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.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My deepest apologies for how long it's taken me to update this story. I've been writing it alongside of another fic, however I had to re-evaluate that when I realised the next chapter of that one would spoil the ending of this story. I've decided to focus on this fic for now, so updates should come a bit faster. Meanwhile, updates to my fic 'Hearts, Souls and Shadows' will resume when this fic is completed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: I've uploaded 4 chapters at once, starting with 'Chapter 12: The Storm Breaks'.

Tournament of Shadows
Chapter 14: The Finals - Day 1
By Shadow's Mirror

The auditorium was filled by a cheering crowd of fans who were making so much noise it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to hear anything said by the two duelists preparing to face each other in the arena. Yet, for those two and the six other duelists watching from the competitor seats off to one side, it was as if there was no one else around.

All of them were experts at blocking out the sounds around them. They waited for the coming duel in silence, allowing their minds to wander freely across thoughts of battle strategies, rivalries and opponents. Most of their minds inevitably turning to the cards that lay in their own decks, silently resonating with an ancient power that they could all feel, but not all completely understood.

This was one of the times when many of them strongly felt the thrill of the game. The moments before the clash of two minds, two souls, two strengths... or sometimes more than two, although that was something known to very few.

Even so, for this particular duel, the anticipation felt by the watching competitors was slightly higher than usual.

The first day of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament Finals was about to begin with a duel between Yugi Mutou and his best friend, Joey Wheeler.

"Friends turned opponents. Will their friendship remain after the duel is over?"

There was a not-at-all-delicate mental snort in the very small part of Bakura's mind that was paying attention to the conversations of the section of the audience sitting directly behind him, as he overheard the comment. It sounded like one of the overly dramatic things that the guy doing the narration for the nightly Recap Show might say. The speaker even said it with an appropriately breathy voice. He thought the little gasp at the end was a nice touch, too.

Bakura couldn't help but be amused. Honestly, from how worked up the crowd was, anyone would think these two had never dueled each other before. They practiced together all the time and had gone up against each other in the final stages of Duelist Kingdom, too. Oh sure, it would be a good duel. He had no doubt that both Yugi and Wheeler would put on a great show for the crowd. But, that would be exactly what it was. A show.

His mind paused on that thought for a moment, as it reminded him of a conversation he'd had with Ryou a couple of days before the tournament had started.

They'd been discussing strategies when they'd learned that they shared an unusually strong feeling that it would be best for them to play it a bit safer than usual in this tournament and not use any of their best plays until the Finals.

At that point, they'd already known that the tournament would be televised. The live coverage would be available to any of the duelists, if they had the presence of mind to tape it while they were out for the day. Even if they didn't, there was still the Recap Show. Airing every night, it would cover the best plays from all of that day's duels. Any duelist worth his cards would be able to learn the other duelists' strengths and weaknesses from watching that show.

At least... in theory.

While watching the show on the first night of the tournament, Bakura had realised that most of the duelists in the competition were holding back. Himself included. Oh, there were occasional glimpses of real skill from all of them, sure, but with so many other plays it was impossible to tell what their true skill level was. Unless you happened to already know the duelist in question, of course.

As far as he could tell, of the sixteen in the tournament, only Espa had been holding nothing back while dueling.

He hadn't been entirely certain about Rex and Weevil until their last duels on the fourth day of the tournament. Seeing them serious had confirmed it, as far as Bakura was concerned. Those duels had been very different to their others.

Of course, it was debatable if Kaiba could really be said to be 'holding back', considering that most of his duels lasted only a few rounds. But while he wasn't afraid of showing the ultimate power of his deck, Bakura had noticed that he wasn't using any of his more subtle strategies. The ones that he would use against anyone truly worthy of facing him.

Wheeler was the same, although in his case he also had his generally open nature to help him cover up the fact that he wasn't playing as well as he could. He was dueling with his usual randomness and relying on luck, as always. But his real strength had always been in combining seemingly random plays into a long-range strategy. He hadn't done that in any of his tournament duels so far.

Although, even as he watched Wheeler take up his position opposite Yugi out in the arena, Bakura remained unsure if that had been a deliberate tactic on the blonde teen's part or merely a case of his random and luck-based cards being enough to handle his opponents. The amount of luck that Wheeler had on his side was always in a league all its own.

Just over half an hour later, when Yugi won the duel with his own life points hovering at barely 100 out of the original 8000 and having drawn the only card in his deck that could possibly have saved him from Joey's Flaming Swordsman, Bakura still had no clue if Wheeler had been holding back or not. On the one hand, he'd fallen victim to Yugi's Mirror Force trap card. On the other hand, he'd survived everything else Yugi (or rather Yami, since Bakura knew he'd been in control for most of the duel) had thrown at him.

Bakura was so deep in thought, he nearly missed the announcer calling his name for the next duel. He did miss hearing who his opponent was.

When Seto Kaiba stood up to join him in the walk into the arena, Bakura could only sigh and regret that his luck was apparently the opposite of Joey's that day.

He knew he had a chance at defeating Kaiba, but only if he was willing to go all out for it. As tempting as it was... a cautious voice in his mind (that sounded rather like Ryou) reminded Bakura that it wasn't a good time for that yet. It was best to keep holding back on calling out the full power of his cards. Although, his pride couldn't quite step aside enough for him to give up without any fight at all.

By their duel's end, nearly an hour later, Bakura was satisfied that he and Kaiba had managed to fool everyone watching into believing that they'd both been dueling seriously.

He'd gotten Kaiba's life points down to just over two hundred and one of Kaiba's three beloved Blue Eyes White Dragons had ended up in the Graveyard. Oh sure, Kaiba had promptly taken him out with his remaining two, but considering that the brunette had been wiping the floor with his opponents in only a few minutes throughout the tournament... Yeah, Bakura was quite happy with the result as it was. It hadn't been a bad duel at all.

Judging by the slight smile touching Kaiba's lips, it seemed he had enjoyed it too.

Although his smile became a frown as the announcer called out his name again just after he stepped down from the slightly raised platform he'd been standing on during the duel.

Bakura managed not to smirk and sent a fairly credible, he thought, look of sympathy over to the brunette. He then hurried back to his seat, as he really wanted to be settled in to watch the next duel right from the start.

Kaiba was up again, but this time his opponent was someone Bakura was very interested in watching. From the murmurs he heard from the audience as he returned to his seat, it seemed he wasn't the only one.

Apparently the lack of Nyc in the Recap shows had been as obvious to everyone else as it had been to him.

As the girl crossed to the dueling podium, Bakura frowned slightly. There was something... different about her. He'd noticed it earlier but had shrugged the impression off, thinking it was probably just tension or excitement. It wasn't as if he wasn't feeling it too. But now... He frowned slightly as he watched her and reconsidered his earlier assessment. No, she wasn't tense at all. She was calm. Her stride was every bit as confident as his own had been when he'd walked out there for his duel. Excited? Maybe. No, definitely. Or was that anticipation causing the gleam in her eyes as she took her place opposite Kaiba? It wasn't an expression he was used to seeing on the normally quiet girl. Then again, she hadn't really been quiet that morning, had she? He'd seen her laughing with Mai before, sure, but never quite so freely. Not that it was a bad thing, necessarily. It just suddenly struck Bakura as being a bit... off... for her.

He shook the feeling off with a mental scoff. Like he knew what was normal for Nyc? He barely knew her. Oh sure, they'd traded a few words here and there over the past few days, but that was it. He'd never met her before this tournament. Not only did he not know her personally, but he didn't know anything about her. Not really. Just that she was Mai's friend and she usually kept to the smaller Duel Monster games.

Oh... and she was skilled enough to have won enough of those small duels to get into the contest. He knew that, too.

What he didn't know was her style of dueling. What type of deck she favoured. What cards she used. What her best strategies were. How she pulled all of that together to be a duelist at least as good as Mai, if not better, because he'd seen the admiration in the older duelist's eyes on that first day, as she'd explained Kaiba's irritation to Wheeler.

Bakura frowned a little more. Come to think of it... that was a lot to not know about someone. Especially when she was an opponent in this tournament. Normally it wouldn't be unusual. It was their first time competing against each other. In this case, though... He should have known those things from seeing her duel during the nightly Recap Show.

Except, he hadn't.

He'd noticed it from the first night's show. How everyone else got more coverage of their duels than Nyc. Especially Mai, but that was normal for any competition she entered. At the time, he'd figured it was just that the other duels had been more exciting, so they'd been given priority.

The second night, he'd paid more attention. By the end of the show, he'd been frowning deeply enough that Ryou had asked him what was wrong. All he'd been able to say to his light was, "They barely showed Nyc dueling. I can't get a read on her yet."

The third and fourth night had been the same. They'd shown maybe five minutes of Nyc dueling each time she was on screen, but it was usually less because there had been better plays that needed to be shown. Bakura had seen enough to know that she was skilled. The plays they'd shown her make had all been good ones. Nothing really spectacular, but nice basic moves. Something he'd expect from a small Duel Monster contest regular. Nothing unexpected at all.

It was almost too obvious to be suspicious.

Fortunately, Bakura tended towards paranoia, so he always looked more closely at things that seemed 'too obvious'.

After the third Recap Show, he'd been convinced that Nyc was deliberately avoiding having most of her duels shown.

It wasn't hard to see how she'd managed it. The show only covered the best plays of the day. If she didn't want to be seen dueling, all Nyc had needed to do was make sure that her plays remained mostly unexceptional. The few times she had been shown, Bakura was sure it was only because she'd needed something more than a halfway decent combo to set up for an unexciting win. A win that wouldn't be shown unless nothing more interesting had happened that day.

Between Malik, Marik, Kaiba, Yugi and Bakura himself, their duels had been flashy enough to ensure Nyc remained mostly out of the spotlight for the whole first stage of the tournament.

Bakura doubted anyone else, in the tournament or even just the fans watching the Recap Show each night, would have worked out what was going on. Normally, of course, Yami would have. Kaiba too. Maybe even Isis, Joey and Mai. But this time, they'd all been too distracted by other things.

The white-haired yami was just paranoid enough to wonder if Nyc had any connection to those distractions.

Anyway, there was a lot he didn't know about Nyc, so Bakura was determined to watch her Finals duels very closely. After all, even if she had kept back her full strength during the first stage of the tournament, she wouldn't be able to do that anymore. The tournament officials had all been good duelists, sure, but nowhere near the skill level of most of those in the Finals. If she wanted to get anywhere in the tournament, she couldn't afford to keep holding back.

Bakura truly believed that.

So it was with considerable shock that he watched as Kaiba soundly defeated Nyc, ten turns and barely fifteen minutes later. She hadn't even played any cards that he hadn't already seen her use during the Recap Show.

Bakura was only vaguely aware of the snickering coming from Evian Sanders' direction as he watched Nyc and Kaiba leave the dueling arena. His eyes narrowed, his gaze sharp as he observed the two of them converse very discretely. Their eyes never glanced at each other and their lips barely moved. He couldn't tell what either of them was saying. But he knew Kaiba. He could see the irritation in his icy blue eyes. He saw the moment when it shifted into confusion. It was gone again in a flash as the brunette boy raised his defences again, but Bakura knew what he'd just seen.

Whatever Nyc had just told him, Kaiba hadn't been expecting it.

Suddenly, Bakura really wanted to know what she'd said. But to find out... he'd need to get a chance to talk with Kaiba.

The announcer chose that moment to step up to the mic. "Up next is Ryou Bakura versus Joey Wheeler!"

Bakura almost groaned with annoyance but, as he stood, he carefully schooled his face into assuming his 'Genial Ryou' mask, covering his instinctive half-formed scowl before anyone else could notice it.

His talk with Kaiba would have to wait.

He had a duel to win.

In all fairness to Wheeler, he didn't make the victory an easy one for Bakura.

Any other time, Bakura might even have been content to stretch their game out longer, if only to see what the blonde duelist could come up with to challenge him. He truly enjoyed dueling against Wheeler and his creative randomness.

In any other situation, Bakura might not have been quite so happy when he drew a certain card barely ten minutes into their match. Especially since the spell card he used with it had been in his hand from his first draw and the other cards he needed were all already in his hand as well.

Normally, Bakura would have at least arched an eyebrow at his cards for being so eager to assist him in bringing his duel to a swift end.

He really wanted to talk to Kaiba about his duel against Nyc, though, so Bakura just mentally thanked his cards for their help and started the sequence that would lead Wheeler to his downfall.

Dark Necrofear, defeated unknowingly by Joey on his next turn after she was placed, so she was immediately sent to Bakura's Graveyard, right where she needed to be.

Dark Sanctuary to protect the cards he was about to play.

The showman in Bakura couldn't resist sending a smirk Wheeler's way as he played Destiny Board with all the flair of an artist unveiling his latest masterpiece.

He almost felt bad about it when Wheeler returned a look that was very easily deciphered as '... did you really have to rub it in?'

Almost.

Then Wheeler nearly managed to destroy his Destiny Board card and Bakura forgot all about nearly feeling bad for defeating him as he fought to make sure that Wheeler would actually be defeated.

By the time he played the last letter and won the duel, Bakura was surprised to realise that the whole duel had taken just short of twenty minutes. The last few turns had felt like they'd taken hours. He managed a genuine grin at Wheeler as they headed back to their seats. "Good game. You nearly took me down a few times."

Wheeler gave him a disbelieving look. "You say that even though you wiped me out so ruthlessly?"

Bakura's grin was now a full-on smirk. "Consider it a reward for being incredibly annoying and making me do so much extra work at the end there."

"Gee, thanks." Wheeler shook his head, but he was grinning too now. "Were you in a hurry or something?"

"Or something. Wanted a word with Kaiba."

"Oh? About his duel with Nyc?"

"Yeah. That and she said something to him afterwards. I'm curious."

Wheeler made a soft sound of agreement instead of nodding, knowing they were being watched. He was about to say something when the announcer called for the next pair of duelists.

"Would Isis Ishtar and Evian Sanders take up their positions!"

Bakura and Wheeler traded glances. "Think she'll toy with him first or go straight for the win?" Wheeler wasn't joking.

"I'm hoping she toys with him. For at least long enough for me to talk with Kaiba." Neither was Bakura.

When they reached the reserved seats, Wheeler went to where he'd been sitting originally between Kaiba and Yugi. Bakura followed him and dropped down into the seat on Kaiba's other side as if it was perfectly natural for him to want to sit beside the brunette. To enhance his cover as an eager duel observer, he even watched for a few moments as Isis and Evian Sanders headed for the duel arena. Then he got down to business.

"Interesting duel you just finished." His voice was so soft, he was sure only Kaiba would be able to hear him.

"Indeed." Kaiba's voice was just as quiet.

"Not particularly helpful, though." He had a feeling Kaiba would know what he meant.

"No. Telling, however." He did.

Bakura glanced at him out of the side of his eye. "The conversation after?"

For a moment, he thought Kaiba wasn't going to answer, but then the brunette teen sighed almost imperceptibly. "I was angry. I believed she was mocking me, so I accused her of not dueling with her full strength."

"She didn't, but I don't think she was mocking you." Bakura wasn't sure why he felt the need to defend her. It just seemed wrong somehow for Kaiba to think that way. No duelist liked holding back, after all. If Nyc still was at this point in the competition, she must have a very compelling reason for it.

"No. I was wrong about that. She said..." He paused for a moment as the crowd roared too loudly for him to be audible unless he raised his voice.

Bakura arched an eyebrow as he studied the arena to see what all the excitement was about. "Whoops. He probably shouldn't have attacked that. Oh wow, down two thousands life points and it was his own monster's fault. That's embarrassing." He said it in his normal voice, then went on more quietly as the crowd settled again. "She said?"

"She had not wished to show her full strength in front of Sanders at this time. Then she apologised and offered a rematch after the tournament ends." There was the slightest note of satisfaction in Kaiba's voice.

"Oh. That's cool. You accepted, right? Tell me when. I'd like to watch." Bakura definitely wanted to see that duel.

Kaiba was silent for a moment, before he made a sound that would have been a snort for any lesser mortal. "I shall think about it."

Bakura smirked. "Meaning you're not sure you can win against her and you don't want me to see you get your dragons handed to you on a platter." He fully expected Kaiba to refute that immediately, so it was a bit of shock when he replied with something else completely.

"I do not believe she has any interest in winning this tournament."

"Oh?" Bakura's interest was caught just enough for him to not point out the glaringly obvious topic change. He glanced at him again but Kaiba was still staring straight ahead, as if he was actually watching Isis wiping Evian Sanders' monsters off the field and steadily decreasing his life points in the process. "You got that from her still holding back?"

Kaiba frowned ever so slightly. "Not only that." He glanced at Bakura and then returned his gaze to the ongoing duel. "Her actions from the first day have been... unusual. Not only did the Recap Show barely show her duels, it also made it appear as if she was doing worse in the contest than she was. However..."

Bakura knew what Kaiba was talking about. "She was the first into the Finals. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that, either. But doesn't that prove she wants to win?" Even as he said it, he realised he was wrong. "Wait. No. That doesn't fit at all with her holding back, does it? It's the other way around. Her making it into the Finals first actually drew the attention to her that she's still trying to avoid. So why take the risk?"

"Interesting choice of words. So you also believe she faced a possible threat by doing that?"

Kaiba's voice was so soft, Bakura could barely hear it. He was about to reply when the crowd roared so loudly he started and peered at the duel to see what had just happened. He frowned. "Huh. I didn't know she had Gravekeeper's Assailant and Necrovalley in her deck." He had to speak up a bit to be heard over the crowd.

"I believe she used them during her final duel in stage one." Kaiba also spoke up, although not as loudly as the crowd behind them was starting to settle down again.

"I missed that. How did I miss that?" Bakura frowned as he thought back. "Ah. Must have been when I spilled the popcorn." He lowered his voice back to a nearly inaudible volume. "I think she thought she faced a threat, at least. Isis was pretty insistent that Wheeler did, too. After what happened to the other girls..." He blinked and glanced at Kaiba in shock. "Kaiba... did you just... growl?"

The brunette teen didn't dignify that with a response, but the slight flush in his cheeks told Bakura that he hadn't been hearing things. Normally, he'd have eagerly pressed on simply because it was way too amusing not to but, for once, Bakura didn't need to. He understood. He was angry about it all too.

"Whoever is behind the attack on the girls... Whether they're a threat to anyone else as well, or not... We'll get them." Bakura's voice wasn't soft enough to disguise the thread of steel it contained. "They can't hide from me forever."

Kaiba seemed about to respond when the crowd roared again, more loudly than before. Bakura took one look at the duel and glanced at Kaiba. "Isis really is good. She kept him busy just long enough for us to have our chat." He spoke quietly, but with the crowd still cheering, he wasn't sure the other boy had heard him until he saw him nod slightly.

Bakura was about to stand up and move back to his original seat when the announcer stepped forward. Hearing who was up next, he grinned and stayed where he was.

With Yami dueling Mai next, Bakura had no doubt that it would be more amusing to remain beside Kaiba. If only so the brunette would have someone to grumble to when Yami won.

In the end, Kaiba didn't grumble at Yami's win. He and Bakura agreed that the dark spirit had more than earned his victory after the sixth time he barely broke free of one of Mai's elegant traps. By the eleventh time, they both felt a little sorry for him and silently decided not to gloat over his rather disastrous duel.

Well... they wouldn't gloat much, at least.

When Yami finally managed to take the last of Mai's life points, his own were down to a mere 50 and the duel had lasted an hour and a quarter with more ups and downs than a particularly active yoyo. The crowd were so exhausted from their constant cheering interspersed with loud gasps of fear for both duelists that they barely managed the final victory cheer at a noise level decent enough to not be insulting.

Snickering over that did not count as gloating. Bakura made sure that Ryou was fully aware of the difference between the two. He had no wish to be denied dessert that night for something like that!

The announcer looked as exhausted as the crowd as he stepped up to the microphone to announce the next duel. It wasn't really surprising. The poor guy had stood up at least fifteen times in the past half hour, thinking one of the duelists had just won the duel, only to have to sit down again.

"Next up is Nyc Lyons and Isis Ishtar!"

As the two walked to their duel platforms, something a little unusual happened. Isis suddenly stopped moving. The other duelists were seated behind her, so they couldn't see her expression, but they were all relieved when she resumed walking a moment later.

Their relief lasted until she stepped onto her platform and turned around, revealing her slightly pale face and her wide eyes.

Kaiba spoke softly almost in Bakura's ear. "She looks as if she has just seen one of your Monsters outside the game." His words didn't quite match the concerned tone of his voice.

"Considering her brothers' decks, and her brothers themselves, it would take a lot more than my ghosts, ghouls, zombies and spirits to scare Isis." Bakura wasn't quite joking as much as he'd have liked to be. He'd thought he'd felt a flash of something when she'd stopped and now he was sure what it had been. "I think she just had a vision." He spoke as quietly as he could, not wanting anyone else to overhear. "Looks like it might have been a strong one."

For once, Kaiba didn't scoff at the idea. Instead, he frowned slightly. "It's the second last duel for today."

"Yeah." Bakura knew what he was getting at. The same thought had just struck him. "Which means today's last duel will be between..." He glanced at Kaiba and they both glanced a few seats in front, where Mai was sitting alone. Their gazes shifted a few seats over to where Evian was leaning forward, his eyes intent on the duel that was about to begin.

Bakura lowered his voice even more. "If he tries anything, I'll be ready."

Kaiba made the softest sound of agreement. "As will Security."

They settled down to watch the duel, both worried but ready to act if they needed to.

Within minutes of the duel starting, both of them were far too stunned to even remember their earlier concern.

Nyc didn't use the same cards she'd revealed during the first stage. She didn't use the same plays or combos, either. The cards she used weren't particularly strong, but the combos she used them in were devastating to Isis's game.

Within three turns, Isis was looking more than a little stunned.

Within fifteen minutes, Isis was down half her life points and was playing a defensive game. She was looking paler than before and after every one of Nyc's turns, her eyes would widen slightly as if she'd been shocked by it.

Kaiba spoke quietly to Bakura again. "Isis is not doing... that thing she does." He refused to call it magic.

Bakura frowned as he concentrated, focusing his own power on sensing hers. It was harder than it should have been, with how strange the Shadow Magic was, but he managed it. "No, she is." His frown deepened. "Trying to, anyway. I think it's not working right or something." He glanced at Kaiba. "It's not infallible. But it was working fine earlier."

"Perhaps that is why. Too soon after the last time." Kaiba somehow managed to ignore that he was talking about magic.

Bakura had to admire such stubbornness, really. "Maybe. I'm not sure if it has limits like that or not. I'll ask Isis later."

Kaiba paused a moment before making a sound of agreement. "I will speak with her also."

Before Bakura could reply, a shocked gasp ran through the crowd. He blinked at the duel, taking a minute to realise what had just happened. He tensed, his own eyes going wide as shock struck him hard. "It's over already? How?" Surely Isis still had 1600 points only a minute earlier.

Kaiba was also surprised. "Magic Cylinder."

A powerful trap card, Magic Cylinder negated the attack made by an opponent's monster and returned it as a direct attack against the opponent's life points. Simple, yet effective and it had ended the duel for Isis.

"Oh." Bakura wasn't surprised that Nyc had that trap card in her deck. Even though he hadn't seen her use it in the tournament before, it was a good card. No, what surprised him was that Isis hadn't seen the trap card ahead of her attack. Her Millennium Necklace usually showed her the moves of her opponent ahead of time so she could avoid things like that. Any doubt he'd had that her item wasn't working properly had just hightailed it out of the building.

There was one other thing that surprised Bakura. Before he could mention it to Kaiba, though, he realised the brunette was speaking quietly to him.

"She has stopped holding back."

A quick glance confirmed that Kaiba was frowning as the two female duelists headed back to the seating area.

Bakura hummed softly in agreement and considered the situation. It hadn't been that long since her duel against Kaiba, yet Nyc had still been holding back at that point. So... what had changed?

"Now for the last duel of today, please welcome Evian Sanders and Mai Valentine to the arena!"

Bakura frowned as the two last duelists stood and headed for their duel. He noticed the steady, narrow glare that Nyc gave Evian as they passed, ignoring him when he said something to her, and everything slotted into place.

"Kaiba, when she dueled you, Nyc didn't know who Sanders' second opponent would be. When she and Isis were called up, Mai was confirmed for that. I think Nyc stopped holding back to draw Sanders' attention away from Mai."

Kaiba didn't respond but the tension that radiated from him as he watched the duel spoke more than enough for him.

In the end, no one had needed to worry about Mai.

Sixteen turns and less than half an hour later, she stepped off the duel platform as the winner of the last duel of day 1 of the tournament Finals.

Evian had been completely helpless against the continuous assault by Mai's formidable female Monster cards and stunningly effective spell and trap cards. Every card he'd managed to get on the field, Mai had wiped out the following turn. Mai's legion of fans in the crowd were in an uproar and Evian's smug smile was nowhere in sight.

Instead, his eyes burned bright with his fury as he abruptly stalked out of the arena and headed for the nearest exit, despite the announcer still making the closing statement for the day.

Bakura and Kaiba both frowned as they watched Sanders go.

They weren't surprised that he wasn't a good loser, but that expression on his face surely didn't bode well for someone.

"Seto. Bakura. A word if I may?" A soft voice broke into their thoughts, causing them to turn to the speaker in surprise.

Isis looked as serene as ever. As if she had not spent the duration of her last duel stunned by what was happening.

"Of course. We were both hoping to speak with you." Kaiba allowed no trace of emotion to colour his voice. "By the way, Téa has agreed to watch the Finals from her home rather than come here, as you suggested."

Bakura blinked at that and shot a surprised glance at Kaiba. He'd been wondering why only the eight who had gone through to the Finals had been in the reserved seats. Those seats were reserved for all of the tournament competitors, plus a guest each. Although all the spare seats at least made it easy for them to move around and talk to whoever they wanted to, it had still struck him as odd that no one else was there with them. Kaiba's comment hinted at the answer.

"Is that why it was just us eight here?" He looked at Isis for confirmation and noticed her hesitation before nodding.

"In a way. I only spoke with Seto about it, as I did not wish for Téa or Mokuba to get caught up in anything that may occur. My brothers all decided to sit in the normal audience seats when we arrived here. I believe Odion was concerned that Malik might hit Evian Sanders over the head with his Rod if he was close enough to do so."

Bakura admired how calmly Isis said that. He was almost snickering just at the thought of it. "I don't think anyone would complain if he did, but I get that it's probably safer not to until we know what's going on with him." He frowned slightly. "So if you only talked with Kaiba... That still leaves Raptor and Underwood." He suddenly looked concerned.

Isis immediately shook her head. "Both are fine. They arrived at the same time we did and decided to join my brothers in the audience. I had the impression they had not been looking forward to spending so much time in Evian Sanders' vicinity." Isis wasn't smiling, but Bakura had the sudden feeling that she was actually rather amused by that.

He nodded. "Can't blame them." Personally, he'd rather not have to be in the same city as the guy.

Kaiba was looking rather impatient, so Bakura wasn't surprised when he cleared his throat and frowned at Isis. "Isis, did something occur during your duel against Nyc?"

Bakura smirked. Ah, good old Kaiba. Never willing to let polite conversation get in the way of a good interrogation.

Isis nodded slightly. "It did. On the way into the arena I received a brief vision of the entire duel. It was... intense."

He'd known it was a vision, but hearing the details of it caused a frown to crease Bakura's brow. "If you saw the duel, then how did you lose?"

"Nyc played different cards." Isis paused, holding up a hand to forestall their questions. "No, to be more precise, it took me several turns to realise that the Necklace had shown me a different duel entirely. After that, it remained silent. All I could do was play as best I could without any foresight." She looked troubled. "That has never happened before."

Kaiba had been frowning throughout Isis's explanation and didn't seem willing to speak up right away, so Bakura took the chance to reply instead. "At least you realised what was going on. You managed to hold up pretty well against her."

"Thank you." Isis replied with a small smile of gratitude for the yami. Then she blinked once, very slowly. "Ah. You had best be on your way. Ryou's Father grows impatient."

She had barely finished speaking before Bakura's phone buzzed. He sighed when he saw the caller ID. "Well, on the bright side, it looks like your Necklace is working just fine again, now." He winced and looked at Kaiba. "Are you still on for that help?" He answered the phone as Kaiba nodded in reply, then started walking off for some privacy.

"Hello Father. Yes, I'm still at Seto's. No, we are just finishing up now. No, he said he will drive me home."

Once Bakura was out of earshot, Kaiba frowned at Isis. "Did Nyc say anything to you after your duel?"

Isis shook her head. "Only to thank me for it. I did hear what Evian said to her, however." She smiled serenely as Kaiba forced himself not to give her the satisfaction of reacting at all.

When she didn't continue, he gave in. Just a little. "Oh?"

Her smile faded to a serious expression she usually reserved for scolding Malik and Marik when they had done something dangerous. "He said that he could not wait to duel against her and that he hoped she had enjoyed her victories as he would not go easy on her. Aside from the implied insult to you and I, while the words themselves were reasonable, his tone was not. It was intended as a threat, Seto. I am certain."

Kaiba nodded. "That does not surprise me. I haven't been able to find any connection between Sanders and Nyc, but I'm sure there is one. Thank you, Isis. I'll make sure Security stay on their toes. Just in case."

"That would be for the best, I agree." Isis still wore her serious expression. "I do not believe this tournament will end without incident, although I hope that I am wrong."

The brunette sighed and nodded in response. "As do I, Isis. See you tomorrow." He abruptly turned away and strode off to collect a certain blonde teen before rejoining Bakura.

"Until then, Seto." Isis watched him go, looking unusually troubled before she also left in search of her brothers.

Hopefully, taking Malik and Marik to get their plush penguin would take her mind of things, if only for a brief time.

She still needed to work out what her vision from the previous night had meant, after all.

Evian strode down the crowded streets, heading back to his hotel. Normally, he'd have melded into the crowd, but right now his mind was too filled with silent ranting to bother with his usual caution. Surrounded by people who didn't know him, he allowed himself a rare chance to give his anger full rein without any attempt at concealment. His eyes were twin flashes of lightning in a face of thunder that caused everyone who noticed to give him a wide berth, if the general feeling of 'back away slowly' that surrounded him didn't do the trick first.

He wasn't at all happy with how the day had gone.

Originally, he'd planned to act that day. But then the stupid organisers had come up with such a stupid system for the Finals and suddenly all of his plans had to be put on hold. He had no choice but to wait until the right time.

The only good thing was that his chance would come without him needing to do anything. He would be dueling against each of the others. That included his target.

He just needed to wait. Then he would put his plan in action.

His defeats of that day were of no importance. He hadn't really been trying. Besides, it wasn't really his fault.

His victory would come soon enough. Then everyone would know his true power.

He could wait another day.

In the meantime... perhaps he should offer up a little reminder of how dangerous it was to ignore his orders.

Evian's smile was cold with a cruel twist to his lips as he entered the lobby of his hotel and headed up to his room.

To be Continued...