A young man waited, watching some other duelists. He was Danny Grove, hobbyist mechanic and duelist. A 18 year old man, he was dressed in red pants, a yellow shirt covered with a blue jacket, with long cyan colors hair, tied up in a ponytail. His brown eyes scanned the competition, seeing if he could get read on them.

He was at a large-scale tournament, the "Tournament of Master Summoners". It had a minor entrance fee, and the prize money was pretty good, so Danny had decided to join! Even if he didn't win, it would be fun. And that was a good enough reason for him.

The room was rather full, a variety of other people being part of the tournament. It was already the second day, and plenty had already left due to losing in the first round, so a LOT of people had to have joined. Apparently, some were here by invite, while others simply signed up. What the difference was, Danny wasn't sure. Didn't matter to him, he supposed. "If everybody is as bad the person I fought yesterday...hehe, guess I better figure how to send my prize money!" He told himself, chuckling.

---

A man stood in a dark room, empty besides a single bookshelf and wooden desk, positioned above the stadium in which the tournament was taking place. He watched the duels intently, taking every move in, studying them. The shadows covered his face, masking his appearance, but he was quite obviously elderly, with long, fading blond hair, with streaks of grey. He smiled as he saw on particularly impressive move, making a note of the duelist who had pulled it off. He heard a door opened behind him, and held his hand up to show that he had heard.

"Sir, we might have found another candidate!" A young voice, the elder nodding.

"Good, good. How many now? Five, I believe...and only the second day. How lovely." He answered, slowly nodding his head. This would turn out to be a great success, he was sure of it. So many talented duelist had come to his little tournament, it filled his heart with joy. "ake sure they're attended to. Don't want the "candidates" to get out of our sights. do we?. It'll be such a pain to track them down, and I would hate to brother them more than I have to." The old man older, hearing a "yes, sir!" in response.

He turned back to the duels, to enjoy them once more. What a delightful game it was, he thought.

Amanda Lucas was milling around in one of the stadium's doorways, leaning against the wall. The 17 year-old didn't look very intimidating at first glance. Dressed in khaki short shorts, and wearing a faded yellow/green flannel shirt over a light grey shirt, her clothes were a sharp contrast to her blonde hair with pink and purple tips, which was done up in low, twin pigtails (at her friend's insistence. Maybe you'll find a more permanent dueling partner, her friend said with a sly wink).

She blew a stray stand of hair from her face as she examined her cards. It was her first constructed deck, and she still wasn't quite sure how to use it to its full potential. These Agents... Rachel said that they were the focal point of this deck... Rachel had been the one to formally introduce Amanda to Duel Monsters. You've played everything else, Mandy. You're practically the Queen of Games.
Sure, the mechanics were easy enough to her to understand, but she was far from a pro, which showed in her first match, where she won with less than 200 life points remaining. A narrow victory that came down to a lucky draw. Hopefully, things wouldn’t go that way during her next match…
Just then, she became aware of a shadow being cast over her, but before she was able to glance up at the figure approaching her, she heard the person rudely announce, “Outta my way!” A hand suddenly flew upward, knocking her cards from her hands, scattering them all over the place. Amanda turned and shouted, “HEY!” but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to chase the guy down before she could recover all of her cards, so she blew a random strand of hair from her face, and bent down to begin the recovery efforts.

"Nope."

A hand suddenly reached out, grabbing the rude man by the neck of his shirt, yanking him to a stop. "Come on dude. Stop being a jerk. It's not nice to run into a lady." Danny said, dragging the man back to Amanda. He had noticed the man rushing, and figured he would get into position to stop him if he was up to trouble. He didn't need to, but hey, being nice could make him a few friends, and those are always nice to have, Danny figured. "This man wants to say sorry to you. Doesn't he?" He shot the man a stare, turning him around to face Amanda, keeping his hand on him so he didn't try to escape.

"And help her pick up those cards, sheesh! Didn't your mom every tell you how to treat a lady?" He asked, turning his attention to the girl. "Sorry miss. Looks this this tournament doesn't have a "must not be a jerkface" entry restriction." He told her, chuckling.

Amanda was face down, on her hands and knees when she heard someone say, "This man wants to say sorry to you. Doesn't he?"

It took her a short time to realize that the guy was talking to her, and looked up, craning her neck to see a cyan-haired gentleman gripping the neck of the guy who knocked her cards from her hands. She leaned back on her knees and awaited the other guy's response. He responded with a muttered, "Yeah, sorry." He then quickly crouched down and found Amanda's remaining cards and handed them to her, likely fearing her savior's wrath if he didn't comply. When Amanda appeared satisfied that she had all of her cards (she performed a quick count to make sure), the guy quickly got up and left without a word.

"Sorry miss. Looks this this tournament doesn't have a "must not be a jerkface" entry restriction."

Amanda brushed her legs off and stood up, then brushed that damned stray hair from her face. She let out a light chuckle at the gentleman's joke. "Yeah, heh, I suppose not." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and glanced downward. None of the other guys who witnessed Jerkface knock her cards from her hands had even tried to step up to help; such chivalry was something she'd only seen in roleplaying games. "You don't have to call me Miss. It's uh, Amanda..."

(oops sorry for the delay. haven't been feeling well!)

"Well, hello Amanda." The man smiled, holding out his hand. "I'm Danny." He hadn't really helped her out due to "chivalry" or anything. He just didn't like people being jerks, and as such, stop them when they did! It was his part to help make the world a better place, he figured, and as such, he was perfectly fine with doing it! "I'm sorry about that, some people... it's a friggin card game, not something that involves the fate of the world or something. People can slow down." He sighed, shaking his head. He chuckled, seeing some of the looks for calling it "just a card game", some people here taking it VERY serious.

"...Oh! Weren't you that girl that won with only 200 life points?" He asked, suddenly recognizing her. "That's was a pretty good duel! It was pretty tense watching it." He complimented. The one duel he was in was rather boring, on the other hand.

Amanda took the guy's hand and shook it; her grip was light, but not limp. Her father had always taught her the importance of a good handshake. She laughed when he said that it was just a card game, and that the fate of the world wasn't at stake. "I agree," she replied. "I've played enough games to know the difference between fantasy and reality..." She was about to tell him how she was just starting out when he suddenly recognized her. She blushed deeply. Her near-loss was something of an embarrassment to her, but she was put at ease when he said that he thought the battle was pretty tense. At least someone had a good time during her duel... She gave a soft chuckle when she thought about it.

In all honesty, she hadn't been paying too much attention to the duels, unless she was in them, so she felt slightly embarrassed once again as she asked, "So, how did yours go? I mean, you won, obviously..."

"uhh...well." Danny sighed, scratching his cheek. "It was boring. Flat out. I Don't know if the other guy just sucked or I'm just that good, but it was over quickly. Not very fun, sad to say." He shrugged. It was a disappointing match, yeah, but hopefully there would be better ones in the future! "Anyways, good luck in your next duel! Hope it goes better for you." He told Amanda, turning around and beginning to walk off.

Suddenly, however, he was stopped by a man in a suit. "Excuse me. Danny Glover and Amanda Lucas?" The man asked, looking the two over. A tall, bald headed man wearing sunglasses, he gave off an intimidating air.

"Uh...yeah. That's me." Danny answered, stepping back a bit. He noticed a badge on the man's suit, one that belonged to the guards of the tournament. One would think that wasn't needed, but some people got REALLY serious about card games. "Do you need anything?" He asked, putting his guard up. He was SURE he hadn't done anything wrong, and he had a good hunch Amanda didn't ether

"I would like you two to come with me."

---

The elderly man smiled, his bright blue eyes watching a small number of duelists enter the room. At the moment, there was only three, but more would be coming soon. They had already found a sixth and seventh candidate soon after the fifth, which simply delighted him. The entire plan was going wondrously, and he wanted to thank each person in the room for it when he could.

"A shame." He thought, closing his eyes. "That only one of them will remain alive at the end."

Amanda nodded when the guard called on her. "Yeah, I'm Amanda..." She wondered if she and Danny might be in trouble. Maybe Jerkface went and told the guy that she and Danny messed with him, or something. She took a quick gulp and prepared to tell her entire side of the story when they got to wherever they were going. She cast a glance at Danny and hoped that nothing bad was about to happen.

Danny gave her a nod, sharing her hoping. He was sure if that man had run off and lied, all Danny or Amanda would have to do is explain. After all, it was two people's words against one, right?

So imagine Danny's surprise when they were led into a room with other people. 4 people, all people Danny was pretty sure had been winners in he tournament so far.

It was a pretty nice room, all things considered. Small, lit by candle, and filled with bookshelves and paintings made with warm colors. The floor was hardwood, Danny guessed, as it was covered in carpeting. It was a pretty comfy room, a good place to take a nap. The other people in the room were seated on couches, some looking annoyed, one looking mad, and some looking confused.

"Please, take a seat, you two."

Danny looked up, seeing an old man in a business suit. One who had long, faded bond hair with streaks of grey, and a long, thin bear the same color. "Sure..." Danny muttered, sitting down, muttering a hello to the person sitting next to him.

"As soon as the last person comes, we can begin." The old man explained, smiling. "Feel free to talk to each other in the mean time!"

Amanda was stunned when she entered the posh room. She nodded to the older gentleman when he asked that she and Danny take a seat. "Okay." She took a seat near Danny as he was the only person she knew for the time being. She, too, recognized the others as being previous winner, and she wondered if everyone who won their respective duels would be coming here.

No, that can't be right...there should be more people here, then. And the guy said he's waiting for one more person. Something doesn't make sense.... She shifted uncomfortably I her seat as she whispered to anyone who would be listening, "What do you think is going on?"

"Beats the hell out of me." Somebody responded, a person who seemed most unpleased to be there, as the final person entered.

Th old man gave a hearty laugh and a large grin, quite pleased. "Wonderful! We're all here. Now, let's get to it, shall we? To be honest with you all...THhe tournament you all been in is not the main event. Oh no. The true reason for this tournament, only a few special people can partake in! And you are some of those special people. Isn't that wonderful?" He asked, genuinely cheerful about at this. If he had any hidden plans, he was damn good at hiding it.

"You see, you all have the potential. The potential to be summoners. To draw out monsters from the cards, to show their true selves...for example." He said, holding out his hand, a kuriboh card in it. Suddenly,t he card begun to glow, and a figure escaped frmt he card. A brown pff of hair, with large eyes and green feet. It made a chirping noise, floating over to Amanda and sitting in her nap, looking up at her. If she felt it, she would find it was QUITE real, warm and fuzzy to the touch.

The elder chuckled, at both the display and people's reaction. Danny's was quite amusing, as the man had gone wide-eyed at the sight. "Well, miss, it seems to like you! In that case, would you like to be the first to receive the power I wish to give?"