DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My deepest apologies for how long it's taken me to update this story. I've been writing it alongside of another fic, however I had to re-evaluate that when I realised the next chapter of that one would spoil the ending of this story. I've decided to focus on this fic for now, so updates should come a bit faster. Meanwhile, updates to my fic 'Hearts, Souls and Shadows' will resume when this fic is completed.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: I've uploaded 4 chapters at once, starting with 'Chapter 12: The Storm Breaks'.
Tournament of Shadows
Chapter 13: The Finals Begin
By Shadow's Mirror
The fifth day of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament dawned over a city that looked both washed clean and rather sadly soggy, after the fierce tempest of the previous night.
The storm had raged for about three hours with an intensity that had left weather specialists across the country shaking their heads in disbelief and shock, but by the time the duelists began to gather at the location where the Final Stage of the tournament was being held, it was as if it had never happened. The only evidence to the contrary were the puddles throughout the city that had yet to dry up, several hundred trees that had been blown over and a spot in the wall around the Kaiba Mansion that had been breached by one very unlucky tree that had been victimised by a lightning strike.
However, the clouds that had brought the storm had not dissipated. They were still hanging, dark and heavy with the promise of another storm to come, over the city. The tension in the air that had been rising through the week along with the gathering clouds, was also still there. If anything, both the clouds and the tension seemed heavier that morning.
The first stage of the tournament had ended the previous day with half of the original 16 participants passing through to the Finals. With this, came several changes to the routine that had been the duelists' life for the past four days.
For the first stage, the competitors had needed to assemble in the park each morning at nine o'clock and return to their accommodations at five o'clock each afternoon, however the Finals were different. Firstly, the location had changed to one of Domino City's largest auditoriums, which had been set up with a first class dueling field. Secondly, only the eight eligible duelists needed to be there at eleven o'clock, for the daily starting announcement. The competitors who hadn't passed the first stage could come and go as they pleased, with a special area of seating reserved for them and one guest each. That linked to the third difference between the competition' two stages. The Finals were to be played out in front of a live audience, not just televised.
The Finals were scheduled to last for 3 days and each day would end whenever the day's dueling was finished. But that was all the details the participants had been given. Although most of them, along with most of the city who had been following along with the tournament through the daily live show and nightly recap show, assumed the tournament would run with the usual 'process of elimination' method, there was no guarantee of that.
So it was with growing excitement that the eight finalists arrived at the auditorium that morning, shortly before eleven o'clock, only to find that nothing had prepared them for the huge number of Duel Monsters fans who were already crowding into the building.
Joey blinked in shock as he got out of the car behind Kaiba. "Wow. Half of Domino's here!"
Kaiba frowned slightly as he nodded. "I suspect that is less of an exaggeration than you normally use." He didn't look, or sound, particularly happy about it. Joey had an idea why.
"Security is gonna be a nightmare in there, right?" His voice was much quieter than usual.
"Indeed." Kaiba's reply was just as quiet. The two had to walk much closer together than normal to hear each other. For once, neither of them minded it. "Kaiba Corp. is still handling the security. The crowd will be kept separated from the participants at all times. It is as much for their protection as ours." His eyes met Wheeler's and he wasn't surprised at the flash of understanding that appeared on the other teen's face.
"You still think that Evian guy was the one behind the attack on the girls." It wasn't a question.
"I am using it as a working theory until I learn otherwise."
Joey nodded. "Fair." He glanced at the crowd again as he walked around to the side entrance with Kaiba. "I never thought I'd be happier if we had a smaller crowd of adoring fans here." He sounded worried.
"Security have orders to evacuate everyone if anything unusual happens." Kaiba clearly expected something to happen.
They were inside before Joey could do more than nod, but he brightened considerably when he immediately spotted Yugi and Isis talking with Mai and Nyc. "Hey, looks like we're almost all here already."
Kaiba frowned. "No Evian. Again." He and the blonde at his side traded knowing looks.
"Do you think he's doing that on purpose or is he just too arrogant to bother getting anywhere on time?" Joey smirked and Kaiba had to pause a moment before replying to prevent himself from smirking back.
Even though he agreed with him, it really would not do to give Wheeler any encouragement.
"Likely both." He was careful not to smile at all at Wheeler's snicker.
Joey raised a hand in greeting at the others as they reached them. "Morning! Bakura not here yet?" He grinned at Nyc. "Usually you're the one running late. Special occasion?"
Nyc grinned back. Well, it was more of a smirk really. It wasn't a look he'd seen on her face before, but Joey thought it suited her. "I avoided asking about mail this time."
Mai laughed. "By which she means, she glared at the guy behind the front counter and kept as much distance from him as possible. I swear the poor guy thought he'd insulted her or something."
The brunette girl shrugged, still grinning. "Well the guy did keep giving me all that mail to carry without a single offer of help. A girl notices stuff like that."
While Mai laughed again at that, Yugi smiled at Joey and answered his original question. "Morning, Joey. Bakura was here but he had to step out to take a phone call. He should be back soon. Good morning, Kaiba."
Kaiba nodded in response to the greeting. He paused, considering whether he really wanted to know, but finally gave in to his curiosity. "Yugi. Did you have any damage from last night's storm?"
"Damage? No. I saw quite a few trees down on the way here, though. Did something happen at your place?"
"There was a minor breach in the security wall when a tree went down. Lightning strike."
Yugi winced in sympathy. Joey nodded. "It wasn't too bad. But the alarms it set off woke us all up."
"The storm didn't?" Mai looked surprised. "We just finished comparing notes and we were all woken up by it."
"Soundproofing." Kaiba looked smug.
Mai pouted and looked at Nyc. "See? I told you our hotel should have been better with that!"
Nyc nodded. "So you did. You were absolutely right. Complain to the manager?"
"Hmm. Maybe. He might comp our room." She winked at Nyc and both girls snickered at the thought.
They were still laughing as Bakura joined them. Judging by the frown on his face, it seemed that his phone call hadn't been anything pleasant and he was clearly distracted, since he didn't do more than arch an eyebrow at the girls before looking at Kaiba and Wheeler. He nodded to them both.
"Hey. Kaiba, I..." He winced slightly, clearly not liking what he was about to say. "I need a favour." He ended on a sigh that made it clear that it was a case of 'need' and not 'want' and he'd really rather not have to ask.
Kaiba managed to keep his surprise from showing more than a slightly raised eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Father's back. He just got to the house and was not happy to find Ryou wasn't there." He scowled. "Not that he'd bothered letting him know he was going to get here today. No, that would have been too much like common courtesy."
His voice was a low growl by that point, but no one blamed him for that. They were all annoyed on Ryou's behalf, too.
"The favour is...?" Bakura had Kaiba's full attention now. He bore no grudge against Ryou and even sympathised with him a little, although he would never admit it.
"Ryou told Father he was working on a school assignment with you. He's not good when it comes to making up excuses and he couldn't tell him the truth. Father doesn't know anything about this tournament and has no clue we're in it. No way he'd approve. He'd have told Ryou to go straight home."
Now Kaiba understood what Bakura was asking for. He nodded. "You need me to corroborate Ryou's alibi. Very well. I'll take you home today and inform him that we will also need to work together for the next two days."
It wasn't that he felt sorry for Ryou, having to deal with such a man, of course. It was just that he had no wish for the white-haired duelist to have to pull out of the tournament before he got the chance to take him out with his dragons.
Bakura nodded back. "That works. Thanks. Ryou says thanks too." He looked a lot more relaxed now that was sorted.
Kaiba was mildly surprised to realise just how tense Bakura had been. Although, on reflection, he supposed it made sense. No duelist liked having to pull out of a tournament, after all. Especially for something that wasn't his fault. "It is fine. There is no risk he will learn about the tournament?" It was being televised, after all.
"No." Bakura smirked. "Father's dislike of TV will work in our favour. Not for the first time," he added, his smirk widening. "He would have learned about our dueling a long time ago, otherwise."
Kaiba barely had time to nod in reply before someone came to inform them that it was time for them to go out into the arena.
The young man with the headset looked around with a frown and seemed to be counting them. "Er... Is everyone here?"
Bakura smirked. "Everyone who matters." The others somehow managed to hide their grins at that. As the guy blinked at him in confusion, Bakura took pity on him. It had nothing to do with Ryou mentally poking him through their link with a soft reminder that this guy was just trying to do his job. "Evian Sanders isn't here yet."
The guy winced and muttered something that sounded awfully like 'not him again'. Out loud though, he merely said, "Well, we can't wait for him. It's time for all of you to get in position."
He was just finishing running through their instructions when Evian's too-smooth voice came from behind them all.
"Ah, everyone's here already, huh? I'm surprised. I thought there might be a couple drop out today." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes at all. There was an obvious pause, as if he was waiting for someone to ask about his comment.
No one did.
By this point, all of the other duelists had realised that Evian liked to make seemingly innocuous comments before going for the true sting after someone rose to his bait.
Normally, Joey might have responded, purely because he was curious as to what insult Evian wanted to make this time. But it was nearly time for the Finals to officially start and he was already in his Game On mode.
Besides, it was more enjoyable to watch Evian's smug smile turn down into a dissatisfied frown as no one responded.
The official guy was frowning at Evian as he motioned to him. "As I just told the others, when it's time to go in, walk in single file and stand in a line behind the announcer. He'll introduce you all. As he says your name, take a step forward, smile, wave, then step back again. Then he'll go over the rules and reveal how this stage will work." He spoke quickly and gave Evian no chance to say a single word, but even then he'd only just finished speaking before he tapped his headset and looked over at the others, nodding to them. "Okay, it's time. Out you go." He shook his head at Evian as he started to walk past him. "No, wait. It's in qualification order. So you're on the end."
As fury flashed over Evian's face, Joey wasn't the only one who had to quickly look away while forcing back a smirk.
Then there was no more time for appreciating the official guy's delivery of (possibly unintentional but likely deliberate) emotional karma as the eight duelists started walking out into the arena for the official start of the Finals.
Duelist introductions were something all eight of them had gone through before with numerous other tournaments. Since they knew what to do, that part went smoothly... up until Evian's turn. The cheers for all of the other duelists had almost lifted the ceiling of the auditorium. When Evian stepped forward with his smug smile and practiced wave, ready to receive the same praise, the lack of applause was so obvious that the announcer quickly moved on to the next part.
Not that Evian seemed at all upset over the lack of acclaim. If anything, he looked even more self-confident as he stepped back to his spot beside Joey. The blonde teen was slightly confused by his reaction, but then the announcer's words registered and quickly pushed all other thoughts out of his mind.
They'd been told the rules for the tournament in advance, but the format for both stages had been kept secret until the opening ceremonies. While the first stage had been different and interesting, the format for the Finals was unexpected to the point that a low rumble of reaction came from the audience.
Normally, Duel Monster tournaments used a 'two duel, only the winner progresses to the next duel of the contest' system. For this tournament, however, each of the eight duelists would duel against everyone else and the winner would be whoever won the most duels. Of course, it wouldn't be a free-for-all. There were strict rules in place.
The first and second days of the Finals would each consist of eight duels between two opponents, with each competitor dueling twice. The last day would be longer, as befitting the end of such a major tournament, with three duels each; twelve duels in total. Also, all of the match-ups for the duels had been pre-determined, however the opponents for each duel would only be announced immediately before the duel commenced.
After giving the crowd a minute to settle down, the announcer beamed and leaned into the microphone. "It is now my pleasure to kick off the Finals of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament. Would the first two duelists please take their places. Yugi Mutou and Joey Wheeler!"
Under cover of the roar of the crowd that followed the announcement of the first duelists up, Evian's whisper to Joey went unheard by anyone else. "Oh, what rotten luck. To have to duel your best friend first up... when you're nowhere near his league."
Joey glanced at Evian, his lips curling up into a relaxed smirk. "What makes you think this is bad luck for me?"
He could still feel Evian's confused frown boring into his back as he headed for his side of the dueling arena.
It was time to duel!
To be Continued...