Destined to be Yours

Chapter 65: The Second Match

"I can beat you with my eyes closed, deadbeat duelist. I won't even use my God Card for this." With that, Kaiba walked off to the central elevator, taking it up on his own, not waiting for Jounouchi.

"That bastard!" The blond teen cursed.

"Don't take it to heart, Jounouchi-kun. You know how he is..." Yugi tried to calm his friend down.

"Go kick his ass!" Honda riled him up some more, though.

"Good luck, Jounouchi-kun," Anzu cheered him on.

"Don't let your sister down!" Otogi said to him.

Pumped up by his friends' encouragement, Jounouchi felt more confident about his upcoming duel.

"Show him what you're made of, Jounouchi," Mai told him with a smile.

Jounouchi gave Mai a thumbs up. "Count on it!"

Akia gave Jounouchi an encouraging tap on the back and he went on his way up to the dueling platform while everyone else went to take the spectator elevator.

"Ah, Yugi, can you wait for me?" Akia asked.

Yugi stopped and looked back at his sister. The elevator went up with everyone else except the twins. Yugi raised his eyebrows at his sister. "Is everything okay?"

Akia got closer to her brother, not wanting to risk anyone hearing what she had to say, even though there was no one left around. "Yugi, I have to tell you this since I've known it for a while now... Marik is not who he seems."

Yugi looked perplexed by his sister's words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that the person claiming to be Marik is not actually Marik. His name is Rishid."

"How do you...? Did you see him when you went to find Marik back during my duel with Jounouchi-kun?"

Akia nodded. "Exactly. I'm sorry I kept it from you for so long, but Ishizu warned me that it would put everyone in danger, including Marik, if I reveal who he is. I still don't understand why, but she seemed genuine about it."

"So do you know who the real Marik is?"

"...It's Namu. He's the real Marik."

Yugi's eyes widened in realization. "That's why... He so conveniently brought an injured Bakura-kun to our friends. They were probably working together by that point."

"Yeah, that's what I think too... But, just in case Ishizu's warning is real, let's keep this between us for now..."

Yugi agreed with his sister and gave her his word that he'd keep it to himself for now. They both then went up to the top of the blimp, where the duel between Jounouchi and Kaiba had just begun.

Kaiba drew his first card. He then summoned Ryu-Kishin Powered (1600/1200) in attack position and set two cards facedown. "Turn end. Let's end this farce quickly."

"You bastard...! I'll make you eat your words, Kaiba! Draw!" Jounouchi drew on his turn and summoned Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600) in attack position. He then used Gearfried to attack Seto's monster, prompting the young CEO to activate his facedown Shrink, halving the attack of his own monster, Ryu-Kishin Powered (800/1200). Gearfried destroyed Ryu-Kishin Powered, bringing Kaiba's Life Points down to 3000.

"Did you hit hit your head or something or do you want to lose that badly?" Jounouchi acted smug, but all Kaiba did was scoff at his ignorance.

"A low-level duelist like you doesn't belong in this tournament." Seto then activated his facedown Crush Card Virus to destroy Jounouchi's Gearfried the Iron Knight and every monster in his hand, on his side of the field, and in his deck that have 1500 or more attack. Due to the lingering effect of Crush Card Virus, those monsters cannot be special summoned from the graveyard.