Chapter One - Challenge Accepted

Alexa frowned as her opponent's Cyber-Tech Alligator was called to attack her face down card. Usually one of her strongest defences, her Shining Abyss had no chance to withstand an attack of 2500 points. Fortunately, the sacrifice meant she was still in this duel.

"I play my face down card; Enchanted Javelin," she called over to her opponent, activating the trap card with the touch of a button on her duel disk.

Carter's pale gray eyes narrowed as her life points increased by the sum of the monsters attack, restoring them to an impressive 3200 points. With Carter's own life points down to 1500, Alexa allowed herself a small sigh of relief, taking comfort in the fact that it wasn't over just yet. Wincing, she watched as her card was shattered, sparks falling to the pavement of the alleyway that acted as their battlefield.

"Give it up, Alexa. You're away with your fairies if you think some spare life points can save you now," he boasted. Alexa readied herself as he called the direct attack to her life points, the Mechanicalchaser bringing her life points straight back down to 1350. "But just in case you get any funny ideas, I'll place these two cards face down and end my turn."

Ending his turn activated her continuous trap card 'Ominous Fortunetelling'. Alexa knew it all came down to one question; was the card he had picked from his hand a monster, spell, or trap?

"Monster," she decided, holding her breath as he revealed his card.

The card was Blast Sphere. Alexa gazed at her cards as Carter's life points dropped to 800. Drawing a card, she took a deep breath and played her monster in face down defence position and ended her turn.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Better luck next time," he smirked, already relishing in his win.

The Alligator slashed at the face down card. As the hologram rose to reveal the destroyed card Carter's face began to pale, his life points dropping to zero. Alexa gathered her deck, carefully placing it back in its pouch at her belt. Then, she exchanged her duel disk for the laptop in her bag and walked over to a kneeling Carter, holding the device out for him to take.

He looked up, hatred poisoning his features. His eyes brewed like a storm, and his mouth disappeared into a thin line. With a sharp tug, he took the laptop and began typing rapidly. After almost two hours of standing around in an alleyway, Carter slammed the laptop shut. Storming over to her refuge spot, where Alexa was leaning against the wall. He shoved the thing in her face before going to retrieve his bag.

"Pleasure doing business with you," she muttered as he stalked away, his light gray hair the only thing she could make out as he faded away into the darkness.

XxX

Naturally, as Alexa arrived into her small apartment, her eyes swept the room. Deciding nothing was amiss, she set herself up at the breakfast bar, placing the laptop in front of her and opening it up. The screen lit up to show a blue screen, the Kaiba Corp logo the only thing present, spinning 180 degrees at two second intervals. Clicking on the logo, the laptop seemed to launch a full-screen video of the man himself; Seto Kaiba.

"Listen up, so far your completion of these tasks up until now has managed to prove to me that you might not be completely worthless, but I suggest you stop now if you found them hard, because that's nothing compared to what you are about to face." The digital Kaiba warned her.

Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine, she thought with a small shake of her head, a smile hinting at her lips. So far Alexa had found the whole thing quite enjoyable. The front cover of 'Duel Weekly' was the first sign. Kaiba's picture was an action shot, hand stretched as if he had declared an attack. His hands were visible and amongst his hand was the card 'Jar of Greed'. However, only a second rate duellist would favour that card over 'Pot of Greed'. Further analysis revealed several minor errors in duel monsters stats throughout the magazine providing coordinates. This had lead her to a building, in which she gained entry using the card as an access key and proceeded to find the hidden compartment containing the laptop.

Alexa realised as soon as she deciphered the coordinates she was on to something. Finally, all her hard work was about to pay off. The only problem was that regardless of her intellect, duel monsters knowledge, and detective work being on par with Kaiba's tests, she had lacked the knowledge to be able to hack past the laptop's security systems, despite her best efforts. So, she risked it all on a duel; either she lost and Carter got the laptop, or she won and he hacked it for her. She smiled, recalling how Carter had sealed his own fate, placing those two cards face down, meaning a deduction of 1000 life points as 'Princess of Tsurugi' flip effect was activated as he attacked.

"Kaiba Corporation is a multi-billion dollar company, built on my astounding intellect and ability to get what I want. Now it's time for you to do the same. It's time to duel, but only if you have the guts to challenge me." With that Kaiba's face broke out in a smile that sent shivers down her spine. "Good luck, you'll be needing it."

With that final remark, the screen went black. Alexa sighed. Defeating Carter in a duel was one thing, but Seto Kaiba? There was no way he expected to be beaten. There were only a select number of duellists that had managed it. So, what was the real test here? With a shake of her head, she peeled the tape off that she had used to cover the webcam and grinned.

"Challenge accepted."