"Is that another God?" Mai breathed as, across the park, a pillar of fire shot into the sky.

"I don't think so. Ishizu's duel was after ours, right?" Katsuya wasn't sure though. Something about the flames screamed divine wrath and he could feel the Shadows surging as clearly as he could see the Umi section's water rides beneath him.

"Yeah." Mai pursed her lips and turned away from it, not wanting to worry about it when she had more urgent matters in mind.

Instead, she watched the Umi section's waterways, aquarium walls and pools go by, surrounded by deep blue tiled walkways that shimmered like the sea that surrounded the island.

"Mai, you can still back out." Jou offered, irritating Mai no end.

She wheeled around to glare at him, only to find he was watching the world go by the window, his shoulders slumped and his reflection showing her just how tired this whole mess had made him.

She bit back her first reaction upon seeing him and turned back to her own window, allowing her to see the fake coral coated, colour-coded apartment blocks of Mobius' Monarchy, part of the accommodation provisions here on the island. The competing Duelists and their guests were going to share a couple of the suites, which were designed for families to stay and cook their own food if they wanted, rather than pay for the much more expensive but all-inclusive hotels.

Mai just hoped Kaiba had been smart enough to put Yugi and Ishizu in different apartments. In fact, she half-hoped Kaiba had put Ishizu and her family in the equivalent apartment blocks in Yama, where they were gem coloured, rather than coral coloured, but were otherwise the same.

"I'm taking you down. Then I'm taking Ishizu down." Mai warned Katsuya as the helicopter started to descend, sweeping just above the biggest pool, whose surface rippled from the wave machine that was disturbing the waters. "Before she can hurt anyone else… except maybe Bakura. I can't do jack shit about that."

"I'm sure she'll handle herself." Shizuka tried to be reassuring, though after the way the last couple of days had gone, she didn't feel like that reassurance could help.

Katsuya didn't want to crush his sister's hope. He very much hoped the same. As vicious and dangerous as Ba-Khu-Ra could be, the stuff Ishizu had done over the last couple of days made it quite clear who was more cruel. At the same time, he'd never seen Ba-Khu-Ra pass out like that before and he had a horrible feeling she was as exhausted as Yugi and Meisa were.

And that would give Ishizu an advantage no one wanted.

Not that he had time to worry about it as they touched down next to the pool, which a nearby sign labelled the Poseidon Wave. Stepping from the helicopter revealed their Duel stage as a circular arena whose floor was made of tiles in the greens and blues of a rock pool reflecting the sky. It was edged with fake rocks, and surrounded by small, fenced off flowing moat, where large koi swam, every so often piercing the surface with their fins.

The seats around it were spaced between the reinforced glass pillars, which were connected to the moat, allowing the fish to swim up and watch what was going on, and even continue up into the pink and cream coral roof that protected the Duelists and spectators from the rain that was beginning to fall.

Shizuka couldn't help but be intrigued by the nearby Mermail store, which had swimsuits of different kinds and colours on display in the window, having forgotten her own in the small suitcase that was offloaded and sent to the apartments she and her brother would be sharing with their friends. Nor could she ignore the Sea Serpent, which had toys and costumes based on the various Aqua, Sea Serpent, Fish and Reptile monsters that took advantage of the ocean field card.

Finally turning away from the odd ride that looked like it was made of multiple jellyfish, each of whose stingers made up seats to ride upon, and taking a seat by the moat, she noted that despite the relatively low danger level of this duel, both her brother and Mai looked as tense as they would if they were going to war.

"Whoever wins will have to face Ishizu or Bakura next." Mai reminded everyone as she and Jou shuffled each other's decks, "So the best Duelist needs to move on."

"And that's gunna be me." Katsuya promised as he took his deck back and moved into place, "I've already beat you once."

"Both my deck and I have grown since then." Mai snorted in reply, "You've never faced this archetype."

"Bring it on."

"I summon Amazoness Swords Woman, in attack mode, and set two cards face down."

The beautiful but dangerous amazoness took the field, pointing her huge sword at her opponent as her red hair flowed in the night air. Katsuya had to remind himself not to ogle at the finely chiselled muscles revealed by the tiny blue bikini like outfit as he drew his own opening hand.

"I might not know the archetype but I know what Swords Woman does." He warned as he considered his move, "I don't particularly want to take the battle damage from a fight with her, thank you."

"I'm impressed. You've been learning the cards?" Mai couldn't help but be amused.

"Nah, Anzu kicked my ass with her before she got her new deck setup." Katsuya chuckled, "So for once I'm gunna play it safe and summon my Blue Flame Swordsman in attack mode."

The 1800 attack point Swordsman was much happier to be summoned in this duel than he was the one against Yugi and he bowed politely to the Swords Woman who gave him a respectful nod, even as her stance shifted to wary readiness.

"And I'll set this card face down and end my turn."

Mai was wary as she drew. Jonouchi had been trained by Yugi, and he'd defeated her before because she hadn't been prepared for him. She refused to lose here too, and not only because she wanted to kick Ishizu's rear end.

She wasn't deaf, she'd heard the rumours beginning to circulate. About how she was already washed up and couldn't defeat the newcomers to the game. Never mind that she was a Duel Queen, never mind that the newcomers who'd defeated her were the Queen of Games and her pet project. If she let the newbies continue to defeat her, she was going to lose the respect of other duelists and it would be almost impossible to claw it back.

"I summon my Amazoness Paladin."

The cotton garbed, golden-jewelled Amazoness took the field and fistbumped the Swords Woman. Mai always loved watching her, because her hair and eyes reminded Mai of herself, but given the right to kick the ass of anyone who annoyed her without worrying about assault charges.

"She gains 200 attack points for every Amazoness I have on the field, so right now, that's an extra 400, giving her enough to take down your Swordsman!"

"Activate Kunai with Chain!" Katsuya's call made Mai scowl. "Switching your Paladin to defence mode and giving my Swordsman an extra 500 attack points."

"Dramatic Rescue."

Before his Warrior could counter attack, Mai pulled Paladin back to her hand and summoned another Amazoness in her place.

The Amazoness Queen's long blue hair flowed down her back and matched the blue patterning on her chest piece and loincloth. The fanged necklace she wore rattled as she leapt forward, her own natural 2400 attack enough to finish the job despite the extra attack and deducting 100 life points from Katsuya's total as his monster shattered.

"And now Queen's on the field, you can't target anyone except her." Mai felt firmly in control of the duel as her Queen flicked her hair over her shoulder and watched her opponent with her one good eye. "Allowing Swords Woman to attack you directly!"

The Swords Woman darted forward with a speed that startled the viewers and drove her blade through her opponent who yelped and staggered backwards as 1500 life points dropped away.

"That's my turn over."

Katsuya internally grimaced as he drew. Her deck was well assembled and was countering his, but he knew he could still do this if he drew the right cards.

A delighted and relieved laugh escaped him when the card he drew was Polymerization. "I fuse the Red Eyes in my hand, with Gearfried the Iron Knight to form the Red Eyes Slash Dragon!"

The pair arrived on the field briefly, Red Eyes bellowing at the Queen and Swords Woman before it turned into a ball of darkness that fused with the one produced by Gearfried and became a metal armoured creature with pitch black scales edged in silver, its great wings taking up a large portion of Katsuya's field as its attack was revealed to be 2800.

"And that's not all. When Slash Dragon attacks, I can take a Warrior monster from the graveyard and equip it to my dragon, giving it another 200 attack points."

With that he equipped Red Eyes Slash Dragon with the Blue Flame Swordsman, who turned into light and drained into the red gems that made up part of the armour.

"It attacks your Queen."

Mai's Amazoness Queen didn't stand a chance against the 3000 attack point monster and the metallic claws easily cut her down, ripping her apart and deducting 600 life points from Mai.

"That ends my turn."

"But not the duel." Mai warned, "I'm still in the lead and you still can't get past my Swords Woman without hurting yourself."

Jou was aware. He was on 1400 while Mai sat at 3400, and it was her turn.

"I activate Amazoness Village." The spell card's energy swept out, turning the rockpool- like stage into a grassy village made up of comfortable but primitive looking huts and surrounded by a huge wooden wall. "Which gives every Amazoness monster on the field a 200 attack point bonus."

Katsuya frowned as Swords Woman rose to 1700. She was better as a wall with lower attack points because he would do more to himself should he attack her.

Then he realised: Mai wasn't done with her move.

"I summon my Paladin back to the field and activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Queen." She continued, bringing a 2600 attack point Queen and a 2300 attack point Paladin to the field easily. Not that they were a match for his Slash Dragon.

Until…

"And then I activate A Forces."

Katsuya cussed as the card flipped up. It increased the attack of Warrior and Spellcaster monsters on the field for each member of those groups on the field.

And with Mai's queen now at 3200, the duel was over.

"Queen destroys your dragon!"

The blue-haired warrior drove her blade through the dragon and 200 of Katsuya's lifepoints.

"I use Slash Dragon's effect to summon Blue Flame Swordsman in defence mode!"

Katsuya's counter move was pointless as Mai's Swords Woman just cut it down in seconds.

"I told you, Jonouchi, only the best should face the next challenge, and that's me." Mai stood tall and proud, feeling like herself, like a real Duelist for the first time in months, "Paladin, end the duel!"

The Amazoness Paladin's 2900 attack points cut through Katsuya's remaining life points like they were butter, ending the duel and knocking him out of Battle City.

He stared, shocked at his hand. He hadn't expected to lose. Not here and now. Not when he had promised to help Yugi defeat Ishizu.

"Jonouchi." Mai's voice cut through his surprise and made him look at her, "I will be the one facing Yugi in the finals, you can count on that."

"You'd better be." His shoulders sank as the field card and the monsters upon it faded away.

In a way it was better this way. He'd been told that should he get between Ishizu and Yugi, he would die and drag Yugi down with him. That didn't mean it didn't sting to have been defeated in front of his sister. Or that he wasn't mad at himself for losing when so much was on the line.

He was better than this. He knew he was.

Mai had just proved better this time.

Unlike him, Shizuka wasn't too upset. In fact, she couldn't hide the relief that pulsed through her. Katsuya couldn't be mad about it. She was only 12 and had been through a lot. Having to watch him go through a Shadow Game too would've been a lot for her.

His phone buzzed, confusing him since he didn't think he would have access to cell phone coverage on the island. Checking that not only did he have full bars, but he had a text from Honda.

"Yugi sensed something huge and tried to escape medical. I made her stay, but Rishid's here with a knife. I can't let Yugi out until after Bakura's duel but I need to get to Yami asap, so if you could come stand guard, that would be great."

"Shit." Katsuya's cursing made Mai reach for the phone. He handed it over and got an unamused snort from Mai when she read it.

"Guess that means that fire pillar was something big."

"Apparently. That would have been Rich Boy's duel though, so if he got set on fire, it's no big deal."

That was a lie and Katsuya knew it. Despite everything Kaiba had done to them over the years, he was Yugi's sponsor and Yugi did consider him a friend. If he'd been hurt, or worse, she wouldn't be happy in the slightest.

"I'm going to bed." Mai sighed as the press moved on to the last duel site, noting that Anzu had joined Shizuka in the seating, "You guys should probably save your friend from Meisa."

He nodded and headed for the girls, "We need to go. Yugi's about ready to murder Honda."

"Yugi wouldn't kill Honda." Anzu let out a huff and shook her head, "Meisa might, but Yugi wouldn't."

"I dunno." When he showed her the text message from Honda, Anzu let out a huff.

"How…" Anzu started, then paused. She probably would've considered doing something similar in his place. She just didn't think she'd have the balls to do it.

Then, understanding pulsed through her. Honda had told her that he was Oathbound to Ba-Khu-Ra and keeping Yugi away from her duel was probably something he'd been told to do. Not that it wouldn't have been a good idea anyway.

Katsuya shrugged, also aware Honda was Oathbound to Ba-Khu-Ra, so if he was keeping Yugi away, there was a reason.

"He said 'can't', not 'won't', so I'm sure something's up. He can tell what when we get there."

"Okay, okay, lets go."

Shizuka didn't hesitate to shoot to her feet and follow the pair as they headed for the Blue Eyes monorail that would get them to the stadium, where a fully stocked hospital lay and their friends waited.

"I checked which apartment we were in on the way here by the way. That way we know where to go once we pick her and Bakura up." Anzu tossed him a set of keys, once they were in a carriage and on the move. "We're in the white building. You and Shizuka are rooming with Yugi and me, while Honda's in with Mai, Rebecca and Bakura."

That was the best news Katsuya had heard all night and meant that none of them were in with the Ishtars who could try and kill them in their sleep. Instead, they would be in safely locked suites where they could get a good night's rest and ensure they'd all survive the night.

"Let's just hope Bakura and Yugi will be alright to be at the apartments tonight."

As the entrance to the stadium came into view, that sentiment was echoed by every passenger.