The text message was sent out to all participants to meet in Central Park for an announcement from Kaiba himself. The message also stated that no duels are allowed until the start of the tournament tomorrow, and any who are dueling would be disqualified. Jean brought her two shadows, Ami and Daniel with her. Hundreds of duelists were gathered, all eager for duel one another and all biting their teeth.

"What do you think the announcement is going to be?" Daniel asked.

"I have a good idea." Jean said, her arms crossed, or at least as much as she could with the duel disk on her arm. "But let's have Kaiba let the cat out of the bag."

There was a sudden hush amongst the duelists and all of them seemed to be looking in the same direction. A giant LCD monitor was rising from the ground. It flickered on and the image of Kaiba appeared on it. He was a lot rougher looking than Joey had described, but looked to be the same Kaiba. He had five o'clock shadow and bags under his eyes.

"Hello Duelist and Champion-hopefuls. I'm sure many of you are curious to my special announcement. But that can wait a minute. I'm positive that news of my robbery has reached your eyes by now. Allow me to confirm your suspicions and say that my Blue Eyes were indeed taken from me. But let me also say that I don't need my Blue Eyes to win duels and to the thief let me say that I will find you, I will get my Blue Eyes back and you will be reprimanded to the fullest extent possible." He made a look at the camera that made even Jean shudder. It was like the hundreds of duelists all shrunk back at once. He definitely had a domineering personality.

"Now," He continued, "On to the announcement. I will be competing in the tournament as the guaranteed 16th spot. This means one less place for all of you. Those of you who think you stand a better chance at beating the renowned Seto Kaiba just because he lost his Blue Eyes are in for a big surprise. And one more thing… The person who beats me in the tournament will win every card I own. That's all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tournament to finalize preparation for." Kaiba concluded. Just before the monitor turned off, he seemed to look Jean's way. She gave him a competitive smile, which he surprisingly returned. The screen changed to black.

"Was this the plan you suggested to him the other day?" Ami asked. Jean nodded.

"This will encourage the thief to enter the tournament if he hasn't already, to take the rest of Kaiba's rare cards. Kaiba owns the company that makes Duel Monsters, Industrial Illusions. He'd have the rarest cards in the world, and maybe some that weren't even released to the public. Also, if the thief's the kind of person I think he is, it would be the cherry on top to beat Kaiba with his own Blue Eyes. It's a trap though, as Blue Eyes is far from Kaiba's only strong monster." Jean explained further. She stretched her arms behind her head and yawned.

"Something tells me you'd be good at chess." Ami suggested.

"I can beat National Champions." Jean replied. "Easily, in fact. Maybe I should try International. My game is and always has been Duel Monsters, though. Chess doesn't have enough of a luck factor to suite my fancy."

"Well since we're out why don't we go see a movie or something?" Daniel suggested.

"Sounds like a good way to waste time." Ami said. It was, and after the movie they parted ways. The night was over quickly and Jean had her Duel Disk and deck prepared for the day. This was it. The Tournament had arrived.

After hygiene, she made a beeline for Central Park. She figured an open area like that would be a great place for duelists to find her, and for her to find duelists. Her phone vibrated. It was another text from Kaiba Corp, containing more rules.

"Contestants are eliminated after losing two duels, or in the case of a draw best of three. In the case of a tie for all three, the drawing game will be played, in which both players will draw from their decks until they get a monster card, and the player that draws the monster with the highest ATK wins overall. This only applies until the 15 semi-finalists are chosen. Once you have lost your second duel, a virus will temporarily be implanted in your duel disk, preventing it from activating for as long as the tournament is still ongoing. Once the tournament is over, the virus will be removed and your Duel Disks will usable once again. The previous iterations of rules are still in effect. Enjoy yourself, duelists, and keep it clean out there!"

She got another text, this one from a blocked number.

"I hope this plan of yours works." That was probably Kaiba. She gave him a reply.

"Don't worry. If you lose I'll just win your cards back in the Finals. =P" He didn't reply after that. She tucked her phone into her pocket and sat down at the nearest bench. Ultimately, searching for a worthy opponent would be like picking hay out of a needle stack. And there is no hay. So it would only leave her disappointed.

Duelist after duelist challenged her and she beat them without even standing up, usually within the first five turns. There was one duelist who was surprising in his arrogance, and she gave him the proper amount of attention. His name was Neal, and he was around Jean's age. He had long green hair and wore a stylish blue jacket with chains dangling from it. His pants looked unbelievably tight.

"I challenge you to a duel!" He declared while pointing at Jean.

"You can't be serious. A weakling like you?" She didn't mean to be arrogant towards him, but there was something about the kid that irked her.

"Are you scared? I don't know who you are but nobody shirks a challenge from Neal Dunn." He grinned. "Although seeing how old your Duel Disk is you probably can't afford any good cards, so you probably won't be much of a challenge to me anyway."

"Fine." Jean said simply as she rose to her feet. She placed her deck into the Duel Disk and activated it. "Let's Duel!"

Jean: 8000 Neal: 8000

"I'll let you go first, so let me see what you've got." She covered her mouth with her hand as she let out a huge yawn. It wasn't on purpose but it was excellent timing.

"How about this?" He said as he placed 1 card facedown and summoned his first monster. It was Zombyra the Dark. Not a bad first monster. He had a huge attack value for being a four star monster. That effect was why though. Every time he destroys a monster his attack gets decreased by 200.

Jean wiped her eyes and drew her card. Dark Magician. Now she just had to get enough stars on the field to be able to summon him. But for now she had to play something. So she summoned Senju of a Thousand Hands in defense mode. This allowed her to move Black Luster Ritual to her hand.

"You need a wake-up call, so how about a natural disaster?" Jean asked. "I'll play Convulsion of Nature, flipping both of our decks upside down!" She flipped her deck, and Neal did the same.

"That only helps me. Now I can see what card comes next." Neal told her. It was true.

"I'll lay two cards facedown and end my turn."

"Just because I'm pretty doesn't mean I'm dumb you know. Those are traps, and I won't stand for any nasty trap cards in my duels." He said while waving a finger back and forth in the most demeaning fashion possible.

"Whatever. Take your turn." She contemplated sitting back down on the bench but thought better of it. She didn't want to make Mr. Headstrong any angrier would she? He drew his card.

"I'll play Nobleman of Extermination, allowing me to remove one facedown card on the field from play, so long as it's a trap. I'll choose the card on the left!" That card was Hidden Book of Spell. Crap. It was removed from play, which just meant that Jean shoved it into her wristband. That was just a decoy trap though. She was lucky that he didn't choose the right card.

"I'll play one monster facedown and have my Zombyra attack your Senju!" The freaky dancing demon charged at the million-handed statue, but chains poured forth from an activated card and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"I activated my Shadow Spell, rendering your Zombyra unable to attack and decreasing his attack points by 700!" Jean declared. "Looks like your 50/50 gamble back there turned out not to be lucrative, Mr. Prince. Nice try though." He grimaced at this taunting and commanded that Jean take her turn.

"I'll sacrifice my Senju to summon Magical Marionette! Attack his Zombyra!" Senju shattered into nothing, and the Marionette formed from that nothing. His sword penetrated Zombyra, sending him to the Graveyard.

Neal: 8000 7400

"Your turn, my liege." She bowed in a sarcastic manner. This got a few laughs from the forming crowd. The screen that once showed a giant Kaiba head now displayed their duel. Good. That meant that Kaiba was taking a keen interest in her.

"Don't you dare make fun of me!" He barked. "I'll flip summon my Dummy Golem activating its effect! With this, the Golem is switched with a monster of your choice from your field, but since all you have is your Marionette, he becomes mine. Now attack the Dummy Golem!"

Her own Marionette used its blades against Jean, tearing the Golem to clay pieces. Luckily he was in defense mode so Jean didn't suffer any Life Point damage.

"I'll lay a monster facedown and end my turn." Neal concluded. "Top that, peasant."

Jean drew her card.

"No problem." She said, still becoming increasingly drowsy and irritated from this kid's attitude. He was so boring; just another arrogant duelist without the cards or strategy to back that talk up. "I'll summon Absorbing Kid from the Sky!" This card may not be intimidating on its own, but with the next two cards, it'll be nice fodder at least. "Then I'll play Change of Heart, stealing back my Marionette! But that's not all…" The marionette returned to Jean's side of the field. "Want to see one of the strongest cards in Duel Monsters? Of course you do. I'll play Black Luster Ritual, sacrificing my Kid and Marionette to summon Black Luster Soldier!" The warrior burst forth, unsheathing his sword and shield bashing the air. He looked very menacing. Jean smirked a bit.

"Now you two play nice." She teased. "Now destroy that facedown monster!" The soldier nodded and ran his blade through the card. It was Ceremonial Bell, nothing to be worried about.

"I'll summon Gale Lizard in defense mode." Neal said once it was his turn. He started chewing on his lip. It was a disgusting and surprising habit for a prince-type.

"Is that all? I'm disappointed." Jean taunted.

"This duel is only getting started!" He said, glaring at the top card in his deck. Jean deduced that it must be something good. Maybe an equip card to make a monster stronger than her Soldier. Jean took her turn.

"I'll play Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two!" She got rid of two trap cards. From Neal's speech earlier, he probably has a lot of counter-trap strategies in his deck. It was better to circumvent that to avoid trouble. But the third card was a monster, and she summoned it.

"I summon Dancing Fairy in defense mode! As long as this card is in defense position I get a thousand Life Points on my turn!" She smirked. "Then I'll have my Black Luster Soldier destroy your Lizard!" The poor dinosaur didn't even see it coming. The warrior's blade ran right through it, cleaving it in half.

"My turn!" Neal declared. "I'll summon Gren Maju Da Eiza!" The fiend burst forth from the card and coiled around itself like a snake.

"But its attack is zero! What a weak monster." Jean scoffed.

"Don't write it off just yet! Remember that I still have that facedown card!" He was right. He placed that card on the first turn. She wondered what it was, but guessed that now was when she would find out. "I activate Fiend Comedian! This card lets me flip a coin and if I call it, your entire graveyard is removed from play. If I get it wrong, I have to remove the same number of cards that are in your graveyard from the top of my deck." He pressed a button on his fancy Duel Disk and a hologram of a 100 Yen coin appeared on the field. "I call heads!" He announced as the coin flipped. It landed on tails.

"Yes!" He cheered. Nine cards were removed from play. He placed them in a slot in his Duel Disk that Jean did not have. She looked at her busted old Disk, and was not jealous in the least. This one was a gift, and she would use it until it literally would not work anymore, even after being repaired time and time again.

Gren Maju Da Eiza's attack value became 4500. That wasn't good.

"I'll attack your fairy to stop those pesky Life Point increases. No need for you to struggle so inelegantly when your wings have been clipped, my beautiful butterfly." His terrible attempt at being poetic sickened her as the beast wrapped itself around her fairy and crushed it out of existence. "Now I'll equip him with Shooting Star Bow- Ceal. This will decrease his attack by 1000, but allow him to attack your Life Points directly! I'll save that for next turn. No need to frazzle you this early on in the duel." He shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"I'll summon Roulette Barrel and activate its effect! If I roll a three, your Gren Maju is destroyed!" She pulled a die out of her pocket and threw it onto the holographic field. It bounced once, bounced twice, and landed on just what Jean needed to snag a huge win. She rolled a three.

"While I'm enthused that you came prepared, how do I know that die isn't weighted or something?"

"You can trust me, can't you? I'm too poor to afford something like a weighted die." Jean said, hiding her sarcasm as much as possible. She actually wanted this three to stick.

"I guess that is true. Very well. My friend is destroyed." He said with a sigh as he moved the monster card to the graveyard. "But now it's my turn."

"I'll play Soul Release, removing 5 cards from my graveyard from play." He moved five cards from his graveyard to that fancy extra slot in his Disk. "Next, I'll lay 1 card facedown and summon Red Eyes Black Chick in defense mode." An egg was summoned from the sideways card, and from it burst forth a baby dragon. Cute.

"Now, I'll play Monster Reborn! Why don't you come back to the field, Gren Maju Da Eiza!" He declared. The serpent fiend returned. But this time, his attack was a staggering 6000. This was bad. Wait. Was this his strategy all along? To remove as many of his own cards as possible?

"Kick his Prince butt, Jean!" Ami cried from somewhere in the crowd. Jean smiled at the sound of that unnecessarily loud voice. It made her smile, even as her Roulette Barrel was smashed to bits. So that was why he let her get away with that three. He had Monster Reborn anyway so it didn't matter. Sneaky.

"Your move, girl." He said, and flipped his hair a bit. Some airhead girls in the crowd swooned a bit. Jean was unimpressed.

"Better to play defensive. I'll switch my Soldier to defense mode and lay 2 cards facedown. That'll be all." The soldier lowered his sword in favor of his shield. It seemed like a hopeless situation. The first real duel of the tournament and she was on the verge of losing. She did have a strategy though. Dark Magician was in her hand, and looking at her deck she saw the card that would give her the perfect chance to use him. She would have to hope that her trap card wouldn't be wiped away.

"I'll sacrifice my Chick to summon the real thing! Red Eyes Black Dragon!" The chick was reborn in fire, with the menacing ashen dragon taking its place. "Now Gren Maju, attack-" Jean cut him off.

"I activate Threatening Roar, rendering you unable to attack for this turn." The crowd gasped and applauded. People love a good duel. It was her turn again. Nobody had taken any Life Points damage in a while, but Jean was about to change that.

"I'll play Ultimate Offering, allowing me to make as many extra summons as I want at the cost of 500 Life Points for each one. I'll speed this up and pay 1500 up front."

Jean: 8000 6500

"Try to keep up, weakling, because I'm going to crush you with this combo." She was angry now. And she was sick of this guy. She was going to destroy his spirit and make him never want to duel again. In other words, she did not like him. "First, I'll summon Trap master and the Forgiving Maiden, then I'll sacrifice the both of them to summon Dark Magician!" The Magician rose from the ashes of his now Martyr-ed brethren. He looked at Black Luster Soldier and Jean could swear they nodded at each other. Maybe it was just her imagination. "Now I'll sacrifice my Soldier to summon a second Dark Magician! How's that? Two strong monster instead of one? But I'm not done yet! I said I'd crush you and I intend to! How about this card? I sacrifice my two Magicians to summon…" The two wizards shattered and dispersed into magical energy that swirled around the field. The mist began to concentrate in one area, and started to become dense. It took shape in the form of a silhouette. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic!" Jean cried as the mist became non-permeable and transformed into the powerful magi. This Magician pointed his staff at his enemy and frowned. Dark Magician had a pretty serious demeanor when he was on the field, but this guy seemed downright angry. Bitter even. It was infectious.

"What? I've never heard of that card before!" He exclaimed. The whole gathering of people surrounding them seemed to all mutter amongst themselves of how genuine her deck was.

"You like it?" She asked. "It's a card that Kaiba only recently added to the game after outcry that there was no strong spellcaster-type cards out there. Consider me a beta tester for it." This was a blatant lie of course, but it the story she and Kaiba agreed upon for it.

"Now where were we? Oh right I was breaking your arrogance."

"He still doesn't have enough attack to take out my monster." Neal stated.

"He does when I equip him with Megamorph, doubling his attack. That makes it 6400. Now my Sorcerer, attack with Black Spiral Flash!" This was something very few people before Jean have been able to do: name a monster's attack. The Sorcerer twirled his staff in his hands, filling it with dark energy. With an upward swing, he released all of that energy at once in a spinning explosion of power that eradicated the fiendish being from the field.

Neal: 7400 7000

"Your turn. Assuming you don't need a change of pants." Jean said. Ami looked upon her friend with fear. Something about her was off. She was being unnecessarily cruel to the guy. Her eyes looked a little darker than normal too. And since when did she wear that cynical-looking smile? Whatever was going on, Ami didn't like it.

"I'll lay these two cards facedown and end my turn." He said simply. He looked downtrodden, defeated. He looked like he had given up already. He forgot to switch his Red Eyes to defense mode to avoid damage, the amateur.

"Is that all? I expected more from you, rich boy. Maybe if you weren't coddled your whole life you'd actually know how to play Duel Monsters!" She yelled. Neal looked about to cry. Ami did it for him.

"Stop it!" She shouted. Jean looked at her and realized what she had been saying. This wasn't her. No, something was influencing her mind. What was it? She closed her eyes and took a breath. The source of the corruption… was coming from her side of the field? Her Sorcerer? How could that be?

"These cards were forbidden for a reason." Marik had told her. "You have a very strong spirit, so I'm sure you can handle using them, but even you won't be entirely unaffected by them. Just try your best not to let them influence your behavior.

He was right. She had given in to the corruption too easily during her fits of anger. It wouldn't happen again. This she declared as she looked at Ami's crying face. She gave herself a little shake and concentrated on the duel.

"Attack his Dragon with Black Spiral Flash!" The energy tore the dragon apart scale by scale.

Neal: 7000 3000

"I didn't think I'd have to use it but I'm glad I had it prepared. I'll activate Inferno Tempest! This card can only be activated when I take more than 3000 Life Point damage from one hit and it removes all monsters form both of our decks from play!" The stack of cards in Jean's wrist strap suddenly became a lot thicker.

"For my turn I'll play Swords of Concealing Light! This will force your Sorcerer into facedown defense mode, making his trap-destroying properties not active. Now that I can play Trap cards I'll activate Graverobber's Retribution, making you take 100 Life Point for every monster you have removed from play. That's 600 points every time it's my turn, starting next turn. Your move, little miss prissy." He made that remark on purpose, and Jean knew it. But she let it slide as a way to even the scales. After all, she had just laid into him pretty nastily.

"I'll play Factory of Mass Production, moving two monster cards from my graveyard to my hand. I'll choose Roulette Barrel and Dancing Fairy. Then I'll summon Dancing Fairy in attack mode and have her attack your Life Points directly!" The fairy blew poisonous powder in Neal's direction, and he took a decent hit to his points.

Neal: 3000 1300

"Your turn." She said simply.

Jean: 6500 5900

"I'll play Nobleman of Crossout, removing your Sorcerer from play. Then I'll play D. D. Designator and call out Roulette Barrel, removing that from play as well. The damage toll is now 800 per turn." He seemed to be unsure of victory, and only going through the motions. He was still cocky though. He was probably the type to accuse her of cheating after losing, and throw a fit when he doesn't get the rematch. But Jean didn't care. It was her turn now, and she was going to win right then and there. At least now the Sorcerer's influence was gone.

"I'll play Monster Reborn, bringing back one of my Dark Magicians! Attack his Life Points directly! Dark Magic attack!" The magi held forth his palm and released a blast of dark energy, shattering Neal's Life Points and snagging victory for Jean.

Neal: 1300 0

Neal looked sullen. Jean walked up to him and offered him a handshake.

"Hey look, I'm really sorry for being so mean back there. I got carried away. Can you forgive me for that?" She asked. She was being genuine. And he was no fool, so he took that hand and shook it.

"Me too. I was just mad because I didn't want to lose my first duel in the tournament." He admitted.

"Maybe I'll see you in the semi-finals."

"Maybe. See you." Neal took off. Jean counted her blessings that he was a good sport in the end, which surpassed her. Maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all.

Jean then turned to Ami, who enveloped her in a hug. It was different form her usual warm bubbly hug. This time, Ami was crying and shaking.

"Hey," She said, patting the girl on the back, "I wasn't that scary, was I?"

"I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid of what you might have done. Something about that Sorcerer card and the way you acted when he was out really terrified me. Promise me. Promise me you'll never use him again!" She blubbered.

"I can't. but I can promise that next time I use him, I won't let him influence me. But I'll need you by my side to make me stronger. Is this a fair deal?" She asked. Ami let her go and stared into her eyes with passionate ones of her own.

"I don't like it but okay. I'll stick with you for the rest of the tournament." Ami said with a smile, tears still coming from her eyes.

If that was just the Sorcerer, Jean thought to herself, then what will that card do to me? I don't know if I can bear hurting Ami like this again.

But she would use the Sorcerer again. And that other card. But… she would lose both of them, and she would lose everything else along with it.