Episode 62: Finalists

Yuni is standing before Oblivion, seemingly in the middle of a duel. Yuni has Cyber-Tech Magician (Dark/Level 7/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK 2500/DEF 2100) next to him, and Oblivion has a massive monster hidden in shadows. Yuni says in an overly heroic voice, "Your time is through Oblivion, I'm taking you down!"

Oblivion returns, in an exaggerated villainous tone, "You will never defeat me! I am invincible! I am all-mighty! I am Darkness!"

"We'll see about that, Cyber-Tech Magician, attack with Cyber Magic Attack!" Cyber-Tech Magician unleashes a massive, much larger than normal, blast of magic that consumes Oblivion's monster, and Oblivion is blasted back (Oblivion's LP: 0). Yuni approaches him and says, "Evil will never triumph, for I am Yuni Oha, the Lord of Chaos, and hero of prophecy!"

Oblivion raises his head and says, "Yuni wake up."

Yuni looks confused. He asks, "What did you say?"

Oblivion repeats, "Yuni wake up, Yuni wake up, Yuni wake up." He continues to repeat it, and as he does his voice changes to match that of Yuni's grandpa shouting, "Yuni wake up!"

The dream ends and Yuni wakes up to see his grandpa jumping up and down shouting at Yuni to wake up.

Yuni wipes the sleep from his eyes and asks groggily, "Okay, okay, I'm awake, I'm awake. What is it?"

Grandpa, sounding very excited, exclaims, "You've won Yuni! You've won!"

Yuni looks interested. "I've won what?"

"Well, you haven't quite won, but you are a finalist in the World of Duel Tournament!" He holds out a small handheld hologram projector.

Yuni bolts out of bed and swipes the projector from his hands. Yuni presses a button and activates it. Holographic text begins to scroll. Yuni reads aloud, "Congratulations Yuni Oha! As of six o'clock this morning, your score in the World of Duel Tournament ranks among the top eight duelists in the world, and as such, the Ministry of Dueling would like to cordially invite you to participate in the World of Duel Tournament Finals. If you should except this great honor, please arrive at the Ministry of Dueling Headquarters at promptly nine o'clock a.m. If you do not live within travel distance from Domino City, please report to the closest teleportation station, and we shall pay the fare for your immediate teleportation to the Ministry, simply show this message to the operator. If you chose not to except, please notify the Ministry before seven o'clock a.m. so that your spot may be filled by a runner up. We look forward to seeing the advanced dueling skills you displayed in order to total so many points in action. Good luck in the finals, and once again congratulations. Signed, the Ministry of Dueling."

A tear comes to Yuni's grandpa's eye. He says with emotion, "Imagine that, my little Yuni in the finals of the largest dueling tournament ever held. I'm so proud, your parents would have been as well. I wish they were here to see this." Yuni nods in agreement. He continues, "I guess that I'll just give you some time to prepare. I'll be sure to watch all your duels on the holovision. Good luck Yuni!" He walks out.

Yuni thinks, Wow, this is great! And to think, I wasn't even trying to win the tournament. We were forced into every single duel we have participated in during this tournament. It will be nice to have some duels for the sake of sport.

Yugi agrees, It sure will, just don't lose focus on our target, Oblivion. Which by the way, 'Evil will never triumph.' Really?

Yuni looks embarrassed.

Brutus is snoring loudly in his bed. A woman, presumably his mother, approaches his bed, but remains just out of screen, so that barely any details can be observed, only some of the back of her body. She shouts, "Hey Brutus, wake up!" Brutus continues to snore. She sighs and pulls out a small device, of which she presses a button on. A loud fog horn-like sound is released.

Brutus bolts up out of bed in panic. He shouts, "Ah, who's there!?" He looks up and says, "Oh, why'd you have to wake me up mom? It's only," he looks at the holo-clock and exclaims, "six ten! Why'd you have to wake me up so early?!"

She hands him a holo-projector and says, "This just arrived for you, I thought that you might want to see it."

Brutus excitedly grabs and starts to read it off hurriedly. "Congratulations Brutus. Blah, blah, blah. Among the top eight duelist in the world! Blah, blah, blah. World of Duel Finals! Yaddy, yahda, we look forward to seeing your skills!" Brutus throws down the projector and exclaims, "Yeah, I'm one of the top eight duelists in the world! Yeah! Finally, the respect that I deserve! Look out finals, here comes Brutus!" Brutus starts to dash out of the room in excitement.

His mom scolds, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Brutus looks down at himself and realizes that he's still wearing his night clothes. He says slightly embarrassed, "Oh yeah…right…"

His mom shakes her head and leaves the room.

Tori is sitting behind the front desk at the Domino Museum of Dueling History. She's taking the chance to look through the cards in a deck. The terminal in front of her lights up and blinks several times. A computer voice chimes, "You've got holo-mail."

Tori says to herself, "Interesting. I wonder who'd be mailing me at this time in the morning." She makes a few motions, and a hologram of a message appears. She reads it to herself. She looks surprised and happy. She looks over to her left, were a man wearing a museum uniform is sitting. She beckons him over and says, "Hey, come look at this this."

The man walks over and quickly reads over the message. He smiles and says, "Congratulations Tori, that's great!"

Tori asks, "So you don't mind if I take the rest of the day off to do this?"

The man says excitedly, "The rest of the day? These finals will probably last at least two days! But of course, just think of all the publicity the museum will get if you duel in history's greatest Duel Monsters tournament! It would be grand! Take the week off if you need it! Just remember to give us a shout out!"

Tori smiles. "Of course I will." She runs out.

Zenith is walking through the streets of Domino in the early morning light. He thinks, Alright, today's the last day of the tournament. I need to find some more duels to ensure that I make it into the finals. I may not have been able to duel as much while trying to help Yugi, but at least I've gotten plenty of duels in during the mornings.

There is a buzzing chime. Zenith pulls out a data-pad from his pockets. He presses a button on it, and a message scrolls. Zenith smiles.

Seto is doing work behind a desk on his terminal. Kodane is hanging upside-down on a nearby couch, looking bored. He complains, "Come on Seto, I'm bored. Let's do something. I've been caged up for the past four months…literally. I need to get out!"

Seto, without looking up from his work, says, "Patience Kodane, I'm almost done working. Once I finish this monthly earnings report, we can do something. How about we go to Kaiba Land?"

Kodane bursts up and says excitedly, "Oh boy, Kaiba Land!" Seto smiles.

A knock sounds from the door. Kodane jumps to his feet and shouts, "I'll get it!" He runs to the door and opens it. A Kaiba Corp. worker hands something to him and walks away. Kodane takes a few seconds to observe it, and then says excitedly, "Hey, Seto! Hey, Seto!"

Seto, without looking up, mutters, "Uh huh?"

"I've got something better then Kaiba Land! Look at this!" He places the holo-projector down in front of Seto.

Seto activates it and reads the message. He taps the communicator on his chest, and says, "Please cancel all of my appointments over the next few days…I've got a tournament to attend to."

Kodane shouts in excitement, "Yeah!"

Pacing back and forth, in a room of blinding white light is Ma'at. He looks as if he's trying to decide on something. A woman with blond hair, wearing a pure white gown walks into the room. Ma'at stops pacing and looks at her questioningly. She says, "Forgive my intrusion, my lord. I bring a message for you."

Ma'at demands, "From who?"

"The Ministry of Dueling."

That piques his interest. He asks, "Why, what is its purpose?"

"I am not sure, I have not read it yet. I brought it straight to you."

Ma'at nods and take the holo-projector from her. He views over the message. He says, "How interesting. It would appear that as a by-product of my duels with the ones of Darkness and Chaos, I have accidentally entered myself in a dueling tournament. And with that, I have been qualified for the finals of said tournament."

The girl asks, "Should I notify them that you will not be attending?"

Ma'at smiles. "No, I could use a diversion, not to mention, it might give me a chance to hunt more dark souls. Order does not allow for accidents to occur, everything happens for a reason. It was not a fluke that I was invited, the Grand Order would not allow it." He thinks for a moment. "Prepare my private teleporter. I'll leave immediately."

The girl nods and walks out.

Oblivion is sitting on his throne. He is approached by Scourge, who bows and offers up a small holo-projector to Oblivion. Oblivion takes it and reads the message over.

Scourge asks, "If you would be so gracious as to answer me this, why are you in these finals? I thought that the plan was to have Seto destroy Yuni for us."

Oblivion nods. "You should know, I always have a back-up plan, especially after Ruin failed us, I am not willing to leave the fate of the Disciples of Darkness in anybody's hands but my own. No, Seto is only to make my job easier. Once he knocks out Yuni, I'll defeat him, I will still be the victor of the tournament, and the Crown of Kings will be mine. Once I have that, and the Another Hope card, no one will be able to stop me. I will be truly invincible."

Yuni is walking down a sidewalk of Domino City in a business district. Yugi is saying, I still can't believe that there would be an entire governmental office dedicated to dueling. So much has changed.

Yuni nods. Yeah, ever since your time, dueling has gotten more and more popular. It was just over 600 years ago when dueling reached an all time high. Between massive companies like Kaiba Corp. making more profit than ever, and the occasional nut job trying to destroy the world with dueling, Both Yuni and Yugi laugh, it was quickly realized that there needed to be someone to organize and regulate it all. Yuni beckons to a massive skyscraper that he approaches and continues, So the Ministry of Dueling was born.

Yugi exclaims, Hey, look who it is! Yuni towards the entrance of the building, and realizes that Tori, Brutus, and Zenith are standing outside the door.

Yuni runs towards them and shouts, "Hey guys, what are you doing here!?"

Brutus smiles and replies, "Isn't it obvious, we're here to duel! We all made it into the finals!"

Yuni catches up with them. "Wow, that's great, you're telling me that all four of us made it?"

Tori replies, "We sure did. It looks like those Disciples of Darkness weren't so worthless after all, they allowed us to rack up all the dueling points that we needed."

Zenith, who looks absolutely excited, shouts, "This is great! I can't believe that I'm in the finals of the largest dueling tournament ever held! This is amazing!"

Tori says, "We figured that since you had more points than any of us, that you'd have to have been invited as well, so we've been waiting here for you to show up."

Yuni smiles. "Thanks guys. I guess we'd better all go in now."

Before they do, Brutus says, "Hold on for second. Here comes the bringer of gloom."

They all stop talking and see Seto and Kodane walking towards the door. The four step out of the way of their way. Kodane smiles at Yuni, but Seto looks down at him sternly, as if scolding him. Kodane quickly looks down. While walking through the group, Seto completely ignores them, and walks to the door, which automatically slides open. As he is walking in, Seto glances at Yuni, as if in challenge and determination. Yuni returns the same look. Seto smirks as the door closes.

Brutus makes a fake shivering motion. He complains, "Ugh, that guy gives me the chills every time. It's just not natural that someone could constantly be so depressed. Its just not humanly possible. Maybe he's an alien."

Zenith laughs and says, "Hey, be careful, you don't want to offend the aliens." Zenith and Brutus break out laughing. Zenith adds, "I still want his autograph."

Tori asks, "Hey, did any of you guys notice that boy following him? Who do you think that was?"

Yuni responds, "That was his little brother."

Brutus says, "Huh, I didn't know that the rich boy had a brother. How did you know Yuni?"

Yuni sighs. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later." Yuni beckons them forward. "Come on, let's go get registered." The group walks into the building.

The inside is a grand foyer, with vaulted ceilings and marble floors. In the center of the room is a magnificent fountain, with a statue of the three Egyptian God cards in its center. Around the room are several more statues, ones of Maxamillion Pegasus, Yugi Muto, and Seto Kaiba. Each statue is accompanied by another statue of their signature monsters, Relinquished, Dark Magician, and Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Brutus muses, "Wow, this place is amazing! You could easily fit ten of those massive, ancient Industrial Illusions duel fields in here!"

They approach a counter on the opposite side of the room. On the other side of the counter is a life-size holographic image a female clerk. The hologram states, "Hello, welcome to the headquarters for the Ministry of Dueling. What may I do for you?"

Yuni answers, "We're finalists in the World of Duel Tournament."

The holo-clerk responds, "Congratulations on making it to the finals. The opening ceremony of the finals will begin in five minutes. Please step onto the teleporter pad to my right," she beckons to her right, "and you will be transported to the top floor, where you will be given further instructions. Thank you for visiting the Ministry of Dueling, and have a nice day." The clerk fades away.

Zenith says excitedly, "Well come on, what are you guys waiting for!? Let's go already! Last one there's a rotten White Stone of Legend!" He runs onto the teleporter pad and warps away.

Brutus shouts, "Hey, get back here!" He rushes after him.

Tori smiles at Yuni and says, "Well, here we go." They both nod at each other. Tori steps onto the pad, and warps.

Yuni thinks, Alright, let's do this Yugi.

Yugi responds, I'm with you all the way. Yuni steps onto the pad.

On the other side is the rooftop, high above the rest of city. In front of Yuni is his friends and the Ossius brothers. A large stage is set up, and people from the press, and other spectators are swarmed around it. A man wearing a suit walks up to them and says, "All finalists are to proceed to their assigned chamber behind the stage in order to get ready for the opening ceremony." He looks towards Kodane. "All others are to wait in the spectator area."

Kodane complains, "Come on, I want to stay with Seto."

Seto looks at his brother and says sternly, "Do what you're told Kodane, we don't want to upset our hosts."

Kodane sighs. "Okay. Fine." He walks off towards the indicated direction.

The man in the suit insists, "Now come on, the ceremony is only minutes away, get moving." They all walk behind the stage. Behind the stage are eight labeled doors. The man continues to explain, "Each of you shall wait in the room assigned to you. In," the man looks at his watch, he says in surprise, "exactly 46 seconds, the Minister of Dueling will begin his speech, and then one by one will call you out. You will exit through the other door in the room when your name is called, but only when your name is called." With a sense of urgency, he says, "Now shoo, off to your rooms. Go, go, go!" They all walk into their assigned rooms

On the front side of the stage, the Minister of Dueling rises up from below the stage on an hover platform. An applause is heard. The Minister announces, "Welcome one and all to the opening ceremony of the World of Duel Finals!" A roaring applause is heard. "I'm sure that I can speak for the entire world when I say that this is one of the most exciting events to ever occur in Duel Monsters history! Not since the Shadow Games were waged in ancient Egypt has there been such an important series of duels! It is my honor, as the Minister of Dueling, to introduce you to the eight best duelists in the entire world! First, our eighth place finisher! He's a 16 year old boy from here in Domino City. While his professional dueling career is unheard of, he has placed on the top of several local tournaments! With a total of 1,698 points, I give you Zenith Xenox!" Some fireworks shoot out of the borders of the first doorway. After the smoke clears, no one is there. There is a deafening silence. After a moment the Minister says awkwardly, "Um…I said Zenith Xenox!"

The door slowly opens and Zenith peers out. He can barely be heard saying, "Um…sorry. I was just so nervous…" He stays half hidden behind the door.

The Minister covers up his microphone, looks back at Zenith, and shouts in a hushed voice, "Get over here boy! You're ruining the ceremony!"

Zenith looks back and forth and says, "Oh yeah, right! Sorry!" He runs up next to the Minister and scratches the back of his head, feeling awkward. The crowd laughs.

The Minister attempts to continue, "Anyways, now that we have that over with," the crowd laughs again, "on to the next finalist. He was the runner up in the recent Duel Sanctuary Tournament! He's another local from here in Domino City! He's known for an all out strength strategy! I give you Brutus Marc, with a grand total of 1,887 points!" Pyrotechnics go off and Brutus bursts out of his door, waving and striking several poses along his walk. He settles next to Zenith.

The Minister continues, "In sixth place, with 2,277 points, she's an expert at the history of Duel Monsters, and works at a local museum! She made it to the first round finals of the Duel Sanctuary Tournament! Introducing, Tori Rekishi!" More fireworks, and Tori comes out of the smoke. She walks up next to Brutus and waves at the crowd.

"Our next finalist has actually opted out of making a public appearance. However, we can tell you that she earned a grand total of 3,587 points!" The crowd claps. "We'll be meeting her later today when she's put into her first duel. This next contestant however, we'll be meeting now! He's another upstart duelist, and is ranked among the top ten duelists to look out for! Another local resident of Domino City, he was the champion of the Duel Sanctuary Tournament! With a grand total of 4,557 points, I give you Yuni Oha!" Yuni comes out with fireworks around him. He waves to the audience and walks into line.

Once there, he takes a chance to tell Yugi, Hey, this is as much for you as it is for me. You got at least half of my points.

Yugi answers, I guess you can mark another finalist position to my record. Yuni smiles.

The Minister continues, "Next is someone that I'm sure we've all heard of! He's the current Kaiba of the Kaiba Corporation, and one of the world champion of Duel Monsters! Scoring an impressive 6,534 points, here he is, Seto Ossius!"

The crowd goes crazy, specifically, the cheers of teenage girls can be heard. Seto steps out, and as if he doesn't care, casually strolls to his spot. Kodane can be heard shouting, "Go Seto!"

"Our next duelist is full of mystery! He comes from America, and leads an organization known as the Guardians of Order!" Yuni and friends all show their shock. "He scored an incredible total of 8,432 points! He goes by the alias Ma'at!" Ma'at steps out. Like Seto, he walks as if he doesn't care. Once he reaches his position, he looks to his left at and stares at Yuni, as if to issue a challenge. Yuni stares back as if to except it.

"Finally, we have the one who scored the most points. He scored so much, that he completely obliterated any estimates at the maximum point count. He scored a total of 23,572 points, almost three times what second place achieved. Nothing is known about him, except that he goes by the name of Oblivion!" Fireworks go off and Oblivion walks out. He stops to smile and wave, and then walks up to his spot.

Yuni and friends are absolutely shocked. Yuni thinks, Ma'at was bad enough, but Oblivion! Really!? So much for a friendly competition.

"And so you have it! These are our finalists!" The crowd goes wild. "Now for the most anticipated of our announcements, for the past week we have kept the public in the dark as to the location of the finals! Now it is time to reveal it! Being the first worldwide Duel Monsters Tournament, it is only fitting that the tournament takes place up above the Earth!" The crowd is speechless. "That's right, we're taking Duel Monsters in to outer space!" A giant applause, and looks of shock from Yuni, Brutus, Tori, and Zenith.