I own Yu-gi-oh about as much as Anzu owns the Puzzle. Which will make more sense at the end of the chapter.

I meet the girl at her house at eight in the morning in my limo. It was cheap enough, and if I wowed her she might just play better. Although there was always the chance she'd play WORSE...but I didn't think that was possible. She climbed into the limo with wide eyes.

"Wow... Hey, I put together a deck last night. Would you mind looking at it?" she asked as she sat down. She pulled a deck out of her pocket and held it out to me.

"Buckle in," I commented, taking the deck. "First lesson; don't let opponents know what's in you deck, unless you have a very good monster and you want to scare them." She nodded eagerly, and I mentally sighed. The sooner I was done with her the better. I glanced through her deck. There WERE some good cards in it; two Dark Magicians and a Dark Magician Girl foremost. "It'll serve," I said, handing it back.

The day was arguably the longest in my life, and I've had some long days. First I had to drag the girl away from my little brother, and then deal with her disappointment when I declined to use the holographic equipment while I was teaching her. Then there were the lessons themselves. She didn't seem able to pick up on much of anything, although every now and again she'd change. When she changed, it was almost like dueling Yugi again. Finally, near evening, I said that I thought she was ready for a real Duel.

"Dueling with the equipment can be difficult if you're not used to it, so we'll play a few Duels before we play for stakes," I announced. She grinned and nodded.

An hour later I was almost ready to stop dueling for a lifetime. I had never seen so many bad moves played by one person before. And before almost every move, the girl would blank out for two, three, sometimes five minutes. Now, I understand taking time to plan a move, and if she'd made good moves I would have understood. But no, every time she would shake her head, then make almost the worst move possible. Just to end it, I allowed stakes after three Duels. I was winning easily, of course, when another of those pauses happened. This time she growled at the end, and made... a good move! Once again, it was like dueling Yugi. But even he wouldn't have been able to salvage the mess the girl had made. It took only four moves after that to completely wipe out her life points.

"Well, girl? I believe you have something that belongs to me..." I drawled as she stood there in shock.

"Wha...what...?"

"The pendent, girl!" I snapped, impatient.

She blinked, then sighed and slowly lifted it over her head...

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/Anzu, what's going ON??/ I asked for the...oh, I'd lost count. She replied as she always did, with a 'fine'. I continued pacing in the gray nothingness of the Shadow Realm. Yami had always known what was going on, even when I didn't tell him... There had to be a way to... what, eavesdrop on her? Well...why not?

But... I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find out what was going on in the 'real world'. The last I knew was that Kaiba was doing some holographic practice Duels, but I was sure that he had to be done with that by now.

/Anzu...!!!/ I called again.

/If you're so worried, take control,/ a man's voice suggested smoothly.

/What!? Who are you?/ I called into the darkness outside of the Puzzle.

/You heard me,/ the silky voice replied. Then it laughed, fading away as though the person was walking away. I sighed and thought about what the strange man had said. Just...take control? Without her permission? But then...hadn't Yami done the same to me quite often in the beginning? And...this WAS kinda important...

/Anzu, if you don't let me out, I'm going to take control!/ I warned. She didn't answer, so I sighed and willed myself into her. There was a brief struggle, which I recognized from being on the other side, and then I was in. She was dueling Kaiba, and from the triumphant smirk on his face, he seemed to feel that he'd won. A quick glance at the field, and I agreed with him. Four turns later, I slipped back to the Puzzle, lambasting Anzu.

/I...I just wanted to prove that I could win on my own.../ she replied, sounding tearful.

Before I could reply, she was removing the Puzzle, and I was trapped in it. A moment later I felt Kaiba touching the gold, putting it on. He didn't call for me, of course. He didn't know about me. I didn't want to talk to him. Not yet, at least. Instead, I decided to search for the strange man whose advice had come too late.

Hehehe... fun!! And I've even started on the NEXT chapter! I'm so good!! Right, well... Oh, and I had to change the method for changing point of veiw. As you noticed.

Only one reviewer...? Owch... Well.

Beginner150: Um...yeah... I guess it's based off the dub... And Arcana DID have Dark Magician. Anzu took it and it's now in Yugi's...er, Anzu's deck.

Just so everyone knows... I have berely seen Yu-gi-oh! ALL of you have a better idea of the story then I do. That's why this is an AU. So I can excuse my mistakes! :) well, later.