Chapter 25 - Four-Way Duel

"Alright, enough waiting around! Let's start this duel." Seto drew a card. "And now I'll place one card facedown, and then I'll summon Vorse Raider in attack mode." Vorse Raider appeared with 1900 attack points. "That ends my turn."

"Not bad, Seto Kaiba." Marik drew a card. "Then again, your monster's no match for my Newdoria." A weird, orange monster with green hair appeared in defense mode with only 800 defense points. "That's all for now."

"Is it me, or are Marik's monsters as ugly as he is?" Alex asked.

"It's not just you." Marik narrowed his eyes slightly and Kay frowned.

"Such a weak monster...it has to have trick behind it."

"Alright then, my move!" Yami drew a card. "I summon Big Shield Gardna to the field in defense mode." Big Shield Gardna appeared with 2600 defense points. "and place these face down." Yami placed two cards face down.

"My move." Kay drew a card. "Not too shabby. I play Royal Magical Library in defense mode." The monster appeared with 2000 defense points. "and I'll place three cards face down and end my turn."

"Which brings it back to me." Seto drew a card. "Heh, I suspected you wouldn't have much game, Kay. If you think that little defense will help you, you're sadly mistaken."

"You don't scare me, Kaiba."

"Not yet I don't."

"You're nothing but a pretty face, get over yourself."

"Well, we'll find out. I sacrifice my Vorse Raider to summon Judge Man." Vorse Raider vanished and a monster with 2200 attack points appeared.

"Hmph, that all?"

"No, this is! Judge Man destory her pitiful defense!"

"Heh, I should have guessed you'd be stupid and fall for my trap."

"What?!"

"I play Redirect. I'm sure you know how it works. This trap redirects your attack, and I aim it at any other target on the field. And I choose Marik's Newdoria." He growled.

Judge Man stopped dead before attacking Kay's monster and turned and charged at Newdoria. Seto growled a bit. Judge Man destroyed Newdoria.

"Heh heh, why thnak you, Kay, for helping me use Kaiba to activate Newdoria's special effect. When it goes to the graveyard, I can destroy any monster on the field. So say goodbye to Judge Man." Kay smirked.

"Oh well, too bad, so sad, Kaiba."

"I'll get you for that." Judge Man was destroyed.

"I take it you end your turn."

"Just go, Marik."

"Very well. It's time fo rme to take charge of this duel." He drew a card. "Now, which one of my cards should I unleash first?"

(btw, Redirect, I dunno if that's a real card. It's based off Attack Guidance armor but I think Seto uses that card in this duel so I just made a simpler version. Just want to clarify. I may make up some new cards, and I'll be sure to let you know if I do)

Marik smirked and placed a card face down.

"I place these cards face down, for later." He played two cards. "Then I'll summon Lord Poison in attack mode." A hideous, green monster with purple spikes sticking out of its deformed body appeared with 1500 attack points. "Your move, pharaoh."

"I know!" He drew a card. "And now, behold, Kaiba. I sacrfice my Big Shield Gardna to summon my Beast of Gilfer." Big Shield Gardna vanished and was replaced with blue and red monster that had 2200 attack points. "And now my beast, prepare yourself for an assault! Beast of Gilfer, attack Kaiba's life points directly!"

"Seto, no!" Mokuba cried. The flame attack drew closer.

"Guess again! your tactics are obvious!" He raised an arm up and then pointed. "Observe." One card flipped over. "You triggered my trap. And thanks to my card Attack Guidance Armor," (OH! I am so good. How did I know?) "I'll redirect your attack to any monster on the playing field. Now of course I could easily target your Beast of Gilfer, Yugi. Or not. Now, let's see."

Kay sighed.

"This could be a while."

"Hmm...obviously, my target is going to be Lord Poison, Marik's only monster." Marik glared and Kay smirked.

"Nice. That thing was making me sick anyway."

"Alright, Marik, I aim Yugi's attack at you!" The fire redirected. Marik smirked.

"Hmph, really? Not if I activate this! Mirror Force."

"Aw, I was so hoping that gross monster would be gone."

"What? No way!" Seto exclaimed.

"Yes, so I'm able to reflect the attack back at Yugi. So your monster's destroyed."

"Don't be so confident, Marik." Everryone looked at Kay.

"What?!"

"Yugi, consider this a little gift as I play the card Trap Jammer! This negates your Mirror Force, Marik. So sorry." He glared.

"You little..." The mirror cracked and shattered. The attack struck Lord Poison and Marik glared.

"Well, too bad."

"Not so fast!"

"Hm?"

"I play a Magic Card, Spell of Pain. This handy little card allows me to redirect the life points damage I would have recieved to someone else. So, Kay, since you were kind enough to destory my Mirror Force, I'll gladly repay you by taking some of your life points."

"Please, you really think that's going to scare me." She lost 700 points and her terminal rose up.

"Kay! You ok?" Cat yelled.

"I'm fine. It's not like I'm scared of heights." She shrugged. "I'm actually rather fond of them."

"Just don't fall and you should be ok."

"Jounouchi, if I wanted to fall, I would have jumped off yelling 'Free Fall!' But am I stupid like you? No!"

"Ouch."

"Wow, this duel's intense. My brother redirected Yugi's attack to Marik, and then Marik tried to reflect the attack back at Yugi, but then Kay destroyed his trap. So Marik's monster was wiped out but then he played a magic card and so Kay took the damage."

"Well, Kay, your lifepoints just dropped by 700."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious, but I'm well aware of that!" She drew a card and looked up. "Let's see...Yugi still has his Beast of Gilfer and one face down card on the field. Marik and Kaiba have no monsters and no face down cards. I have my Magical Library defending me and my Flute of Summoning Dragon facedown. It only has one spell counter so I can play one spell card and maybe I can use a third so I can activate its power before I sacrifice. I should get some offense on the field soon or else I may not have another chance.

"What on Earth is taking you so long? Just make your move!" Seto yelled.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to rush a lady?! And good moves take time, but how would you know that, Kaiba?" Kay snapped. She placed a card on her duel disk. "I play the magic card: Pot of Greed. We all know how it works so I won't waste time explaining." She drew two cards. "Next I'll play Ookazi to inflict 800 points of direct damage to you, Kaiba." she pointed at him. He growled.

"You..."

"Heh, just a little present." Fires appeared around him, sapping away 800 of Seto's lifepoints. His terminal rose up past hers.

"You're going to regret that Kay."

"Hey, you got the easy way out. And now that three magic cards have been played while my library was on the field, I can activate its special ability. By removing three spell counters, I can draw a card." Kay drew a card. "And now I'll sacrifice my Library to summon Curse of Dragon!" The gold-yellow dragon appeared on the field with 2000 attack points. "Go, Curse of Dragon, attack Marik directly!"

"No!" Curse of Dragon reared its head and released a powerful flame attack to Marik and he lost 2000 lifepoints. "Grr..."

"Enjoy the view up there, Marik." He rose up even more. "To wrap it up, I place two cards face down. Alright, Kaiba, your turn."

"Heh, time to make you pay for touching my lifepoints."

"C'mon, you're boring me. Make a move." Seto drew a card.

"Wow, this is getting complicated." Kristen nodded.

"Yeah. So far Yugi's in first place with 400 points, Kay's in second with 3300, Kaiba's in third with 3200, and Marik's in last with 2000. But it seems like anything can happen in this duel."

"C'mon, Kay!" Alex cheered.

"Who's she trying to face?" Duke asked.

"It might be Yugi, since they're closer to the bottom."

"I wouldn't count on that. I think Kay wants to face Marik so she wants to knock him out first and then lose too."

"She may want to face Kaiba."

"True. I don't know, with her it's a mystery." Everyone nodded.

"Well, one thing's for sure, this duel is never stable for long." Anzu sighed. "I kinda hope Yugi faces Marik because it's more than likely he'll win and then he's gone."

"That's true."

"I'll place three cards face down on the field, and then I'll summon the mighty Blade Knight in attack mode." A knight in light blue armorm with a green and gold shield and sword appeared with 1600 attack points. "Time ot lose more lifepoints, Marik!"

"If this work, Marik will only have 400 points left!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "I hate to cheer for Kaiba, but don't screw this up, rich boy!"

"Blade Knight, attack Marik directly!"

"I activate a trap card!" Everyone stared at Kay.

"What?!" Seto asked. She smirked.

"Reinforcements! It'll raise Blade Knight's attack points by 500 for the duration of the Battle Phase."

"You've got to be joking!" Marik exclaimed.

"I'll even help Kaiba to knock you out, freak!"

"You'd better pray you're not dueling me, Kay. I swear you'll die!" Blade Knight's attack rose to 2100 and it knocked Marik's lifepoints to zero. Yami stared in awe. Marik was down and out. He rose all the way to the top of the tower, glaring.

Seto looked at Kay. "Why did you help?!"

"Because..." She grinned. "I want to face Marik, and I needed him out so he would not interfere with my plans."

"So she DOES want to face Marik!" Tori exclaimed.

"Yeah, Kay'll win back Mai's life!" Jounouchi grinned.

"Well, from the osund of it, you plan on losing this duel too."

"Gee, did oyu figure that out by yourself? And is your turn done yet?" Kay snapped.

"Yes. Now we go to Yugi."

"I know." He looked at his cards. "I'll attack Kay's monster with my Beast of Gilfer." Kay's Curse of Dragon was destoryed and Kay lost 200 lifepoints. She rose up a little past Seto. She drew a card.

"I summon Lord of Dragons. And I activate my face down, Flute of Summoning Dragon to special Summon Mirage Dragon and Hyozanryu. And I attack your Blade Knight, Kaiba." He smirked.

"You fell into my trap! I play Ring of Destruction." The ring appeared on Hyozanryu. Now we both will take 2100 points of damage. correction, you do. Because I play ring of Defense which protects me."

"Sorry, Hyozanryu." Her monsters self destructed and she lost 2100 lifepoints. Kay rose up, lifepoints at 1000.

"Heh heh, that was a foolish move, Kay."

"You think so?"

"Hm?"

"I'm not trying to win!"

"Kay, think this through!"

"Huh?" she looked at Yami. "Stay out of this, Yugi."

"Wait, are you sure it's wise to duel Marik?"

"What, you don't think I can handle it? Look, Yugi, I promised Ishizu and Jounouchi I'd bring back Mai and Odion after I defeat Marik." Seto laughed evilly.

"How touching. Anyway, Yugi, don't think you can save her. There's no way you can defeat me before I defeat her." Yami glared.

"Yugi!" He looked down at Alex. "Don't fight with Kay. Let her duel Marik." Cat nodded.

"Alex is right! I think she could do it!"

"Don't protect her." Jounouchi nodded.

"Everyone's right, Yuge! Ya can't keep protecting your friends in their duels. We all gotta develop our skills on our own and fight our own fights." Yami nodded.

"You're right."

"If you're all done talking, I'd like to end my turn. So, Kaiba, you gonna finish me off? she asked.

"It'll be my pleasure." He drew a card. "Blade Knight, attack her lifepoints directly." Blade Knight flew up and slashed at her. "It's all over, Kay!" Her lifepoints hit zero and she chuckled.

"Thanks, Kaiba." He blinked and she winked at him. "I got my duel." Her teminal rose up. "Well, hello tall, dark and ugly."

"Heh, you're very misfortunate, having to face me."

"Heh, I'd say you're the misfortunate one. Ready to face me?"

"I'm always ready to kill another foolish mortal." Roland threw his arm up.

"This duel is over! The smifinal bouts have now been determined! The first semi-final duel will be Marik Ishtar against Kay Simms. Followed by Mr. Kaiba against Yugi Mouto."

"One of us will get past the next round. The other goes home a loser."

"Wow, Kay is dueling Marik." Cat bit her lip. "I hope she wins." Anzu nodded.

"I don't think I can handle it if she winds up meeting the same fate as Mai."

"Don't you worry." They looked at Mokuba. "Kay is good. She could even rival with my big brother, so she can crush that chump, Marik."

"Well, if Mokuba says it, then it must be true." Adleinda hugged Mokuba.

"Onee-san will win! And thne she'll face Mokuba's Nii-sama."

"I think she'll face Yugi. No way he'll lose to Kaiba!" Jounouchi said.

"I dunno, Seto's gotten a lot better since Duelist kingdom. I don't think Yugi stands much of a chance."

"Open the tower gates now!" Roland commanded. Everyone looked up. A mechanical click filled the air as four openings large enough for each terminal appeared at the top of the tower. "It's time to proceed to the next dueling site." Marik chuckled evilly.

"I take it you're ready to join your friends, Mai and Odion in the land of the dead?"

"Trust me, Marik. I'm not losing."

"We'll have to wait and see, now won't we?"

"I have a little surprise in my deck for you."

"I've watched oyu duel through the eyes of my rare hunters, I know your deck."

"So you think."

"Launch the dueling platforms to the top of the tower." Seto and Yami's terminals sped up to the top.

"Aw, lucky!" Kay cried. "That looks cool." (Dudes, that did look cool. Very dnagerous, but cool)

"And let the semifinals begin!"

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