Dislaimer: I claim no ownership over Yu-Gi-Oh! or Final Fantasy VII. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Chapter Two- Let the Tournament Begin!

The old, abandoned warehouses at Domino Pier may not have been the best-looking place in the world to hold a dueling tournament, but they served the purpose Kaiba was going after. He and Pegasus had commissioned a full-scale clean-up and renovation of the warehouse interiors on the cheap so they could set up some of the grander things for the tournament. Within each warehouse, there was a veritable wonderland of Duel Monsters memorabilia on hand. Industrial Illusions was setting up massive card shops within the wareouses, graced by a touch of Pegasus's own eccentricity, which involved animatronic Duel Monsters and highly advanced holographic technology broadcasting messages from both himself and Kaiba. Kaiba, on the other hand, was trying to sell Duel Disks to all who would buy, and allowing the use of Pegasus's old dueling fields, well-set up dueling tables, and of course his own Duel Disks in all models for duels between anyone who was willing to show up. The reason why they had chosen to hold it in such a cheap area, now remade to be hardly recognizable, was because KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions were using the vast majority of their money in order to filibuster a well-known international network. That way, the entire world would be reminded of the Duel Monsters phenomenon, and exactly why it had been made so great.

Yugi was shocked upon seeing the pier after Kaiba and Pegasus had gotten their hands on the place. It was cleaner than ever, and was lit up by the varied lights and displays proclaiming the tournament taking place there. He inhaled a breath of sea wind as it tousled his multi-colored locks, and looked over at Joey. The latter looked slightly pained at being at this particular location, and it took Yugi only moments to remember why. The pier had been where, under Marik's control, he had almost killed his best friend.

"Are you gonna be okay, Joey?" Yugi wondered, knowing what he was recalling.

Joey choked back his shame, and nodded. "Yeah, Yug'. I'll be okay."

"Of course you will!" Tristan added, clapping Joey on the back. "You got an invite to Kaiba's tournament! The dude hates you, but you got in!"

Yugi nodded. "Right! And congrats, Tristan! I heard you got an invite in as well!"

Joey's brown eyes went extremely wide. "HUH? Tristan? Dueling in a big-time tournament? What did I miss?"

"Geez, dude, don't look so surprised. You were there at the Kanto Region Finals. Yugi was too. I guess Kaiba or Pegasus must've heard about it, and given me an invite." Tristan replied calmly.

"Big Brother!" a new voice cut in.

Joey turned towards the voice, not believing his ears, or his eyes. There before him, auburn hair waving in the wind, stood his little sister Serenity.

"Serenity?" Joey asked incredulously. "What are you doing 'ere? I thought dat you were staying with Mom in America."

Serenity smiled and nodded. "I was. But I was dueling in the United States National Finals. I made it to the semi-finals before being eliminated, and I guess Kaiba must have heard about it."

Joey smirked. "My little sis is all grown up! Way to go!"

Tristan smiled at Joey's choice of words. "Does that mean I get to go out with her now?"

"HELL NO!" Joey shouted back, punching Tristan in the face hard enough to send him flying to the ground. "And keep any thoughts like dat to yaself, ya jerk!"

"Oh my… I'd almost forgotten how those two tend to get along…" a softer voice with a familiar accent commented.

"Good to see you, Bakura!" Yugi greeted happily. Now that Bakura was free of the Millenium Ring, the friendship between them had grown much stronger.

"It's great to see you as well. I trust all of you have a personal invitation to the tournament as one of the sixteen finalists?" the white-haired young man asked.

"Yeah, but what're you doing here, Bakura? Don't tell me you've got an invite too…" Tristan trailed off.

Bakura nodded happily. "Yes I do. I was the United Kingdom Finals Champion, as well as a finalist in Battle City, so I was called here as well."

"Attention all duelists!" Kaiba's voice rang out over the pier, cutting through all conversation. "Report to the stage near the edge of the pier for Opening Ceremonies! Any duelist who does not show up at this mandatory meeting will be disqualified, and ejected from the pier until the tournament's conclusion."

The old gang joked and laughed together as they headed for the aforementioned stage. Joey was regaling the group with stories from his Battle City duels ad nauseum until Tristan reminded him that they had all been there when those duels were occurring, and reminders were not necessary. Yugi looked nervously around the pier for any familiar and suspicious faces. When the group finally arrived before the stage, Yugi managed to really get a good look at the crowd that had come. Although the game was losing popularity, Kaiba and Pegasus's tournament was drawing a great deal of attention, and hundreds of duelists from around the world had come to duel in the tournament, though there were only sixteen 'official' competitors, hand-selected by Kaiba and Pegasus. Yugi suddenly shuddered as he caught sight of Raphael's hulking figure in the crowd. Though he was no longer an enemy, his prescence made Yugi more than slightly nervous.

"Welcome, duelists, one and all, to the greatest dueling collaborative effort in the history of Duel Monsters! Welcome- to the KCI2 Tournament!" a random announcer figure shouted from the stage. A collective cheer went up from the crowd of gathered duelists. "Now, say hello to your tournament hosts, Maximilion Pegasus and Seto Kaiba!"

The crowd roared around Yugi and his friends as the two CEOs stepped onto the stage. Kaiba was the first to grab the microphone from the announcer. "All right, duelists. Prepare yourselves for the ultimate challenge in dueling! Here, all of you will face one another in matches, the best of which may well be televised. Here, Pegasus and I have gathered the top sixteen duelists from all around the globe to battle for the ultimate prize of becoming the eternal dueling master! The winner of this tournament will receive, aside from this title, a three million United States dollar cash prize, as well as a fully-stocked briefcase of Duel Monsters cards, and the chance for one final showdown with either Pegasus, myself, or the famed King of Games, Yugi Moto!"

Yugi shrank back down several inches. Kaiba had just placed a massive target on his back. Doubtless he'd be challenged to duels like crazy wherever he went in the tournament.

"But first-" Pegasus cut in, grabbing the microphone from Kaiba, "let's introduce the world to our sixteen official competitors."

Two large display screens flared into life, showing footage from Duelist Kingdom. It was the first duel from the finals. Yugi and Mai were facing off against one another. The footage then cut to Mai's showdown with Marik, then proceeding to show all her victories in minor televised tournaments.

"You probably remember this quick-witted, buxom duelist from her major appearance in the Duelist Kingdom tournament." Pegasus narrated as the footage continued onward. "Placing fourth in Duelist Kingdom, she proceeded to make the finals of the Battle City tournament, and has won many other tournaments since. Let's hear it for Mai Valentine!"

As Mai's picture was shown stationary on the screen, a massive cheer rose up from the crowd. Joey started wigging out, looking around everywhere for the blonde, breasty duelist.

Pegasus then proceeded to introduce the rest of the 'major' duelists in the competition, like Joey, Yugi, and Bakura. Tristan had a quick little segment on his victory in the Kanto region finals, as did Serenity for her respective tournament. Raphael, Valon, and Alister were introduced simultaneously as duelists of great skill, but with no information about their pasts given. Perhaps, given the circumstances, that was for the best. Rebecca Hawkins was once again introduced as the United States champion, having fought her way to the top quite brilliantly over who was the next duelist to be introduced.

"Now, not many of you from outside the states will recognize this next competitor, except from the last clip of Miss Hawkins' brilliant dueling." Pegasus began as the next competitor flashed up onscreen. "However, this young man managed to fight his way through the brutal semi-finals of the United States torunament after winning the Western Coast tournament last November. He placed second in the United States finals, having lost a very close match with Miss Rebecca Hawkins. Say hello to Sephiroth Crescent!"

At this, an image of a young man with long silver hair flashed up on screen. His eyes were a very bright green, and seemed almost like a cat's eyes. Yugi found himself shuddering as he looked upon this competitor. For whatever reason, he just had a bad feeling about this guy.

The next duelist on the screen was even more unrecognizable than the last. He clearly wasn't speaking English, or Japanese, and the duels shown required subtitles to be understood. The locale was unfamiliar at first, but as the camera panned around the duel, which was held outside, one could see a landmark like the Eiffel Tower in the background.

"This next duelist comes to us from the beautiful Parisian countryside, having dueled his way to the top through the French national finals in order to become the reigning French National Champion. Do not let your preconceived notions about his home nation allow you to underestimate him- or you will be defeated. Say hello to Vincent Valentine!" Pegasus announced as an image of the duelist appeared onscreen.

The man who now appeared onscreen had shoulder-length, raven black hair, which was tied back into a neat ponytail with a length of red cloth. His skin was quite pale, and he wore a navy, well-tailored suit. However, the thing that drew the most attention was his eyes- or, rather, the shade of his irises.

"Is it just me," Joey hissed in Yugi's ear, "or are his eyes really that creepy shade of red?"

Yugi shook his head. "It's not just you. I think his eyes really are that color."

Tristan shuddered. "Seriously creepy…"

Another unfamiliar face appeared onscreen, a much kinder, gentler face than those preceeding it. The woman's name was Aerith Gainsborough, and she had been the fourth place finisher in the national finals. She had very long, brown hair tied into a braid with a pink ribbon, pale skin, and emerald green eyes. She was followed by Yuffie Kisaragi, the last opponent Tristan had faced in the Kanto Region. Yuffie was a pixie-like girl with short, black hair and brown eyes. Following the self-proclaimed 'white rose ninja princess' was a man with very spiky blonde hair to rival Yugi's and deep blue eyes. He had finished second to Sephiroth in the United States Western Coast Finals, but his performance merited him a slot in this tournament. The final competitor had no dueling montage, which confused everyone present.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Kaiba began, a slight edge to his voice," our final competitor has received no dueling accolades, however, due to his ever so generous donations to this tournament, Pegasus decided to allow him entry as repayment. Our final competitor is the CEO of the ShinRa Electric Power Company, Rufus ShinRa."

As Rufus stepped up onstage, the crowd was set into an uproar. ShinRa Corporation was infamous for its environmentally disastrous energy removal processes. The man himself looked like a typical spoiled rich kid- perfectly coiffed blonde hair falling into blue eyes, dressed in a white suit like Kaiba's, only his was of a different design, and he wore a red ascot. Hardly the worst EPA offender that was still in business.

"Calm down." Rufus stated, loud enough to where Kaiba's microphone picked him up. "Be assured, I have not brought my company's pollution habits with me. I am here, just as all of you are, to duel. Not to pursue business matters. So, if you have any complaints, please, field them to the PR department of my company, not to me while I'm here."

Kaiba cleared his throat loudly, signalling to Rufus that he needed to back off. Rufus took the hint, and allowed the other young CEO to take the stage once more. "Now, duelists, let's go over a few basic rules of the tournament. I expect all rules in the official rules handbook to be followed. Cheating will not be allowed. Violators will be disqualified. The main tournament will be held in typical tournament fashion, advances to the next round determined by victory or loss in duels between the sixteen specially selected duelists. However, you will choose all your opponents for this first round. After this round, the eight remaining will advance to the next round, and opponents will be chosen for you. Now, as for the rest of you, you may challenge anyone present here. That includes the sixteen finalists. If you should win a duel with one of them, you may take that duelist's place. All duels with a top sixteen duelist will be televised, whether the opponent is one as well or not. Keep that in mind if you're here for the media attention. Now, enough talk from me. Let the tournament begin!"

Yugi gulped, preparing himself to be mobbed by the crowds of people begging for a duel. However, a rumble was already passing through the crowd that a duel challenge had just been declared against one of the top sixteen- the French national champion. By whom? Leon von Schroder, former KC Grand Prix winner whose slot had been taken by Rufus ShinRa. Or, at least, so the thoughtline went.

Yugi and his friends were able to part the crowds like the Red Sea as they ran for the duel to see what was going on. They managed to push aside the crowd closest to the duel just in time to see the match begin. One could almost feel the excitement pulsate through the crowd. The first duel of te tournament was now underway.

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There's the next update. Hope you enjoy!