play? And her attack power rises to that level? Dritte's was the least of my worries as she only gains 100 points for each banished monster, at least for now. When the goddesses showed up, that would become a problem.

"He summoned three monsters at once!" Jounouchi breathed to us.

And enough attack power to end the duel at once!

Thankfully for Kaiba, his face down card protected him. Negate Attack would ensure he lasted the turn and the Valkyries had to return to his deck!

…

Why weren't they leaving? It was the end of the Battle Phase! Zigfried's laugh made my eyes narrow.

"Thanks to zis card, they've added a second performance!"

What?! Valkyrie Zweite set off to attack again and I clutched onto Anzu's hand.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kaiba barked.

"Vinning, of course! You see, Mischief of the Time Goddess allows me to skip your turn. Then I can pick up ver I left off! Viping out the remainder of your life points!"

The Valkyrie closed in but Kaiba had his other card ready. Magical Trick Mirror could take a card from Zigfried's graveyard and activate it as his own and, thankfully, Mischief of the Time Goddess was already in a prime spot. Now Zigfried's turn was skipped. This was getting really annoying. Who's turn was it again?

"He just bought himself a second chance." Jounoughi breathed, almost sounding amazed. "Don't mess this up, Rich Boy."

He started his counter attack by playing Z Metal Tank as well as Clone Dragon, which transformed into the Tank as well, giving it the same attack and defense points. Not having much else he could do, Kaiba ended his turn. I glared over at the Valkyries on Zigfried's field. How come they were still there? What was the deal? Zigfried retaliated by playing Valkyrie's Embrace then switching Valkyrie Dritte into defense mode. The moment the Valkyrie moved, Kaiba's original tank dissolved. Was it banished from the game as well? It must have been, that was Zigfried's M.O. Valkyrie Erste then moved in to attack the Clone Dragon, destroying it. Valkyrie Zweite then was ordered to attack, hitting Kaiba for 1600 points.

Kaiba didn't seem that upset. He simply brushed off his sleeve like there was something the Valkyrie left on him. Meg would have died to see it. She also would have laughed at his calling the Valkyries 'Girl Scouts'. Kaiba then played Pitch Dark Dragon as well as a card face down. Obviously, it was a trap. The dragon was easily destroyed by Valkyrie Zweite but the card then flipped up. It allowed them to summon a level four monster straight from their deck. Kaiba picked his Y Dragon Head. Was he preparing for the same monster he used against Yami in Battle City? Zigfried, of course, played another Valkyrie Dritte, who gained 200 attack points for the two banished monsters.

Everything went quickly then. Kaiba apparently played Pot of Greed and I was so caught up in the joke of 'What does it do' to realize that he had played a bunch of other cards after that. When I looked up at the duel again, XYZ Dragon Cannon was on the field and Kaiba's life points were slightly lowered. Oops… I guess I should pay better attention. Thankfully, nobody noticed my distraction. I was in the clear at the moment.

"Not only was he able to summon a really powerful monster to the field," Ryuji complimented, "he was also able to gain back 1500 life points!"

"This could be just the break Kaiba needed to make his comeback!" Grandpa breathed.

"Let's hope so." Yugi mumbled next to me.

Kaiba's Dragon Cannon attack, destroying one of Zigfried's Valkyrie Dritte. It lowered Zigfried's life points to 2500, just a little bit more than Kaiba's.

"That's my bro!" Mokuba cheered. "Always one step ahead!"

Zigfried must have heard the comment as his face morphed into something I had never seen before. I couldn't place what emotion it was and that was what scared me. I slid back in my chair a bit, hoping it would get me further away from it. The expression faded into a smile when he drew his next card. Nibelung's Treasure…

"Hold on a sec!" Honda gasped. "Isn't that the same card he used to do you in?!"

"That's it." Jounouchi acknowledged. "And it's not a fond memory."

Nibelung's Ring appeared on Kaiba's side of the field, sliding itself onto the Y Dragon Head part of the Cannon. "It gets worse, guys. Next, Kaiba has to draw two cards from his deck and if either one is a monster card, he has to remove it from the game!" Zigfried didn't make things much easier as he sacrificed his other Valkyrie Dritte to summon the Fortune Chariot, a card that made Jounouchi's life so difficult. Valkyrie Zweite could now lower her attack power and attack Kaiba directly, hitting him for 800 points of damage. Zigfried also was annoying by playing Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of Kaiba's Soul Absorption. Now he couldn't replenish his life points with each card banished from the game. Sadly, he wouldn't get rid of Nibelung's Ring but I figured Kaiba would get rid of it somehow.

With Kaiba's next turn, the Ring's power was activated but no monsters were drawn, thankfully. He set a card face down and nothing else. There was nothing else he could do as the Ring also stopped the Dragon Cannon from attacking so he ended his turn. Zigfried immediately attacked with Valkyrie Zweite and her Fortune Chariot but Kaiba was ready.

Attack Guidance Armor redirected the attack to Valkyrie Erste but Woltan's Judgement automatically stopped his battle phase by him placing a magic card from his hand to the top of his deck. He was just going to get it right back! How annoying!

Then came the Goddesses.

"Oh no!" I gasped. "Not those three!"

"Those dames are nothing but bad news!"

"Yeah!" Yugi agreed. "He played them last time! They nearly destroyed your deck!"

This was going to be an exciting few turns.

Skuld activated her power and the look on Zigfried's face… He looked utterly terrified! What on earth could be… Oh… I think I knew what was underneath those cards. I leaned over to Yugi.

"May I indulge Yami with a bet?" I whispered.

Yami came out rather quickly with that.

"A bet, Mereret?" He asked, only just peeking at me. "I thought you were done making bets with me."

"I did say that but I have a good feeling with this one."

Yami looked back to the duel, where Zigfried was adjusting the three cards Kaiba was going to draw. "Indulge me?"

"Of course. What's the bet?"

I leaned in closer.

"What are the chances that all three of those cards were Blue Eyes White Dragons."

The smirk faded from Yami's lips and he looked back up to the duel. Kaiba was placing a monster in Defense mode. "Tick tock, Yami. He's about to guess the monster…." The Pharaoh actually looked conflicted for a moment.

"I don't know if I want to argue with you, Mereret. I think you're right but I'll take the bet for fun's sake."

I smiled and looked back to the duel.

"I predict the card you just played is your Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Zigfried called.

The defense monster flipped up to reveal Kaiba's iconic monster, the roar fading as it was banished from the game. There was a sigh from my boyfriend and he leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"How'd you do it?"

"The look on Zigfried's face said everything." I replied.

Yami gave a chuckle before straightening up again. "I win?"

"You win."

I gave a happy giggle but he continued talking. "This round at least." I groaned but there was a second of a chuckle before Yugi was given control again. When I looked up to the duel again, Blue Eyes was back on the field. He must have played Monster Reborn while I was distracted with the Blue Eyes that was send to the graveyard by the effect of Nibelung's Ring. The Dragon attacked the charioted Zweite but only got the chariot. Zigfried's life points still took a dip though.

It didn't last long as Zigfried then quickly removed another monster from Kaiba's deck; this time was Luster Dragon #2. He also played Griffon's Feather Duster. It destroyed every spell and trap card on his side of his field, including his goddesses, but he got back 500 life points for each one.

"He just got back everything that Blue Eyes took away!" Mokuba growled.

He also sacrificed his last two Valkyries to summon Brunhilde in defense mode. Oh boy, her again. Kaiba started his turn by discarding the monster Zigfried knew was there and attacked Brunhilde with Blue Eyes. Sadly, her special effect kicked in. By dropping 1000 defense points, she was invincible. With nothing else to attack with, Kaiba placed a card face down to end his turn.

Zigfried switched Brunhilde into attack mode then. But she's...! Uh oh… I forgot about her other effect. She gains power from Dragons and Warriors! As well as the Enchanted Sword Nothung equip spell Zigfried added to her, increasing her attack power to 2200. Just by playing it was Blue Eyes removed from the game! By also playing Pegasus Wings, Brunhilde could attack Kaiba directly by cutting her strength in half. No! Kaiba would lose! Thankfully, Shrink Card weakened her to 550 attack points, saving him this turn. But it wouldn't last long.

With some taunting, Zigfried actually began to explain what was behind all this. Apparently, the Schroeder family and the Kaibas were bitter business rivals and Zigfried was burdened with having to run the company after his father was driven mad from the task. When Zigfried took over, he switched his company into a gaming one and not long after, Kaiba did too. Then, when Pegasus was needing virtual reality devices for Duel Monsters, Zigfried was just a tad too slow to getting the job; Kaiba had made it there first. It was just one big race and Zigfried was just a little too slow to keep up. I actually felt a little bad for him. Kaiba didn't feel the same way.

"Don't blame me because you came from a family of failures." Kaiba barked at him. "I've never stolen anything in my life. I got where I am today from hard work and determination; two things you know nothing about!"

Kaiba started his own turn, thankfully not drawing any monsters. He then went around Nibelung's Ring by playing Graceful Charity.

"Awesome!" Jounouchi cheered. "He avoided Zigfried's spell card! That's showing him, Rich Boy!"

I had no time to prepare for Yami popping out again and leaning over to me.

"Did I hear that right?" He asked. "Jounouchi is cheering for Kaiba?"

I gave a playful shrug.

"This week has just been weird." I replied.

"You can say that again."

It only got weirder. Kaiba willingly discarded his last Blue Eyes then banished it from the game along with Pitch Dark Dragon to summon Chaos Emperor Dragon. This card was a trip from what I remembered. Its effect destroyed everything including itself and the cards in the players hands!

"There's one problem!" Zigfried cried. "You need to give up 1000 of your life points first unt you can't afford that now!"

"There's nothing I can't afford!" Kaiba retorted.

That is entirely true! True in real life and what he was going to play! He played a card face down just so Emergency Provisions could destroy it and give him 1000 life points! Thankfully Yami was still out at the moment as I needed a safe place to hide when the large dragon attacked, sending a large plume of fire across the field and nearly into the audience. It was quick attack and I was sure to thank him. Seeing that it was safe, he let Yugi have control again.

Zigfried's face was beginning to contort again. He was mad. He started his turn by playing Pot of Greed. I had to fight with myself not to make the joke and succeeded. He then played Magical Alms, forcing each player to predict how many spell cards they'd use each turn. They'd gain life points for each card but if they use fewer than they predict, they'd lose 1000 life points per card. That was wild! Zigfried predicted he'd only use one spell card that turn and it was Final Light, letting him summon a monster from his graveyard at the cost of 1000 life points. Of course, he chose Brunhilde. The power extended to Kaiba as well so he was able to summon Cave Dragon, which gave Brunhilde a power boost. She destroyed the dragon easily, which wasn't unexpected.

Kaiba really scared Zigfried by saying he'd use four spell cards despite only holding one card. He quickly bolstered his deck by playing Card of Demise, spell card number one. I remembered it from Battle City, it let him draw till he was holding five cards but in five turns he had to discard his whole hand. Thankfully, I think the duel was winding up. Spell card number two was Soul Release, letting him move his Chaos Emperor Dragon from the graveyard to outside the game. Spell card number three was Spell Reproduction, giving him the power to send two spell cards to the graveyard to get back one.

"No, you can't!" Zigfried argued.

"I just did." Kaiba taunted.

Spell card number four was Dimension Fusion, which he must have played while I was giggling about Pot of Greed the first time. With that, Kaiba – and of course Zigfried if he had any – could bring back any monsters that were removed from the game at the cost of 2000 life points. Kaiba… Had a lot of dragons removed from the game and they utterly crowded his side of the field. Despite the power up Brunhilde gets from having so many dragons on the field, Kaiba attacked anyway.

Luster Dragon #2 was defeated quickly but it cost Brunhilde some of her attack power. Kaiba was going to exploit her special ability! Chaos Dragon attacked then and Brunhilde had to lower her defense points to protect herself. The first Blue Eyes attack and now, Brunhilde was out of defense points and at the mercy of the second Blue Eyes. She was done for! That left the third Blue Eyes to wipe Zigfried out. "I'm glad you came here 'cause now I get the chance to publicly humiliate you again! Take it away, Blue Eyes!"

It was rather anti-climactic but I knew Zigfried wasn't going to just disappear like Kaiba wanted him to. That expression was still on his face. I glanced over at Yugi.

"Well… at least Kaiba's never boring." I shrugged.

Yugi was still jaw dropped from what happened so he didn't answer me. It made me giggle a bit.

Next was the final battle of the tournament. Finally, it was Yugi versus Leon!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Yami Bakura: Where was our conversation last chapter? You skipped me!

I have been trapped in quarantine for so long, I simply didn't feel like it.

Yami Bakura: Jerk!