I'm baaaack! :-)

Yes I am alive and I'm here with the next chapter! Kok and I have been very busy with college stuff (and apparently, Kok got stuck in a war with Microsoft Word-but she won that battle!) so thats why theres a delay.

This chapter-man, I dont want to spoil it so I"ll let you read it now

I, Jupie, do not own Kok or Yu-Gi-Oh! in any way, shape or form. I just own the plot and the OC's


The tournament started after that without a hitch. Joey was pitted against Raphael in the first round of the tournament, much to everyone's surprise. Joey gave it his best shot, of course, but Raphael easily beat him and advanced.

Valon almost managed to make his way up into the quarter finals, but he was unable to beat one challenger from Italy (though he managed to whittle the other man down to just ten life points). Alister got into the quarter-finals, but as he had gone up against Yugi that round he ended up losing.

Skyler and Raphael both managed to make it up into the top four, along with Yugi and another gentleman that no one was familiar with; not one of the duelists had yet seen the man duel for themselves, as he had been playing the same time they were, but there was something oddly sinister about the individual that no one could place.

"I still can' believe I didn' make it t' the final four!" Valon lamented, flopping onto the bench. "I mean, Raph made it easily 'n' so did Skyler!"

Alister rolled his eyes and cuffed the back of Valon's head. "What happened already happened. Deal with it," he growled.

"On the bright side, I have a side line buddy!" Lola exclaimed, grabbing hold of Alister's arm and hugging it.

"You guys are so amusing," Skyler commented with a laugh, returning her gaze to the dueling arena. "Oh look, there's Joey!"

Valon grinned and stood up. "Oy! Wheeler!" he called as the other blond duelist came toward them. "'ow does it feel t' be a loser?"

Joey promptly scowled. "Didn't you lose too?"

"Yeah, but I lasted longer than you did. It proves I'm the better man!"

"Yeah? Let's see how you are in a fist fight to the death!" Joey retorted, while being restrained by Tristan and Duke.

Valon's grin stretched further. "Raph tells me all the time murder's illegal, so you can' do—OUCH!"

Lola had punched Valon in the shoulder after assessing the situation, and when he looked at her with an accusing expression she said, "Knock it off! You're causing a scene!"

"Damn, no wonder Alister is your boyfriend. You act just like him," he muttered under his breath. He brightened when he spotted Raphael moving through the crowd. "Good job on gettin' into the final four, mate!"

"Thanks," he said, somewhat distracted. "Wasn't Skyler here a second ago?"

Alister snapped his fingers to catch the older man's attention. "Locker room. She's probably getting ready for her next duel."

Raphael thanked him and strode toward the contestant lobby. He found Skyler at the back of the room on an empty bench, muttering to herself as she started sorting through her cards.

"Hey," he greeted as he sat down next to her.

"Hey yourself," she said, smiling as she faced the blond. "Great job!"

"Thank you," he said, looking down at her. Though he was smiling there was a worried light in his eyes that caught her attention and she paused, frowning.

"What's the matter, Raphael?" she asked. "The tournament crowds getting to you? Has anyone recognized you?"

The older man shook his head. "No to both. It's just…this next duelist you're up against. Something's off about him. I don't like it."

Skyler's frown deepened. She had noticed the stranger in the lineup as well, though she had not planned on saying anything. She had dueled tougher and scarier looking men than this one back while they had been in Doom, and she was certain she could handle it. She voiced this thought to Raphael, who still did not look convinced.

"I want you to be careful," he said, kissing her forehead. "Exercise caution here. I know Kaiba's holograms aren't lethal, but still."

Over the loud speakers came the referee's voice, sounding out the one minute warning. Skyler rose to her feet at that with a small smile. "Well, I gotta go," she said getting up. "Kiss for good luck?"

Raphael leaned in. "Of course."


"The first round of the semi-finals is Skyler Kaiba and Gaston Dufour."

"Gaston? Like tha' one bloke from tha' Disney movie?" Valon asked with a frown.

"Bet he had loads of fun as a kid with that name. No one gets teased like Gaston," Lola chuckled as Skyler and her opponent got onto the stage.

The duel was soon underway, both sides narrowly avoiding losing lifepoints. Raphael watched very intently, his eyes flickering from Skyler to Gaston; it was obvious he was not comfortable, in spite of the fact no one had lost lifepoints, and it caught Alister's attention. Under the pretense of talking dueling strategies, Alister exchanged seats with Valon.

"You look like you ate a lemon. What's wrong?" he asked in a low voice.

Raphael glanced at him. "This Gaston…I've seen him before, but I can't place him. I do know that wherever I saw him had a negative connotation. There's just something not right with him."

Alister waited a moment before he replied. "As much as I hate Kaiba, I know he wouldn't let just anyone waltz into this tournament. That Siegfried guy got in by sheer dumb luck. I don't recognize him as someone we dueled while working for Dartz, but give me a second. I may recognize him yet."

"Ah, so you guys don't like him either?"

Joey's voice was low and when they both turned it was to find that Joey and Yugi had taken the seats behind them. Yugi's eyes were trained on the duel below (Skyler had just managed to block another attack that would have taken a chunk of lifepoints).

"Tristan says this guy starts off as being easy and then comes back from behind. Brutally, too. He's also thoroughly unpleasant to boot," Joey said flatly. "Tris was watching the duels for us."

Noticing Raphael's troubled look, however, Joey clapped a hand on the man's shoulder. "Skyler seems pretty fine right now, though. I'm sure she can handle this guy easily."

Raphael turned back to the arena. "She can," he said aloud, but it still didn't stop him from feeling uneasy. Hearing Joey's statement about Gaston only made him feel even more suspicious of the man…if only he could place where he had seen the other person…

Please be careful, Skyler.


So there you have it-a cliffy!

Oh! I have GREAT NEWS! Thanks to Imaginatrix, there is now an official shipping name for Skyler and Raphael and Lola and Alister.

Aerieshipping = RaphaelxSkyler (Since Skyler's nickname is "Skye" and since Eatos is a Guardian and a hawk)

Thundershipping = Lola and Alister (Since they both are stubborn and clash with each other most of the time

Anywho, Please Review? It would really make myself and Kok happy! :D