~Sabrina~

I'm glad Noah's out of the way so I can start thinking about the matter at hand. There's four of us left; Kaiba, Marik, Yugi, and me. "If its Yugi's destiny to face Marik, then I'll probably have to face Kaiba." I tell Ari.

"That's probably how it will play out. But what if Yugi can't handle Marik? Everyone he faced so far has lost not only the duel, but their mind." She says.

"He's taken Odion, Mai, and then we found Bakura, or at least the Millennium Ring. But Yugi will beat him, I'm sure of that."

"I hope your right."

"Sabrina, we've got to get going!" Yugi says knocking on the door.

I grab my Duel Disk and secure it on my arm and then open the door. Yugi, Tea, Duke, Tristan, and Joey are waiting. "Sorry guys, I was doing something." I say.

"Attention passengers, we are beginning our descent onto Kaiba Corp Island. Please wait for the aircraft to land for further instruction." The intercom says.

"Come on guys, let's check it out!" Yugi says. We follow him downstairs and then exit the aircraft. The island isn't all that great, nothing but scraps of metal. But the Duel Tower Kaiba was talking about is huge. You could probably still see it from miles away from here.

Kaiba steps off the aircraft, "This Island is the site for the old Kaiba Corp, but I tore everything down. The Duel Tower is where the rest of this tournament will commence. And I plan to defeat all of you at the very top!" he says.

~Ari~

"Look Kaiba, just because you're in dis tournament doesn't mean you're gonna win!" Joey yells.

"You're not even in the finals anymore Wheeler. Because a sorry amateur like you didn't even win the first duel you were in. Now stand aside, you're wasting my time." Kaiba says.

He heads toward the Duel Tower and has the rest of us following him. As we're walking, I notice Marik standing on top of the scraps, "What a lovely day Pharaoh." He says, "Too bad some of your friends can't enjoy this. Now, when do I get to meet my next victim?"

"Just keep your cool, we'll tell you once we get inside the tower!" Mokuba yells.

"Then proceed so we can begin the fun."

We reach the doors to the tower, which seem quite thick. They open up to reveal a dark hallway. At the end, Roland is waiting, "Step to the center of the tower. The second half of the finals will start here." He says.

The room actually isn't all that large. Not too impressive either. There's enough room for a duel to happen, but the way Kaiba speaks about this tower seems like it would be classier than this. "We have four remaining finalists." Roland says, "As you can see, there are four doors around you, each of you will pick one."

What's behind them? Will they tell us who we're dueling? I decide to choose the one closest to me, which is to my right. I stand in front of it and the door opens. Inside is a small and dimly lit room with a blue platform in the middle with a seat in it. I step on it, causing small barriers to rise around it and the door I came in closes.

The platform starts to rise and the lights shut off. What is Kaiba planning? I look up to see light coming from up there. The platform rises and heads into that room and stops about 25 feet above the ground. I look over and notice a screen that says '4000' next to me. The three other platforms rise to the same height mine is at and have the same '4000' next to them.

Is this like a four-way duel or something? I look up to see that the numbers go down by the thousands. "Before the Battle City champion can be crowned, we must first narrow down the finalists." Roland says from the ground, "So in the semi-final round, all remaining duelists will be reduced to two. First, the preliminary duel must be played. This will determine who-faces-who in the semi- finals. Your platforms will rise higher as your lose Life Points. The first two players to reach the top will face each other. And connect your Duel Disks to the cable in front of you."

There's a white cable plugged into the platform and I guess the other end is supposed to fit into the Duel Disk. The cable fits at the very bottom of it. So I guess we attack whoever we want to face. But the others will attack me if they want to face me. So who should I go after? I think Kaiba or Marik would be a decent choice. If I go after Kaiba, then Marik would face Yugi, which would put him in danger.

"In order to decide which duelist goes first, you will each pick one monster from your deck and the one with the highest attack points will go first. However, you can't use that monster in the duel." Roland says.

So if I want to go first, then I have to get rid of a powerful monster. No, I won't risk that. I'll just pick one of the weakest monsters I have. I decide to pick Petit Angel. I want to save my stronger cards for the duel. Everyone holds up their cards; Kaiba goes first, then Marik, Yami, and finally me.

I draw five cards, my hand has; Mirror Force, Meteor of Destruction, Fairy Witch, Kaiser Sea Horse, and Feral Imp. Kaiba draws, "I set one card face-down and then summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" he says.

"Not bad Kaiba, but I summon Newdoria in defense mode. That's all." Marik says.

"I play Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and then play two cards face-down. I end my turn." Yami says.

I draw Divine Queen. "I play Feral Imp in defense mode! Then I use Meteor of Destruction on Marik!" I say. Marik is at 3000 while the rest of us are at 4000. His platform rises higher until it's next to the '3000' sign.

"My move." Kaiba says, "I'll use Vorse Raider to attack your Feral Imp!"

"I activate the Regulation of Tribe!" Yami says, "Now Vorse Raider can't attack as long as this card is on the field."

Why did he save me? Maybe he just wants my Life Points to be safe so I don't have to be near Marik. Now its Marik's turn, "I set two cards face-down and then I summon Lord Poison in attack mode! Then I switch Newdoria into attack mode and use it to attack Kaiba's Vorse Raider!" But Vorse Raider is stronger than Newdoria, why would he attack? "And once Newdoria is destroyed, I can send one monster on the field to the Graveyard, and I choose Vorse Raider! And then I activate Spell of Pain! Now the damage I just took I can redirect at any other player, so I choose… the Queen!"

The damage goes to me then. My Life Points drop down to 3300, causing me to go up higher. Now I'm closer to facing Marik, which I really don't have a problem with. If Marik wants to duel me, then I don't have a problem with letting that happen. Its Yami's turn now, "I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna in order to summon Beast of Gilfer! Now my Beast, attack Kaiba directly!"

"Guess again! I activate Attack Guidance Armor to redirect the attack to Marik's Lord Poison!"

"Not if I activate Mirror Force! Now all of the Pharaoh's monsters are destroyed, and I'm safe!"

"I activate Seven Tools of the Bandit! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can destroy Mirror Force!"

Now Lord Poison is destroyed and Marik is dropped to 2300 Life Points. I draw another Meteor of Destruction, "I activate Meteor of Destruction and use it on Kaiba! And then I set one card. I end my turn." I say.

So Kaiba has 3000, I have 3300; Yami has 3000, while Marik has 2300. Its Kaiba's turn, "I set three cards face-down. Then I summon Blade Knight in attack mode and use it to attack Feral Imp!" he says.

It seems like Kaiba is trying to get rid of Marik and I so he can face Yami. Marik's turn, "I summon Dark Jeroid in attack mode! And then I'll use him to attack you directly!" he says pointing at me.

"Well I activate Mirror Force! Say goodbye to your monsters!" I say.

"Activate Remove Trap! Sorry, but it looks like my attack will go through."

Now I'm at 2100. Yami's move, "I'll use my Beast of Gilfer to destroy Dark Jeroid!"

Now Marik has 1300 left. It would get this duel over quicker if I faced Marik since we're the ones losing this duel. Kaiba wants to face Yami, which will probably end in a win for Yami. If I face Marik and win, then we won't have to worry about him anymore. But if I lose, then I could risk the safety of Sabrina. "Who should I go after?" I ask her.

She sighs, "I don't know. I don't want to put Yugi in danger. It would be safe if we faced Yugi, but then Kaiba might lose against Marik and then he'll have two Egyptian God Cards."

"But Yugi's destined to defeat Marik, so wouldn't it be better for us to go after Kaiba?"

"It doesn't matter at this point. Somebody is going to get hurt by Marik no matter who we choose. Let's just get rid of Marik first, whoever loses after will face him."

"Alright."

I draw Luster Dragon, "I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode! Now it's time to lose Marik, because your Life Points are my target!" I say.

"Fine, it makes little difference." He says as the platform rises.

"My move!" Kaiba says, "I activate Soul Exchange! And I choose to take control of your Luster Dragon, Sabrina! Now with my Blade Knight and Luster Dragon, I sacrifice them to call upon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon! It's my destiny to face Yugi, so I think I'll wipe out Sabrina's Life Points! Blue-Eyes, finish this!"

My Life Points go down to 0. Looks like I'm facing Marik. I look over to Yami, who is standing there is complete shock, probably lost for words. Kaiba on the other hand, looks quite pleased with himself. The platform rises up until mine is equal to where Marik is.

"Well this comes at a surprise." He says, "But no matter, this gives me another person to gladly send to the Shadow Realm!"

"Rethink that Marik, I'm going to win." I say.

"The match has been decided!" Roland says, "Marik Ishtar will face Sabrina Cafford first, followed by Mister Kaiba versus Yugi Muto! Proceed to the next dueling sight!"

An opening above each of the platforms appears and all four of them head upward. Let the semi-finals commence.

Hooray, this is going to be fun. I was thinking of doing my own idea for the upcoming Shadow Game, but I (of course) need an idea for that. I just need to open my brain to the possibilities.