In Anima City's Topaz District, roughly in the center of the district, there was the G-Chronus Duel Stadium. Built from the corporate dollars of Gero Anima - the company's founder - the stadium was the place to be during the G-Clock Open. Today was the opening day of the tournament, and on the massive holographic screen above the stadium's front doors was the man himself: Gero Anima. To his side was an end table with a Duel Disk on it; that newer model his company was producing to enhance the dueling experience while letting him passively research such phenomena as the heart of the cards and spirit partners. Setting a hand on the Duel Disk, Gero cleared his throat and began his welcoming speech. No doubt the crowds amassed outside the stadium would hear him.

"As the tournament's founder and host, I would like to be the first one to welcome all of you, participants and spectators alike, to the second annual G-Clock Open. To those of you participating, I have a small piece of bad news. There's been a glitch in the database, and we must re-construct the tournament brackets from the ground up. This will take some time. Please enter the stadium, and use this time as you please. You will all be provided with a G-Clock Duel Disk to use in the tournament once it is your time to duel. This tournament shall be single elimination, with the losers of each semifinal round dueling to determine the third-place winner. Along with the title of the G-Clock Champion, the first-place winner of this tournament shall be rewarded with a generous cash prize. Now please, enter."

-- Earlier that Day--

"Remind me why you're doing something this foolish again Amelia?" Joshua said from the living room of the apartment he and his long-term guest lived in. He was going through his deck, reviewing the cards he had in it and editing it as he saw fit. Her deck was close by but he didn't touch it on account that he only advised the young girl.

"Because I want to help. You've been kind enough to watch out for me so I was hoping I could help out in the tournament somehow." Amelia said as she came out of her room and walked over to the table.

"If your parents recognize you and try to get you back, there probably nothing he could do to stop them you know." Joshua replied calmly" Are you prepared for that possibility?"

Amelia didn't reply as she just sat at the table and looked a bit nervous as a result of his question. Joshua sighed as he ruffled her hair and gave her a small smile
"We'll cross that bridge when it comes. Did you enter under a fake name though? That might help." He said

Amelia gave him an annoyed look as she straightened her hair and tried to make it look nice
"Yeah but I don't think it's any good. I entered under Alexis Alison ." she said

"Could be worse I guess." Joshua said before looking at the clock" C'mon let's grab something to eat before the tournament starts. Anything in particular you want?"

-- At the Duel Stadium--

Joshua and Amelia listened to the speech given by Gero. Joshua sighed in annoyance at the end.
"Oi vae. Well seems like we have some free time. Might as well scout out the competition." he said before leading Amelia into the stadium.

From beneath the rim of her straw hat. Shana was grinning maniacally with excitement, gleefully anticipating the upcoming tournament. There as gonna be so many new opponents! So many new decks! Flikkar had to be excited about this, too! For a tiny flame, that little guy sure loved to duel!

She frowned slightly at the mention of a glitch messing things up, but they seemed to be on top of that. Official matches shouldn't be delayed too long, hopefully. Once the speech was over, the red-headed avatar of boundless energy quickly made her way into the stadium, marveling at the prospective opponents around her.
She was well aware of her chances of failing. She wanted to duel as many people as possible, but winning everything was something she could recognise as being far too unrealistic Regardless, that shouldn't get in the way of enjoyment. Duel Monsters was a game, after all, and the most important thing about it was that you simply had to have fun!

Shana reached into her pouch, where her deck was located, and drew.the top card, looking at Flikkar with an excited grin, "So, little buddy," she whispered, "Whaddaya say we put on an epic show and go down blazing, huh?"

Aeron slowly skated towards the entrance, Ifanc floating behind him as he moved towards his destination.

"Come on, come on, we have to get there!"

Aeron sighed, this outburst being far from the first from his spirit partner during their trip across the city. He whispered, feeling sightly stupid talking to the spirit that not everybody could see while in public.

"It's just there. We're hardly late, either."

The boy allowed his board to roll to a halt, jumping off once it came to a standstill and flipping it up with his foot before taking hold of it and walking into the crowd. As the screen turned on he looked up, gazing into it like everyone else around him. Little emotion was visible on his face but he was excited for the tournament and attempted to move through the crowd towards the front as it started moving, gently pushing past people, not out of manners but so as to lower the chances of someone complaining.

In the poorer parts of Anima City, Lars sat nonchalantly on a bench as he messed around on his phone. Normally something like this wouldn't have been such a smart idea in these parts of the large city since it eventually would make some guy want to mug you, but the duelist wasn't concerned. People, at least here where he lived, had come to know of his name and abilities, and would not dare mess with him unless they wanted to risk losing and be punished in some humiliating way.

"Huh? Oh... nice."

Lars commented softly as a small smirk appeared on his face. The G-Clock Tournament had finally been initiated by the city's founder, Gero Anima. It was-

"About time!"

A shrill and childlike voice broke the silence Lars currently had around him, and instantly a strange and fiendish metallic looking creature was floating near his head.

"It's been for-frigging-ever since we started to wait for this thing to start! Are we going to go now? Do we get to duel more people? Do I get to make a stunning performance while Steelswarm Mantis-"

Lars cut him off out loud.

"Yes, Scout!"

"To everything?"

"Obviously. Now, want to keep it down a bit? It's compelling for me to just shout at you when you're being hyper even if other people can't see or hear you. That in turn just provides for a weird looking picture."

"Ok." Scout laughed and then sat himself on Lars shoulder. The teenager stood up and began to head in the direction of where the tournament would be held. It was obviously a long walk from here to there, but obviously he'd be making use of some transportation systems along the way. He didn't mind walking for long periods of time anyway, at least not anymore since he moved here.

Besides, it gave him time to think and mentally prepare himself. Lars pulled out his signature deck from a box found in the inner pocket of his coat, running his fingers over the cards everyone around had come to be wary of. Steelswarms, the destructive horde of demonic creatures. He had used this deck for some time now and couldn't wait to finally use it against other people from different places. Placing it back in the box and the box within his inner coat pocket, Lars continued to walk and think of several possible scenarios and the things he could do with his cards to deal with them.

This would be a fun and interesting thing, and he hoped that he'd get more out of it than what he anticipated.

Gao grinned at the announcement. He had been waiting for quite a while to show people what he could do and now he was almost there. He walked forward brushing his black hair from his face as he gets swallowed by the crowd. A small blueish cat-like creature with brilliant red gem stones in her forehead and tail appeared in his vision. "Ruby what are you doing?" he said smiling before realizing that no one else could see the little creature that had turned and made a meowing sound seeming to smile at him. Jeez she knows I can't talk with her here...hell she can't even talk to me. he thought as he entered the stadium. Seeing the immense crowd gave him a few chills but he inhaled and moved on hoping he could find someone he could talk to and hang out with.

Lars had finally arrived at the stadium where the tournament would be held, the time of travel from his part of the Obsidian District taking shorter than he had expected. That was okay though, as now Lars could easily watch for potential opponents as he observed those who rushed to get into the stadium.

*Hey look! A cat!*

Lars looked in the direction where Scout was currently pointing towards, just enough to see what appeared to be a real life version of a Ruby Carbuncle monster walking through the crowds alongside someone else.

"A spirit partner eh? Obviously I knew I wasn't the only one. The fact that there is someone here who also has a spirit monster means this will be a more interesting and possibly tougher tournament than I thought!"

That was okay though, Lars needed to test his skills and luck anyway. Hopefully he'd be good enough to last for a few duels and not be booted so quickly from the tournament. It would be a really crappy way of honoring his friends if the tournament they had wanted to go to was lost by him in like... one duel. Afterall, they were the main reason Lars was doing this tournament. He sighed as he remembered them.

*No worries, we'll be fine....*

Lars nodded. Of course they would. They would definitely not go down without showing whomever they fought the ferocity of the Steelswarms!

He began to think about some of the rumors that circled the man, Gero Anima. Lars and the person he just saw both had a spirit partner, and it was commonly known by everyone that Anima had a fascination with the phenomenon. The tournament could easily be a means for him to study those duelists who experienced the phenomenon, but to what end? Lars shrugged simply, and walked around slowly as he watched for potential opponents.

*Another one, this one bright and shiny... and sizzling...*

A red haired girl with a hat and an eager expression stood before the stadium with another monster by her side. He'd never seen that monster before though, but it was amazing to see another person with a spirit partner nonetheless.

"Three of us already...."

Though he had headphones over both ears, Ian heard Gero Anima’s announcement. The headphones were off, an easy trick for listening to other speak when they thought no one could hear. Unfortunately, no one nearby was saying anything of much import. Instead of listening, Ian’s eyes scanned the competition. Here and there, dotted about the crowd, were spirits monsters. It wasn’t often so many were gathered in one place. What could Anima be planning to learn, or rather, what did he plan to do with what he learned?

Those were questions for someone else to worry about. Ian Rouse yawned, using the hand with his phone in it to cover his mouth, and as he did so he took a dozen pictures of the people in the crowd. Match each face to a deck and he’d know his opponents’ decks before the duels even started. Well, some people change it up each time, but not most.

A white hand tugged on Ian’s arm. His spirit partner in crime, Azure Child, with his white skin and hair and his blue eyes streaming liquid sapphire, pointed at the nearest other duel spirit. “Yes Azu, I see. Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle.” Azure Child frowned at Ian. If Ian wouldn’t go over and introduce himself, then Azure Child would. It wasn’t often that he got to meet other people besides Ian who could see him, and dealing with Ian for so long could get annoying.

Azure Child placed himself in front of the boy who had the Ruby Carbuncle spirit partner, clasped his hands behind his back, and put on his biggest smile. Ian leaned against the wall nearby and rolled his eyes. *Click* Taking a picture of the boy Azu had approached, Ian searched for who the duelist was.

Steelswarm Scout's role in the Steelswarm Army was obviously to spy on the enemy and return to his superiors with learned information. He was sneaky and knew a great deal of making himself seem inconspicuous. Because of this, Scout was easily able to tell what it was that the new and shady looking duelist was doing each time he "yawned".

*Psst, hey Lars...*

Scout whispered in Lars' left ear to tell him of what he just saw.

"Doing a bit of recon himself, huh? Not surprised, I'd want to know what I'm up against too."

Lars thought about switching his main deck with his Archfiend one. It would give off a false impression to the spying duelist and to anyone who was trying to scope him out. Then again, what good would it really do? By the looks of this guy, he was probably from the Obsidian District, or at the very least lived there for a time. If that was so, then he probably already knew what he used. Oh well, didn't hurt to do as such. Besides, if there were any premature challengers out here, it'd help in not giving away his moves. Also, the old Archfiends needed another whirl. He turned his back and switched decks quickly.

*Don't call the King over.... he scares me...*

"Well his is called Terrorking for a reason. Relax, he rarely ever comes to me, it's Heiress or Stygian you need to concern yourself with."

"Didn't I say we should take the monorail?"

"Quiet, tattoo-boy," Alex seethed, obviously irritated that she missed the opening speech to the tournament. The audience was already entering from the side doors, the competitors going in through the front. Even though she didn't want to admit it, her spirit partner - Bountr Kenshin - was right. She should have taken the monorail. Somehow, he was always right. That was arguably her least favorite thing about him being around all the time, especially when other people couldn't see him being right about stuff. They generally got along though, if only out of necessity. Taking a look over the monsters that made up her deck - the Bountr archetype that was pretty much hit-or-miss each turn - she wondered who would be the first person to get a taste of their strength. She hoped it was some thug from Obsidian District. There always seemed to be plenty of those guys, somehow.

---

She was DuelBot Unit AI-1C3. However, for tournament purposes, she was Alice Seethree, an otherwise-ordinary resident of the Quartz District. The story was simple, and Alice's programmers had advised her to stick to it. They told her to think of it as a test of guile, which was something she was alright with. They also advised her to not disassemble any electronic devices she may be curious about. Especially the Duel Disk a tournament staff member was handing her. She disliked not being able to find out just how it operated on the inside. For now, all she could do was load up the memories of her deck and review just what can operate with what. Serene Psychic Witch can be used to search out Esper Girl, who can then synchro with Hushed Psychic Cleric (after using his effect, of course) to summon Magical Android. If the cleric banishes a Mental Seeker, it can synchro with the android for Thought Ruler Archfiend. Alice understood just how the second-place winner of last year's G-Clock Open got his position now. The combos were everywhere.

---

"Attention duelists," Gero's voice rang out through the speakers throughout the stadium; the speakers that always stood at the sides of large screens on the walls. "My staff and I have resolved the glitch in the system, and the tournament bracket is now fixed and ready for use." The otherwise-blank screens all lit up, revealing the bracket of sixteen competitors. "The first duel will now begin. Ian Rouse and Alexander Nyne, please report to the dueling stage in the center of the stadium. Best of luck to both of you." With a brief second of static, the speakers went silent. The G-Clock Open was now officially beginning, and by association all the wonders and drama that are associated with such things as tournaments.

About 5 and a half hours ago

*bing bing bing* *bing bing bi - *

Jax sat bolt upright knocking the alarm off just as he heard a neighing and a slight thud, Rose had jumped and Dullahan had dropped his head, the normal morning routine. Shaking his head Jax looked over to Dullahan who had jumped off his black horse Rose to collect his head - this always made the young duelist smile.

"Shut up Jax, dont forget the G -clock open starts today, so get ya' arse in gear and get there already!"

"Alright, alright - keep your head on.... oops." Jax couldnt help but laugh as yet another head pun passed his lips which earned him a growl from his spirit partner, Ghostrick Dullahan, - it was moments like this that Jax wondered back to how he had come to see his spirit partner but he shook his head and began to get ready ...

He was soon ready and grabbed his deck and disk, but soon left his rather tatty looking disk as his partner, now galloping through the air next to him reminded him about the G clock open providing their contestants with brand spanking new Duel disks and so with out further thought they left their flat and headed out to the dueling dome ready to take names and kick butt!...

---

present

Jax and Dullahan walked through the entrance to the dome to the sight of lots of people, most of them spectating but a few of them dueling, but who were the competition he did not know at this point - nor did he care, he had many reasons for being here and no one was going to stop him, he smirked as he picked up his duel disk and set it on his left arm, he had not been there but about half an hour before the first match was announced.

"Damn you Dullahan" Jax spoke in his calm almost monotonous voice. "We missed the opening ceremonies."

"Dont blame me Jax - And I would of thought that you would of had enough of that what with - "

"Shush, no need to talk about that now, lets get some good seats and popcorn to see the first round."

(Note, all speech in italics is Dullahan speaking)

Gao smiled seeing the small white creature he assumed was a duel spirit in front of him. By no means did he recognize the monster before him but he smiled anyway. The announcement was made and Gao saw that he was dueling soon and decided to set up and double check his deck while he hunkered down to watch the first match. As he walked to the Duelist area he chuckled to himself.
Man i can't believe how nervous I am He looked up deciding to just how many people he would be dealing with.and was shocked to see the group littered with duel spirits.
Wow so Ruby and the little white one aren't the only spirits here...What is up with that.. he thought before pulling his deck from his hip worn deck box and sitting down looking through it trying to imagine the perfect opening turn when Ruby poker her head up between his arms meowing cutely.
"I swear Ruby," Gao whispers smiling at her. "you're goin' to be the end of me." She meows again and moves floating next to him and watching over his shoulder. He smiles looking down at his Rainbow Dragon cards and getting anxious for his duel.

Convincing the entire gang to not accompany her hadn't been easy. In the end, she'd only been able to get them down to cheering from the sidelines. Really, she wasn't sure why it was such a large group... but at least she could rest assured that she had supporters, even if it was only for one round. Well, she could at least take comfort in being able to show up this time; there'd been an immensely complicated wedding cake to finish off before the last tournament and she wasn't able to make it...

She'd not mentioned why she'd missed the last one to the whole gang, yet.

Having to wait for exact pairings to be sorted out wasn't an issue for the girl, she simply stood and looked up at the ceiling, as if daring it to bare its architectural complexities for all to see. Or, well, she tried, at least: Charlotte might have been good at relaxing, but ignoring what amount to an overenthusiastic eight year old standing beside you was a tad tricky.

"Hey, hey, Charlotte, can we go talk to them?"

The duellist hadn't the faintest idea which 'them' Puddingcess was referring to.

As the old motorcycle powered its way through the streets of the city, Pete was swearing loudly, he had slept through his alarm and woken up in a big pile of notes and Curly-Wurly wrappers. Looking to the side, he saw Neos flying alongside him. "Why did you let me sleep?" yelled Pete.

"You looked so peaceful... And not even the return of Obelisk himself could wake you." replied Neos.

"Yeah, and you couldn't have thought that when you woke me up by throwing the toaster at my head?" he asked.

"Well... What can I say, i'm not the greatest guy out there." replied Neos. The Duel Runner finally pulled up to the Stadium where they were supposed to be dueling in the tournament.

"Screw you." replied Pete as he ran up the steps to the stadium, flipping the bird behind him. Running towards the other contestants, he put his hand up "Hi, I'm here, don't disqualify me." he panted. Neos took up an empty seat in the bleachers, watching them.

Gao smiled watching the guy come running up to the duelist area. Ruby watched him and meowed
"Hey congrats you made it and you even made it in time for the first round" he said to him while putting away his deck. He figured that while he was here he might as well make some friends and talking to people tended to be the fastest way to do that.
"I'm Gao Its nice to meet you." he added offering him his hand..

Being on a Duel Runner was full of pleasant sensations for a thrill-seeker like Summer Storm. The wind in her face, the city blurring by...the voice of Alien Gray saying something she couldn't make out at high speeds. He rarely had something to say that was important enough to bring up while Summer was getting her fix of thrills for the day. If he was trying to bring it up now, it had to be pretty important. At the next spot she saw that led off Turbo Highway, Summer made her way off the Turbo Duel-centric road and brought her hot red machine to a halt. Only after taking a moment to reorient herself (maintaining high speeds could be dizzying, after all) Summer turned to the long-fingered alien now perched on the front of her Duel Runner. "What was that you were saying?"

"You appear to have forgotten that your tournament is today, Earthling."

"Oh, the G-Clock Open!" Revving up her engine again, Summer took off in the direction of the stadium. With any luck, she'd make it in time for her duel.

---

The first duel is about to start. Alice directed her attention to the nearest screen. It was important to learn who she could be up against in this tournament, and pick out their weaknesses. That was another piece of valuable advice she was given before being dropped off at the stadium. It was also kind of common sense, at least to her. Something other DuelBots might not have picked up on, but that was the entire purpose of all the tireless effort to get the AI-1C3 scripts right, wasn't it? So that it could learn like a human. Well, now it was learning time. Neither Ian Rouse nor Alexander Nyne were names she'd ever heard before, but none of the names on the roster besides her own were especially notable to her. Even the runner-up from last year wasn't here; the one her AI and deck were modelled after.

"That's one way to make an entrance," Lars said with an amused expression as Pete hurriedly took his place on the bleachers after giving the finger to someone at his back. It was the HERO monster known as Neos apparently. Intriguing, Lars had only seen a HERO deck in action once before, and that was a while back when he was younger and still lived a life of luxury. He wondered what it would be like to go up against this type of deck. Maybe they would be required to duel against each other, who knew (I do hahaha)?

*That's a nice way to treat your spirit buddy!*

"Well believe it or not, you guys can be quite annoying."

*Oh come on! You're kidding me? Certainly I never annoy you!*

"Actually sometimes I like to imagine that the image found on 'Means of Infestation* is Hercules electrocuting your ass for misbehavior."

*...*

"No, just kidding." Lars said with a smile as he patted the little fiend on the head. It probably looked like he was patting empty air, but whatever. He switched out his Archfiend deck to replace it with the Steelswarm one and began looking to the cards until he stopped at Infestation Tool. Lars never knew whether to feel bothered by this card, because it sure as hell DID look like Steelswarm Hercules was getting a kick out electrocuting the poor Scout. Or maybe he was empowering him, as that what the card did...

Pete looked at Lars. "... Am I... In the right place? Because I appear to have shown up to the crazy convention?" he asked. He then looked at Alice "Or... Was he talking to you?" he asked. Unbeknownst to him, everyone had small spirit creatures around them, Pete was unable to see any but Neos. Neos looked around at the convention. This was odd. Everyone had a spirit with them... This could not be just a coincidence.

Neos floated over to Pete "Pete, everyone around here can see me, they have ones just like me."

"Really?" he asked. "Well, why can't I see them." Neos put one of his muscular hands to his head, as though in pain.

"It's.... Complicated..." he said, he knew that there was a reason... But he couldn't quite remember it...

"Oh... Alright." said Pete, he stepped to the left and waved hello, not realizing that Scout was right next to him.

*HEY! Watch where you step ya nitwit!*

In a shrill voice, Scout yelled angrily at Pete as he regained his balance in the air. Lars simply watched, amused at how his spirit partner was attempting to sound intimidating and forceful when he sounded more like an bratty little child... with a distorted voice. Come to think of it, it sounded kind of creepy. Shaking his head, Lars placed one hand on Scout's head and began pulling him back away from the duelist.

"That's enough out of you," he said.

*Well tell this guy not to bump into me! Hey! You, Neos guy! Why doesn't your friend pay attention to me?!*

"Just ignore the little fiend," Lars said with a frown. "Anyway, yes. If you're here for the G-Clock Tournament then you're at the right place."

Ian listened as his name and the name of the duelist he would be up against rang over the crowd. "Alexander Nyne, let's see who you are," Ian spoke to himself as he looked up a face to go with the name. "Hmm, this should be a good time-killer. Come Azu, we have our duel now." The white-skinned boy ran back,excited that the moment had finally come. "Ready?" Ian asked his young partner. He got a cheerful nod in return. "Okay then, let's go."

Ian walked through the crowd to the doors that would lead him onto the duel stage. As he was about to walk through them, a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind, fingernails digging into his arm. Azu turned, but Ian just stopped. "Hey Bell. I was wondering if you'd send me off."

The hand pushed him and spun him around. Cybell Yvenstar looked up at him, on brow raised mockingly. "No, I'm just here to tell you not to lose before I get to kick your ass," she said simply. Behind her, Azu was getting assaulted by Bell's duel spirit, Maiden with Eyes of Blue, and once again Ian couldn't help but notice how similar the girl looked to her spirit. Azu laughed silently as the larger female spirit tickled him.

Ian looked down into his second-in-command's eyes. "Don't worry, I won't lose," he said with confidence, turning and walking through the doors, his spirit following after him.

The girl growled at his back, "You say that, but you're never serious about it." May, her duel spirit, put her arms around the girl's neck and hummed a soft tune. "I bet you're already thinking about what you'll say if you lose," Cybell mumbled. Her duel spirit agreed; that was something he would do.