Everyone watched the announcements of the match-ups in the waiting room. Jounouchi ran to the screen.
"Enough with the fancy intros and get to my duel!" He cried to the screen.
"Oh yeah...Jounouchi's a perfect model of patience." Kay said with sarcasm.
"Jounouchi, you might want to take this time to run through your game strategy." Yugi said, pointing out that everyone else in the waiting room was studying their decks. "It couldn't hurt."
Honda threw his arm around Jounouchi's shoulder. "Jounouchi hates cramming, which is too bad. Because he's about to get schooled by that freakazoid who took out Weevil and Rex in one move!" He said, grinning.
Zigfried sat calmly off to the side, reading a book.
Cat made sure she stood in a spot where he couldn't see her. After what Kay had told her earlier, she was getting an even more uncomfortable feeling from him.
"The only thing I'm scared of is that hairdo!" Jounouchi said before turning to Zigfried. "Hey! Pinky the Clown called and wants his wig back!"
Zigfried simply ignored him.
"I don't think Jounouchi's in any position to make fun of anyone's hairdo." Rebecca mummered.
Jounouchi glared at Rebecca.
"I heard that!" He snapped.
"Settle down, Jounouchi. You're too high-strung." Otogi said.
"What are you talkin' about?! I'm as cool as a cucumber!" Jounouchi insisted.
"Oh yeah. Real cool." Honda said with sarcasm.
Jounouchi turned to him.
"That's it!" He snapped and the two boys started to scuffle.
"Hey you two! Grow up!" Anzu snapped.
Kristen walked over to the two meekly. "G-Guys...please stop fighting!" She said, trying to stop them. But instead, she got knocked back by a stray elbow and almost hit a wall until Yugi caught her.
"You okay?" He asked.
Kristen blushed a little.
"Y-Yeah! I'm fine." She said quietly.
Yugi smiled sweetly at her.
"That's good."
As the two boys continued to scuffle, Kay marched over to the two angrily and pulled them apart by their ears. She started snapping at them for hitting Kristen.
While this was happening, Anzu noticed that Leon, who was winning his duels and was waiting for his next duel, seemed kind of quiet.
"Leon, are you all right?" She asked.
Leon smiled at her.
"Yeah...I guess I just have a case of the pre-duel jitters." He said. "I guess we can't all be as calm as Jounouchi."
After Kay stopped yelling at the two boys, Jounouchi turned to Leon.
"You can't be too bad if you made it this far! You should just do what you do and believe you're going to win!" He said to him.
"I'm afraid to win. Because then I'll have to face off against Yugi." Leon admitted.
Yugi looked a little surprised at Leon's words.
"Just take it one duel at a time." Jounouchi said.
"That's right. It's too soon to worry about the championship duel. Besides, you'll have to duel me before you can get to Yugi." Rebecca said with a smile.
Leon laughed lightly.
"Go easy on me."
Zigfried observed them from under his bangs while Leon told Rebecca that she can be brutal.
He stopped for a moment to notice that Cat and Kay started to wonder away from the group. After a moment, he smiled, closing the book and getting up to follow them.
"You know what, Cat? I'm starting to regret not entering the tournament. It seems like a lot of fun." Kay said as the two girls walked down the empty hallway. "I wish I could have been the one to knock out Vivian from the tournament. The way she tries to cling and fangirl over Yugi and Seto is just...ugh...very annoying. That and I wish I could duel Zigfreak. I wonder what he's doing here though? I didn't really expect to see his creepy face here."
Cat shurgged.
"I couldn't say." She said.
Kay shrugged as well and stopped in front of the woman's restroom. "Do you mind waiting out here? I'll be right back." She said.
Cat smiled a little.
"Okay, sure." She said as Kay walked into the restroom.
Cat leaned against the wall, the restroom across the hall from her and to her left. She had closed her eyes, feeling a little tired.
It wasn't long until she heard footsteps. But she didn't bother to open her eyes. It was probably just someone passing by or one of their friends coming to tell them that the duel started or something.
The footsteps came closer and stopped across from her. She almost opened her eyes until a familiar voice came up.
"My, my, my...we just keep running into each other, don't we?"
Cat's eyes popped open and she looked up at the man in front of her; Zigfried.
The uncomfortable feeling returned.
"O-Oh...yes...I guess we do." Cat said with a weak smile, trying to be polite, none-the-less.
Zigfried smiled and stepped closer to her. Cat's shoulders tensed up and she leaned against the wall as much as she could.
"Do tell...what are you doing out here by yourself?" He asked, looming over her. He had trapped Cat between him and the wall. "A young girl such as yourself shouldn't be wondering around alone."
"I-I'm waiting for my friend to come back." She stuttered nervously.
"I see." Zigfried said before reaching forward and touched her face. "Am I making you nervous, dear?"
Cat felt her body freeze up and she didn't respond. Zigfried chuckled and took her hand, kissing it.
"I must leave now, my dear. My duel is about to start against your friend, Jounouchi. I hope you will support me. I'll see you there." He said before walking away.
Cat was completely frozen and pressed up against the wall, even after he had left. She remained that way until Kay walked out of the restroom.
"I'm back, sorry I took so...long?" She stopped at started at her friend. "Uh...Cat? You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Cat remained silent.
Kay blinked and waved her hand in front of Cat's face. "Cat?" She asked. Cat finally twitched a little.
"He...h-h-h-he..." She stuttered, unable to finish the sentence.
Kay frowned a little.
"Geez, Cat do I need to take you to the doctor or something?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Cat slowly shook her head as she finally removed herself from the wall.
"N-No...I'm sorry...I'm fine." She sighed, calming down. "It's just...that was a very uncomfortable and awkward situation."
"What are you talking about?" Kay asked.
"Nevermind." Cat said. "We'd better hurry back. They're probably going to start the duel soon."
She walked down the hallway and Kay followed her, looking confused.
Once they returned to their friends, Mokuba entered the room.
"Okay everyone. It's time to get this show on the road!" He said.
Everyone started to leave.
Jounouchi stopped Zigfried and offered a hand. "Hey, good luck out there." He said.
Zigfried ignored the offered handshake.
"Unlike you, I don't rely on luck." He simply said before walking away.
Jounouchi blinked and then ran after him, angry.
"I was just tryin' to be nice!" He growled and stopped Zigfried again. "Where I come from, you show your opponent some respect!"
Zigfried only laughed and continued to walk. Jounouchi glared at him and ran after him again, intending to fight back, but Zigfried sidestepped him, causing Jounouchi to fall to the ground.
Jounouchi jumped back to his feet, really angry right now.
"Jounouchi...maybe you should stop." Yugi said.
Zigfried continued to walk away.
"If I were you, I'd listen to your little friend." He said.
"Yeah? Well you're not me!" Jounouchi snapped.
"And if I were, then I'd be a street punk with no talent and an appalling taste in outerwear." Zigfried replied calmly.
"Bring it on, then!" Jounouchi snapped.
"I've wasted enough time with you already." Zigfried said and continued to walk.
Honda restrained Jounouchi from going after Zigfried. "Save it for the duel!" He said.
Jounouchi shrugged him off and stormed off.
"It's time to beat the designer pants off of that chump!" He growled.
Otogi sighed and shook his head. "Jounouchi had better get a grip or he'll be history. The duel hasn't even started and Zigfried's already messing with his had." He said.
"I'd better head off to my match too." Rebecca said almost sadly.
"Are you all right?" Yugi asked.
"I know that Jounouchi needs you, but that means you won't be there to watch my duel. But there's a bright side! I'm planning to stay in the tournament until the very end, so you'll have plenty of chances to root for me!" Rebecca explained and ran off.
"Go get 'em!" Yugi called after her.
"Hey guys! C'mon! Jounouchi's going to need all the help he can get to beat Zigfried." Honda said.
But before the seven could leave, Mokuba stopped them.
"Yugi, I need to speak with you right away." He said. "Have you noticed any strange behavior from any of the competitors?"
"I don't think so. What's going on?" Yugi asked.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone. If word of this gets out, it could ruin the Grand Championship and our whole company." Mokuba said.
Yugi and everyone promised not to say anything.
"You remember when the DuelTek computer went berserk and locked us inside the Kaiba Dome? Afterwards, I asked my brother if the system was secure now." Mokuba explained.
---
"I'll reinforce the firewall so that no one can break in from the outside. But I have a bad feeling that the person we're after is already on the inside." Kaiba said.
"How could anyone have snuck in without us noticing?" Mokuba asked.
"No one snuck in. We invited the hacker in. When I find out who's out to ruin me, they'll pay for this!" Kaiba said and started to run background checks on all the duelists. "Mokuba, I'm counting on you to keep an eye out for suspicious activities."
---
"Who do you think the hacker is?" Yugi asked.
"I don't have the slightest clue. That's why I need you and the others' help. You have to let me know if you notice anything strange." Mokuba said.
"Alright. But you do realize that strange things happen to us all the time." Anzu said to Mokuba.
Yugi sighed. "I was hoping that this time would be different! Just once I'd like to duel in a tournament for the thrill of it and not have to worry about who's trying to take over the world!" He said in frustration.
"Yugi..." Kristen mummered.
Yami appeared in spirit to try and calm Yugi down.
"Why can't things just be easy for a change? We should be having fun instead of hunting down bad guys!" Yugi continued.
"Don't worry. We'll find the hacker soon. We're not going to let some punk ruin this tournament." Mokuba assured him.
"You can count on us to help out." Kay said.
"Yeah! Now let's get out of here and watch Jounouchi's duel and do what we do best! Cheer from the sidelines!" Honda said happily.
Yugi still looked a little sad at first, but then smiled and nodded.
"Look on the bright side. There's never a dull moment." Cat said to Yugi while Vivian watched them from the woman's restroom. She smiled to herself.
Yugi walked next to Cat.
"Hey Cat...when you and Kay were taking a walk, did you run into any strange?" Yugi asked.
Cat blinked nervously and looked at him.
"Why do you ask?" She asked.
"Well...I couldn't help but notice that after you two walked off, Zigfried followed you two after a moment." Yugi replied.
Cat looked away from Yugi, smiling nervously. "Well...er...I..." She stuttered, starting to sweat profusely.
"Cat...you're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
Cat looked back at him. "U-Uh! Why would you worry about something like that Yug-..." When Cat looked back in Yugi's direction, she wasn't facing Yugi anymore...she was facing Yami.
Cat immediately blushed and jumped up against a wall. "P-P-Pharaoh!" She cried. "W-What brings you here?" She asked before laughing dumbly.
Yami sweatdropped a little. "Okay...now I'm worried." He mummered.
"Hey! What are you two doing? Are you coming or not?" Kay called after them.
When Kay called to them, Yugi took over again.
"Coming!" He replied and started to walk back to them.
Cat stayed pressed against the wall for a moment more before following him as well.
Yami appeared next to Yugi in spirit.
"Cat's acting a little strange." He said.
"Do you think it has something to do with Zigfried?" Yugi asked.
Yami frowned.
"I wouldn't doubt that at all." He mummered.
Jounouchi arrived at his dueling arena in a Blue-Eyes White Dragon train car. Zigfried was already waiting.
"Okay Ziggy! It's time to get down to business!" Jounouchi said to Zigfried just as everyone else arrived on a Blue-Eyes White Dragon train car as well.
"Don't start without us!" Honda said as they all jumped out of the cart to join Jounouchi.
"Hey! It's about time you guys showed up!" Jounouchi said to them and turned back to Zigfried, glaring at him. They approached each other to shuffle each other's decks.
"May the best dressed duelist win." Zigfried said to Jounouchi.
"The whole world can see you shaking in your patent leather shoes!" Jounouchi said.
Zigfried glanced up and spotted Cat among the rest. He gave her a strange smile and Cat twitched, making a nervous face.
Yugi watched Cat, for he had noticed the smile Zigfried gave her. Yami watched her in spirit form as well.
"I think it's safe to say that those two have ran into each other more than once. And Cat doesn't seem very comfortable." Yami said.
Yugi nodded.
"Yeah." He agreed.
Zigfried stopped looking at Cat and turned to glance at the camera broadcasting the duel.
Kaiba sat in his office, watching the duelists intently.
Zigfried continued to watch the camera as he shuffled Jounouchi's deck.
"Uh...I think you've shuffled it enough." Jounouchi said and for some reason, got mad all over again as Zigfried calmly handed it back.
"Hey Jounouchi! Don't let Zigfried get to you!" Honda called to Jounouchi.
"Just stay calm!" Yugi added in.
Jounouchi stalked back to his side of the field. "Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get dirty?" He asked Zigfried.
"I won't even break a sweat on you." Zigfried replied.
The duel started.
Yugi watched silently.
"I don't trust that guy. I think he's setting Jounouchi up for some kind of trap." Yugi said.
Yami was next to him in spirit form.
"Yes...I just hope Jounouchi figures it out soon." Yami said before looking a little angry. "Besides...I never trusted that man ever since I first laid eyes on him."
Yugi sweatdropped.
"Still sore about that, are we?" He asked.
Yugi had Yami figured out before Yami even knew it himself.
Everyone gathered around Jounouchi after he had lost the duel.
The duel lasted a lot longer than Zigfried's duel with Weevil and Rex. During the duel, Zigfried secretly, activated a virus that made Kaiba Land go crazy all over the place!
Kaiba was able to stop the virus for now. But at the same time, he realized that there was a high chance that Zigfried was the hacker. Kaiba remembered, when he was a child, he met "a" Zigfried and saw what he could do with virus' firsthand.
Kaiba then demanded a deep background check on Zigfried. He wanted to know if Zigfried had any connection to the "Schroeder" family.
"Big deal, so you lost the duel on a lousy game of chance." Honda said, trying to cheer Jounouchi up.
"Jounouchi just must have ran out of luck." Otogi added. in.
"Nah, Jounouchi win's his duels with talent, not luck." Anzu said.
"Okay then...so Jounouchi didn't lose because he ran out of luck, he lost because he ran out of talent." Kay said with a grin.
Jounouchi looked furious and turned to his friends. "Is this how you plan to cheer me up?!" He snapped. "It's time for me to spread a little cheer of my own!" He started going after his friends as they ran away laughing.
"Jounouchi did a great job. And sooner or later, he's going to learn to control his temper." Yugi said as he watched his friends.
Yami appeared next to him in spirit.
"Proabably later." He said with a smile.
Jounouchi continued to run after the others. "I GET NO RESPECT!" He complained.
Yugi laughed and paused, looking around. "Where's Cat?" He asked.
He turned around to see that Zigfried had confronted her again.
"Wasn't that an amazing duel, my dear?" Zigfried asked with a sly smile. "Perhaps someday we can have a duel of our own."
Cat was getting that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach again.
"Zigfried...why do you keep approaching me like this?" She asked, trying not to show her uneasiness.
Zigfried looked a little puzzled at the question before grinning again. This time, it seemed a little more intense.
Cat felt her heart catch in her throat as he leaned forward.
"When one finds a beautiful flower, isn't it only natural to take it and add it to their garden?" He askd.
Cat tried to lean away from him. What did he mean by that anyways?
All of the sudden, Cat felt someone grab her shoulder and pull her against someone!
"Wha?!" She gasped, surprised at the sudden action.
Yami glared intensely at Zigfried as he held onto Cat by the shoulder. She was still confused and shocked.
"I don't know why you keep coming to her...but I don't trust you. If you bother her again, you'll have me to worry about." Yami said to Zigfried in a serious tone.
Zigfried smirked.
"I'll have you know, I do not fear you, Yugi. Remember that." He said before turning and leaving.
Yami glared at him as he left before turning back and heading to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon carts they came in.
Cat was blushing when she had realized it was Yami that grabbed her.
"What did he say to you?" Yami asked.
"Huh?" Cat asked.
"What did he say to you?" Yami repeated.
"I-I'm not sure what he meant by it...but when I asked him why he keeps on confronting me, he said, "Isn't it natural when one finds a beautiful flower, to take it and add it to their garden?" Or...something like that." Cat replied.
Yami frowned and spun her around so she was facing him once they reached their friends. He looked at her sternly.
"Don't ever be alone with him again. If we're not around and he comes, run away and find us. And if he comes when we are around, come to one of us. Or me." He said before switching with Yugi.
Anzu looked annoyed at the scene of Yami and Cat.
Yugi smiled at Cat and laughed a little. "Don't worry about it Cat. The Pharaoh isn't mad at you. He just doesn't trust Zigfried and he's worried about you." He said to Cat.
Cat smiled back with a small smile.
"Thank you." She said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Honda said as everyone started to board the carts.
As Cat headed to one, Kay jumped up and threw an arm around her neck.
"Well, well! What was that scene all about?" She asked, grinning slyly.
Cat blushed and made Kay let go of her. "K-Kay! Geez, he did it on his own!" She cried.
"Yeah, I know." Kay said, still grinning. "But I would presume that my theory is correct! He does love you!"
Cat blushed a little brighter and opened her mouth to protest.
"Don't even bother trying." Kay said before Cat could say anything. Cat sighed.
"Whatever. Yami's just protective of me, is all. Because he knows I tend to get caught in trouble a lot..." Cat said almost looking embarrassed.
Kay grinned as she jumped into one of the carts.
"Yeah, that's true. But it still doesn't change my mind." She said.
Cat heaved another sigh as she jumped into a cart as well.
Yup. Another chapter. Lol
Not much else to say right now...lol
So...I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next chappie! :D