When the six doors opened, the twenty-four duelists emerged. The two
victors each entered first with the losers right behind them.
"The twelve winners and finalists of the Duelist Kingdom Tournament are..." Croquet began, writing down the finalists names, "Ryan Stone... Joseph Wheeler... Mai Kujaku... Yugi Muto... Seto Kaiba... Kiyoji Hiraga... Nicolas Rhodes... Michael Laskow..."
"What?!" Ryan said silently, "How in the hell... I beat him..."
"Somethin' weird is going on," Joey said to Ryan, "ever since this tournament began."
"Dario Montalvo... Ryou Bakura..."
"Bakura?" Yugi questioned while gasping, "Ryou Bakura? How...?"
Joey was surprised to hear his old friend's name as well, gasping.
"Enigma... and Shadow."
Yugi looked over to the last two duelists called and saw they were both in robes with their cowls hiding their faces. Enigma was far taller than Shadow and they both stood on their feet lifelessly.
"The finalists will each be given their own room and be given a buffet as their dinner," Croquet said to the finalists. "Now will all of you follow me?"
Croquet and the group of suits guided them back up the steps and towards the main hall.
"So Yugi," Mai began while they were following the suits. "What was that Thousand-Eyes Restrict monster?"
"It was Pegasus' strongest monster," Yugi told her. "It has zero attack and defense, but its powerful effect allows it to be one of the strongest Duel Monsters out there. It can take control of any monster and even if an opponent has a stronger monster, they can't even attack it."
"Wow," Mai said.
"Control of any monster..." Joey said, also listening. "How do you beat that?"
"It isn't easy," Yugi told him, "but I had a De-Fusion to take it out."
"So Laskow, how in the hell did you get fifteen star chips in less than five minutes?" Ryan asked him.
"I've got my ways," he told him. "Let's just say I beat a few duelists in that time."
"Bull shit," Ryan spat.
"Well maybe I'll tell you if you can manage to defeat me again," Michael told him, then chuckled.
"That Dimension Deck can't compare with my Machines," Ryan said. "I still have some cards you haven't seen yet."
"Okay, we'll just have to see when the time comes," Michael said then added, "Oh Ryan, jackass-says-what?"
"What?" he asked.
Michael chuckled again then walked away in the crowd, leaving Ryan in a state of rage.
Kiyoji Hiraga was still feeling at his lowest after what Kaiba said to him. Seth and Jonathan weren't making him feel any better with all their visions on his victory.
"Kaiba won't stand a chance with your dragons," Seth said to him.
"Yes, you'll just have to keep him from bringing any of his dragons out," Jonathan added, "Those dragons are what make his deck the way it is. Wipe them out and you're in the clear."
'What are they talking about?' Kiyoji thought to himself, 'He easily brought out each dragon in a few turns. Did they forget about that virus card he has? All my dragons are over 1500 attack. And that Ultimate Dragon... I've never even seen that card before...'
"Yeah!" Kiyoji said aloud to Jonathan and Seth, "Kaiba's not going to put a dent in my unstoppable dragons!"
While his two colleagues nodded in affirmation, Kiyoji let out an unsure chuckle.
Yugi walked over to Bakura and said, "Bakura!"
"Yes?" Bakura asked. "Can I help you?"
"What are you talking about?" Yugi asked.
Joey walked beside Yugi and interrogated Bakura as, "Yeah, what's with the, 'Can I help you' stuff?"
"Pardon me?" Bakura questioned.
"Bakura?" Yugi asked, "Don't you remember us?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't," Bakura said.
"I'm Joey and this is Yugi," Joey tried to explain, "You don't remember us?"
"No I believe this is the first I've met you two," Bakura said to the two of them.
Yugi gasped when he heard this and before he could say another word, Joey took him away.
"I-I don't understand," Yugi said to Joey, "How could he have forgotten us?"
"I don't know Yuge," Joey said to him. "It's only been two years."
Bakura sighed and reminisced of something Salazar said.
As Bakura was about to head out with the other five eliminators, Salazar called for him.
"Oh and Mr. Bakura," Salazar said to him. "There's a good chance you're identity will be discovered. If Muto or any of his friends ask any questions about you, act like you never knew them."
"All right," the normal Bakura said, then walking out the door.
Out of his flashback, Bakura sighed once more then thought, 'Look what's become of me...'
A few minutes after, the twelve finalists, the twelve losers and the group of suits arrived back to the main hall.
"Alright," Croquet began, "the winners shall proceed to the right corridor. The losers shall go to the docks for the boat ride home."
"Take care Yugi and Joey," Mako Tsunami said to them.
"Thanks Mako," Yugi said to the Ocean duelist.
"You're quite a duelist," Kurt Schneider said to Yugi then pulling a card out of his deck, "I want you to use this."
Yugi looked to at the card and read its name "Versago the Destroyer."
"Whoa," Yugi looked at the card. "Thanks, Kurt.
"There are not that many female duelists," Colette Thibodeaux said to Mai. "Show them what we can do."
"You got it," Mai said.
"Put Black Tyrano to good use," Rex Raptor told Joey.
"I will," Joey said to the Dinosaur duelist.
"See you later Kiyoji," Jonathan said to him. "Beat Kaiba good."
"Show him that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Clan is really all about," Seth told him.
"Right," he responded.
With that, the twelve losing duelists walked towards the huge metal doors as they opened automatically. A thirteenth duelist ran through the door, sneaking off from the other eleven finalists. The metal doors closed as the duelist escaped. The twelve duelists trudged on the dirt road but as they were about to arrive to the docks, someone stood in there way. The stranger was hidden in the shadows, his face couldn't be seen.
"I'm sorry, but you won't be getting home," the stranger said to them.
There were murmurs amongst the duelists in confusion at this.
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.
The stranger stepped forward revealing himself to be Ryou Bakura. He had a sinister look on his face and a golden ring with several pointers suspended from his neck. He said to them, "Nothing personal, but I need some people to linger in a permanent dark hell."
"Hey, you're one of the finalists," Rex pointed out. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to claim your souls," the sinister Bakura said as his Millennium Ring illuminated white.
Suddenly, the surroundings around the twelve darkened and an eerie purple fog crept in. Seth, Jonathan, Colette and several other duelists tried running away, but only came back where they started.
"What the hell's going on?" asked one of the duelists who tried to run away.
"There's no escape from the Shadow Realm," Yami Bakura told them. "You will all be here... for eternity."
"Hey, some white-haired little pissant isn't sending me to hell," said Erik Olsen angrily.
Erik charged towards him pulling back his right fist. When he arrived, he hurled his fist towards Bakura's face. However Bakura stepped to the side, dodging it. Bakura then rose up his leg and kicked into Erik's side sending him to the ground, clenching his side in pain. Benjamin Forret grabbed Bakura's waist from behind trying to tackle him, but his light weight failed him. Bakura responded to this by driving his elbow into Benjamin's face, causing him to let go and fall to the ground in pain. Rex and Mako each tried to punch Bakura in the face, but he knocked them both to the ground with a spinning jump kick to their heads. No one else dared to try and fight Bakura now.
"Now enjoy your eternity in the Shadow Realm!" Bakura declared, laughing manically.
A ghostly fog rose up on the duelists, enveloping them completely to where they couldn't see a thing. The twelve duelists all gave a bone-chilled scream as they plunged into eternal darkness. When the darkness and fog faded, Yami Bakura stood alone.
"Yes... I can feel my power returning," he said to himself. "But still, it's not enough. Now, to return to the castle."
~Meanwhile back at the castle~
As the eleven finalists were being guided to the dining room to eat, Yugi turned his head to window.
"Hey Yugi," Joey said to him. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I heard something," he said to him. "I guess it was nothing."
All of a sudden, Enigma and Shadow broke off from the group and went down a corridor with many doors on each side. They were the sleeping rooms for the duelists. They both took a room and shut the door. The remaining nine duelists kept walking until they arrived to an enormous dining room with a very long buffet table and sneeze guard. The long wooden table and a white tablecloth that was a bit longer so the ends could hang off the sides, and there were many tables were aligned on both the left and the right side.
"You may eat until 7:30 PM," Croquet told them. "It is 6:45 right now; at 7:30 the dueling match-ups will be revealed."
With that, the group of suits exited through two large doors, leaving the nine duelists by themselves.
Yugi and Joey both grabbed plates and helped themselves to the wide selection of food. Yugi also grabbed a bowl and helped himself to the soup, which was unleashing a delicious aroma. He also took some other foods to satisfy his small sustenance.
Joey however looked like he would need a second plate. On his plate rested several pieces of beef, several hundred grains of rice, several dozen French fries, a bowl of soup, fried fish, and three breadsticks.
The other finalists retrieved plates as well to get the food to feast upon.
Both Yugi and Joey sat on the far side of the table on the same side of each other. Joey was eating much faster than his shorter friend.
"Mind if I join you?" asked Ryan, holding his own plate of food.
"Sure," Yugi answered.
"Go for it," Joey responded, finishing off his rice.
"Thanks," Ryan said, sitting across from the two of them.
"By the way," Joey began, starting on his fish, "Sorry about not misjudging ya."
"Me too," Yugi added.
"Eh, that's all right," he said, cutting his steak. "Water under the bridge."
"Hey guys," Mai said, sitting right next to Ryan, across from Joey. "Back at Duelist Kingdom, how does it feel?"
"Well the food's better," Joey said, starting on his soup.
"The changes done here are phenomenal," Yugi said.
"That's for sure," Mai said.
"Oh by the way," Joey began. "Ryan, since you beat Michael, does that make you the World Champion?"
"No way," said Michael, holding his plate of food. "You beat me with some cheap card."
"Well didn't you win the same way?" asked Ryan. "Yata-Garasu's as cheap as they come."
"Whatever," he said, "Try and beat me again, I dare you."
Michael walked away and ate his food at a distance.
Kiyoji sat alone in the corner of the table, picking at his food. His face was sullen as if he had died. Yugi had noticed this and looked over to him.
"Hey Kiyoji," Yugi said to him, "Want to eat with us?"
"Huh?" came his response, surprised anyone wanted anything to do with him. "Sure."
He carried his plate and sat down on the other side of Yugi.
In an instant, Kiyoji had a confident look on his face and began eating his food as fast as Joey.
"So you and Kaiba made it through," Joey said to him, eating his breadsticks.
"Yeah," he began, "Kaiba's tough, but he's lucky I didn't bring out my Spirit Ryu at its strongest. Jonathan and Seth couldn't have been beaten so easily, he must've cheated."
"You bastard," some said to Kiyoji.
Kiyoji looked up and saw Seto Kaiba.
"How dare you call my dueling into question," Kaiba said to him, fully serious. "You are pathetic duelist incapable of picking up a card. If you ever have the misfortune of dueling me again, I'll crush you into the dust."
After that, Kaiba left to eat his dinner. Kiyoji was silent for the rest of the dinner.
After a while, the clock reached 7:30 and a group of suits, led by Croquet walked in.
"As I said, at 7:30, you shall find out the dueling match-ups," Croquet said to them.
Suddenly, a flat screened TV descended from the ceiling. It turned on automatically and showed two pictures of a duelist. In between the duelist was "VS." Everyone looked for their picture to find who they were dueling.
"So the first round will go as so," Croquet began, "Kiyoji Hiraga VS Seto Kaiba, Joseph Wheeler VS Nicolas Rhodes, Dario Montalvo VS Ryou Bakura, Mai Kujaku VS Enigma, Yugi Muto VS Shadow, and Michael Laskow VS Ryan Stone. The opening match is Kyoji Hiraga VS Seto Kaiba."
Kiyoji looked aghast. It was as if he had just been hit by a truck. Kaiba however smirked towards him.
"Looks like we're going to duel," Kaiba said to him, "You aren't so lucky after all."
Kiyoji didn't say a word to his opponent. Instead he exited the dining room, walked down the hall, turned to the left and picked himself a room. He quickly locked the door and wasn't heard from for the rest of the night.
"Looks like our duel will come sooner than expected," Michael said to Ryan.
"Perfect," Ryan said, "Now no one else will have to put up with you."
"Don't be so sure of yourself," Michael said, "Just wait until tomorrow."
The two rivals left the dining room and the corridor with the finalist's rooms. They each picked a room at a distance from each other.
"So I'm dueling Nicolas," Joey said looking over to him, "Hey wait a minute, that's Titan."
"And that guy," Mai pointed to Dario, "Wasn't that guy the eliminator, Magi?"
"They must've been given second chances," Yugi said to them, but then remembered his competitor. "And I'm dueling Shadow..."
As Joey concluded his dinner with a cold soda, he said to Yugi, "Well there isn't much left to do. I guess I'll hit the hay."
"Sounds good," Yugi said.
"If the rooms are as good as the rest of the castle, then we'll be in for a treat," Mai said to the two of them.
Yugi, Mai and Joey both left the dining room, walked down the hall, and turned left and they each picked out a room.
"I'll take this one," Joey said, grabbing a doorknob.
"And I'll take this room," Yugi said, across from Joey.
"Goodnight boys," Mai said to them, shutting the door.
"Night," Joey said closing the door.
"Goodnight Joey and Mai," Yugi answered back closing his door.
Yugi looked around the room. It was very luxurious. On the ceiling hung an elegant chandelier with gold-like metal. The blue carpet felt soft, even though he was wearing shoes. There was a bed made of fine oak and the covers on it suited it perfectly.
Yugi walked over to the bed and sat down. He pulled out the bag holding the broken Millennium Puzzle, opened it up and let the pieces scatter on the bed. He picked up the main piece holding the chain and picked up a smaller piece. He tried to piece it together, but it wouldn't fit. He tried another piece in the same spot, but that one didn't fit either.
"This'll take longer than I thought," Yugi said to himself.
As Yugi looked out the window, the clouds were pitch black. Suddenly a raindrop hit his window. Then another, and another. In matter of seconds it began raining hard. That didn't stop Yugi though. He continued to work on fixing his Millennium Puzzle...
"The twelve winners and finalists of the Duelist Kingdom Tournament are..." Croquet began, writing down the finalists names, "Ryan Stone... Joseph Wheeler... Mai Kujaku... Yugi Muto... Seto Kaiba... Kiyoji Hiraga... Nicolas Rhodes... Michael Laskow..."
"What?!" Ryan said silently, "How in the hell... I beat him..."
"Somethin' weird is going on," Joey said to Ryan, "ever since this tournament began."
"Dario Montalvo... Ryou Bakura..."
"Bakura?" Yugi questioned while gasping, "Ryou Bakura? How...?"
Joey was surprised to hear his old friend's name as well, gasping.
"Enigma... and Shadow."
Yugi looked over to the last two duelists called and saw they were both in robes with their cowls hiding their faces. Enigma was far taller than Shadow and they both stood on their feet lifelessly.
"The finalists will each be given their own room and be given a buffet as their dinner," Croquet said to the finalists. "Now will all of you follow me?"
Croquet and the group of suits guided them back up the steps and towards the main hall.
"So Yugi," Mai began while they were following the suits. "What was that Thousand-Eyes Restrict monster?"
"It was Pegasus' strongest monster," Yugi told her. "It has zero attack and defense, but its powerful effect allows it to be one of the strongest Duel Monsters out there. It can take control of any monster and even if an opponent has a stronger monster, they can't even attack it."
"Wow," Mai said.
"Control of any monster..." Joey said, also listening. "How do you beat that?"
"It isn't easy," Yugi told him, "but I had a De-Fusion to take it out."
"So Laskow, how in the hell did you get fifteen star chips in less than five minutes?" Ryan asked him.
"I've got my ways," he told him. "Let's just say I beat a few duelists in that time."
"Bull shit," Ryan spat.
"Well maybe I'll tell you if you can manage to defeat me again," Michael told him, then chuckled.
"That Dimension Deck can't compare with my Machines," Ryan said. "I still have some cards you haven't seen yet."
"Okay, we'll just have to see when the time comes," Michael said then added, "Oh Ryan, jackass-says-what?"
"What?" he asked.
Michael chuckled again then walked away in the crowd, leaving Ryan in a state of rage.
Kiyoji Hiraga was still feeling at his lowest after what Kaiba said to him. Seth and Jonathan weren't making him feel any better with all their visions on his victory.
"Kaiba won't stand a chance with your dragons," Seth said to him.
"Yes, you'll just have to keep him from bringing any of his dragons out," Jonathan added, "Those dragons are what make his deck the way it is. Wipe them out and you're in the clear."
'What are they talking about?' Kiyoji thought to himself, 'He easily brought out each dragon in a few turns. Did they forget about that virus card he has? All my dragons are over 1500 attack. And that Ultimate Dragon... I've never even seen that card before...'
"Yeah!" Kiyoji said aloud to Jonathan and Seth, "Kaiba's not going to put a dent in my unstoppable dragons!"
While his two colleagues nodded in affirmation, Kiyoji let out an unsure chuckle.
Yugi walked over to Bakura and said, "Bakura!"
"Yes?" Bakura asked. "Can I help you?"
"What are you talking about?" Yugi asked.
Joey walked beside Yugi and interrogated Bakura as, "Yeah, what's with the, 'Can I help you' stuff?"
"Pardon me?" Bakura questioned.
"Bakura?" Yugi asked, "Don't you remember us?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't," Bakura said.
"I'm Joey and this is Yugi," Joey tried to explain, "You don't remember us?"
"No I believe this is the first I've met you two," Bakura said to the two of them.
Yugi gasped when he heard this and before he could say another word, Joey took him away.
"I-I don't understand," Yugi said to Joey, "How could he have forgotten us?"
"I don't know Yuge," Joey said to him. "It's only been two years."
Bakura sighed and reminisced of something Salazar said.
As Bakura was about to head out with the other five eliminators, Salazar called for him.
"Oh and Mr. Bakura," Salazar said to him. "There's a good chance you're identity will be discovered. If Muto or any of his friends ask any questions about you, act like you never knew them."
"All right," the normal Bakura said, then walking out the door.
Out of his flashback, Bakura sighed once more then thought, 'Look what's become of me...'
A few minutes after, the twelve finalists, the twelve losers and the group of suits arrived back to the main hall.
"Alright," Croquet began, "the winners shall proceed to the right corridor. The losers shall go to the docks for the boat ride home."
"Take care Yugi and Joey," Mako Tsunami said to them.
"Thanks Mako," Yugi said to the Ocean duelist.
"You're quite a duelist," Kurt Schneider said to Yugi then pulling a card out of his deck, "I want you to use this."
Yugi looked to at the card and read its name "Versago the Destroyer."
"Whoa," Yugi looked at the card. "Thanks, Kurt.
"There are not that many female duelists," Colette Thibodeaux said to Mai. "Show them what we can do."
"You got it," Mai said.
"Put Black Tyrano to good use," Rex Raptor told Joey.
"I will," Joey said to the Dinosaur duelist.
"See you later Kiyoji," Jonathan said to him. "Beat Kaiba good."
"Show him that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Clan is really all about," Seth told him.
"Right," he responded.
With that, the twelve losing duelists walked towards the huge metal doors as they opened automatically. A thirteenth duelist ran through the door, sneaking off from the other eleven finalists. The metal doors closed as the duelist escaped. The twelve duelists trudged on the dirt road but as they were about to arrive to the docks, someone stood in there way. The stranger was hidden in the shadows, his face couldn't be seen.
"I'm sorry, but you won't be getting home," the stranger said to them.
There were murmurs amongst the duelists in confusion at this.
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.
The stranger stepped forward revealing himself to be Ryou Bakura. He had a sinister look on his face and a golden ring with several pointers suspended from his neck. He said to them, "Nothing personal, but I need some people to linger in a permanent dark hell."
"Hey, you're one of the finalists," Rex pointed out. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to claim your souls," the sinister Bakura said as his Millennium Ring illuminated white.
Suddenly, the surroundings around the twelve darkened and an eerie purple fog crept in. Seth, Jonathan, Colette and several other duelists tried running away, but only came back where they started.
"What the hell's going on?" asked one of the duelists who tried to run away.
"There's no escape from the Shadow Realm," Yami Bakura told them. "You will all be here... for eternity."
"Hey, some white-haired little pissant isn't sending me to hell," said Erik Olsen angrily.
Erik charged towards him pulling back his right fist. When he arrived, he hurled his fist towards Bakura's face. However Bakura stepped to the side, dodging it. Bakura then rose up his leg and kicked into Erik's side sending him to the ground, clenching his side in pain. Benjamin Forret grabbed Bakura's waist from behind trying to tackle him, but his light weight failed him. Bakura responded to this by driving his elbow into Benjamin's face, causing him to let go and fall to the ground in pain. Rex and Mako each tried to punch Bakura in the face, but he knocked them both to the ground with a spinning jump kick to their heads. No one else dared to try and fight Bakura now.
"Now enjoy your eternity in the Shadow Realm!" Bakura declared, laughing manically.
A ghostly fog rose up on the duelists, enveloping them completely to where they couldn't see a thing. The twelve duelists all gave a bone-chilled scream as they plunged into eternal darkness. When the darkness and fog faded, Yami Bakura stood alone.
"Yes... I can feel my power returning," he said to himself. "But still, it's not enough. Now, to return to the castle."
~Meanwhile back at the castle~
As the eleven finalists were being guided to the dining room to eat, Yugi turned his head to window.
"Hey Yugi," Joey said to him. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I heard something," he said to him. "I guess it was nothing."
All of a sudden, Enigma and Shadow broke off from the group and went down a corridor with many doors on each side. They were the sleeping rooms for the duelists. They both took a room and shut the door. The remaining nine duelists kept walking until they arrived to an enormous dining room with a very long buffet table and sneeze guard. The long wooden table and a white tablecloth that was a bit longer so the ends could hang off the sides, and there were many tables were aligned on both the left and the right side.
"You may eat until 7:30 PM," Croquet told them. "It is 6:45 right now; at 7:30 the dueling match-ups will be revealed."
With that, the group of suits exited through two large doors, leaving the nine duelists by themselves.
Yugi and Joey both grabbed plates and helped themselves to the wide selection of food. Yugi also grabbed a bowl and helped himself to the soup, which was unleashing a delicious aroma. He also took some other foods to satisfy his small sustenance.
Joey however looked like he would need a second plate. On his plate rested several pieces of beef, several hundred grains of rice, several dozen French fries, a bowl of soup, fried fish, and three breadsticks.
The other finalists retrieved plates as well to get the food to feast upon.
Both Yugi and Joey sat on the far side of the table on the same side of each other. Joey was eating much faster than his shorter friend.
"Mind if I join you?" asked Ryan, holding his own plate of food.
"Sure," Yugi answered.
"Go for it," Joey responded, finishing off his rice.
"Thanks," Ryan said, sitting across from the two of them.
"By the way," Joey began, starting on his fish, "Sorry about not misjudging ya."
"Me too," Yugi added.
"Eh, that's all right," he said, cutting his steak. "Water under the bridge."
"Hey guys," Mai said, sitting right next to Ryan, across from Joey. "Back at Duelist Kingdom, how does it feel?"
"Well the food's better," Joey said, starting on his soup.
"The changes done here are phenomenal," Yugi said.
"That's for sure," Mai said.
"Oh by the way," Joey began. "Ryan, since you beat Michael, does that make you the World Champion?"
"No way," said Michael, holding his plate of food. "You beat me with some cheap card."
"Well didn't you win the same way?" asked Ryan. "Yata-Garasu's as cheap as they come."
"Whatever," he said, "Try and beat me again, I dare you."
Michael walked away and ate his food at a distance.
Kiyoji sat alone in the corner of the table, picking at his food. His face was sullen as if he had died. Yugi had noticed this and looked over to him.
"Hey Kiyoji," Yugi said to him, "Want to eat with us?"
"Huh?" came his response, surprised anyone wanted anything to do with him. "Sure."
He carried his plate and sat down on the other side of Yugi.
In an instant, Kiyoji had a confident look on his face and began eating his food as fast as Joey.
"So you and Kaiba made it through," Joey said to him, eating his breadsticks.
"Yeah," he began, "Kaiba's tough, but he's lucky I didn't bring out my Spirit Ryu at its strongest. Jonathan and Seth couldn't have been beaten so easily, he must've cheated."
"You bastard," some said to Kiyoji.
Kiyoji looked up and saw Seto Kaiba.
"How dare you call my dueling into question," Kaiba said to him, fully serious. "You are pathetic duelist incapable of picking up a card. If you ever have the misfortune of dueling me again, I'll crush you into the dust."
After that, Kaiba left to eat his dinner. Kiyoji was silent for the rest of the dinner.
After a while, the clock reached 7:30 and a group of suits, led by Croquet walked in.
"As I said, at 7:30, you shall find out the dueling match-ups," Croquet said to them.
Suddenly, a flat screened TV descended from the ceiling. It turned on automatically and showed two pictures of a duelist. In between the duelist was "VS." Everyone looked for their picture to find who they were dueling.
"So the first round will go as so," Croquet began, "Kiyoji Hiraga VS Seto Kaiba, Joseph Wheeler VS Nicolas Rhodes, Dario Montalvo VS Ryou Bakura, Mai Kujaku VS Enigma, Yugi Muto VS Shadow, and Michael Laskow VS Ryan Stone. The opening match is Kyoji Hiraga VS Seto Kaiba."
Kiyoji looked aghast. It was as if he had just been hit by a truck. Kaiba however smirked towards him.
"Looks like we're going to duel," Kaiba said to him, "You aren't so lucky after all."
Kiyoji didn't say a word to his opponent. Instead he exited the dining room, walked down the hall, turned to the left and picked himself a room. He quickly locked the door and wasn't heard from for the rest of the night.
"Looks like our duel will come sooner than expected," Michael said to Ryan.
"Perfect," Ryan said, "Now no one else will have to put up with you."
"Don't be so sure of yourself," Michael said, "Just wait until tomorrow."
The two rivals left the dining room and the corridor with the finalist's rooms. They each picked a room at a distance from each other.
"So I'm dueling Nicolas," Joey said looking over to him, "Hey wait a minute, that's Titan."
"And that guy," Mai pointed to Dario, "Wasn't that guy the eliminator, Magi?"
"They must've been given second chances," Yugi said to them, but then remembered his competitor. "And I'm dueling Shadow..."
As Joey concluded his dinner with a cold soda, he said to Yugi, "Well there isn't much left to do. I guess I'll hit the hay."
"Sounds good," Yugi said.
"If the rooms are as good as the rest of the castle, then we'll be in for a treat," Mai said to the two of them.
Yugi, Mai and Joey both left the dining room, walked down the hall, and turned left and they each picked out a room.
"I'll take this one," Joey said, grabbing a doorknob.
"And I'll take this room," Yugi said, across from Joey.
"Goodnight boys," Mai said to them, shutting the door.
"Night," Joey said closing the door.
"Goodnight Joey and Mai," Yugi answered back closing his door.
Yugi looked around the room. It was very luxurious. On the ceiling hung an elegant chandelier with gold-like metal. The blue carpet felt soft, even though he was wearing shoes. There was a bed made of fine oak and the covers on it suited it perfectly.
Yugi walked over to the bed and sat down. He pulled out the bag holding the broken Millennium Puzzle, opened it up and let the pieces scatter on the bed. He picked up the main piece holding the chain and picked up a smaller piece. He tried to piece it together, but it wouldn't fit. He tried another piece in the same spot, but that one didn't fit either.
"This'll take longer than I thought," Yugi said to himself.
As Yugi looked out the window, the clouds were pitch black. Suddenly a raindrop hit his window. Then another, and another. In matter of seconds it began raining hard. That didn't stop Yugi though. He continued to work on fixing his Millennium Puzzle...