Chapter 24 - The Duel Tower

Kay and Adelinda returned to Seto and Mokuba after getting dressed. Kay had her hair up in a messy bun instead of a pullback and Adelinda stood at her side in her denim jacket, white T-shirt with a sequin star on it, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. Mokuba smiled at them.

"Hi guys."

"Hey Mokuba." Suddenly, Roland came on over the PA system.

"Attention duelists! We are now approaching KaibaCorp Island for the conclusion of the Battle City finals." Seot ignored Kay and Adelinda.

"This is it, Mokuba." Mokuba looked up at him. Kay rolled her eyes.

"And here we go, another long, and winded speech."

"There are only four finalists left, including myself. And before long, I will be crowned the world's greatest duelist on top of my Duel Tower. Plus, I'll have the most powerful deck in Duel Monsters once I win the three Egyptian God cards."

He smirked.

"When I defeat Marik, I'll get his Sun Dragon Ra, which seems to be the most powerful of the three Egyptian God Cards. Then I'll gain Osiris the Heaven Dragon when I wipe out Yugi." He held up Obelisk and looked at it. "And since I already possess the mighty God of the Obelisk, my deck will be completely unstoppable." He POSED! (Yes, he really did pose) "and then I'll be respected and feared by every duelist on Earth." He clenched his fist.

"Not again." (YES! He said that! I laughed my head off. Cute little Mokie.)

Seto narrowed his eyes. "And now it's only a matter of time before the winner takes all." (Dun...dun...DUN!!!) Kay sighed.

"Wow...just wow..."

"Those speeches do get a little old..." Adelinda whispered with a small giggle.

"And poor Mokie is stuck listening to him." Adelinda laughed and Mokuba smiled a bit. Seto glared at her.

"Shut up, Kay."

Roland came over the PA again. "Attention duelists, we're six miles from KaibaCorp. Island. Preparing for descent."

"Cool!" Adelinda smiled. Kay grinned and pat her on the hea.d

"Yup, only six miles away from me winning this tournament." Seto snickered.

"Doubtful."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you save the big talk for our duel, Kaiba? Then I'll show you some real skills."

"You may have beaten Odion and advanced this far but there's no way you can match my superior skill. Pegasus could give you any card and it still wouldn't be enough."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Guys, c'mon, don't fight."

"We're now beginning our descent upon KaibaCorp. Island for the conclusion of the Battle City Finals! When we touch down, please exit the aircraft and await further instructions!"

"C'mon, Adelinda. Let's go find the others."

"OK." They ran out to meet up with Yugi and the gang in the hall.

"Hey guys!" They stopped and smiled.

"morning Kay."

"So, Yugi, ready to duel? 'Cause I'm here to win it."

"Well, I'll look forward to dueling you." Kay smiled and nodded.

"So, how's Mai? Any better?" They shook their heads.

"Nope."

"aw, well, don't you worry Jounouchi. I'll duel Marik in your honor and get Mai back." He looked at her in surprise.

"Seriously?"

"Sure! Besides, I want to beat that evil freak anyway. He laughs too much." Kristen nodded.

"That he does!"

"Well, I'm sure you'll both do great." Cat smiled.

"Thanks Cat." The aircraft landed and the doors opened.

"C'mon, guys. I'm sick of being stuck in this oversized hunk of metal." Tori raced down the stairs and was followed by Yugi, Kay, Adelinda, Kristen, Cat, Jounouchi, Honda, Duke, and Anzu.

"Wow, what a dump..." Kay mumbled. The entire island was covered in debris from what looked like old buildings. The only thing standing was a huge tower of some sort in the center of it all.

"Check it out, guys!" Yugi exclaimed, violet eyes wide with wonder.

"That must be the Duel Tower Kaiba was yapping about. Now what?" Jounouchi asked, his arms crossed, abored expression on his face.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"Whoa...even I have to admit that's impressive." Tori and Kristen nodded.

"Yup." alex walked out and stood next to them.

"Hey sleepyhead." Tori grinned. Alex rubbed her eyes.

"You guys know my body doesn't begin the function until one, right?" Kay smiled and rolled her eyes a bit.

"you'll just have to deal, Alex. Unless you want to miss the finals." Suddenly, she was wide awake.

"Heck no! We're here to cheer you to victory, Kay!"

"Yeah!" Kristen and Tori agreed. She smiled.

"Thanks. I'm planning on winning." Seto walked over to them.

"Look, the island we're standing on is the site of the original Kaiba Corporation. But I tore it down."

"Does he have some serious anger issues or what?" Kay whispered. Yugi turned to look at Seto.

"And is that-"

"Yes. That's my Duel Tower," Seto pointed up at it, "and I plan to defeat you at the very top, Yugi."

"If you can beat Kay, you chump!" Alex snapped. Seto ignored her. Yugi's puzzle glowed and Yami appeared. Jounouchi pointed an accusing finger at Seto.

"Look, rich boy, in case you forgot I was in this tournament too! And you ain't that big a deal so if you think you can win-"

"Must you insist on embarrassing yourself, Jounouchi? In case you've forgotten, I beat you in under ten minutes, mutt!" Kay bit her lip to fight laughter as Jounouchi sulked a little.

"Oh yeah..." He glared. "But that was only because you played that God Card, Kaiba!"

"True, but I could have played just about anything and still defeat you, ameteur." Jounouchi glared.

"Hey, why don't we settle this with fists, not cards."

"Jounouchi!" Cat cried, but he was already charging. Seto sighed and moved out of the way easilly, causing Jounouchi to trip over something and fall flat on his face.

"Pathertic."

"Hey, Jounouchi!" Honda ran over and helped him up.

"you ok, man?"

"I'm cool...I'm cool..."

"yo, Kaiba." He looked at Kay. "Heh, I'm not planning on losing to you. Ya might have beaten Jounouchi, but I've got some tricks you haven't even seen yet."

"Is that so?"

"Yes! And I'm knocking you right off that tower and becoming the Queen of the Games."

"Queen?"

"King is being sexist." Seto shrugged.

"Whatever. We're wasting time, so let's go." He led them towards the tower. Kay watched him, frowning.

"Wait til I beat him...I don't care if he had a crummy past, I won't cut him slack. He's so mean to us as it is. And I haven't had a cherry on top of a sundae lifestyle either. Hopefully I can knock some sense into that punk."

"you know..." Alex said. "I notice, Kaiba's kinda hot in this light." Kay felt her face heat up for some reason and got a little peeved at this. But...why?

"Dude, I do NOT want to hear that!" she snapped.

"Heh, relax, I'm joking. I tohught you'd laugh. ...Why are you turning red?" Alex asked, tilting her head. Kay's face grew even hotter and she cleared her throat.

"No reason, I'm just feeling really warm is all."

"O...kay?" Alex said, not sure what else to think.

"Will you geeks hurry it up?" Seto yelled.

"Well sorry, we're not all part sky scraper and walk as fast, Egoman!" Kay snapped before running to catch up to the group. Marik decided to make his grand entrance.

"It's such a lovely day, isn't it, pharaoh?" Cat sighed.

"And it just got uglier." Kay, Kristen, Tori, Adelinda, Anzu, Honda, Duke, and Jounouchi all nodded.

"you can say that again."

"And it just got uglier." They sweatdropped.

"Cat, we didn't mean that literally." She blushed.

"Sorry!" ^^;

"Too bad some of your friends can't enjoy it from dying in their hospital beds!" He stood on some rubble, cape billowing in the wind.

"What is he, king of the mountain?" Kristen asked.

"I'd say he thinks he's kind of the world." Kay sighed.

"He's an idiot...I think he can almost give Jounouchi a run for his money in stupidity."

"Ye-HEY!"

"See what I mean?"

"Hey artichoke head!" Jounouchi yelled. Kristen looked at Kay.

"Articho-"

"I don't get it either, Ki-Ki."

"You're going down!"

"Well, aren't you brave. But you're out of this tournament so I have no interest in dueling you."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you come down here and say that again."

"Easy, Jounouchi."

"Let's get on with these duels." He looked at Seto. "I'm in a bloodythursty mood." He smirked. "But who will be my next victim? Kaiba, Kay, or the pharaoh himself?"

"Just chill out!" Mokuba yelled. "We'll tell you insdie the tower, is that clear?" Marik chortled wickedly.

"Then why don't we proceed so the fun can begin?"

"Define fun, Marik!" Duke snapped. They walked up to the tower.

"So, what's inside this thing?" Jounouchi asked.

"Why don't you try listening for a change, Jounouchi?" Seto asked. He glared.

"Who said I was talking to you, rich boy?"

"What, were oyu talking to Honda?" Kay asked.

"Maybe I was!"

"And how would he know?"

"Don't ask me!" The doors to the tower opened. It was dark inside and Roland stood, waiting.

"Your attention please." The lights turned on. "Step to the center of the tower." Everyone walked in.

It was a fairly large room with four doors and an escalator as well as their entrance. Everything was made of steel and looked high tech but it was pretty empty.

"The second half of the Battle City Finals will take place right here."

"So far, it's not so impressive."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Jounouchi." Cat smiled. "Maybe something will pop out of thin air. All in all, that wouldn't surprise me." Anzu nodded.

"I agree with all the wird stuff that's been going on in this tournament."

"This place doesn't look like a dueling arena," Kristen said, looking around. Mokuba smirked, arms crossed.

"Oh yeah? Just wait a see." Adelinda smiled at him.

"As you know, there are four finalists remaining. Yugi, Kay, Marik, and of course, Mr. Kaiba."

"Yeah, yeah, of course Mr. Kaiba." Seto smirked.

"Jealous, Kay?"

"Of what?" she snapped.

"You'll notice we're surrounded by four doors. Each finalist must choose a door through which to enter. Choose wisely."

"What difference does it make?" Kay sighed.

"What's behind them?" Yami asked. The doors all opened.

"Before we may proceed with the next round of the Battle City Finals, each participant must choose one of the four doors that surround us."

"Didn't he just say that?" Kristen whispered to Cat.

"I think he wants to make sure they get it."

"Or he wants to make sure Jounouchi gets it!" Kristen and Cat giggled and Jounouchi glared at Alex.

"How are they suppossed to know which door to pick?" Jounouchi asked. "what do you think, Yuge."

"I don't think there's a wrong choice."

"Hey, I'll help ya pick." Jounouchi grinned and started spinning and pointing at each door. "One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more." Seto walked toward one door.

"How did that fool make it into the finals period?" he asked. Yami was smiling and had a sweatdrop on his head. Kay shook her head and walked toward a door.

"Just when I thought he couldn't be any stupider."

"Just a pick a door, you geek!" Seto snapped.

"Yeah! Spare us your idiocy. I fear it's contagious."

"I choose...you!" Jounouchi pointed at a door near Marik. "Alright, Yugi, we have a winner. That's your door right there." Marik growled a bit and walked into the door. "Hold it! I called that door for Yugi."

"It's alright, Jounouchi. I'll just go into this one."

"Huh?" He turned to see Yugi walking toward the final door. "But what about my potato song?" he asked.

"You're not even a finalist so just shut up and let's move on!" Kay snapped.

"Well, excuse me, Miss Thing." (I had to use that potato song, it was too funny to cut out.)

"Everyone else, come on an follow me!" Mokuba called. Adelinda ran over to him and he smiled at her. They followed him to the escalator.

"Goodl uck, guys!"

"Knock em dead, Kay."

"We'll be rooting for you, Onee-san."

Kay smiled and looked at the dark blue terminal in her door. She walked over and stood on it.

"Hmph...so what now?" she asked, crossing her arms. The door closed and she frowned. "That answers that." Her terminal rose up.

Mokuba ran into another room and was followed by everyone else. "Come on!" he called. They stood in the middle and looked up. You could see the tower and there were marks on the walls for life points starting close to the bottom at 4000 and going up to the top.

"Ehoa! I can barely see the top of this thing!" Anzu exclaimed.

"Yeah." Cat looked around. "But where's Kay and Yugi? And Marik and Kaiba?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, what gives, Mokuba?" Duke asked.

"Where are the duelists?" Kristen asked. Roland stepped forward.

"Why, here they come right now." Everyone looked confused.

A terminal rose up with Yugi in it.

"Hey, it's Yugi!" Seto's terminal rose up second, Marik's third, and Kay's fourth.

"Well, looks like everyone's here for role call."

"So what's the deal?" Jounouchi asked. "Is this some kind of four-way duel?" he asked. Seto looked down at him.

"Roland will explain the rules, and I've asked him to speak slowly so anyone in this room with an IQ as low as yours can follow."

"Excellant thinking, Kaiba." He smirked.

"It's only fair, right?" Jounouchi's face flushed with anger.

"You got a big mouth, Kaiba!"

"Who're you to talk, monkey boy?" Kay asked.

"Kay, you'd better watch it!"

"Or you'll what? Not only can I duel circles around oyu, Jounouchi, I could beat you in a fight."

"Sounds like a challenge."

"Will you please?" Roland snapped. It grew quiet. "Thank you. Before the winner of the Battle City Tournament can be crowned we must first narrow down the finalists. So, in the semifinal round, the four remaining duelists will be reduced to two. But first, gentlemen-"

"HEY!" Kay yelled. "DO I LOOK LIKE A MAN TO YOU?!" she yelled. roland turned red.

"I-i'm sorry, Ma'am. I didn't mean-"

"THAT IS JUST SEXIST, BUB! I might not be a girly-girl, BUT I AM NOT A MAN! I could prove that but I don't believe in public stripping."

"You tell him, Kay!" Tori yelled, laughing a bit. Roland cleared his throat, face still red. Seto smirked at Kay, amused by her outburst.

"Alright, let me rephrase that. Gentlmen and lady,"

"That's better."

"The preliminary duel must be played. This special duel will determine who faces who in the semifinals. And all four duelists will participate at one time. As you lose lifepoints, your terminal will climb higher. The first two duelists to reach the top will face each other in round 1."

"Hear that? It's a duel to see who duels."

"We caught that, Jounouchi. But it's good to see that you know."

"Each duelist will being with 4,000 lifepoints, and when it's your turn, you can attack any of the other players." Everyone gained 4,000 life points. "And now for some new regulations. You must all limit your dueling decks to no more than 40 cards, so take this time to prepare you deck."

Kay pulled out her deck and pulled out ten extra cards from her old strategy and placed it in her duel disk before activating it.

"Now, connect your duel disks to the monitor in front of you." Everyone connected a cream plug that was in the monitor to their duel disk. "This screen will display the images of the cards you play. Remembe,r winning or losing this duel has no effect on how you place in the finals. This is simply a strategic way to determine who your opponent will be in the semifinal round. Again, this duel will not afftect your overall placement."

"This is cool." Cat smiled. "I can't wait to see how this duel turns out." Kristen nodded.

"Totally!"

"At least all the pressure's off." Anzu smiled at Honda, Duke, and Jounouchi. "It doesn't really matter who wins and loses in this duel, right guys?"

"That's not exactly true. This could be the most important duel these guys play."

"How do ya figure?" Jounouchi asked.

"They can control who they will duel." Everyone looked at Alex. "If someone wants to face someone else, they can have it so the other two players lose. And two dueslists can even gang up on one." Tori smiled at Jounouchi.

"Hey, you should be happy you're not in this duel. Knowing you and your luck, everyone would go after you."

"Hey, that's not cool!" Cat smiled and pat his shoulder.

"Relax, Jounouchi. Just sit back and watch." Everyone was ponderign on who they wanted to duel.

"I should probably duel Marik first and knock him out. That way, at least Mai and Odion will be OK. And I can cream Kaiba or Yugi in the finals. It doesn't matter who I beat, I care nothing for their God cards. My Blue Eyes is far more important and I'll show them how powerful it is."

"Prepare yourselves, duelists! The four-way battle is about to begin! Remember, the first two duelists to lose their lifepoints will face each other in the semifinals. It's time ot begin! Now, to determine which duelist will make the first move."

"Why doesn't Yugi just go first?" Jounouchi asked.

"Why don't you pay attention to the rules that Mr. Kaiba worked so hard to create? You'll each choose a monster card from your deck and the attack points will determine who goes first. However, the monster you choose cannot be used in this duel. Kay looked in her deck and chose her "Red Eyes Black Chick."

"I don't want to lose a powerful monster. It's not worth it." Roland threw an arm up.

"It is now time to reveal your cards!" Each duelist held up their card. "Yes. Hold them up so all the plays can view them."

Seto had the Masked Beast Des Gardus. His was the strongest.

Yami held up Feril Imp.

Marik help up Rekunga. (That's what that card was in the manga so...I'm going with it.)

Kay held up Red Eyes Black Chick.

"The results have been tallied. The order of duelists is as follows. First, Mr. Kaiba. An then Mr. Ishtar, then Mr. Mouto, and finally Miss Kay."

Oh, here's the terminal arrangment if you want to know.



Marik



"Well, time to get this show on the road. I'll take down Marik next round and get back Mai and Odion for Jounouchi and Ishizu. Hopefully doing that cna snap Marik out of whatever is wrong with his head."

"Alright, enough waiting around! Let's start this duel!" Seto yelled.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment