Chapter 1: Audition

Yugi, Joey and Seto walked in through the sliding doors of the Karaoke Battle main office building. Today was additions for the upcoming season, and the three where determined to make it through.

The reason for why they came, all started three weeks ago. After school, all three of the boys had received a note from an anonymous source, telling them to be at an abandoned ware house that had been shut down years ago, at 6:00 pm. By then, Yugi had noticed that his grandfather had disappeared with out notice, Serenity hadn't showed up to meet her brother at the arcade, and Mokuba had also disappeared without telling Seto. The three did as the note said and arrived at the dock at six, only to find a tape recorder. Listening to the tape, a computerized voice threatened them to enter into the Karaoke Battle competition If they ever wanted to see their loved ones again. There was only one catch. They had to make it into the top three. And so, the boys left for America.

The threesome looked around the room filled with wanna be superstars, dressed up in goofy outfits to attract the judges attention, when really it turns them down. It was an amazing that Joey and Yugi actually got Seto into some ordinary street clothes. The only thing that they let him keep was his Card shaped locket of mokuba. It was either he kept it, or someone was going to get a bloody nose.

The boys walked up to the application desk, got their number, then took a seat near the back of the room. They watched as more teams filed into the waiting room, and as teams took off to the audition room. They also watched, as most of the teams that had failed, slump back into the waiting room making a huge ruckuses about how the judges didn't know what they were

missing.

Soon their number was called. The boys walked across the room, hearing the random "good luck's" from people they passed. One by one, they filed into the audition room and walked into the center of the room to face the three judges.

" Hello!" the first judge, an elderly woman with graying black hair, said to them as she looked over the forms in front of her. The other two didn't bother to look at their papers. Instead, they smiled at them and waited for the first to continue.

" It says here that your names are Yugi, Joey, and Seto. And that you've traveled all the way from Domino City Japan." She said looking up at them.

" Yep! That's right!" Joey said smiling at her and giving her a thumbs up. The woman didn't look to amused with his perkiness.

" Right...So, what will you be singing for us?" the woman said as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

" 'False Pretense' by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus." Yugi told them looking down slightly at the floor. Another judge, a middle aged, skinny, brunette shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

" You do know that you can use background music if you like. Do you have it?" She asked the boys. Seto glanced over at the woman, pulled out his ipod from his shirt pocket, and waved it at her.

" We've got that all covered thank you." One of the crew men in the background came out to them and took the MP3 to hook it up. " It's the only song on there at the moment." Seto told him. The man nodded, hooked it up to the speaker, and pushed the play button. The music spilled into the room instantly, and Yugi went first:

It's time to let it go...

The world's got a funny way of turning 'round on you
When a friend tries to stab you right in the face
Losing faith in everything I thought I hoped I knew
Don't sweat it, (it was) set on false pretense

Betrayed but not gonna be willing to change
And it doesn't seem likely to fade
Betrayed but not gonna be willing to change
cu cu cu cuz ya know...

Then Joey and Seto jumped in with the chorus:

It's Sacrifice
False pretense you'll hurt again
Stop pretending to deny
False pretense you'll hurt again

Next it was Seto's turn:

All along you know you thought you got the best of me
But you were wrong and I am laughing right in your face
I can not believe you claimed you were my family
Don't sweat it - it's set on false pretense

Betrayed but not gonna be willing to change
And it doesn't seem likely to fade
Betrayed but not gonna be willing to change
cu cu cu cuz ya know...

This time Yugi and Joey jumped in:

It's Sacrifice
False pretense you'll hurt again
Stop pretending to deny
False pretense you'll hurt again

Finally Joey was up:

guitar!

It's time to let it go

I can't seem to understand it how
You turned out to be so cold
You tried but were caught red handed
Are you happy with your role?

Seto cut in with:

It's funny to me how you've turned into such a joke,

Then Yugi and Joey slipped back in for the finale :

It's Sacrifice
False pretense you'll hurt again
Stop pretending to deny
False pretense you'll hurt again

So play the game until you run out
And play the game into my hand.

(( End ))

It was silent for a few moments as they waited for the judges response. Finally a dark skin toned man, warring a whole lot of bling around his neck and on his hands, spoke up.

" Whoa!" He said pausing to look over at his two female companions. Yugi, Seto and Joey held their breathes. Their was a 50/50 chance that what he meant was good or not. They were hoping, praying that he meant it in a good way.

" I don't know about you guys, but I thought that was awesome! One of the best I've heard so far, man." He said as he clapped his hands for them. The two other females nodded and praised them with their own words. It was final. They we're moving on to the next round. Once the last judge had finished their praise, a feminine voice from in back of the sound crew, spoke out.

" I don't know Ethan. Do they really have the potential you're looking for?"

Everyone in the room looked in the direction where the voice had come from. A girl with waist long brown hair and reddish- brown eyes, dressed in denim jeans, a white shirt, black vest, and graying white sneakers stepped forward from the dark, over to the judges table. The man she had called Ethan smiled at her.

" Amaya, you're only saying that because we said that about you and your sisters two years ago." Amaya didn't comment back. She was to busy studying the boys.

Joey didn't like the fact that this girl didn't agree with the judges, and he wanted to know why.

" And besides! What makes ya think that you've got what it takes?" He said holding up on of his fists to show he was trying to look like was be serious. Amaya glared at him before speaking.

" My sisters and I have been the champions of this competition for the past two years." She said crossing her arms. " It's our last year and we're hoping that some new blood will actually have what it takes to make it to the top and take our place as champs."

" What? Winning once wasn't enough for you?" Seto said crossing his arms. Amaya rolled her eyes.

" Do you even know how this competition works?" She asked them. This time the boys didn't have a comeback. " Oh, great!" Amaya said unfolding her arms, " Real newbies! Look, this is how the competition works. Only twenty teams start out in the beginning, not including the raining champions from the previous season. They co-host the show until the top five teams have been picked, that's when they start to compete. Each week, one team is sent home, while the others move on. You can only enter the competition a total of three years. After that your done. And depending on how good you are, you could be offered a record deal. That's what me and my sisters have been striving to work for here."

" Wow! You and your sisters goal doesn't sound so great from where I'm standing. It's almost like your not even here for anything except that record deal." Seto told her coldly. That had struck up a nerve in Amaya, and the judges knew it. They shook their heads at him. The boys saw them and waited for the girls response. Instead of telling them off, Amaya just kept her anger to herself and sighed.

" If only you knew the real reason." She said before turning away. " I'll be back with my sisters in a while. I have some where I want to go first," she told the judges. Then she did something that the boys didn't expect. " Make sure those newbies make it to the top five," she said and left through the back door.

It was quite for a moment. The boys were dumbfounded. Joey turned to the judges.

" So, does that mean that she like us?" The judges nodded.

" But it wasn't smart of you to say what you did." The elderly woman said in Seto's direction. " Obviously, you don't understand why they've made it as far as they did."

" It couldn't of been a good enough reason other than greed." Seto said coldly.

" Ya, and we know that you've been down that path before with trying to beat yugi here." Joey teased him.

" That wasn't greed!" Seto shouted at him.

" What ever pretty boy." Joey said, not believing him. Yugi wasn't paying attention to the squabble behind him as he got the rest of the information from the judges on where the first round was going to be held and what time they should be there.

" Just make sure that you have a new song already to go for the first round. Don't worry about costumes or moves until the fifth round. You should be fine. You boys do have great potential." The middle aged woman told Yugi who nodded at her.

" And with Amaya, try to look past her bitter side. She's really kind on the inside," the elderly woman told him. Yugi nodded at her and thanked the judges for their time, before turning back to his team. Seto and Joey stopped fighting just long enough to make it through the door they had originally came through from the lobby. As the boys walked out of the building, three pairs of eyes followed their every move out.