"You have got to be kidding me…"

"I don't believe it myself…"

The three stared at the crowd before them, there had to be at least a hundred girl at the bottom of the staircase, and fifty boys at minimum. Miyako was already doing the math in her head.

Supposing the odds were all equal, then her odds of winning were one to a hundred and forty nine. Give or take.

Supposing that she was still relatively new to the game that put her at a big disadvantage.

Supposing that if she lost, then what would happen to her? Would she be shipped back to America and be separated from Chris and Jesse?

Supposing if she lost, she'd come here for nothing and missed the precious time to spend with her family.

Right now her odds looked very, very bad.

Very bad being an understatement, because at that moment about twenty more Deus flooded in. Most of which looked very smug, with pep in their step and rather complex looking Angels on their shoulders. Suddenly, Haru looked very very pathetic.

Miyako turned around to walk out, but Jesse grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "What are you doing!"

"Keeping you from leaving." He said apparently angered by her attempt to escape.

"Can't you see! We're going to lose!" Inside, though, she really didn't want to leave. But, the scenes of Khaki crying and screaming suddenly made her feel an overwhelming guilt.

Supposing that she walked out now she would make it in time to catch a flight back to Cape Henry. Would she be able to face Chris ever again? Think about it, walking out now would inevitably make her a quitter; a pet peeve of Chris's. Would she be able to face Claire? 'Hiya Claire! I left to go all the way to Japan just to you that there's hope even when the odds are against you! But I chickened out and came back here!'

She could just see how disappointed everyone would be.

Jesse's grip loosened and she stood and stared blankly at the ground for a few moments. Claire… I'm sorry I even doubted myse- her thoughts were interrupted by a small shriek as one girl was pushed down the stairs they had just come from.

Miyako reacted instinctively; she rushed forward with her left hand grabbing the railing and her right reaching out to catch the girl.

More than saving said girl from the fall she acted a lot more like a cushion as she fell back upon impact. For a moment there was awkward silence, but Chris who shrieked broke it. "YOU!"

She stomped forward as the weight rolled off Miyako and she opened one eye to see who she'd just saved. "Adriana!" she said surprised.

"You crushed Claire!" Chris screeched at Adriana while Miyako got to her feet.

Adriana, Bakura's Deus, trembled slightly and looked on the verge of tears. Surely this wasn't the face of a spirit-crusher. Adri was very thin, short, rather frail and pale. Haha, rhyme. She had long platinum blonde hair with two navy blue ribbons tied on each side. Her eyes were a dark shade of blue and she wore a knee length dress, navy blue also. Most of her outfit seemed to consist of blue.

"Th-thank you m-miss for saving me." She bowed quickly, "I-I'm terribly sorry if I hurt y-you."

"Aw cut the crap Shomo!" Chris stormed forward grabbing Adriana by the collar and lifting her a little ways off the ground. "Hurt her? Omigawd! You freaking hurt our friend! She's half-insane because of you and your stupid promise! Why don't you stop apologizing to Miyako and start apologizing to Claire!" With that she threw Adriana, who was saved a second time by Miyako.

Though Adriana was safe now, Miyako wasn't. As she pushed Adriana back onto her feet she totally forgot about the other flight of stairs that lead to the metro underneath the building. This time all hope seemed lost.

The stairs were concrete and if you've ever been to a metro station you know how large the staircases can be. A normal day usually has it's ups and downs. So far this day was all downs.

No pun intended.

Miyako held in a shriek as she felt her life flash before her eyes. But strangely enough, she never felt any pain. No slamming against the concrete, no dying, nada. She opened one green eye, "A-Am I dead?"

"Not quite." Said a rather deep voice behind her.

"Ayaaa!" she jumped and turned around, tripping on a stair and landing on her caboose. She paused to catch her breath, then stared up at a tall dark haired boy. Apparently her savior. "Oh umm… I believe thanks are in order?" she stood up brushed off her jeans. "Thank you very much Mr…" she held out a hand to shake.

"Diego Moiya; at your service my fair lady." Taking her hand and planted a quick kiss on it. Everyone watching from the top of the stairs broke out into excited giggles. Jesse glared a bit when Miyako blushed.

"W-W-Well thank you again for saving m-me." She stuttered as she felt Chris grab her arm.

"Thanks Diego for saving myidiot now we really need to check in." she waved at Diego, then continued to stomp up the stairs with the dazed girl. "C'mon lover girl." She said in a low voice as they reached the platform, "You too lover boy." she growled at Jesse.

They finally reached the check in after several minutes of pushing their way through the crowd. The trio probably should have just waited it out in line, since it took almost two more hours for every Deus to get checked in.

After a quick lunch and several naps later an announcer over the PA system announced it was time for the battles to start. To make things easier they split up the gigantic crowd of people into groups of a hundred each. Miyako was on the red team with about fifty other people and little Adriana; Jesse was on the blue team and Chris the yellow.

As she headed towards the waiting room with the rest of her team Miyako felt a tug on her shirt, she 'huhed' and turned to see Adriana. "I'm really sorry, thank you for saving me." She looked down at her feet; she seemed less scared without Chris around. The red haired girl flashed a small smile, patting her head.

"It's no problem." How could she hate such a polite person? How could this little girl have driven a someone off the edge, "But… about Bakura… what did you do that day to make Claire freak out like that?"

"I didn't do anything." She shook her head, "I just battled her and her spirit broke. Some people are like that. They're on top of the world but then they get beat and they feel like garbage." She added, pausing, "Maybe she thought she was going to win? Was she very good at Angelic Layer before we battled?"

"Very.'

"That's probably why."

Miyako paused, it did make sense, "So you didn't do anything to her? I don't think you're lying-"

"Honest, there isn't like anything I could do, it just seems…" she clutched Bakura to her chest, "I always seem to battle people… and they get really sad… I feel bad." She paused, "I want to quit, so I don't make other people sad anymore, but," she glanced up at Miyako, "I made a promise to someone, that'd would fight until I got stronger."

Can't believe I'm hearing this from such a delicate little girl, she's really determined. The red-haed huffed, patting the younger girl on the head, "Let's go. Preliminaries are starting."

A/N: Okay, here's how everything works in Ve1vet land. I create a story with characters, weed out the one I don't like and put them through hell for drama. Some people didn't seem all that happy Claire is having such a freak-out time but she was the best for that part of the story. Meh, now I feel bad. Thanks for reading and sorry for the slow update.

Next Installment…

Showdown between Metallica and Angel Daichi, followed by the mighty Bakura and her opponent Sayoko-! Will we ever get to see Jesse's Angel? Will another spirit die after Bakura's battle? Plus, who isDiego? Friend or foe?Will ve1vet ever write a better preview? All in the next chapter! Thanks for reading-!