"Master Marik, I have obtained twelve Locator Cards as you requested." Odion said.

"Excellent, now all that remains is to wait, once the pharaoh and that girl enter the finals, we can reveal ourselves." Marik said.

Marik, if you wish to remain anonymous, I suggest working with one of your enemies, I know you have other decks, and so if you gain the trust of your foes they won't expect your later betrayal.

"That makes sense, Odion I have an important matter to attend to, make sure those fools Lumis and Umbra don't fail me." Marik said before walking out into Battle City.

"Yes Master Marik." Odion said. I only hope that whatever powers this being has you overcome them, he thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is nuts, X.A.N.A. has so many people under his control." Odd said.

"Agreed, maybe we should find Yugi and let him know about the danger, especially if Marik could be working with X.A.N.A." Jeremy said, "He certainly could help. Plus after everything is over and done with, a return to the past will erase everyone's memories of X.A.N.A."

"True, hey who's that guy?" Ulrich asked as a young man wearing a duel disc.

"Oh, are you a duelist? My name is Namu, and I already have six locator cards, so I'm not going to duel you, what's your name?" Marik asked with a smile.

"Aelita, and congratulations Namu, maybe we'll have a game in the finals, I have four cards already." Aelita said.

"So Aelita, it seems you found a fool." said a strange man wearing green.

"Well the two of you we challenge to a tag duel." a man wearing orange said.

"You know these two?" Marik asked.

Marik, these are fools who I am controlling in order for us to gain her trust. Don't worry they have minimal skill. This should also guarantee our plan progresses smoothly.

"Aelita, I'll help you out. Two on one is far from fair." Marik said engaging his duel disc.

"Thanks, ok you two one card each sound good?"Aelita asked.

"Fine, but know that in this duel you shall fail." the man in green said.

"Nothing can save you, against the brothers ParaDox you can never prevail." said the orange twin.

"Duel." said Aelita, Marik, and the Paradox brothers simultaneously.

"To make things fair, each team will have 8000 life points, and any card your partner uses you can use as well, however only one field per team." said the man in the green outfit.

"Fine, but can you tell us your names? It would help identify you." Marik said.

"Very well, I am Para, and my brother is Dox." said Para with a grin.

Marik/Aelita 8000 Para/Dox 8000: "I shall go first, I summon Jirai Gumo in attack mode, and set this facedown." Para said. "That ends my turn."

Your welcome Marik, I stopped the rhyming, it should help you focus instead of thinking of how fun it would be to kill them.

"My move, and I set three cards on the field, next I play the monster known as Revival Jam, now I believe Dox is next?" Marik asked.

"You think correctly, so now I reveal Para's facedown card, Tribute Doll. Do you mind brother?" Dox asked.

"Not at all, my cards are yours." Para said with a grin.

"Well, in that case I tribute Jirar Gumo in order to summon Suijin in attack mode. Now that I have him out, I'll summon my Kaiser Seahorse, and attack your Revival Jam with Suijin." Dox said.

"Trap card open, Negate Attack, your battle phase is over." Marik said.

"Very well, I end my move with two facedown cards." Dow said.

"Alright, my move, I summon Krab in attack mode, and activate the spell card Hidden Monster, now during my next standby phase, I can add a counter to this card, and once I place the second counter, I can summon one of the most dangerous cards in my deck." Aelita said. "Now I set this facedown and end my turn."

"Well, this duel is getting rather old, so I'll introduce you to one of our favorite cards, Dox you mind if I use your cards." Para asked.

"I never do, after all we're a team." Dox said with a grin.

"Alright, I play Monster Reborn to bring back Jirai Gumo, but again he shall be sacrificed for Tribute Doll, so I can call Kazejin in attack mode, and now I tribute Kaiser Seahorse, and since he counts as two sacrifices for a light monster, I summon Sanga of the Thunder." Para said.

"Now you have lost, when Kazejin, Suijin, and Sanga are together on the field, we can release them all in order to call on the Gate Guardian." the ParaDox brothers said together.

"That thing is huge." Aelita said.

"Don't worry, we can take that thing down." Marik said. "I activate a trap card, Threatening Roar, now you won't be attacking until next round."

"Fine, just remember, the Gate Guardian is able to attack as soon as Dox begins his move, so I leave you to go." Para said.

"My turn, and I add the first counter to Aelita's trap card." Marik said. "Now I activate a magic card, Pot of Greed, this allows me to draw two cards, now I end my move with one facedown."

"Fine, in that case I go, and I attack your Revival Jam with our Gate Guardian, that should put you in your place." Dox said.

"Sorry, but I activate Revival Jam's effect, it revives itself after you attack." Marik said. "Looks like you failed to destroy my monster after all."

"Perhaps, but still I dealt you a heavy amount of damage, so take your move." Dox said smugly.

Marik/Aelita 5750 Para/Dox 8000: "My move, I add the second counter to my trap, and now I send it to the graveyard, and I can summon this card." Aelita said as a card from her deck appeared. "I play the Scyphozoa in attack mode, and his effect allows me to take one monster you control and add it to my side of the field, plus it gains attack points equal to the difference in our life points."

"Wait, with that boost our guardian has 5000 attack points." Para said nervously.

"Actually, the effect of Scyphozoa costs half my life points, so now I attack with Revival Jam and Gate Guardian." Aelita said as the paradox brother lost all their life points.

"Aelita, you need two cards, and I have six, so you can have both of them." Marik said politely.

"Thanks, see you in the finals Namu." Aelita said before Marik walked away.

"Aelita, I don't know why but I have my doubts about that guy." Yumi said. "He was almost to friendly, and it seemed convenient he arrived just before you needed a partner."

"Maybe, well all we can do is work on stopping X.A.N.A." Aelita said looking at her Locator cards.

(Aelita has obtained her Locator cards and is prepared to enter the finals, and Marik has attempted to gain her trust. Next chapter the finalists will be revealed, and the first duel of the finals will begin. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)