Small Note

Sakura: So sorry I haven't updated in over a month, lots of stuff going on right now. And as much as I love getting a new chapter out for everyone I have some very important news. I'm going to take a couple months off from fanfiction. I'll still be around reading others stories as they post new chapters, but my own story will be put on hold until possible June or July. The reason behind this is because I've had a lot going on and honestly I've been going through a slump where I just don't want to write anything. I do not want to give up on this story, so I've made the decision to take some time off and get re-inspired. But I will be back because I have no plans of giving this story up. It will be finished hopefully before the end of this year.

So please enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter 21

The Reason for Dueling

The tables were finally turning in Joey's favor with his duel against Mako. It had almost seemed like Mako had this duel won until Joey had come up with the perfect way to defeat Mako. Joey's Panther Warrior used the Kunai with Chain to hop onto the back of Mako's massive killer whale avoiding its attack.

This move shocked Mako even more after his own monster the Legendary Fisherman had been killed by his own whale's attack. "What in the-? Panther Warrior jumped in the sky?!"

"He may not be able to fly but now we're on the same level." Joey stated proud of his move. The water may stopped his monsters from getting to Mako's monsters, but he had his own ways around it. The thing is that's not all Joey had up his sleeve.

Mako was beyond pissed by this point, 'Stupid chain boomerang! I can't believe he can do that!' However his whale was still more powerful than Joey's monster and he even pointed that out. "Even when you're on his back, Fortress Whale is still stronger!"

On the side line Ryou and Tea watched the duel wondering how Joey was going to get out of this one. Ryou didn't know a whole lot about the game but he knew the basics. "Even if Joey attacks, he'll just injure himself…"

Tea had to agree with him there, "Knowing Joey, he probably just jumped to show off."

The worry that Mako once had was nowhere to be seen anymore as he realized that Joey still had no clue what he was doing. "Well good job figuring out how to fly. But your monster's just a beast warrior. It's no match for Fortress Whale."

However Joey still had one more move to pull off before he was done. "It's not over yet Mako." He shocked everyone by telling his warrior to attack. Panther Warrior taking its sword and stabbing it right into the back of the Whale.

The move seemed pointless to those watching as nothing happened to the Fortress Whale. Mako wasn't surprised as he said, "Well now look at that, my whale didn't even budge." Enough was enough for him as he figured it was time to finally finish this duel before Joey embarrassed himself even more. "And now let me show you something else he can do."

Mako sent his own monster on the attack with a Whale spin to send Panther Warrior flying off of his back. The move worked sending Panther Warrior back to Joey's side of the field. Panther Warrior may have made it back to Joey in one piece but it wasn't going to be for long. "Panther warrior attacked Fortress whale who has higher attack points. That means at the end of this turn Panther Warrior will die and you'll lose life points. Your Panther's probably got internal injuries from the whale spin. It's just a matter of time!" Mako laughed pleased with his victory, "My Fortress won't fall to somebody like you!"

Apparently something Mako said made Joey chuckled which of course got Mako's attention. "What's so funny?"

"Take a look," Joey stated as he pointed up at Mako's whale. The fisherman duelist looked up to see what Joey was looking at and to his surprise the sword from Panther Warrior was still trapped in the back of his whale with the other end of the Kunai with Chain attached to it. "Panther Warrior's got twenty five hundred attack points it's slightly below Fortress Whale's attack points by fifty points but…" Joey pointed down at his side where he still had one more face down card, "I got one more face down card. Are you ready Mako? This is my thump card!"

Activating his face down card which happened to be Lightning Blade, Mako was forced to watch as lightning came shooting down from the sky and straight into the sword left in his whale's back. The sword acting like a lightning rod sent the electric currents shooting through the beast. Since it was a water monster the attack was double and thus the Fortress went down. Landing in the water the lightning transferred to the rest of the field utterly wiping out all of Mako's monsters that were on the field. The duelist's life points went down to a hundred and fifty after the destruction of his monsters.

Mako glared at Joey as he asked, "You let the whale shake you off so you wouldn't get electrocuted didn't you?"

'Actually I just got shook off…' Joey admitted to himself but wasn't about to tell Mako that.

It was still Mako's turn so the duelist was forced to shake off that defeat and continue on. 'I still have one spell card left to play…' He pulled that card from his hand and played Return of the Doomed on the field. But because of the water that was still on the field Joey had no clue what monster it was.

Joey on the other hand was trying to be smart about this because the duel wasn't over yet. 'Mako might have used that spell card to hide another monster in the sea. What do I do? I can't just charge in or I could get hurt…' He also didn't like that smirk he saw on Mako's face by this point.

There was no way around it as Joey was going to have to put his faith in the heart of the cards. He started his turn by drawing his next card.

"Remember!" Mako called out to him all smug like, "The Kunai's gone so Panther Warrior can't cross the sea!"

"You're wrong!" Joey informed him as he sent his monster on the attack. He knew Mako was thinking he could easily take Panther Warrior out, but he didn't know what card had just come to his hand. "Sorry to spoil your plan, but I got a new card!" He played Giant Trunade on the field thus returning all spell and trap cards to the player's hands and that including Mako's field spell card.

The move cleared the field not only for Joey's monsters to move around the field once more but also showed Joey all of Mako's monsters. Imagine Joey's surprise when the water cleared to show Mako's Legendary Fisherman instead of Fortress Whale. 'But why?' were Joey's thoughts as he tried to figure it out. 'Fortress Whale is stronger than Legendary Fisherman… why didn't he bring it back to life?'

Either way Joey had not called off his attack so Panther Warrior quickly went forth and took out Mako's monster. Bringing the duelist life points to zero and leaving Joey very confused about his own win.

Mako bowed his head in defeat as he stated, "You did it. You beat me…"

"Joey won, now he can advance to the finals," Ryou cheered not believing how easily Joey had been able to turn the duel around and win. However there was something Tea could see that he couldn't as she looked at Joey.

"He won but he doesn't look happy at all…." Tea said more to herself as her and Ryou moved to join Joey.

Joey looked straight at Mako as he asked, "Mako, what did you do?"

Mako put on his best smile and gave Joey a thumbs up, "Good job Joey. Guess you're not so bad after all."

"Hold on…" Joey shouted trying to get through to Mako, "If you had a card that could bring back the dead, why didn't you bring back fortress whale? If you did, you won't have lost."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does too matter!"

Mako knew Joey would question his move but he had his reasons, "All that matters is that you won. You got my life points to zero. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Don't talk to me like that! I'm a duelist, if you threw the game I want a rematch." Joey demanded. He had wanted to win but not if Mako threw the game.

'I guess there are some real fools in the world... A real fool with a true duelists eyes.' Mako realized as he turned to face Joey to give him a real answer, "Joey, that card was my trump card and you beat it. That's why I didn't want to prolong the match. That was the soul of my deck." He explained to Joey as he pulled that one card from his deck. "I've been fighting side by side with this card, using a sea deck for a long time, fighting and winning…"

He could recall all the matches he faced to get to that point with that card, 'Me and this fisherman that looks like my dad.' It bought him comfort and made him feel like his father was still with him when he couldn't physical see him. "I decided that I'd always use this card to reel in the catch at the end of a duel. Like how my dad and I used to fight the storms and the waves."

Joey finally understood what Mako was getting at, 'That card is his father's alter ego. When his father didn't come back from the sea, he put his feelings for his father into that card. And it was like they fought together…'

"I believe that my dad's still alive somewhere out at sea, that's why…" Mako stopped to wipe a tear before it fell and anyone could see it, "I couldn't leave this card in the graveyard even if it meant I lost. Pretty silly huh? And I call myself a duelist. I mean what does it matter as long as you win?"

"That's not true Mako," Joey told him catching his attention. "We duelists fight for something in our hearts. Each one of us has something special. If I were you I woulda done the same thing."

Those words must have stuck Mako in some way because he actually felt better and smiled, "In battle city the rule is for the loser to give the winner their most important card. This card's not that rare it only has four stars but to me it's the most important card I've got and that means…" He handed the card to Joey, "I want you to have it Joey."

Joey was taken aback for a second as he looked at the card in Mako's hand. "I can't accept that! It means too much to you."

"No… I realized something while we were fighting." Mako admitted, "My dad was lost at sea but if he were here he'd tell me, 'Mako a card's just a card. You're relying too much on that card that looks like me. What you should really believe in is your own heart'." He smirked showing Joey he would be alright as he added, "Even without this card my dad will always fight by my side."

Before things got too mushy Joey agreed to take the card, "All right man. You've convinced me, I'll take it." He took the card that was handed to him along with Mako's rare card Fortress Whale and the last puzzle cards he needed to enter the finals.

The two shook hands making promises of a rematch in the future before Joey rejoined his friends to leave the aquarium. They still had to locate Yugi and see if he had already made it to the finals.

"That was an amazing duel Joey," Ryou said to the blond duelist as they walked back out onto the street.

"You bet it was!" Joey gloated excited to be advancing to the finals.

Tea was happy for her friend, "You've got six puzzle cards doesn't that mean you can find the location of the finals?" She asked him.

Joey nodded, "Once I put all six cards together, it'll activate a holographic beam pointing to the finals. Yugi should already be there." He had no doubt their friend probably already got his puzzle cards in the first few hours.

The three never knew that within seconds there world would be turn upside down as they started to journey away from the aquarium. They only taken a few steps when Joey and Tea heard a gasp and Ryou making a bee line away from them toward someone ahead of them.

When they looked their eyes widen as well when they noticed two strangers they didn't know holding Bakura up. He looked way worse than they had ever seen him before with blood running freely down his arm with a make shift bandage wrapped around it.

"Bakura, what happened?" Ryou fearfully asked of his boyfriend but there was no answer. His boyfriend was passed out most likely from the blood lost. Whatever had happened must have something to do with the new flashy duel disk he took note was on Bakura's arm now. Now Ryou was used to Bakura getting into trouble and getting hurt but nothing as serious as this.

Joey and Tea hurried over as well as Ryou tried his best to get Bakura to come around. The taller of the two carrying Bakura looked to the three, "Are you his friends? We found him lying in the street."

"What happened to him?" Tea questioned.

Ryou looked up at the two, "Did you see who did this to him?"

The other one shook his head, "We didn't see anything, but I treated him the best I could but he needs to go to a hospital."

Ryou kept trying to get Bakura to wake up also checking to make sure his lover still had a pulse. "Come on Bakura… Who did this to you?" He wasn't one for violence but he wanted to beat the shit out of whoever hurt Bakura. Sure sometimes Bakura deserved punishment for some of the things he did but nothing like this.

Tea was already putting out her phone to get hold of an ambulance so Bakura could get the proper help he needed. When she hung up with them she turned to the two strangers, "Thank you… we'll take care of him now…"

Joey was about to take Bakura from the two thanking them for their help when they heard a shout from behind.

"That's him! That's the guy who stole my duel disk!"

They all turned to see two punks one still owning a duel disk while the other wasn't.

"Hey punk! Thanks for stealing my duel disk." The one without a disk sneered. He didn't even take note that Bakura was hurt and unconscious.

Ryou wasn't even worried about the fact that Bakura stole as he tried to shield Bakura from the two advancing on him. "Stop! He's hurt!" Just before he could get punch in the face the shorter one who had helped Bakura moved in his place taking the blow.

Now that put Joey in a pissed off mood as he ready his fist, "Why you… I'll deal with you guys…"

The two never stood a chance as a few seconds later they were down for the count and no one on the street even gave them a second look. By then the ambulance had finally arrived at the scene taking Bakura and Ryou to the hospital so Bakura could get the treatment he needed. This left Joey and Tea with the two helpful civilians.

"Thanks man. Sorry you guys had to go through all this…"

The taller one waved them off, "No it's okay…"

Due to the wave Joey noticed the duel disk on one of his arm and stated, "So you're a duelist too?"

He nodded, "Yes but I'm not very good. Please don't say you want to duel me?"

Joey laughed at that, "Sorry but I've already qualified for the finals."

"What? Wow you must be strong." He held out his hand for Joey to take, "By the way I'm Namu and my partner here is Malik."

Joey shook their hands and introduced himself and Tea, "I'm Joey and this is my friend Tea."

Malik smiled and said, "You seem like good guys. I hope we can be friends…."

Joey and Tea had no idea of the evil plans Malik and Namu also known as Marik had planned for them. They were completely unaware of the trouble they were in by meeting those two.

Around three p.m. on the other side of town, Yugi was nowhere near close to finding Joey and that worried him. Along for the journey was Seto who appeared calm as could be given the situation. Of course getting stopped by random rare hunters hadn't help any and there were sure to be more hidden around the city.

"Don't worry so much Yugi. We'll know where to go soon enough." Seto mentioned as they walked around. At this point his job was just making sure Yugi didn't do something stupid to get his brother pissed off at him. Hopefully his brothers were getting close to Kaiba Corp so they could move this along already. "I got to say aren't we an odd pair… Here I am, walking shoulder to shoulder with the man I swore would be my life long rival. The site we must be to other duelists."

Yugi rolled his eyes at that knowing this was just Seto's way of trying to make conversation. The rules of the tournament were to face off against any duelists you come face to face with, but in this case there were exceptions to every rule. "You'll get your duel Seto after we find Joey." He wasn't one to back down from a fight especially coming from Seto but now wasn't the time. "I don't see how you're not worried about him."

"He's a big boy he can handle himself." Seto stated as he watched the people around them looking for any more ghouls. He was far from heartless and did care about his own partner but he also knew Joey and those ghouls wouldn't stand a chance if they tried to pick a fight. "Yugi, we do share one purpose, the ghouls, rare card hunters who step on the hearts of those who love collectible card games. I'm going to smash their operation and then I'm going to smash every single one of them individually." Not that he was sure Yugi believed him or not, but he also added, "I joined forces with you because together, we are an irresistible prize. We'll attract the god-hunting ghouls and kill them. We've already got rid of a few of these scum."

Yugi did believe him as they were a bigger target like this, sure they were considered family now but during a tournament like this. Well it would have made more sense for the two to only meet up at the end during the finals as they were rivals on the dueling field. Then again he had a feeling like Yami did, that there was more going on than Seto was letting on. Speaking of not telling them, he asked, "By the way, how did you get a god card?" He never had one before and it was only during this tournament that Yugi had ever heard of them. How did Seto come across one so easily?

Seto simply replied, "The god card chose me that's all. And not just one card…" He couldn't stop the smirk that developed on his face. "All three of them, they will choose me out of every person in the world."

Now that was the Seto, Yugi knew but there was no way Yugi was going to lose a duel to Seto. Before Yugi could comment further there was a small beeping causing both to stop. Seto tapped the KC on his white over coat causing a voice Yugi knew well to come over the small radio.

"Hey Seto…"

"Go ahead Yami," Seto replied back.

"We found Joey's location on the satellite. He's in 'f' block area 402 around domino aquarium."

"Good, keep an eye on his location and let us know if he moves." Seto then ended the call and turned to Yugi, "Looks like he's been located."

That was a relief to Yugi but that also made him realize something else. "Crap he's going to be so mad."

"I doubt he'll be mad for long. He would have come after you if I hadn't sent him to Kaiba Corp to locate Joey." Seto let Yugi know as they started heading in the right direction to get to Domino aquarium. No telling what Joey was doing around there of all places.

"Why did you send him and not go yourself?" Yugi asked a little curious. "You must have convince him really well in order for him to not run after me."

Seto hated to admit it but he replied, "Because believe it or not, your little fiancé is a hell of a lot faster working the computers at Kaiba Corp than myself and my team."

"Oh well I already knew that." Yugi said with a grin, "He fixed my laptop in under five minutes. But you all are pretty gifted in your own way."

"I guess I can consider that a compliment."

"It was one Seto, you did create the hologram program for duel monsters and the duel disk. You've created a better world for duel monsters that everyone can enjoy. Every time Kaiba Corp does something everyone is talking about it." Yugi then sighed when something else came to mind, "I know it hasn't been easy for you and your brothers, but you did as you promised and gave them a better life. Sure there were a few bumps in the road along the way."

"I wouldn't call them bumps…" Seto murmured to himself. He wasn't proud of all that he did to Yugi and lots of others to get to that point. It wasn't fully behind him as he was still making up for all his mistakes. "Why are we talking about this anyway? We should be getting to Joey."

Yugi could agree with that but he pointed out. "True but when do we ever get to talk. I feel like I don't know you like I should compared to Yami and Mokuba. I even think Joey might know you a little more than me. But the point of the matter is, even though I will be married to Yami one day and we will be considered family, I want to actually be a family. Not just two people who tolerate each other because I'm with your brother and you're dating my best friend."

Seto actually stopped in his tracks and looked at Yugi not sure what to say to that. He had no clue Yugi felt that way about their relationship. On one hand he did have a point about them not knowing each other. This was one of the very few moments were he was alone with Yugi. Most of the time they were with Yugi's friends or Yami and Mokuba. They had never hung out together as friends. That could be due to the fact that Seto had once only seen Yugi as his rival and the boy who was stealing his twin brother away. However the rival excuse couldn't last anymore, Seto knew something else had to change about himself.

The taller duelist was about to say something but was interrupted when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Seto put up his arm up to protect himself as he caught a glimpse of someone coming at him from above. He felt a weight add to his duel disk as the person flipped and landed in front of them.

He wore the same cloak as the rare hunters and as they looked at his face they saw half of it was covered by a mask. The ghoul chuckled and he chanted, "I gotcha, I gotcha!"

Seto wasn't sure what was meant by that until he looked at his arm that had his duel disk. Some strange metal contraption was now covering his duel disk keeping him from using it. His eyes widen when he realized he couldn't get it off and looked to the one he knew was responsible with a glare.

The ghoul only grinned and stated, "Now that the duelist's chastity belt is on your god cards are locked in place. You look so sad Kaiba…" He could only laugh in victory at his move.

Yugi actually felt sorry for the ghoul as he caught sight of Kaiba's face and how utterly pissed off he looked.

"You scum! You'd better laugh while you can no one touches my duel disk and lives!" Seto sneered as if looks could kill the ghoul would be dead on the spot. Kaiba looked about ready to commit murder at that point.

The short ghoul laughed, "Don't' get your panties in a bunch, there's a key that'll unlock it…" He pointed toward one of the taller buildings around them, "Up there…"

Both duelist looks up at the building and noticed another ghoul wearing a mask standing at the end of the roof holding what looked like the key. Their attention returned to the ghoul in front of them as he spoke again, "You see? We'll be on the roof of the building got it? You'll come too Yugi… If you don't Joey will be eliminated got it?" The way he said it spoke of much more than a mere defeat and that did not sit well not only with Yugi but Seto as well now.

"So come on up to the arena of death!" The ghoul informed them as before their very eyes he easily used the structure of the building to work his way back up to the top without going inside like some kind of spider.

"We have no choice," Seto announced as he looked at Yugi who was in complete agreement. They both headed into the building to work their way to the top and deal with these idiots that dared mess with them.

When the two reached roof they found the two ghouls standing on a four way skylight window above the store. One was taller than the other and just there looks alone made Yugi get a sense of déjà vu. He couldn't be sure if he seen them before because of the cloaks and masks. They were doing a good job of hiding their identity but either way they were going down like all the other ghouls.

The short one was pleased when they both arrived, "We haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? We are assassins of the ghouls. I am Lumis."

"And I am Umbra." The taller one introduced himself.

Yugi and Seto were unimpressed as they glared at the two. Umbra could see that they weren't going to get a response out of either of them but it didn't matter because they had their prey right where they wanted them. Taking the key from his pocket he tossed it toward Kaiba, "Here's the key come and get it." It landed on Seto's side of the sky light forcing the other to walk up onto the sky light to get it.

Once all players were in place Lumis thought it best to lay down some ground rules. "Good, good. Now let me explain the rules got it?" He didn't wait for an answer as he continued, "This is a two on two duel. Duelists who lose their life points will be removed from the game. The team who defeats both opposing players wins. But be careful… when I say 'removed from the game' I mean killed." He finished with a laugh.

"We are standing on the thirteenth floor, the roof of this building," Umbra went on where his dueling partner left off, "The glass under our feet is a skylight which leads all the way down to the ground floor. In other words this pane of glass is the only thing supporting our lives. Each one of the four sections has its own explosive device attached to it. An explosive device that will destroy the glass the moment the life counter hits zero" He pointed out to the two across from them. Each explosive device at each corner had a counter showing each player's life points. "We call it the explosive tag team match of death. Sounds fun huh?"

Both Yugi and Seto remained silent, the only movement coming from Seto as he unlocked his duel disk.

Lumis chuckled, "Too scared to speak…?"

"Is that all you have to say?" Seto questioned with a glare not in the mood for any of this anymore. He tossed the device from his duel disk freeing it once again. "In that case I'll answer with my deck and it's furious!"

Seto and Yugi were far from scared of the two in front of them. They were strong duelists who never backed down from a challenge. The only problem they didn't know the hidden secrets the mask duelists before them held and what trouble they had just gotten themselves into.

Sakura: Time for Seto and Yugi to kick some ass again! A little change made to this chapter if anyone noticed. In the manga Lumis and Umbra are actually going by the names Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness. Didn't like those names so I used the ones from the anime so it would be easy to type. Other than that I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!

And I had an important message at the top of this chapter if anyone skipped it about updates, plus I'll have something posted on my profile about it.

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