Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! *scowl*

Inwe: Hello my friends! This chapter is longer than the others 'cause it'll be more interesting... I hope. OMG! I found the cutest pics on the internet of Yami and Tea. They have to spend like 8 episodes together... I know I said I found the cutest pics of Joey and Mai but now I can't choose... *sigh* they'll probably cut it out in the BEEEPin dub version. Oh well... This chapter is the duellist party... and *drumroll* the beginning of the Action/Adventure! I have an OC character for the evil dude!

P.S Kaiba's in this chapter. ^_~

Chapter 4: So it begins.

Tea stepped back and had one last look in the mirror. She was quite happy with what she saw and grinned at her reflection. She straightened her headband one last time and turned away. Someone knocked at the door.

"Come in!" Tea said.

The smiling face of Serenity popped around the door.

"Tea? Everyone's ready to go now," said Serenity.

"Alright, I'm ready," Tea said moving away from the mirror and towards Serenity.

As the two came into the lobby, Mai's mobile phone rang. She picked it up and...

"Hello, Mai? This is Duke Devlin. I was wondering if I could..."

"Speak with Serenity?" asked Mai mockingly.

"Um... if you don't mind," he said, slightly embarrassed.

Mai handed the phone do Serenity. Serenity gave her a quizzical look and Mai mouthed, "Duke." Serenity picked up the phone. From across the room, Joey gave here the same puzzled look. Mai pretended not to notice and turned away. (~*sniff* that bit was so lame~)

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"Everyone settle down please!" shouted a voice over the loudspeaker.

The crowd fell silent. Tea could see the audience craning their necks to see who the voice belonged to. Her eyes rested on a certain person she knew quite well. Seto Kaiba. He was sitting at a table with Mokuba, and a man that Tea didn't know. She supposed the man was some kind of person working for Kaiba Corp. The look on Kaiba's face wasn't as smug as it used to be, but he looked over-confident nonetheless. He looked around and caught Tea's eye. The voice began again,

"Thank you! Now all of you are top duellists in your country, or some of you the world."

Joey turned and grinned at Yugi, who smiled as well.

"Like you," he said encouragingly.

Mai nudged Joey,

"Or you," she said warmly without a trace of embarrassment. Joey blushed and grinned sheepishly back at her.

"...And you have been invited here today to honour this fact..."

Tea caught sight of a face in the crowd. It looked annoyingly familiar... it was Marik. He was smirking as if the comment of world famous duellists had been made directly to him.

"...But we would like to extend special congratulations towards the finalists of our most recent tournament, Battle City! Could the finalists we have here please stand up?"

Yugi stood up blushing at the attention that was being paid to him. He was followed by Mai and Joey who jumped up at the same time. Bakura soon stood up, grinning sheepishly because he knew he didn't exactly belong here. Ishizu stood up, with her usual mysterious and dreamy look on her face. Marik stood up, still smirking in the same manner. Finally Kaiba stood up, folding his arms across his chest.

The crowd applauded and cheered the finalists. Yugi's blush increased as most of the eyes turned on him; after all he was the winner. The applause gradually thinned out.

"Congratulations to all of you Battle City finalists! Now would you please all sit down? Thanks to Craine Computers Inc. we have organised a special surprise! But to announce this, I bring you Mr. Craine himself!"

A very short and slightly plump man is his middle years stepped out onto the stage while a polite applause reverberated around the room. His eyes were kind as he spoke,

"Hello duelists! We have organised a special treat for you all! My company has been developing a special program to allow duelists, and later aspiring duelists to develop their dueling skills."

The man's eyes shone as he spoke of his dream.

"So, we decided to organise a special get-together to test the game! You must combine your group with two others. Afterwards you must sign up as a team and you will be taken to the pods. While in the game you must duel against monsters and other teams to come out as the top group."

The chattering began as the audience organised themselves into their groups. Some found it easier than others and grabbed some friends, while others had come by themselves and waited patiently for someone to ask them into a group.

Our gang didn't move. They were already in a group, they all agreed silently.

"But before we let you in, we must discuss the rules. First of all..."

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Craine stood watching the groups as they moved towards the pod rooms. He was smiling at the sight of all the excited duellists.

"Finally, my company has done something worthwhile," he said quietly to himself.

Then he spoke in a very different, rasping voice, "Yes, take Millennium Items from their owners."

"No!" he moaned in his first voice.

"Yes! You are going to sabotage the pods of little Yugi Motou and his dear friends. Send them to my pre-prepared virtual world. I guarantee that we will have one soon!" the voice said menacingly.

"I can't let you! This is supposed to be for the benefit of duellists!" his first voice spoke in a quavering voice.

"If you won't do it then I guess I'll have to take over!" the second voice said.

Craine's body convulsed horribly and he moaned softly. The duellists walking around didn't notice, they were too wrapped up in their own affairs.

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Each member of the gang settled themselves in their own pod. They were in the first batch of duellists. Each room had nine pods but their group only had seven, Yugi, Joey, Bakura, Tristan, Serenity, Mai and herself. Mai hadn't brought along anyone, she said that she had no real other friends beside the group. When she had said this, she smiled slightly as she looked around the group. As her eyes rested on Joey, her grin had broadened. A man was controlling how they would go into the game. He turned on the pods. They lit up and everyone's excitement increased. Then without warning another man strode into the room. It was Mr. Craine. He looked more proud and stiff then the Craine they had seen earlier.

"I'll take it from here. I can't let anyone mess these up. This is a very important group with three Battle City finallists," he said in his rasping way, his voice full of authority.

"Yes, Mr. Craine, sir," said the man at the controls. He bowed his head slightly, and moved away.

Craine took his own place at the controls. He pressed a couple of buttons. Tea could have sworn she saw a mad glint in his eye. He pulled down one final lever, and everyone instinctively shut their eyes tight. They all heard one final voice,

"Separate the two..."

Yugi shivered at the comment, but could find no logical explanation for it. They all felt a jolt and a rush of power as they were swept away from the real world. Yugi felt like he was being torn in two. (~I wonder why?~) Then blackness.

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Tea opened her eyes slowly in the virtual world. Through a confused haze she could have sworn she saw an extra figure standing close to Yugi. She shook her head and blinked. The figure didn't disappear.

"Yugi? Joey? Tristan? Serenity? Mai? Bakura?" she called out softly, "Is anyone there?"

She heard a chorus of groans coming from spaces around her. They were all there. Then she recognised the voice of... Yami?

"I think there's something wrong... I sense an evil here."

Tea struggled upright and stood up. She could see every one else doing the same. And then...

"Yami? How could you be here?" Yugi asked in bewilderment.

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Inwe: Heheh... I wasn't supposed to end it there... It was supposed to be later, but I'm sure you'll all live with it... I am so sorry about the slow update... what? It's been nearly a month?! Oh *%@$ I'm sorry about that... I had a big school assignment... I'm finished now. But anyway, please review!