Chapter 2: The Tournament

Nikki's House, 7:34 A.M., Saturday

Nikki awoke with a jolt from her dream. In it, Mark's Susa Soldier chased her while his Yata-Garasu pecked her face, slowing her down. Her Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf and several other monsters were chained to trees and not able to help her.

Just a dream...just a dream... she thought as she went into the bathroom, washed, changed and went downstairs for breakfast. On the table, there was a note from her parents. It read:

Dear Nikki, We have decided to take a vacation to visit your sick uncle. However, as we know you hate to be left alone, we have invited your cousin Raijouta to stay with you. As you know, he is American so although he knows some of our customs thanks to his parents, he will be blind to some. Please don't take offense to him and try not to fight. Love, Mom and Dad

"Yes! Awesome!" Nikki cried running upstairs to get her deck. Her cousin Raijouta was one of the highest ranked duelists in America. This is great! Raiji can give me tips on dueling and maybe help me beat that jerk Mark.

Nikki went to her bedside table where she kept her deck and put it into her pocket. Then, she noticed something she hadn't before. On the table there was a Dark Magician card with no explanation. "Great!" Nikki exclaimed. "Now I can power up my Dark Magician Girl thanks to her effect."

As Nikki waited for her cousin, she went outside to check the mail. In her family's small brown mailbox, there was a package addressed to her. Nikki ran inside and ripped open the brown paper. Inside, there was a note, a video, a necklace and a flat disk with the word "Fire" on it. Nikki quickly read the note that explained that she was selected for a special program and should watch the video to learn more. She popped it into the VCR and sat down on the couch to view it.

A picture of a black dragon showed on the screen with the words "Ryu-Yami's Tournament" below it. A young man with blonde hair appeared on the screen as the dragon faded. "Greetings duelist," he said with a wave of his hand. "You have been invited to participate in my new tournament. The prize is $500,000 in cash as well as this." At that moment he held up a card. "My Chaos Emperor Dragon. This is one of the best cards in all of Duel Monsters and many duelists would do anything for it. Now let me continue. In this package you received one of these," he said holding up one of the flat disks. "There are 10 in all standing for ten elements: fire, water, wind, earth, metal, wood, light, darkness, ice and thunder. To enter the final round you need to collect 8 of different types. You should keep them on the necklace also provided in the package. I do not care if you gamble one or even 7 on a single duel as long as the best reach me in the finals. The tournament starts one the twenty-third so ready your deck and yourself. Good luck."

Nikki jumped for joy. "Yes! Even better! Now maybe I can win that rare card and all that money! Yes!" Nikki's rejoicing was cut short as the doorbell rang. She ran to get it and opened the door.

"Hi Nikki!" Came the voice of her cousin Raijouta. His black hair fell across his face as he entered.

"Raiji!" She said with glee. "I just found out I'm in this new huge tournament held by..."

"Ryu-Yami I know," he said in reply. "I was invited to participate as well. I brought my deck and my package contents," he said motioning to the necklace he wore with the disk of "Thunder".

"Awesome! So maybe one of us will win." Nikki said full of glee.

"Maybe, but Ryu-Yami is tough. I dueled him once before..." Raijouta said thinking back...

(This next part is a memory)

"Yes! Now that my Sword Hunter has killed two of your monsters he has 2850 attack points! So now by equipping Lightning Blade he'll go up to 3650! You can't win!"

"Oh no?" Ryu-Yami replied. "I just have. If you recall I played my Different Dimension Capsule two turns ago so now I can add one card to my hand so I choose Exodia's Left Arm!"

"So?" Raijouta said. "It's only one piece."

"Yes," Ryu-Yami replied, "but now I have all five pieces of Exodia! You lose!" The great beast rose up and shot a wave of energy at Raijouta, defeating him.

(Now back to present)

"That was two years ago..." Raijouta said. "And with all the new cards that have come out he's bound to have even better cards."

"Don't worry, Raiji," Nikki said. "You'll beat him this time."

"That is if I make it to the finals." Raijouta corrected her.

"Yeah, but still there is a chance. So, while you're at it, can you give me some tips?"

"Let me see your deck." He said as she handed it to him. He flipped through the cards looking at them. "Wow! You have some pretty rare cards just like my deck but there is a difference between us."

"What is that?" She asked. Just like herself, Raijouta had insane luck with finding rare cards in packs.

"Your skill," Raijouta said. "You need to have a strategy, not just good cards. For example, I own a rare Dark Elf card but I don't keep it in my deck because it isn't useful for most of my strategies."

"I see," Nikki replied. "Can you give me some tips?" Over the next two hours Raijouta showed Nikki what to do. He even added several cards of his own to her deck to make it better. "There, now you should be better in duels so long as you get the right cards." Just as he said that, the doorbell rang.

"Package." The postman called as he walked away. Raijouta and Nikki walked outside and brought it in. it was fairly light for its size and was opened with great gusto. Inside, there were two duel disks similar to the ones made by Seto Kaiba for Battle City. However, the blue parts were now red and the silver areas were black.

"These must be our duel disks for the tournament," Nikki said putting it on her arm and looking at herself in the mirror. "I look cool!"

"I guess, but that isn't what is important," Raijouta replied. "We need to continue your training because we only have one week until his tournament starts so let's begin."

HES: As I said, an explanation chapter. So now...

Next time on Amateur Duelist: The tournament begins and Nikki and Raijouta go separate ways promising to meet after they are either knocked out or make it to the finals. Also, Nikki begins her first duel against the deadly Al Roy (for those of you who read Cast to the Shadows you know who he is but since this is alternate also, he didn't die). Can she beat this Royal Pain in the ass? Find out next time on Amateur Duelist!