Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament
Author: Chaos Valkyrie
First Conceptualized: October, 2003
Posted Chapter 16: February 25, 2005
Updated: December 22, 2005

Disclaimer: Well, since I am female, I guess I can't be Kazuki Takahashi. Darn. Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Author Notes: Ooooo… I'm back…

Chapter Sixteen: The Games Begin

Jenni blew gently at her steaming coffee, trying to ignore Seto, who was glowering at her from a nearby table. It was breakfast time on board the tournament's cruise ship, and Jenni and Seto were the only two people to yet grace the dining hall.

The helicopters had, the day before, landed at a port on the edge of Domino. A large liner awaited them, housing the dueling fields for the finals. The icy waters glittered below as the finalists made their way on board and were shown to their quarters.

There had been a banquet the night before as well, where the duelists soon learned who their first duels would be up against. Jenni had the third duel of the Quarter Finals, against Jaharvis. Seto had the first duel, against the purple-haired Zane. And speaking of Zane…

The indigo-haired man entered the hall groggily. He was not much taller than Jenni, but was broad shouldered and very muscular. He grabbed some food from the breakfast buffet and shuffled over to where Jenni was seated. "This seat taken?" he asked blearily.

Jenni laughed. "It is now," she told him. He smiled and sat down.

"So, I noticed you were alone too," he asked her, shoveling eggs into his mouth. She nodded, slurping her coffee. "My friends wanted to see me off, but the Harpies had a gig and couldn't decide between themselves who should cut and come, so they all stayed," he laughed to himself. Noticing Jenni's confused look, he elaborated. "They're three girls, and they've got a band, the Harpie Sisters. They each styled their hair like on the card. They're pretty nice, but they can be pushy with each other."

Jenni laughed and ate some of her breakfast. Yugi and some of the others entered the hall, Malik throwing her a smirk before sitting with Kaiba. Zane looked between the two and asked the inevitable.

"So, what's up with you and those guys?" he asked her. Jenni shrugged.

"I'm not sure. We used to be friends, but they've grown cold lately. Some weird stuff happened this tournament, and it sort of drove us apart," Jenni sighed. Zane looked at her strangely.

"I know what you mean about strange stuff. This whole tournament has been haywire," he shrugged. "I've had people coming after me, trying to get my cards," he stated carefully.

Jenni's eyes widened. "Me too! Or really," her voice lowered, "just one of my cards."

Zane gave her another funny look, glancing over at Kaiba's table. The others were paying the quiet pair no attention. He looked back to Jenni. "Well, I think we'll just have to stick together, then. I think we might have a bit in common," Zane said cryptically. Jenni smiled.

"You're right, I'm beginning to think we do."

After all the finalists had eaten, the group made their way to the main hall where the duels were to begin.

Zane and Jenni stepped into the hall, receiving glares from Seto and the others. Jenni felt better having at least one companion with her. Xine followed them inside, glaring at both Zane and Jenni.

Albert Stevenson soon arrived, and now Jenni knew that his announcements were being broadcast around the globe. "Welcome finalists! I trust that you all are well rested and prepared for your finals?" He continued after the half-hearted response. "Good. Would our first finalists please step forward?"

Jenni quickly wished Zane luck as he walked forward onto the stage. Kaiba followed suit, smirking as he towered above the shorter but broader man. Stevenson smiled.

"Now, I have a surprise. You will not need your duel disks for the finals!"

Most of the duelists looked at Stevenson with shock. Jenni fingered her disk, looking at the man before her with suspicious curiosity. He continued.

"As I said before, this tournament will test your skills as you battle in the elements. Keeping this in mind," he waved towards curtained area behind him, "you will test your skills anew inside Stevenson Technologies' virtual arenas!"

The curtains pulled back to reveal a large monitor and two virtual pods. Kaiba's eyes narrowed. Again, there had been no information that the company held such advanced technology.

"Each finalist will compete inside this virtual arena. However, the computer will randomly designate a battle field for each pair. This field choice will either help or hurt your monsters as they compete. The field can be changed with the use of Spell cards," he nodded to the duelists, "but this new twist will truly determine your skills at overcoming the obstacles over which you have no control." Yugi nodded, as did a few of the others.

"And now, without furthur ado, let the duels commence!"

The battle was furious on the monitor. Both Seto and Zane had determinedly climbed into the pods, slipping their decks into a deck reader on the pod chairs. Jenni gasped inwardly as the pods closed and the two boys appeared on the monitor screen, standing in a sparse wasteland.

The two wasted no time in attacking each other. Jenni marveled at how calm Kaiba seemed, while Mokuba cheered his Big Brother on from the sidelines. Zane looked furious, but his moves were precise and logical. That is, until Kaiba unleashed his Crush virus.

Jenni winced as Zane's more powerful monsters were wiped out. Zane, however, seemed fairly calm about this, even as Kaiba wiped out half his life points in one turn. Jenni silently rooted for the purple-haired man, hoping that he knew what he was doing. Kaiba, however, smirked as he threw a Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, to join his Swordstalker and Judge Man.

Zane smiled at Kaiba, startling the taller duelist. He flipped a magic card up on the field, then placed another card in his monster zone. The magic card was Soul Exchange, which allowed Zane to use Kaiba's three monsters on the field for a sacrifice. Then Zane said, "Here comes your demise," as he summoned his new monster. Yugi's friends gasped as a golden vortex appeared behind Zane, revealing a large blue demon of some sort.

"He has Obelisk!" Mokuba gasped. Jenni quickly glanced from the younger Kaiba to the elder. Seto looked stunned, causing Zane's smile to widen.

"Obelisk, attack with Fist of Fate!" he yelled, and the demon complied, wiping out Seto's life points, throwing his cyber image to the ground.

The pods opened with the duel's end, and Zane triumphantly emerged to rejoin Jenni. Xine was glaring at the two with a calculating look that Jenni didn't like. She sadly watched Mokuba run to Seto's pod and help his brother out. Malik joined them, and the two helped Kaiba over to a chair. Mokuba glared at Zane, while Yugi and Malik looked on in surprise.

"Congratulations to our first Semi-Finalist," Stevenson announced, eyes glittering. He motioned towards the pods. "Would our next duelists, Joshua and Malik, please step forward?"

End Notes: Ha! A Duel with little to no effort from me! Hah! Anywho, its been awhile, so I'm sorry if you wanted more from me. The important duels will be chock-full of detail, but those are the ones that involve Jenni. And no, I'm not stealing from Battle City at all… (whistles innocently…) Also, don't hate me for kicking Seto out… I LOVE SETO! But you'll see why I did… eventually. Let's see… next I'll post the revisions and Chapter 17!