A/N: Chapter 4 is up and we're finally into the tournament! Also, some glimpses into Kaiba's inner world in this chapter.

This chapter was actually pretty hard to write. As always, reviews are appreciated :)

Chapter 4: Let the Games Begin!

Seto Kaiba adjusted his tie, frowning at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn't get his tie to be perfectly straight, which bugged him greatly. All his life, he had been a grade-a perfectionist. Everything in the universe had its place and order and when things deviated from that order, it stressed him to no end.

"Mokuba, is everything ready?" He spoke into the speaker cleverly disguised into the collar of his charcoal gray business suit. It was made of the finest Italian wool and he had it specially commissioned for this event. Not that Kaiba was a vain man but millions of people around the world would be tuning in for the live broadcast of his KC Grand Prix 2.0 and he wanted to make an indelible impression, especially after the disaster that was the first KC Grand Prix.

"Seto! What is the meaning of this? You look like you just crawled out of the garbage can. How are we supposed to meet our investors with you dressed like that? Didn't I tell you that you must always look your best? Get out of my sight! Go put on something more presentable at once!" his adoptive father Gozaburo Kaiba's icy snarl reverberated in his ear.

"Hmph, even after he's long gone the old man is still torturing me," Kaiba muttered in disgust as he snapped on his cuff-links. They were shaped like his favorite Blue Eyes White Dragons, the eyes embellished with a single brilliant cut sapphire each. Imbeciles like Joey Wheeler might mock his fascination with the great beast but that was only because they did not understand the power the dragon held. To Kaiba, the Blue Eyes White Dragon was the physical manifestation of might and strength. It was one of the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters, second only to the God Cards themselves!

And they represented hope too. When they were children, Mokuba had secretly slipped him a drawing of the Blue Eyes White Dragon after a particularly grueling day of Gozaburo's militant drilling. At that time, he had been on the edge of giving up but the drawing had given him the willpower he needed to persevere. Little Seto had desperately needed a lifeline to cling on to, or his soul would surely have been crushed by Gozaburo' vicious ways. The Blue Eyes White Dragon saved his life. From that moment, Kaiba had come to develop a great reverence for the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Not that he expected anyone else to understand. How could they unless they had experienced first-hand the horrors that Gozaburu had inflicted upon him and Mokuba?

"We're good to go, Seto! Whenever you are ready bro!" Mokuba replied cheerily on the other line. Though he would never admit it. Kaiba was secretly rather jealous of his brother's upbeat attitude towards life. It was no small feat being the vice-president of a multi-national corporation like KaibaCorp at his age, but the teenage boy never seemed to have nary a care in the world no matter how stressful or dire the situation at hand might seem. When Kaiba had informed Mokuba about the rather nasty incident involving Scorpios, Mokuba had merely replied: "We'll kick their ass back to where they belong!"

"Alright, stand by." Mentally rehearsing his script, Kaiba stepped onto the platform. The platform was connected to the stage of his Blue Eyes Arena, the largest in-door dueling arena in the country. He intended to enter with a bang.

"One last thing Seto…"

"Huh?" Had he forgotten something? A bubble of panic began to well up in his chest. Nothing could go wrong today! There was too much on the line.

"Break a leg! You're gonna kill it out there!"

"Thanks, Mokuba," Kaiba smirked, though he was inwardly grateful for his little brother's encouragement. Of course, he hadn't forgotten anything! Everything would go according to plan, He already knew he was the best.

His field of vision was assaulted by the bright white lights as he made his ascent to the grand stage.

Showtime.

"Kaiba! Kaiba! Kaiba!" the crowd cheered rousingly. He would make sure the opening ceremony was a smashing success! That would show anyone who had the nerve to try and take down KaibaCorp.

"Alright! And now time for a little speech by the CEO of KaibaCorp and one of the participants to beat in the KC Grand Prix 2.0 himself, ladies and gentlemen let's give it up for Mr. Seto Kaiba!" Mokuba announced brightly into the microphone, having appointed himself the Master of Ceremonies for the tournament. Kaiba thought his brother was a natural at being in the limelight. Public appearances came easily to the chirpy boy who had a natural charisma on stage, unlike Kaiba, who loathed public speaking and tried to avoid it at all cost. But as the popular adage went, fake it till you make it.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the KC Grand Prix 2.0! Why do we duel? For fame? For glory? Or is it to face our opponents in the ultimate challenge so that we may emerge stronger than ever before? Whatever our reasons, when we enter the duel rink and stake our fate on our cards, one thing is for certain – we will become better versions of who we are than we were yesterday!

Today, we kick off the greatest tournament the world has ever seen! We have gathered the best and brightest talent of the dueling world in a duel to the death for the chance to face the Top 8 in the semi-finals and obtain the chance to be crowned the King of Games! Duelists will face off against the new and improved KC DuelTek 1000 and only the top 16 will proceed to the next round where they will face off for the chance to advance to the semi-finals. Be warned, this may the hardest challenge that you have faced yet! With that, concentrate, play your cards well and don't be afraid to win. May the best duelist emerge victorious!"

That should get them fired up.

Kaiba surveyed the stage suspiciously as he made his way down. Scorpios was amongst the crowd, somewhere. His eye landed on Pegasus, the CEO of Industrial Illusions and his long-time adversary, who responded with a cheeky wink. Kaiba groaned in annoyance. He had invited Pegasus here so he could keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't up to no good. He wasn't quite sure what that man's deal was. Pegasus had gone as far as to kidnap his brother in an attempt to take over KaibaCorp but whenever they interacted face to face, Kaiba could have sworn that Pegasus was trying to flirt with him. That Kaiba-boy nonsense! And his obsession with those god-awful toons! It made Kaiba's skin crawl.

Dealing with great uncertainty and fending off rivals and would-be usurpers of his position at KaibaCorp were certainly part and parcel of being a young CEO, but for once, could these idiots just leave him the fuck alone? As if it wasn't stressful enough trying to run a multi-billion-dollar empire with thousands of employees on top of dealing with their machinations. And could they at least be less theatrical for god's sake? Kaiba had faced his share of looney-tunes personalities over the years who were hell-bent of destroying his company. Pegasus, the Big Five, Alister, Dartz, Zigfried just to name a few off the top of his head. Not to mention Yugi's creepy friend Bakura who had tried to lure him to Egypt on a wild goose chase with a dusty old artifact! Sure, he was a pretty decent duelist but Kaiba wondered if it had been a good idea to invite him to the tournament in the first place…Just once, he would like to experience an iota of normalcy in his life.

And now he had to deal with this Scorpios scum…

His blood boiled. They would pay the ultimate price for trying to mess with him and his company! Seto Kaiba certainly did not appreciate being made a fool out of. He would find the proof he needed and get rid of the punks who were trying to ruin his reputation once and for all. In the meantime, he was going to keep a watchful eye on each and every one of the participants. He was sure the hacker was among the duelists gathered. It must be someone he knew who bore a grudge against him. But who? A disgruntled business associate? There were too many of those to even begin counting.

And this Scorpios even had the guts to challenge him to the ultimate duel! Fools, even if they made it through the qualifiers, he would make sure to crush them like the cockroaches they were in the semi-finals.

"Alright! I'm sure we all excited to get started!" Mokuba cheered into the microphone. "Let us now invite our duelists to the arena stage for the chance to face off against the KC DuelTek 1000 and prove their worth! Let the games begin!"


Yugi and Joey took their seats in the grandstand that was specially reserved for the Top 8 and which guaranteed them a bird's eye view of the qualifiers. The guards hadn't let Tristan and Tea in, so they unfortunately had to squeeze in with the rest of the bystanders in the less exclusive seats.

"Whoah this is so cool Yuge! Look at all da people cheering for us! Hello, my fangirls!" Joey leaned over the edge and waved to the roaring crowd.

"I wish I could enjoy it Joey, but we have a problem we need to solve at hand." Yugi sighed. Trust Joey to be so upbeat in the face of certain danger! He didn't mean to be a wet blanket but couldn't keep his mind off Scorpios no matter how hard he tried. He glanced at the crowd nervously. They had to be somewhere out there…

"Aw c'mon man, don't be a party pooper! Have fun a little. We deserved it!"

"Yugi, Joey, it's good to see you" a familiar British voice greeted them.

"Ryou! What are you doing here?" Yugi exclaimed, enveloping his old friend in a hug. This was certainly unexpected. He didn't even know Ryou had gotten back into the dueling scene after all that had happened.

"Well…Kaiba invited me to take part. I tried to explain to him that I don't duel much and it was all just the Spirit of the Ring, but he wasn't having any of that. Guess he still can't accept the truth huh," Ryou Bakura chuckled politely. "I felt maybe I should finally put the past behind me and I thought, what better way to do that than to prove myself as a real duelist? So here I am, I guess."

Yugi was glad to see his friend looking more relaxed than he had ever seen before. For the first time, Ryou looked…at peace, as though the darkness had finally been lifted from his soul. The malevolent Spirit of the Ring wouldn't be bothering him anymore.

"Welcome back Ryou," Yugi smiled. It was good to have the kind-hearted and soft-spoken Ryou Bakura back as opposed to the nefarious Yami Bakura who was intent on world destruction.

"YUUUGGGIII!"

"Huh? Rebecca? Waaah!" Yugi nearly stumbled over as Rebecca Hawkins launched a big bear hug on him. "I've missed you," she added cheekily, causing his cheeks to flush a bright crimson red. Yugi was thankful Tea wasn't around or she would have certainly flown into a jealous rage. He wasn't exactly sure what the situation was with Tea, but she had been dropping him not-so-subtle hints recently. He had been flirting with the idea of asking her out on a date…just after this tournament concluded.

"Long time no see," came a husky voice.

Yugi was surprised to the owner of the voice brooding over the edge of the mezzanine. He had been one of the only duelists to ever succeed in defeating the Pharaoh and would certainly prove to be a formidable opponent in the tournament.

"You're here too Raphael? No way!"

"Well…I've started getting back into the tournament circuits. Figured out I was making up for lost time. Plus, my Guardian Eatos was itching to battle. It's all thanks to you Yugi, and the Pharaoh. You helped me to find my love for dueling again. You have my gratitude." Raphael smiled. There was a certain gentleness about him now that he had overcome the darkness of the Orichalcos.

"Hey Yugi," came a sheepish voice. A pair of curious hazel eyes peered intently at him.

"Leon!"

"I'm here to defend the reputation of my family! After last time…Zigfried…" the young dueling prodigy's voice faded off, recalling the less than honorable incident that had transpired at the previous Grand Prix. He still felt kind of ashamed that his brother had resorted to such dirty tricks against the Kaiba family.

"It's alright Leon, you're here now. That's what matters. I'm sure your family is very proud of you." Yugi patted the young boy on his shoulders encouragingly. Kaiba could be harsh but he was sure he no longer held a grudge against the von Schroeders or he wouldn't have invited Leon to take part in his tournament.

Surveying the old friends gathered, Yugi felt the corners of his mouth lift into a smile despite his earlier worries. In a way, everyone here today was gathered because of him! The bonds of friendship that Duel Monsters had helped him to forge went beyond time and space itself.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi spied a familiar blond figure dressed in a purple vest and tall boots. She spotted him and waved, flipping her long flowing locks out of the way as she sauntered over.

"Joey, look! Mai's here!" Yugi elbowed his clueless friend in the waist, snapping him out of his daydream. "Let's go say hi."

"Heh? No way! Quick Yuge, how do I look?" Joey scrambled to smooth down his clothes and his wild blond hair. It had been too long since he had last seen Mai and he wanted to show her that he was a finally grown man now. Yugi shook his head and sighed. Joey was hopeless!

"Hi Yugi. Hi Joey, I'm back" Mai Valentine grinned confidently, gesturing towards her duel disk. "Hope you didn't miss me while I was gone because I was training myself to be the best duelist I could be. My Harpies are stronger and better than ever!"

"Hi Mai," Joey said nervously, suddenly feeling very weak in the knees…He racked his brains for something intelligent to say to the beautiful blonde, whom he hadn't seen in the past two years, but came up with nothing.
'Mai's glowing!' thought Joey. 'She's found her path again.'

"Well Joey, I look forward to dueling you again. I think we didn't exactly end things off on a good note the last time. I'm looking forward to our re-match!" Mai added with a playful wink, sending Joey weak in the knees again.

"Uhhhh sure thing Mai! Can't wait to duel ya!" Joey laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

'Oh Joey, when are you going to realize Mai is the one for you?' sighed Yugi. It was clear the two had a certain chemistry between them despite their age difference. Plus, it wasn't as if Joey didn't have the chance to make his move in the past. Joey could be so dense sometimes. Yugi wondered what went on inside his best's friends' head when he wasn't thinking about food or Duel Monsters. Clearly not much.

"Hi dweebs, I see you've changed your mind about the tournament after all," huffed Kaiba as he took his seat. The icy look on his face was enough to make hell freeze over.
"Kaiba…I…I…"

"Hmph save it. Look, they're just about getting started," Kaiba gestured to the arena's stage, where duelists were starting to line up for the chance to duel against the KC DuelTek 1000. It was going to be a tough battle from the looks of it. A hundred of the best up and coming duelists were gathered but only 16 would make it through to the next round. The chosen 16 would then face off and the remaining 8 would move on towards a coveted spot in the semi-finals where they would get the chance to face off among the world's Top 8 duelists.

It would certainly be interesting to watch.

'Plus, Wheeler's going to be a total laughing stock on live TV if he loses to one of these amateurs,' Kaiba smirked. Joey Wheeler was merely a second-rate duelist who relied on luck to win his duels. To think that luck had taken his as far to the finals of Duelist Kingdom and again to the semi-finals of Battle City! He couldn't be that lucky a third time. It wasn't as if Kaiba truly hated Joey but boy the mutt sure was fun to pick on. Nothing gave Kaiba greater pleasure than to see Joey make a fool of himself.

"Hey Joey, look it's Kira!" Yugi gestured to a silver-haired girl who was standing in line. Kira had adopted a relaxed stance as opposed to the other duelists who were twiddling their thumbs nervously. She didn't seem the slightest bit fazed by the notoriously hardcore dueling simulation. Kaiba frowned. Why was she so relaxed?

"Good luck Kira! Kick dat machine's ass like you kicked Rex and Weevil's!" Joey hooted, waving him arm excitedly at the girl.

'As if this newbie is going to stand a chance against the KC DuelTek 1000! It's almost impossible to beat. That's part of the challenge. I'll like to see any of these wannabes get past it.'

Hearing her name, Kira gazed up, smiled and waved back. Her eyes flashed a brilliant blue under the arena's glaring fluorescent lights.

Kaiba shot up in his seat. It was the girl who had defeated Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor singlehandedly with her dragons just hours before!

His face froze into an expression of stunned surprise as he felt his stomach tying up into a tight knot. He tried to speak but realized that his throat had gone completely dry. Around him, the raucous crowd began to fade out, leaving nothing in his field of vision except for those burning blue eyes which seem to pierce straight through to the core of his soul.

He knew her.

"Kisara," he mouthed as an inexplicable sense of deep sorrow grasped at his heart.

End of Chapter 4

A/N: What do you guys think? Kaiba's such a complex character. On the surface, he can come off as being a jerk but underneath he does have a rich inner world and a lot of old traumas that he hasn't quite healed from. Plus is it any surprise he grew up to be a little crooked after the terrible childhood he had? Hopefully, I've managed to capture his essence accurately.

Fun fact, Kaiba's name in Japanese is 海马 means seahorse. Likewise in the Chinese dub which I watched growing up. At that time in Singapore, there were a lot of commercials being broadcasted for this brand of mattresses called Seahorse, so I grew up thinking of Kaiba as the mattress guy before I found out his English name wtf. But despite that, he's still my favorite character in Yugioh haha. Actually, scrap that, he's one of my favorite fictional characters of all time :P

Stay tuned! Update will be in a week!