Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh nor their original characters nor do I own Steven Universe and any of its original characters, cause if I did, Rose would've found a way to be able to exist at the same time with Steven! But a girl can dream.

Hey, I'm back and I gotta admit I wasn't expecting such a big like in the beginning of this so I want to shout out a quick thanks to everyone who favorited and followed this, as well as suntan140 who reviewed, and just a quicker shout out to you suntan140, I will be answering your review in the author's note at the bottom of the page.

Anyways, this is picking up right after Stephanie loses her very first duel against Pegasus, who steals Greg's soul, making her punch the TV screen, kinda like in Jungle Moon when Pink Diamond, out of frustration in the memory Stevonnie relives, punches that window at Yellow Diamond's Moon Base. Odd comparison given the circumstances, but it fits. So, let's get on with the chapter!


"So," Peridot began whilst rubbing her forehead, minding her gemstone, "Let me see if I get this straight."

She was standing in one for the patient rooms in Beach City Memorial Hospital after she and the other three gems followed a highly distressed and bawling Stephanie to her father's van to discover a disturbing sight. Greg was lying motionless, just barely breathing, staring with an unblinking, unfocused and glazed over, as if in a deep trance in a random direction, all the while completely unresponsive to his daughter's desperate cries and heartbroken pleas. For Lapis, it felt like her gemstone was breaking again watching her little friend weep, and Peridot didn't feel any better.

It took Peridot a good five-ten minutes to get it through both Bismuth and Jasper's heads that this was not normal human behavior and it took another five to convince Lapis to allow either larger gem to carry Greg to the hospital, where he was immediately whisked away by the doctors. Oddly enough, the doctors, not even Dr. Maheswaran, could find anything wrong with Mr. Universe and nothing they did seem to snap him out of it, so they put him in a room with a respirator and heart monitor, and kept an eye on him until they can figure something out.

During all this, it took a while to calm Stephanie down enough for the poor girl to explain what happened, not that it made much sense, even for Crystal Gem business, heck, even Bismuth and Jasper had a hard time wrapping their heads around her attempt to explain what had happened. Stephanie, naturally, had to call her friends, if anything to assure herself that Pegasus hadn't gone after them, and inadvertently ended up with her having to explain what had happened to get her so shaken up to them, which had them all racing to the hospital as soon as she mentioned it, even the Off-Colors, despite their their wariness of the gems, especially Jasper.

Which led to know. Fluorite couldn't fit in the actual building, so she had to bend and peer in through the window Lars opened in the room after pushing the curtains as far apart as they could go for her to see into. Everyone, Connie, Onion, the Cool Kids, the Fryman Brothers, Lars, Sadie, even Jamie and Kevin, and of course the gems themselves, were standing about the room, trying to absorb the information they were just told, the beeps of the monitor filling the room as Greg seemed to sleep. Stephanie herself was sitting in a chair by her father's bedside, a blanket wrapped tightly around her, having once again forgetting to change before she left the house. Mentally, the poor girl was beating herself up for her dad's state and being unable to get the Crystal Gems back.

While Kevin was not close to either Universe, he did care about the young girl in his own way. In a strange way, she reminded him of his younger cousin, always full of positive energy and having a smile on her face. Since he didn't really get to spend much time with his cousin, he guessed he kind of projected his fondness for her onto Stephanie, especially after seeing how socially awkward she was when trying to patch things up with Connie.

Jamie was in a semi-similar boat. While not as stand-off-ish as Kevin was, he was somewhat of a friend to Stephanie despite their somewhat limited daily interaction. Not to say he didn't see her as a friend, he didn't want her or Mr. Universe hurt, he was just more on an awkward level between acquaintance and a low-key-type of friend.

"This Pegasus guy somehow pulled you into a pocket dimension of some sort, to challenge you to a 'duel', if you won he'd return the Crystal Gems, but didn't elaborate what would happen if he won," Peridot summed up though not directly to Stephanie, whilst pacing the room and making gestures as she talked, "And when he lost he revealed a glowing gold eye and was back in the TV, claiming to have stolen Greg's soul, which is the part of Greg that makes him, well, Greg." She paused to look around the room for confirmation, but no one said anything at first.

Even Stephanie didn't speak nor did she take her eyes off her father's still form. All she did in awknowledgement to the reminder was tighten her grip on the blanket with one hand and one of the chair's arm-rest with the other. Onion and Connie, who were standing on either side of the Gem-Human hybrid were the only ones' who noticed, but didn't say anything. Connie quickly glanced away, not knowing what to say or do to comfort the girl she came to see as the sister she never had. Onion, however, while remaining ever silent, simply reached out and placing his hand over the one Stephanie was using to grip the arm-rest in an attempt to comfort and she only seemed to relax slightly.

"Is that even possible?" Rhodonite asked in her ususal paranoid-worried voice, voice raising in a slight octave, "To physically take such a thing?"

"It shouldn't be," Connie finally said in responsive, "I mean, in our spiritual history, the soul is only suppose to leave the body upon death and Mr. Universe is perfectly healthy."

"And don't forget," Sour Cream added a heavy frown on his face, "Steph has to go to the creep's private island to participate in his tournament to get Mr. Universe's soul and the Crystal Gems back."

"But that begs the questions; how does a Japanese game company CEO know about Gem-kind?" Lars added with a somewhat lighter, more thoughtful frown on his face, his adventures in space teaching him to think things through much more thoroughly, "How did he capture them with so little fight? And what possible purpose could he have have for them?" This made everyone, save Stephanie, narrow their expressions in thought for answers, even Jasper was in serious contemplation.

"Perhaps...it isn't...the Crystal Gems...that he...wants..." Fluorite suddenly spoke up and all eyes, save Stephanie's and Padparadscha's, were on her, while the large fusion's own eyes were focused on the glinting objects hanging from Stephanie's ears.

"Friends, I've just seen a perplexing vision!" Padparadscha suddenly exclaimed not half a minute after Fluorite's stoic suggestion, "Fluorite thinks it isn't the Crystal Gems that our new enemy is after!" Lars quickly hide his grin with a fist, pretending to cough as Rhodonite and the Rutile-twins simply shook their heads with defeated 'what kind you do' type of shrugs, while Fluorite chuckled to herself.

"What else could it possibly be?" Buck asked but ended up answering his own question as he became furious as a thought crossed his mind, "Unless he's that type of creep, and if that's the case, so help me, I'll-!" The little hybrid had become something of a sister to him as well, so naturally, he had something of a protective streak as far as her safety was concerned.

But he was cut off suddenly by a loud, but firm, "No!"

Everyone looked at Stephanie in surprise to see she was now on her feet, clearly trying not to burst out crying again. "The only one going any where near Pegasus or that island is me," Stephanie stated in a firm voice that left little room for argument.

"But Steph-!" Connie tried to protest. "No," Stephanie repeated making the dark-skinned girl flinch instinctively, not use to that sort of voice from the normally peace-keeping girl, "This is my mess, so I'm going to fix it myself!"

"But Stephanie we've been over this!" Connie argued, "You've tried to fix things yourself and look what happened!" As much as she didn't want to, she motioned to Lars and his new pink hue, making Stephanie cringe at the reminder of her not so well thought out plan, Lars remained surprising silent and empathetic to the reminder, eyes trained on his nails during this, "We've trained for this sort of thing, remember?"

"Yeah, for Gem missions, Connie; Gem as in Corrupted or invading Homeworld Gems," Stephanie rebutted stressing the original concept behind her and Connie's training under the Crystal Gems, mostly under Pearl, "This is a human threat with something we've never seen before!" She lowered her gaze to the floor, eyes filled with regret and fear as she muttered, "Please, don't make me lose you too..."

Connie stepped back in surprise, before lowering her own gaze, unsure what to say in response. No one did at first.

"But...Stephanie...you going alone is probably what this guy wants," Jenny tried to reason and Stephanie didn't respond. "And who knows what's waiting for you on that island," The Left Twin said. The Right Twin shortly added with apprehension, "All sorts of traps could be waiting."

"I know you all want to help, but this is my problem," Stephanie shook her head and clenched her fists, unaware of how her gemstone pulsed with a deep pink light, "I should've been there to help Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst; I should've been paying more attention to the time limit," No one noticed Lars quirking a brow at her, his own hands clenched tight or his teeth grinting, "Now, Dad's been pulled into this and I gotta save 'em!" Then, as quick as it happened, the gemstone stopped glowing and Lars relaxed.

Lapis frowned, "That doesn't mean you have to face Pegasus by yourself or that you should, what if he pulls you into that dimension again?" This made Stephanie's posture fall a little as she touched one of her earrings, remembering what the letter said. She wondered what this possible protection the earrings would have and why it didn't come into effect during the duel.

"Hey, Peridot," Lars suddenly spoke up as he un-clenched his fists, "You can access the Internet, right?"

Everyone looked at the space pirate in confusion, but Peridot answered, "Yeah..."

Distractedly, Ronaldo muttered, "I've been meaning to ask about that..." Earning a jab to the side from his little brother.

"Can you look up the details of Pegasus' tournament?" Lars asked much to everyone's surprise.

"Lars!" Stephanie protested. "I can try," Peridot gave a small smile as she started to get an idea of what he had in mind as she formed a holo-screen. "Peridot, no!" Stephanie shouted.

"Steph, we can to help you," Peedee said pleadingly. "I don't want any of you to get anymore involved," Stephanie refused automatically, "Their my family, my problem."

"And our friends," Connie argued as the gems just watched, save Peridot, who was typing away at her screen, "Of course we're involved!"

"No, I mean-I just-!" Stephanie stammered for a moment for a proper response, before sinking back into her chair in frustration as her gem pulsed once more, this time, the light was a little darker in shade and Lars visibly tensed a little, choking sightly and the gems all lurched a bit. "You guys okay?" Kiki asked finally speaking up, looking at the twins in concerned, all the gems looked ready to fall over and Lars looked as if he was having a coughing fit, like he swallowed down the wrong pipe.

"Y-Yeah, just a weird...head-rush, I think you call it," Lapis said sounding a bit confused as she leaned on a wall, trying to shake the sudden heavy, negative feeling off, as were the other gems. "Strange, we seem to be experiencing an emotional aural projection of some sort," Padparadscha suddenly spoke up, sitting on her rear, unable to properly stand, holding her head as if having a headache, "But the only gem capable of this is-"

"Blue Diamond," Rhonodite cut in worriedly, "But she isn't here." No noticed the glow slowly dim once again in Stephanie's gemstone and slowly the Gems recovered.

Lars coughed a little more and Sadie looked up at him in concern, "You okay, Lars?"

"Yeah," Lars smiled reassuringly, "Just spit that went down the wrong pipe." Sadie arched a brow, but shrugged, accepting the answer.

"Okay, here's what I got," Peridot said pulling up some data, "This Pegasus guy is organizing the tournament to find a new World Champion after the previous one, Seto Kaiba, got beaten by a local in an unofficial duel, so he's sent invitations to all sorts of world duelists; National and Regional Champions, finalists, semi-finalists, Top Eights; not exactly a place for rookies."

"But that's not fair!" Sadie gasped. "Yeah, Stephanie literally just played her first duel last night!" Kiki added outraged making Stephanie herself flinch slightly at the reminder.

Buck wasn't all that happy either as he added, "Now she has to duel professional career-duelists?"

"I'll be fine," Stephanie insisted more half-heartedly, no longer having the energy to argue with any of them.

"I don't think there's much any of us can do anyways," Peridot spoke up, "According to this, the only way onto the island and into the tournament is by being in possession of a Dueling Glove with two star chips, a 'The King's Hand' card and a 'The King's Opposite Hand' card."

"I've never heard of those cards before," Buck said confused. "They were in the package with the tape," Stephanie replied shrugging.

"Then I guess we'll just have to sneak onto the island," Jenny said determinedly, punching a hand into the other's open palm.

"NO!" Stephanie yelled making even Jasper jump, "No one's sneaking onto that island," She instinctively stomped her foot out of frustration, frowning deeply, "You guys just don't get it!"

"No Steph, we don't get it," Jenny frowned back, "Why won't you let us help you?"

Stephanie started to yell, "Because it-!" But she stopped at a touch to her shoulder and looked back at Onion, who motioned to her father's prone form and she calmed, only to sob again as she dropped her head into her hands, feeling backed into a corner. The sight made everyone sad.

"I think I know a solution that might make everyone happy," Peridot suddenly said as she scrolled through her holo-screen, getting everyone's attention, "According to this, some people on the publicly available guest list are from wealthy families and are granted special conditions if they are, for example, considerably frail or have physical limitations."

Stephanie just looked at her confused, wondering how that was helpful. Lapis, however, seemed to get an idea where Peridot was going with this and said, "So, if we can pass Stephanie off as one of these...'wealthy, frail humans'...someone could demand someone go with her."

Stephanie's eyes widened in shock and Peridot grinned, "Exactly, and it wouldn't be odd because it's happened before; sore losers and the like, we could even get away with two or three bodyguards since its such a big tournament." The other teens and gems shared in her grin, liking the idea.

"B-B-But-!" Stephanie tried to protest, afraid of what Pegasus could go. "Stephanie, its either this or we all go!" Lars stated in a firm, slightly harsh, authoritative voice that had all of the present Gems standing straight at attention out of reflex, having heard that type of voice only once before. All the other teens looked at him in shock, truly seeing just how much his space adventures had changed him.

Stephanie, in response to his words, just sighed in defeat, and instead asked, "But how are we suppose to pass me off as a rich kid?"

"Well, a new outfit or two will certainly be a step in the right direction," Jenny stated with a grin, making Sour Cream, Lars and Buck quietly groan, "Trust me, nothing says money like the Miami Beach fashion scene."

"And you've never heard me argue protocols," Peridot added hand on her chest in pride as she dismissed her holo-screen, "Plus, with Lapis' ice-glare and the muscle on Jasper and Bismuth, there's no way they can refuse us!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait, when did we say we'd help?" Jasper asked suddenly, before glancing at Bismuth and gained a dry expression, "Let me rephrase that...I didn't sign up for Ruby-Duty, I might have changed my mind about Rose-"

Instantly, everyone who was conscious, corrected her as one, "Stephanie!"

Jasper just rolled her eyes, "Whatever," Then continued as if they hadn't interrupted, "But that doesn't mean I'm looking to get demoted here!"

"C'mon Jasper, it's fool proof!" Peridot argued but paused and glanced at the ever unpredictable and emotional hybrid, then added simply, "Correction: it's Ruby-Proof."

"Um, just a question or two," Bismuth finally spoke up, "How are we going to sneak on without being noticed? I mean," She gestured down at herself, "In a crowd of humans, we're going to stand out, plus, how are we even going to get there?"

"Leave that first one to me," Peridot stated, "As for getting there, a boat will be docking at Domino City, Japan to pick up the contestants at four p.m. and will be leaving for the island at six."

"I can get us a ride there on my dad's private jet," Kevin surprisingly volunteered, "He always let's me fly it on weekends if I ask, plus I can call ahead to rent a limo to drive you there."

Lars blinked at the other teen, completely taken a-back from the offer, but didn't say anything. "And I can drive you guys to the boat," Sour Cream added, "Nothing says money like a chauffeur."

"If we get going now, we can make it for five," Jenny said after looking at her phone.

This said, everyone filed out of the room, planning, whilst Fluorite simply began to inch back around the building to meet them at the entrance. But Stephanie paused at the door and looked back at her dad. For just once, she wished he would stop being dragged into her messes and this time, he was paying a hefty price for her mistakes.

'I promise, dad,' Stephanie vowed silently, 'Pegasus isn't getting away with any of this.'

00000000000000000000000000000000

It was only after she got home to finally change out of her bathing suit into her usual shirt and shorts, did she find out why Lars' only complaint about Jenny was her addiction to shopping. The older Pizza sister took one look at Stephanie's closet and nearly had a heart-attack. She then began to drag the poor hybrid as well as Connie to several different stores, having Stephanie try on various different outfits, but nothing seemed to appeal Jenny.

At least, not until they got to a new store called 'Mimi's Boutique of Miami Beauty' and Stephanie could honestly say she had never seen so much pink in one place before, save maybeher mother's room, and it all looked expensive; from the mini-chandeliers on the ceiling to the fuzzy rugs on the floor. Jenny was instantly pleased and Stephanie could only pray that they got to the jet so they could get to the docks on time.

Meanwhile, after assigning the Off-Colors as a improvised security-detail, with Sadie, Kiki and the Fryman brothers' assistance, to Greg, just to be safe. Jamie, Jasper, Lapis, Lars, Bismuth, Sour Cream and Kevin were all gathered in the lobby of Kevin's father's private jet. Lapis, Sour Cream, Jamie and Bismuth were lounging in the soft, plush seats, and, Lars and Jasper were leaning on opposite walls, all of them watched as Kevin paced the stretch of aisle between the rows of seats, talking to someone over his phone.

"That's right, Domino Airport, I know you have a brand in the city, we already have a driver on stand-by to drive the limo the docks," Kevin said for probably the third time, before pausing for a few seconds and then resume talking with a furious expression and a harsh tone in his voice, "No, you're to be there for three-thirty and not a second later, or Miss Diamonde won't make the boat on time, and trust me, if that happens, you can kiss your job goodbye!" With that said, he hung up.

"Diamonde?" Lars asked quirking a brow, an unreadable expression on his face. "It was Jamie's idea," Kevin stated without hesitation, pointing to said brunette. When Lars fixed the mailman with a questioning look, the slightly older boy shrugged, "It sounded important in my head and I remember what the gems said about the Diamonds and their history with Steph's mom, I figured it'd be rather fitting in an ironic way."

Lars seemed to think about it before shrugging, unable to completely disagree. The three Gems looked a bit disgruntled with the idea, but none of them said anything.

"Hey, guys, you won't believe the break-through I've made!" Peridot crowed as she ran up the steps into the plane, holding several metal bracelets made of iron with different colored diamond-shaped stones on each, wearing one herself, "I can barely believe it myself!"

"Well, are you going to tell us while we're still Era Twos?" Jasper asked sarcastically with an eye-roll, "Or are you going to wait for it to be Era Four?"

Instead of getting mad like everyone expected, Peridot just grinned before lighting up with a yellowish-green light of her shape-shifting process. But her bracelet remained unfazed by the change and the little stones began to glow a soft orangey-pink color, that slowly merged with Peridot's shape-shifting, making even Jasper shield her eyes from the sudden increased intensity.

When the light finally died down, they looked at her and what they saw made them jaw-drop from shock. Gone was her cold, rock-like, lime-green skin and in its place...Peridot had normal human skin; soft, peachy-pink, if a bit on the pale side and her hair fell like normal human hair, cropping a little beneath her ears in a pixie-cut, the fringe that was her bangs hid her gemstone, but when the sun shone at just the right angle you could see it shine. A part from still wearing her Yellow Court Uniform, which miraculously still clung to her properly, she looked perfectly human.

"P-P-Peridot...?" Lapis stammered in shock. "Yep!" Peridot grinned taking off her new pale-green tinted-sunglasses, revealing cheery, pale silver eyes, "Isn't it great?"

"Y-Y-Y-You're human!" Buck breathed out, also shocked. "I know; I've been working on these things for weeks!" Peridot enthused completely missing his shock as she handed the other three Gems their bracelets, "It took so much trail and error, but the results were so worth the wait; now we can go anywhere and no one will be the wiser!"

"How...?" Bismuth breathed. "It was surprisingly simple, these little stones," Peridot explained holding up the wrist with the bracelet on it, lightly tapping the diamond-shaped stones, "Contain samples of human DNA, there's also little injectors that activate when the wearer shape shifts, releasing the DNA into the light-stream of our physical forms, the process creates an almost perfect human form!"

"Almost perfect?" Lapis asked as she slides hers on, looking at it quizzically.

"We look perfectly human save for our gemstones, obviously," Peridot said, "On the outside, anyways, on the inside, we're still Gems, we still don't 'need' sleep or to ear or drink, they'll just become more appealing."

"Wait," Lars said upon realizing something, "Human DNA? Where did you get so much DNA if you had to go through so many trail and errors?" Sour Cream, Kevin and Jamie also looked interested to know this, if looking a little more uncomfortable and freaked out at the thought.

"I got it from the Blood Bank at the city hospital," Peridot shrugged. "YOU WERE STEALING FROM THE HOSPITAL?" Jamie freaked out jumping out of his seat in shock.

Peridot, not seeing the moral problem, shrugged, confused, "What?"

"Peridot, there's a reason humans have the Blood Bank," Lars explained patiently as Kevin and Sour Cream tried to calm a near hyperventilating Jamie down, "Humans don't go poof, remember? We're not made out of light, we need blood to survive, if we lose to much, we die-shatter-whatever," He shook his head from the momentary culture crossing of words as all four Gems cringe at his rather blunt explanation, but he wasn't done, "The Blood Bank is to help people so they don't die from blood loss, its most for when someone suffers a major injury."

"But I didn't take that much, I was only making seven for the Crystal Gems, Lapis and me," Peridot said nervously, mostly to quell her own guilt. "Doesn't make the situation any less morally upsetting, did you talk to any of the doctors?" Lars asked, unfortunately, Peridot shook her head.

Fortunately, Jenny chose that moment to get on the plane and more or less skip down to a seat, "Hey, guys!" Connie more or less trudged behind her, Stephanie behind the other girl, in her usual clothes.

"About time," Sour Cream joked in attempt to lighten the mood as Bismuth and Jasper poked at their new bracelets curiously. "Yeah, we were starting to think you were buying Steph a whole new wardrobe!" Buck added making Stephanie smile sheepishly as she headed for the bathroom.

Connie just groaned as she flopped into the seat next to Lapis. Jenny just giggled innocently as the Gems shared a confused look.

(Domino Pier, 5:30)

A long line of duelists stood about the large boat that was the Industrial Illusions' cruise liner, in the process of actually getting on the ship or seeing their friends off. One by one they had to present their Duelist Glove or/and their Star Chips before being allowed in by the security.

Among the crowd were two particular duelists. Two teenage boys.

One was rather short for his age, just a bit taller than Stephanie by at least an inch or inch and a half, if you didn't count his gravity-defying, star-shaped hair, which was black, the tips of which were a dark purple and his bangs were a golden blonde, framing his round face, making his amethyst-purple eyes pop out. He was pale and thin, wearing the boy's uniform of one of the city's high-schools; which consisted of a blue blazer and matching pants with a black tank and black/white sneakers. The only thing off about his otherwise casual appearance was the golden, upside-down, pyramid pendant that hung from a chain around his neck, the lines running through it suggested it had been broken at one point and it had the Eye of Horus on its front.

The other was a rather average looking 16-year-old boy; tall and tanned with messy, straw-blonde hair that brushed his ears and honey-brown eyes. He wore a white tank under a long green jacket, worn jeans with a pair of brown shoes. Unlike everyone else, he didn't wear a Duelist Glove and had bunch of dog-tags hanging from a silver chain around his neck.

They were Yugi Moto and Joseph 'Joey' Wheeler.

Yugi was taking a good look around at all the other duelists and couldn't help but slowly feel more and more intimidated by all the more experienced duelists. He had too much at stake to risk being kicked out of the tournament, his grandfather's soul being one thing.

Joey also had similar concerns, if only a little different, only he didn't dare let it show for fear of being labelled an easy target. Like Yugi he too had a lot at stake in this competition, only his goal was the prize money. It was the only way he could pay for a special operation to save his sister's eyesight.

However, getting into the finals was going to be hard, considering he hadn't been invited like Yugi had been. So the shorter teen had willingly given up one of his Star Chips so Joey could get on. Now they were in line to be cleared of any weapons so they could get on the boat without any trouble.

"Sure are a lot of duelists participating in Pegasus' tournament," Yugi commented out loud. "Yeah and we gotta beat 'em all if we want to win and get yer grandpa's soul back," Joey agreed clenching his hand around the Star Chip Yugi had given him.

The roar of an engine caused everyone to look over in surprised-amazement as a gorgeous limousine of a surprising shade of reddish-pink pulled up. The sun made the metal shine like a gem from how well cared for it was and the windows were tinted keeping anyone from seeing who was inside.

"Great, as if moneybags wasn't bad enough, we get anothah rich brat," Joey muttered mostly to himself distastefully, despite his initial interest and curiosity in who the vehicle could belong to, "Who da ya think it could be Yug?"

"I don't know Joey," Yugi replied honestly, watching as it came to a stop, unable to hide his own curiosity, especially when he felt the puzzle gently buzz against his chest where it rested from the odd, yet pleasant energy he could feel coming from whoever was in the fancy vehicle, ""But they must have talent if they been invited."

The front passenger door opened and the person who stepped out was a young man, roughly just a year or so older than Joey and Yugi. He had a rather soft-looking face despite the sunglasses hiding his eyes, his hair being a dark brown in color. He wore a white button-up under a black vest, matching dress pants and shoes, and a light bluish-purple tie.

From his spot and angle, Yugi could catch a glimpse of the driver before the man closed the door. He was the same age as them with pale skin and platinum-blonde hair that was styled up into a point and also wore sunglasses. He was dressed similarly to the other man, the difference being his button up was a grayish-blue and his tie a bold, deep purple.

The brunette lightly jogged over to the rear passenger door, his posture straight and prim as he opened the door, allowing two hulking figures stepped out first. Yugi and Joey's eyes went wide and Joey grit his teeth, intimated by the two, and if they carefully looked around, they were the only ones.

The taller of the two stood tall and proud, easily around eight and a half feet tall with the imposing muscular build of a wrestler or body-builder with the posture and expression of a military warrior. She had olive-tanned skin decorated with orangey-red tattoos that resembled tiger stripes, which were shown off on her arms by her dark orange tank. She wore maroon-colored jogging pants tucked into a pair of dark brown hiking boots, a silver bracelet on one wrist. But the most eye-catching aspect of her outfit was the beige-brown-colored, triangular and fancy-looking mask that covered most of her face and yet at the same time, left her eyes and mouth exposed. Her long, wild mane of beige-white hair cascaded down her back, adding a certain ferociousness to her already wild appearance and her striking amber-yellow eyes were emotionally schooled, making it hard to read her, which just made her even more scary.

The other woman, however, was notably shorter by a full head, only coming to her friend's shoulders in height, putting her at roughly seven-seven and a half ft tall with a less stiffer posture to her rounder features, but was still muscular, just in a more lean way, suggesting she was more of a heavy lifter than a hitter. She was African-American with the most unique hair Yugi had ever seen; it was every color of the literal rainbow and was styled in dreadlocks, which were held back from falling into her face with a lilac colored headband, and her eyes were onyx-black. Oddly, she only had one tattoo in the shape of a black star on her left shoulder. She wore a black tub-top with red caprice and darker sandals. She took wore a silver bracelet.

Leaning over to whisper to his friend, Joey asked nervously, "Ya don't think they're duelists, do ya?"

"I...I don't think so," Yugi admitted hesitantly, "I mean, they don't seem to have Duelist Gloves." Joey sighed a little in relief at that.

The two women then stood aside as a third female emerged from the limo. She was noticeably shorter than the rainbow-haired woman, coming to a bit beneath her shoulders, making her significantly dwarfed by the white-haired woman, thus making her look much less intimidating in appearance, especially since she didn't seem to have any muscle on her, being rather thin and lean, but carried herself as someone important regardless. She looked to be their age with pale chartreuse yellow hair styled in a cropped pixie-style with frayed bangs covered her forehead, a pair of light green-tinted sunglasses over her eyes. She was dressed smartly in a grass green blouse under a darker vest with a yellow necktie, black slacks and green wedge heels. To top it off was another silver bracelet.

Joey could only blink at the sight of her, "Think that's the duelist?" Though he doubted it, she looked more like a secretary or lawyer with an attitude.

Yugi had a similar opinion as he shrugged, "I don't know, maybe."

But those thoughts were dashed as another teenage-looking girl stepped out, posture regal and she moved with an otherworldly grace. She was taller than the younger looking girl, coming to the rainbow-haired woman's shoulders in height, and didn't have much muscle on her either, being lean and slim, and she was pale. The only thing sharp about her features were her eyes, which were a deep ocean blue, matching her short hair that brushed her collarbone in the front and was shorter in the back, a fringe in her bangs, which were moved out of her eyes with a silver crescent moon hair-clip. She wore a simple, sky-blue sundress that fell past her knees to her mid-shins with darker blue stars decorating the hem and the neckline was modest, the sleeves being off shoulder and her shoes were a simple pair of navy-blue ballet flats that had ribbons lacing up her legs, disappearing under the dress. And sure enough, she also had a silver bracelet.

Joey's eyes widened in surprised-awe at the sight of her, cheeks turning a dark red as he unintentionally stared, "She's...she's...b-be-beautiful..."

Yugi chuckled a little at his friend, but it soon died in throat as the fifth and final figure stepped out and it was his face's turn to flush red.

The girl was roughly Yugi's height, maybe an inch shorter with such a light tan to her skin it was barely noticeable and she had the figure of a goddess, with all the right curves in all the right places. She wore a pearl-pink tank-top underneath a sakura-petal pink shirt that had one sleeve that fell off the shoulder and it was designed with hallowed flower patterns in random places, and she wore a pair of magenta pink shorts that frayed at the ends, and her sandals were fuscia with hot pink ribbons for the straps. Her accessories consisted of a light pink beaded bracelet in place of a silver one and a wide-brimmed taffy-pink sunhat with a watermelon-pink band and strawberry-pink flower decorations sewn to it and a pair of bubblegum-pink sunglasses sat on her face with darker pink-tinted lenses.

It was obvious what her favorite color was and normally it would've been off-putting, but strangely, Yugi found it all looked amazing on her.

But what drew Yugi's eyes were the fact that despite the hat, he could catch a strand of black peeking in her otherwise pale cotton-candy pink hair and hanging from her earrings which were golden and shaped into Ankht crosses with the same eye symbol as his puzzle. She also wore a Duelist Glove.

The longer Yugi stared at her the hotter and redder his face got, once he managed to find his voice, it could only come out in a near whisper, "She's...she's...p-perfect..."

This successfully snapped Joey out of it to look down at his friend in surprise, arching a brow skeptically at Yugi's choice of wording. Even before they had become friends, Joey, and most of their homeroom class, knew that the most Yugi had ever looked at a girl was at their field trip at the beach, which sorta didn't count now that he thought back on it. Kinda hard not to look. And that had been back when Yugi had been working through his crush on Tea. So, needless to say, seeing the way his friend look at a girl as if she were Aphrodite herself was a nice change. Surprising, yes, but not entirely unwelcomed. Even if the girl in question was a little bit too into a color.

The blue-haired angel took a salmon-pink suitcase from the brunette man, who had retrieved it from the limo's trunk. She and the greenette girl then walked ahead of the pink-girl, while the two Amazon women flanked the girl from behind. The man simply got back into the limo, which then drove off.

But before the group of women could board, they were intercepted by a security guard, making both women tense. "Eh! You can't all be duelists!" He said rudely ignoring how all five of them had deck holsters strapped on, pointing at the pink-clad girl's glove, "No glove, no Star Chips; you don't get on board!"

"We're aware, but if you'd be quiet we can explain," The greenette stated calmly with a smirk as if she were talking to a four-year-old, a slight condescending tone in her slightly high-pitched voice, "Assuming a muscle-head, no-brained clod like you can follow along."

The man looked flustered and both Domino High School students snickered, somehow she made the rather odd insult more funny than it should be, and the other women's lips all quirked. The blue-haired girl leaned down to retrieve a folder from the suitcase and handed it to the greenette with a calm smirk on her face.

"I am Akira Oshiro," She continued tone unchanging, "The academic adviser and the legal aid of Gem Records," She held up a newspaper article of said company, "The CEO's only child, Pinkamena Roza, that's with a 'z', not an 's', Diamonde," Yugi didn't miss how either Amazon women's eyes twitched, while the girl fiddled with her sunglasses uncomfortably, "Was invited to your boss, Mr. Maximillion Pegasus' Duel Monster Tournament."

The man went to take the article to examine it, but Akira put it back in the folder. "Duel Monsters, meaning duelists only," The man stressed, "Meaning she," He pointed at Pinkamena, who jumped, causing both of the tallest females to tense, "Goes alone!"

"Normally that would be the case, but we aren't the clods, here," Akira stated smirking still, procuring another slip of paper, a hospital form, as the man fumed, "As according to the International Duelist Pros' Safety Clause, if the duelist in question is in any way internally sick from a pre-existing sickness or disease that leaves them frail in any shape or form, however temporary, then that duelist is entitled to bodily protection, either through Industrial Illusions' offices or other means."

Both Joey and Yugi's jaws were touching the ground from surprise before they shared a look. "She's good," Yugi commented. "Wait, people can actually do that?" Joey asked in surprise.

"And according to the files and analysis of her family doctor, Dr. Priyanka Maheswaran of Beach City Memorial Hospital," Akira continued not given the guard a chance to get a word in edge wise, "That Miss Diamonde," Again, the 'bodyguards' eyes twitched, "Suffers from random periods of fagitude and has low bone deficiency, and if you fail to understand what that means, it means she gets tired a lot and bruises very easily."

Yugi blinked at this and looked at Pinkamena worriedly. It made him wonder why a girl with those sort of health problems would enter a tournament like this were anything could happen and it made him worry for violent sore losers. Part of him hoped they would met up at some point.

"Henceforth," Akira wrapped up, once again putting the paper back when the guard reached for it, "She has every right to bring Hau," She motioned to the woman with rainbow-colored hair, "And Yamazaki," She then motioned to the tattooed women, "With her."

Joey gave a low whistle, impressed, before smirking playfully, "I like her." Making Yugi chortle in amusement, hiding it and his grin by pretending to cough.

The security guard stammered, face reddening to the point you'd think steam would start coming out of his ears, before glaring at the still smirking woman, "Doesn't mean the two of you are included in that!" But he and many others all cringed as the blue-haired girl's eyes changed from a calm, confident ocean to a raging, destructive sea.

"Allow me to introduce myself," She said in a controlled, yet cool tone of voice, her eyes set in a glare, but otherwise expressed no emotion, "My name is Liliya Mizushima, Miss Diamonde's," Again, Hou and Yamazaki's eyes twitched, "Private Nurse, I'm sure you're bosses would just love the publicity of a girl possibly dying because you denied her the only person who can administer her medication safely."

The security guard looked as if he swallowed a lemon, peel and all, at the idea. Not only would be permanently out of a job, but his pension wouldn't even dent the lawsuit that would set upon him alone. Not to mention, he got the idea he would be hunted down if anything like that happened.

Joey, unlike everyone else, shivered under the girl's gaze. He had never seen any one else so intimidating, not even Kaibe cut close to the raw emotion in her eyes. Nor has he ever seen a girl manage to remain so beautiful while angry. It was intoxicating for him, to say the least.

A dreamy smile spread across his face as he gazed at her, murmuring, "...Liliya..." Yugi rolled his eyes good-naturedly at this with a smile.

"And as her teacher," Akira piped up grabbing the two teen's attention, "I have every right to continue her education."

The security guard opened his mouth, but was cut off by Hou, who pounded on fist into the open palm of her other had as he said, "There's not going to be any problems..." She purposely trailed off as she squared her shoulders, smiling darkly at him.

Many flinched as the mouth of an Amazon that was Yamazaki cracked her knuckles with a purely savage and blood-thirsty look on her face as she finished with a smile of her own, "Is there?"

The security guard seemed to turn many different shades of white all at once before rapidly shaking his head and silently getting out of their way. This made Akira smirk and Liliya reverted back to her calm smirk-like smile as they led the group aboard, the other duelists all quickly getting out of their way.

But as they began to pass by, Pinkamena happened to glance their way and she suddenly paused with a surprised expression, sunglasses sliding down, allowing dark amber-brown eyes to lock with amethyst purple. Yugi's eyes widened as he stared back into them, his cheeks flaring quickly once again. It was as if, for that moment, time slowed to a stop and everything around them disappeared. He could see a bright spirit inside them, full of life and energy.

Joey noticed this and finally took his eyes off Liliya to poke his friend's shoulder with a playful, yet knowing smirk, making Yugi blush even harder, not breaking contact. Liliya and the others stopped as they noticed as well, "St-Pinkamena?"

Pinkamena stiffened in embarrassment, face flaring with a dark blush and nodded quickly as she moved on. It was her nod that caused Yugi to realize that he had a closer look at her earrings and his eyes widened at the similarities they shared with his puzzle.

Why did he suddenly get the feeling this were about to get a whole lot more interesting of a sudden?


Oh Yugi, if only you knew. Lol!

Anyways, that the second chapter, we get to see the Off-Colors, and I got to admit Padparascha's my favorite, she's just so cute! Let me know who's yours in your reviews.

Just to recap, I have absolutely no clue if tournaments allow something like, the whole thing with the Safety Clause. I made the whole thing up. I couldn't figure out how else Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth and Jasper would get on the boat with little resistance.

Also, as for their ability to take human form, I had Peridot explain it, whether or not its logically and biologically sound I have no clue. I'm kinda winging it as far as Gem biology goes as they're more or less magical in nature, so who knows, anything's just about possible with them really. Let me know what you think.

Plus, when they're in their in their human forms, I'm going to be referring to them by their human disguises. Jasper is Jazmin Yamazaki, Bismuth is Itzel Hou, Lapis is Liliya Mizshima and Peridot is Akira Oshiro. All Asian names, if you want to know what they mean, I suggest looking them up as I don't remember exactly at this point, just that I tried to make it as fitting as possible.

Now, suntan140, I'm really glad you like this story so much, haven't heard much from you in a while. As for you're question about Pink Diamond being the spirit in the earrings, well, she does have a part to play in the long run, but I'm not going to go into in detail at the moment if anything to avoid spoilers. As for the connection to Yami/Atem, well, I can imagine that as Rose, Pink must've traveled all over the word at some point and had seen all sorts of human cities and kingdoms rise and all, I fail to see how Atem's own reign, however brief, being any different. After all, like I brought up before, the Gem War ended roughly around the time Atem was born and crowned, so it isn't too far a stretch to say that after the war they could have at least crossed paths, for defiant details, you're gonna have to wait an another arch or two.

Anyways, let me know what you guys all think and especially tell me what you think of a Stephanie X Yugi pairing (have no idea what to call the ship, open to ideas) much less a Stephanie X Yami/Atem or Yami!Stephanie X Yami/Atem pairing (again no idea what to call either one).

So please review and let me know what you think, also sorry if this seems a little sort and anti-climatic, gets better in the next chapter, trust me.

Till next time!