Eiko looked up at the Kaiba corp. stadium. It had been a month since the whole Sophie incident and since then she had left Japan and gone back home to America.

"You don't not know how much I owe you," Mokuba had said a day after Sophie had left. "Seriously Eiko you saved me and Seto a whole lot of trouble."

"Oh come on, Sophie wasn't that bad." Eiko replied, Mokuba gave her a look that said 'oh yes she was.' Eiko couldn't help but laugh, "Ok she was pretty bad…"

"Pre apocalypse bad."

"Be careful with how you talk about women Mokuba, or you may never get a girlfriend" Eiko said jokingly.

"You should worry about Seto more," Mokuba, replied, "he's never even been on a date."

"What?" Eiko said with a fine mixture of confusion and shock in her voice. "Your joking right?"

"I wish I was," Mokuba said putting his hands in his pocket. "He doesn't even look at girls. Its like he really doesn't care, all the other C.E.O.'s have either have a wife or a girlfriend. Seto's got nothing…"

Eiko tried to forget that conversation and focus on the task at hand. It was time for her first tournament. Only problem, she still didn't have a duel disk. 'Well I'm screwed. And I was really excited.'

"Eiko!" a familiar voice broke her train of thought; she turned around to she Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda running over to meet her.

"Hay guys!" she called back. She then noticed that Anzu was caring a plastic bag, "what's in the bag?" she asked as soon as they reached her.

"A little gift from all of us," Yugi explained.

"Guys you didn't need to get me a gift," Eiko replied.

"Its more of a necessity than a gift…" Anzu said, "here!" she handed the bag to Eiko. Eiko peered into the bag her eyes got wide,

"Guys this must of cost…" she began.

"We split the cost," Honda explained,

"I'll pay you guys back as so as I-"

"How about this." Jonouchi said cutting her off, "you win the tournament, and you don't have to pay us a cent." Eiko smiled,

"You guys rock," she then reached into the bag and too out her new duel disk.

Seto looked out over the dueling field through the Kaiba corp. box. The tournament would begin in about an hour, until then he waited inside,

"Hay Seto," Mokuba said walking in, "I just got the list of competitors," because it was a tournament for people who had never previously been in one almost anyone with a duel disk could enter this meant that Kaiba wouldn't get the list until opening day, "guess who entered," Mokuba said handing him the papers.

Seto took them he skimmed through,

"Hmm, eight participants, mostly male," he murmured.

"Ugg," Mokuba said giving himself a face palm, "look at the photos." Seto did, the form on the bottom had a familiar face.

"Eiko?" Seto said shocked,

"Why are you so surprised? She is a pretty good duelist."

"Just because she beat Sophie doesn't mean that she's a good duelist…" Seto said still looking at the picture.

"I guess we'll see…" Mokuba said leaving the room.

"Welcome one and all to the Kaiba corp. stadium!" the announcer called, the crowed gave a roar of cheers "today we will be seeing all new face to the dueling world! Allow me to introduce our contestants! First we have Eiko Tsubaki!"

"All right Eiko!" Jonouchi yelled,

"Bring it home girl!" Honda yelled. Eiko blushed,

"Then we have Ai Usui!" the announcer gestured towards a small girl with black hair in a pink dress. "Then we have Takumi Fujiwara!" he continued to go down the list of contestants. Only two other duelists caught Eiko's eye, one was wearing a black hood, "Mr. Leud," 'Leud?' Eiko thought, 'that's just duel backwards…' she couldn't help but wonder if she was the only one who noticed. "And all the way from America, Sean Jones!" the boy had blond hair and was wearing a red tee with baggy jeans. "Listen up!" said the announcer, "the first four duels will commence outside the arena, the winners from those will then re-enter the arena for the semi-finals!" 'Three rounds… how hard cant that be?' Eiko thought. "The Duels will now commence! Eiko Tsubaki will be going ageist Ai Usui!" Eiko looked at her competition, the girl had a bit of a devious look on her face. Soon the rest of the duels were announced and Eiko headed towards the door.

"Hay Eiko!" she turned to see Jonouchi and everyone else running towards her. "Good luck with the duel," Jonouchi said smiling.

"Thanks guys I-"

"Well then Tsubaki…" Eiko then saw her competitor, Ai Usui.

"Oh hi Usui, good luck with the-"

"I hope your ready to lose." Ai didn't say it the way a little kid would. She said it in a freighting tone her eyes becoming slits. Ai then walked away.

"I never really trusted girls in pink dresses" Honda commented. Eiko walked outside the arena, she saw Ai waiting for her, arms crossed.

"So, are you ready to duel?" she said showing her duel disk.

"You know it." Eiko said copping her actions.

Eiko looked at Ai, the Duel had been a long one but it was about to end. Eiko had 100 life points and one monster on the field, while Ai had 400 life points and two monsters on her side of the field.

"Man Eiko is in a tough spot," Honda said,

"Yah I'll say" Anzu replied.

"Its your turn Tsubaki-san!" Ai yelled,

"All righty then!" Eiko drew a card and put it to the side, she already had the cards she needed. "I play the spell card 'Mass Driver'! I then sacrifice my last monster in order to inflict 400 points of direct damage to your life points!"

"What!" Ai exclaimed her life points fell to zero. "Hm, nice work Tsubaki…" she said and then walked off.

"All right Eiko!" Jonouchi exclaimed running over.

"Now you get to go on to the semi-finals," Yugi said walking over.

"I never doubted you for a second," Honda said smiling.

"Hay bro I just got the news!" Mokuba said smiling, "Eiko got into the semi-finals!"

"Well I guess that means she'll be going up agents Leud," Seto said.

"Leud?" Mokuba said confused, "isn't that just duel backwards?" Seto gave him a look.

"There are plenty of people named Leud."

"Name three," Mokuba said putting his hands on his hips. Silence.

"Do you want to watch the duel or not?" Seto said sternly. Like that the conversation dropped, Mokuba knew that meant that he should shut up. He looked out the window; Eikos's duel was about to start.

"I hope your ready Miss Tsubaki," Leud said. Eiko smiled,

"Ready when you are Leud!" Eiko called back. They shuffled their decks, "I'll go first! Draw!" Eiko drew her card, "I play 'Wapapon' in defense mode, and end my turn." Jonochi, Yugi, Anzu and Honda were in the stands watching the duel. Yugi had a worried look on his face,

"Yug, what's up, you look worried."

"I just have a bad feeling about that guy," Yugi said looking at Leud.

"Maybe it's the hood, seriously it's the middle of summer and he's wearing a black hood," Honda suggested. Anzu looked at Yugi,

"I have a bit of a weird feeling about him too Yugi."

"My turn," Leud said drawing a card from his deck, he grinned. "I play 'Slate Warrior' in attack mode. I attack 'Wappapon'" Leud said pointing towards the monster. " I then play the card 'Repeating Attack'," 'Slate Warrior' attacked Eiko he slashed her chest.

"Augh!" Eiko exclaimed, 'ugg that really hurt… should it hurt this much?' the holograms were realistic, but this… Eiko looked at her arms, 'blood?' Eiko thought, 'blood! How how is this?' she couldn't get her thoughts strait. Yugi saw her face, he had seen that face before Mai had had that look when she dueled Marick… when she was in a shadow game. 'Could it be… could Eiko be in… a shadow game?' Yugi's eyes were wide. 'How could it be, a shadow game?' he thought to himself looking down at the field. Meanwhile Eiko was still looking at her arms in horror. 'H-how…'

"Its your turn Miss Tsubaki" Leud said acting as if nothing had happened.

"R-right," Eiko said trying to get her bearings. She drew a card and examined it; "I play one card in face down defense mode. Then I'll place one card face down on the field and end my turn." Yugi turned to look at his friends,

"Guys I think Eiko is in a shadow game." Yugi said not leaving any room for arguments. Everyone looked at him; Yugi wasn't one to joke about these things.

"Yah sure Yug?" Jonouchi asked,

"Look at her face," Yugi said looking back at the field, "were have you see that expression before?"

"Mai looked just like that in her duel agents Marik!" Jonouchi exclaimed with a shocked look on his face.

"And when Yugi was dueling Pegasus!" Anzu added. The friends looked at each other, they knew what they had to do. They all stood up and ran towards the dueling field.

Mokuba looked at phone, it was a message from one of the Kaiba corp. security guards. 'Oh boy, Seto is not going to like this' he thought to himself.

"Um, Seto," his brother turned to look at him, "it seems some spectators are trying to stop the duel…"

"What?" Seto said annoyed, "who?"

"Yugi and his friends," Mokuba said quietly looking down. Seto's fists clenched, "what do you want me to do Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"Nothing," Seto said turning around and walking towards the door, "I want to see what those idiots are up too." 'Well this is going to be an interesting day' Mokuba thought to himself following his brother. They soon arrived at the dueling field,

"Look you don't understand!" Mokuba recognized Jonouchi's voice, he was arguing with a guard. "This is a matter of life and death!"

"What are you idiots doing?" Seto asked his arms crossed, everyone turned to face him.

"You!" Jonouchi said putting the guard aside, he marched over to Kaiba. "Look here rich boy!" he said grabbing the collar of his shirt, "Eiko is in serous danger here, she's in a-"

"If you say shadow game," he said giving Jonouchi a look. Seto pushed Jonouchi away, "listen you dweebs! I don't want to hear any crap about magic, Egypt, or fate alright!"

"Ahhh!" everyone turned to see Eiko holding herself with teeth clenched, shivering in pain. Leud had found a way to attack her directly again, in the process he had lost 1000 life points for Eiko's face down monster was 'marshmallon'.

"That's it!" Honda said punching the guard in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Yugi and Anzu ran to the dueling platform,

"Eiko!" Yugi exclaimed Eiko turned to look at her friend.

"Y-Yugi…" Eiko said weakly,

"Listen Eiko your in a shadow game!" 'A shadow game?' Eiko thought to herself, "its all in your head! It isn't really happening!" he called to her.

"So, it's a mind trick?" she asked having regained her strength. Yugi nodded, Eiko smiled she could beet a mind trick. "All right Leud, its time things turned around" Eiko said confidently. "I draw!" she exclaimed, "I play the card change of heart! To take your 'Slate Warrior', then I attack you directly!"

"Look you two! Kaiba said coming over, "you get off the dueling field now or I'll kick you out of the stadium."

"But…" Anzu started to say,

"Lets go Anzu," Yugi said walking towards the stands. Anzu ran to catch up to him.

"You jerk! Let me I go I need to-" Jonouchi was struggling with one of the guards.

"Jonouchi stop," Yugi said walking over.

"But Yug, what about Eiko?"

"I was going to ask the same thing," Anzu said. Yugi looked up at the dueling field.

"I think Eiko can handle it, she knows what's going on. Maybe she can beat it." Yugi said smiling. He walked back to the stands, Jonochi, Honda, and Anzu followed.

A few turns had passed; Eiko was down to 1200 life points while Leud had 2500. They both had one monster on the field. Needless to say it didn't look good for Eiko.

"Man Yugi this isn't looking good." Jonouchi said the group had relocated to their spot in the stands. Eiko had been able to lessen the pain by reminding herself that the pain wasn't real, but it was still there. And she had been bashed with pain in the last few turns. 'I've got to end this soon…' Eiko thought, 'or else I'm not going to make it.' Eiko drew a card, she smiled 'perfect' she thought.

"All right Leud, I play the card 'Kaleidoscope' on my 'Mystical Elf! Then I play the magic card 'Occult Attack'!" Leud started to get worried. 'What is she planning?' he thought to himself. "But before I attack you, I play my face down trap! 'Raigeki Break'!"

"'Raigeki Break'?" Anzu asked turning to Yugi.

"If you discard one card from your hand you destroy one card on the field" Yugi explained.

"So if she destroys Leud's defensive monster…" Anzu began.

"I destroy monster," Eiko said as Leud's monster disappeared from the field. "And I attack you directly!" Leud's life points dropped down to zero.

"Eiko Tsubaki is the winner!" the announcer shouted, "she moves on to the finals!" Eiko walked off the platform, she saw Seto waiting for her at the bottom.

"Very nice work Miss Tsubaki, quite impressive." Seto said in a serous tone, arms crossed.

"I'm sure you say that to all the girl duelists," Eiko said teasingly, Seto shifted his eyes.

"I really don't…" he said sheepishly, Eiko couldn't help but laugh. Her laughter stopped suddenly,

"Seto, if needed would you be able to catch a person at a moments notice?" it was a strange question, but Seto answered anyways.

"I guess, why?" Eiko suddenly fell forward into his arms.

"Your so reliable Seto," she said wearily. The shadow game had taken a lot out of her. Her eyes slowly closed.

Aoi- ah, Kaiba's speech pattern… it mostly consist of calling people idiots or dweebs. Dog or dead beet duelist if you're Jonochi. I got to admit its pretty fun to write. Its not often you get to type 'dweebs' or use the word 'idiot' in the same paragraph. Maybe it's this speech patter that makes Kaiba one of my favorite characters. (I know that why he is the favorite of my friend PK Phoenix's reason) All those who face palm should fave this story! … This is a plug!