Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament
Author: Chaos Valkyrie
First Conceptualized: October, 2003
Posted Chapter 15: April 30, 2004
Updated: December 22, 2005
Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own.
Author Notes: Well, some more filler before the duels begin again! Meet the other finalists!
Chapter Fifteen: Entering the Finals
Wednesday rolled around rather quickly. Jenni, having left Fenris in the care of a matronly older neighbor for a few days, marched to the park with her back-pack on her shoulders and her duel disk at her hip. She was wearing her leather outfit again, with a deep red corset top. Snow was gently falling around her, and somehow, she felt fairly calm. Slifer had the sword with him, and had taught her how she could summon it at will the night before. She was relieved, for she didn't want to broadcast to anyone her possession of the Sword of Slifer.
She entered the area where the announcement had been made. She was the first to arrive, so she sat on the stage, slowly taking out her eight cubes.
"Hey, Jenni!" she heard Mokuba's voice. He came running into the clearing, running up to hug her. Seto glared sourly at his brother as he stood, cool and confident, some twenty feet away. She ignored him as Mokuba began talking to her.
"I get to come too! Big Brother arranged everything!" Mokuba told her excitedly.
"But, are you not a finalist?" Jenni asked, puzzled.
"Nope, but we're Kaiba's, and Seto's not about to leave me here alone," Mokuba told her confidentially.
One by one the other duelists arrived. A broad-shouldered boy caught her attention as he entered the clearing. He had deep purple hair and exuded an aura of power. Next, Yugi and Mai arrived with their gang and started talking to Seto. It pained Jenni to see Mai ignoring her, but she instead focused on Mokuba's chatter. Xine arrived with her little group of friends and stood glaring at Jenni. A tall black boy with a shaved head entered next, followed by a shorter teen with brown hair. He waved to Yugi's group and went to talk to them.
Other teens began to enter the clearing, curious to see who had made the finals. A large group had gathered by noon, which was the meeting time. The crown hushed expectantly.
A buzzing sound filled the air, and Jenni's hair whipped around her face as a large helicopter landed on the other side of the stage. The teens cheered as Albert Stevenson climbed out and waved. He walked onto the stage.
"Welcome, welcome all to the beginning of the finals for the Winter Tournament!" the crown cheered again. "Would the first finalist please step forward?"
Jenni looked around, then climbed up onto the stage. She looked into Stevenson's cold, calculating eyes with confidence.
"Jenni Moran," she stated, holding out her eight cubes.
The crowd cheered again, all except a few noticeable members – Xine, for example, looked fit to kill. Stevenson smiled and handed Jenni her entry card. Holding his hands up to silence the audience, he continued.
"Welcome, Miss Moran! Since you are the first finalist to come forward, you will now be the first to demonstrate the power of the cubes!" the crowd whispered curiously. "Please, place your deck and entry card in your disk and turn it on."
Jenni pulled out her deck – minus Slifer – and placed it in her duel disk. Turning it on, she gasped as an image of her Red-Eyes appeared before the crowd. The cubes in her other hand had begun to glow, and slowly the miniature machines rebuilt themselves into a perfect sculpture of the Red-Eyes. The crowd oohed and ahhed over this development.
Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed. He had not been aware that Stevenson's company had possessed such advanced technology. He wondered what else the man was hiding.
Stevenson smiled. "Now, if the other tournament finalists would please come forward?" he asked. He said nothing as Jenni walked to the end of the stage.
Kaiba came forward first and looked almost bored as his cubes morphed into a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Mokuba followed him to stand next to Jenni. Yugi soon followed, looking happy with his new Dark Magician statue. A blond-haired boy named Malik, who had stood with Yugi's group, came up as well. Xine walked onto the stage, bidding farewell to two people who must have been her brother and sister. The purple haired man, named Zane, came up alone. Then a shorter teen, named Joshua, came forward, followed by a tall black boy named Jaharvis.
The crowd applauded the finalists, a few audience members glaring at whichever finalist eliminated them from the tournament. Another helicopter landed behind the group. Stevenson waved one hand towards the waiting choppers, signaling for the duelists to hop onboard. Jenni, lugging her backpack, led the way again, with the other duelists close behind, and the helicopters took off, muting the cheers of the crowd below.
End Notes: Ooh, new finalists… Well, I know that most of them are newbies, but this is how I arranged it – Yugi and Kaiba were shoe-ins, and I figured Malik is good too, so he gets to go as well. Mai dropped out after the whole kidnapping thing, and as for Joey… well, I didn't want to have too many familiar faces. So, that leaves our Battle City Big 3, Jenni, Xine, and three new faces! Well, 2 new faces – I felt sorry for that kid that Mokuba stole the deck and star chips from in Duelist Kingdom, so I made him Joshua. Anyway, the finals start soon – and they're like nothing these duelists have seen before!