DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

Tournament of Shadows
Chapter 3: The Game Begins
by Shadow's Mirror

The park was filled with spectators and reporters, all vying for the best positions in front of the stage that had been set up for the start of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament. The crowd's excited chatter filled the air. In the area set aside for the participants, it sounded so much like the buzzing of a large swarm of bees that Weevil Underwood couldn't stop himself from smiling and happily humming along with it. The boy leaning on the side of the stage with him, Rex Raptor, eyed his companion warily.

"Do you have to do that? It's really irritating."

Weevil paused to glance at him. "Suffer. I'm having fun." He resumed his humming, but stopped again within moments. "Looks like I'm the only one who is, though." He frowned slightly as he eyed the four girls sitting with Mai Valentine, the Wheeler kid and the green haired brat whose name he could never remember, despite having lost to him in more than one duel. Nyc, Avril, Rina and Callie... He knew them well, having been beaten by them a few times in other tournaments, but he'd never seen them so tense.

"Yeah. They seem a bit on edge, don't they?" Rex unknowingly voiced Weevil's thoughts. "It's probably just excitement or nerves. This is their first major tournament, isn't it? We're all a bit worked up today."

It was true. There was something in the air... excitement mixed with the thrill of the hunt, perhaps? They were about to start a Treasure Quest tournament, after all. But somehow, seeing the four girls so worked up gave Weevil a funny feeling. As if there was something dangerous in the air, as well. He shook off the feeling and shoved the thought to the back of his mind, laughing at himself for being so paranoid.

There was a stir at the entrance to the area where fifteen of the participants in the tournament, and a few of their friends, were gathered. Weevil and Rex both looked over to see what was going on. Both of them scowled when they saw the new arrival.

"Oh look. Seems like the last of us finally decided to show up." Rex couldn't hide his contempt as he watched the blonde boy saunter into the area.

Weevil nodded, but his attention was on the girls rather than his companion's words. "Hey Rex, check out the girls."

Surprised at Weevil's quiet voice, Rex obeyed. He frowned. "Whoa. That's quite a reaction. Think they know him?"

Rex had barely finished speaking when the newcomer spotted the girls and sauntered towards them. His smile was broad and his voice was cheerful as he hailed them. "Well now! Avril! Rina! And sweet little Callie! What an unexpected pleasure! I never thought you three would make it here. The last time I saw you all, you were dueling in the amateur tournaments."

Weevil and Rex both scowled at the words. Neither of them was a stranger to the smaller tournaments that the three girls participated in, and they both sensed the implied insult hidden in the greeting. They watched in silence as Avril stood up, her usual calm manner covered with a layer of ice as she glared at the newcomer. She spoke so softly they wouldn't have heard what she said if they had been standing any further than a few feet away from her.

"Evien Sanders... If you come near any of us for the duration of this tournament, you will find yourself awakening in the hospital in several months' time with no recollection of anything except a great deal of pain. Do I make myself clear?"

Rex let out a nearly inaudible whistle of appreciation and leaned a little towards Weevil to whisper in his ear. "She means it."

Weevil nodded in agreement and watched as the guy's nonchalant manner slipped for a moment. His smile was obviously forced as he nodded. "Perfectly."

As the stranger retreated to the back of the area, Rex and Weevil traded grins. "I'll say this much for Avril, she sure knows how to deliver a good setdown." Rex looked over at the girls and nudged Weevil so he looked as well. "Looks like he's the reason for the tension around here, huh?" His grin faded to a thoughtful frown. "Think maybe they know something we should?"

Weevil shook his head slightly. "Nah. It sounded more like one of those duelist rivalry things to me. You know, like Kaiba and Wheeler. They're always at each other's throats, too."

"Oh yeah. Good point." Rex nodded in agreement, then listened as something caught his attention. "Hey... sounds like they're starting."

"They were probably waiting for that guy to show. Now he's here, we can finally get this party started." Weevil straightened and grinned at Rex, who grinned back.

"Been looking forward to this. I can't wait to kick your tail in the final set of duels."

"Oh yeah? Well if you even make it that far, it will be your tail being kicked! By me! Ha!" Weevil's eyes gleamed as he drew himself up proudly.

Rex smirked. "Uh huh... you just keep right on believing that, Underwood. I just love to see false confidence crumble to dust beneath the feet of my dinosaurs."

Before Weevil could retaliate, a voice interrupted them. "If you two idiots would stop making googoo eyes at each other... we're all supposed to go onto the stage now."

The two boys turned fierce glares onto Joey. "We are not idiots!" Rex growled before he stormed off, Weevil hurrying to follow.

Joey shook his head and grinned at the others with him. "They deny that... but not the googoo eyes thing."

Mai snickered. "Give them a while. They can probably only deal with one insult at a time."

Weevil came hurrying back and glared at Joey, pointing a finger at him. "We were not making 'googoo eyes' at each other, either! Our relationship is none of your business!" With an unvoiced 'so there!' hanging in the air, he hurried off again, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

A silence soon broken by Téa, voicing everyone's thoughts. "Relationship? Ew!"

- - -

The opening ceremony was pretty typical for a dueling tournament. A band played and then the announcer gave what was obviously intended to be a humorous introduction to the tournament and the participating duelists. Also typically, the humour fell flatter than a week old pancake that had been run over by a steamroller a few times. The duelists waved, except for Marik who set the crowd into gales of laughter by performing a grand and intricate bow until a red-faced Malik pulled him back in line with the rest of them. Then they were each given their first clue before they all filed off the stage and down the stairs, into the area where they had been waiting earlier.

Marik looked quite disappointed when he received his clue envelope. Fortunately Malik was able to tow him off the stage and down the stairs before he could voice his question. "Is this it? With all the fuss they were making, I was sure he was going to give us something good. Like candy."

Odion shuddered at the already-hyped-up-on sugar boy's mention of more sugar. Isis patted his shoulder reassuringly.

The chairman of the tournament committee came down from the stage. "Gather around, please." Without waiting more than a few seconds for them to do so, he began his speech. "We are about to begin the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament! In ten minutes' time, a bell will ring. That will be your signal to begin. You have until then to read your first clue and try to puzzle out its meaning. Best of luck to you all!"

Marik had opened his envelope before the man had even finished talking. Joey and Malik were right behind him and the others weren't far behind them, either.

There was a moment of stunned silence as they all read their clues, then Marik burst out laughing. "Oh this is gonna be so much fun!" The others all blinked at him, then went back to trying to decipher their rather obscure clues.

When the bell rang, only Marik and Malik immediately headed off. The others had to sit down and puzzle out their clues for a while longer. Yugi was the first to work his out, and the others followed suit, setting off one by one to find their first duel location in the city, until only Evien and the three girls, Avril, Rina and Callie, were left.

Evien stood up and stretched, then smiled at the girls, but it was not his usual smooth smile. Instead, it was cold and thin and his voice held more than a little malice as he spoke to them. "Best of luck, girls. You're going to need it. Maybe you should pull out now, before things get... rough... for all of you. There's no way any of you can possibly beat me." He was still smirking as he walked out of the area.

Callie shivered as she and Rina looked at Avril. "He's right. He's too strong for us."

Rina glared in the direction he'd gone. "We're better duelists and he knows it. But Callie's right." She sighed and turned her head, her eyes seeking and locking with Avril's. "He's grown stronger. A lot stronger."

Avril nodded, looking troubled. "I know. That troubles me, also. However, for the time being, all we can do is participate in the tournament to the best of our ability and wait for him to make the first move. We know our part in this. That will have to be enough, for now."

In agreement, the three girls headed off to find their first duels.

- - -

The tournament was broadcast live on a special TV station and by the end of the first day, it was obvious that some duelists were having an easier time of it than others.

Yugi Mutou had the honour to be the first duelist to locate his first duel, however it was Seto Kaiba who had the first win.

Debate raged through the city for days afterwards as to whether three turns really counted as a duel.

Mai Valentine and Isis Ishtar followed soon after Yugi's win, all three having duels of a more reasonable length, as did Ryou Bakura and Espa Roba just after them.

Much to the surprise of the many who had scoffed at the inclusion of the four girls from the smaller tournament circuit, Nyc Lyons, Avril Kensington, Rina Price and Callie Logan all won their first Championship level duels on their first tries.

Which was more than could be said for Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood and Evien Sanders.

Rex managed to win on his fourth attempt and Weevil on his fifth, but everyone watching agreed that it was Evien's two duels that were the most baffling of the day.

The first one lasted for almost two hours, with Evien using a lot of cards that froze his opponent or prevented him from attacking... but then didn't take advantage of the opportunities to attack and end the duel quickly. He seemed to be playing like a complete amateur, but some of his moves were a little too smooth. It was almost as if he was playing under his true ability and toying with his opponent. The duel official he was dueling against apparently got rather irritated about it. In a move that proved that the officials were indeed the pro duelists that had been rumoured during the lead-up to the competition, the official quickly turned the tables on the startled boy and won the match.

Evien's second battle against him was short and... well... quite a few of the watching experts would later use the word 'brutal' to describe the manner in which he systematically decimated his opponent's monsters. The duel lasted for barely twenty minutes, with Evien showing no mercy and emerging the victor. He accepted his rare card and next clue with a hearty smile and looked more than a little smug.

Malik and Marik Ishtar and Joey Wheeler also won their first duels the first time around, but they all had a little trouble reaching their duel locations.

It didn't seem to phase Malik and Marik, who both happily trotted over to the duel officials when they finally found them. Malik greeted his with the words 'you wouldn't believe how many pet shops there are in this city', which more or less made sense since his duel location was in the parking lot of the Domino City Aquarium. Apparently he had misinterpreted his clue to mean an aquarium in a pet shop. As for Marik, his greeting was a cheerful 'I love muffins! Let's duel!'

As Marik's duel was outside a bowling alley... that only made sense to Marik.

Joey ran up to the official at his location with barely a minute to go before the five o'clock deadline, then had to take that minute to catch his breath from having run most of the way there. Since he'd made it there before the deadline, the official had permitted the duel to take place. Fifteen minutes and an easy win to Joey later, the stunned official handed over the next clue and a rare card. Taking pity on the boy who gave him such a sheepish grin as he thanked him for 'a great game', the official offered Joey a little advice.

"Try not to cut it so close, next time. Most duelists duel better when they're not panting for breath."

- - -

As well as the live broadcast, the TV station also aired a 'Recap Show' each evening, covering all of the day's duels, so the competing duelists could study each other's techniques before the finals, when eight of them would need to compete against each other. The duels in the tournament got progressively harder and had been given labels from 'level 1' for the first duel through to 'level 5', which was the last duel the competitors needed to win to get the final clue that would lead them to where the finals were being held. Since the show's announcer revealed the level of each duel before it was shown, the Recap Show made it possible for the duelists to work out how they were doing in the competition, overall.

Watching the show in his hotel room on the first night of the tournament, Evien Sanders was quite satisfied with what he saw. All of the competitors had won a single duel, putting them all on the same level. All he had to do was make sure that he kept finding the locations and winning the duels and he would definitely be in the top eight. After all, as the duels got harder, some of the others were certain to fall behind.

He thought of Rina and Callie and sneered to himself. Oh yes. Some of them would definitely fail to win all of their duels. Those two girls were so weak.

His sneer shifted into a grimace as an image of Avril popped into his mind as well. She... could be a problem.

But he would deal with her, just as he would deal with anyone who threatened his victory.

When Evien slept that night, his dreams were pleasantly filled with the images of the three girls begging him to show them mercy.

- - -

A slender body slipped through a barely open door and onto a balcony. The slight shadowy figure crept to the railing and leaned against it, standing silent and still, head lifted towards the sky. A gentle breeze ruffled the figure's hair, bringing a soft sigh of pleasure that the whisper of the breeze easily covered. Even so, the figure tensed at the sound and half turned, instinctively listening to make sure that the one inside was still sleeping. When no noise came, the figure turned back and leaned on the railing again.

The Recap Show had been a concern. But so far, the truth remained hidden.

The one inside had taken the list of duels won as proof that all the tournament competitors were still evenly matched. In reality, the figure knew that a duel won earlier in the day gave the duelist more time to search for the next duel's location. Even if they didn't make it all the way there before the five o'clock deadline, it gave them a head start for the following day.

The Recap Show had told how many duels each duelist in the competition had won, but it had made no mention of when in the day the duel had been held.

There was still time. Even if it were just one more day... it would help.

As long as Evien believed he was in the top eight, everything would be fine.

To be continued...