Spiritual Awakening
Kaiba was sitting in his office wrapping up a few last minute reports when suddenly, the lights went out and his computer turned off. "Huh? Oh, great. The power's completely dead."
Just then, his computer turned on again and Max and Bakura showed up on the monitor. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it," asked Bakura.
"Can I help you with something?" Kaiba asked them. Max lifts Mokuba by the collar of his shirt and chuckles. "Mokuba!"
"I don't think he can hear you, Kaiba," she said to him.
"But perhaps if you came up here with your cards and duel disk, you'd have a bit more luck communicating." And the monitor closes and the screen turns black.
"No!" Kaiba shouts, hitting his palm against his desk. He gets out of his business suit and dresses into his dark clothes and white jacket. "If that freak wants a duel, I'll give him one he and his girlfriend will never forget." After strapping his duel disk on his left arm, he takes the elevator to the roof and finds his little brother unconscious.
"We would tell you where his soul is, but you don't believe in the Shadow Realm, right?" Max asked.
Kaiba carefully sets Mokuba down near the door. "Whatever you and your boyfriend did to my brother, you'd better undo. Did you understand me, Max? As soon as I defeat you guys, I want him back. Now let's get your little game over with."
The evil Bakura chuckled. "As you wish."
"You're about to regret this," Kaiba says, activating his duel disk. Bakura activates his as well and together, they cry out, "Let's duel!"
"Now for the fun part," Bakura says as shadows begin to covet the arena.
Seeing the troubled expression on Kaiba's face, Max asks with mock concern, "What's wrong? There's no such thing as magic, right? And all of those ancient visions you've been having, they don't exist either, do they?"
"Not that Egyptian speech again," Kaiba groaned. "When are you people going to realize that I focus on the future? I don't waste my time worrying about the past."
She chuckled in amusement. "That attitude of yours hasn't changed in over five thousand years."
"That's enough!" Kaiba shouted.
Just give us a little time, Seto Kaiba. We'll make a believer out of you, Max thought. Before this Shadow Game comes to a close, not only will you accept your ancient heritage, you'll long to return to your roots.
Her partner makes the first move by playing Polymerization to merge Earl of Demise and Headless Knight together to form Duke of Demise, a zombie with 2000 attack points. "The rules forbid me to attack you. I suppose you got off easy this time, Kaiba."
"Please, it'll take a lot more than a rotting carcass with a sword to intimidate me. Now watch how it's done!" Kaiba summons Vorse Raider in attack mode. Though his monster was 100 attack points weaker, Kaiba wasn't finished. He played Shrink to cut his opponent's monster's attack points in half. Vorse Raider wasn't able to destroy the Duke of Demise, but Bakura still lost 900 life points because his monster was in attack mode. His special ability also costed Bakura another 500 life points. Bakura wasn't the least bit worried. He had bigger plans in store. The first thing he does is sacrifice his Duke of Demise to summon Diabound Colonel, a monster with 1800 attack points. After that, he plays a magic card called Spirit Illusion, creating an exact duplicate of the original.
He had his doppelganger attack first to weaken Kaiba's monster by 1800 attack points. The original one attacked afterwards and dealt 1700 points of damage. "I'll place this face down on the field. That ends my turn."
"No more Mr. Nice Guy," Kaiba says as he draws his card. "I play Lord of Dragons!"
Max grinned and said silently, "It's just as we planned."
"As long as Lord of Dragons is on the field, any Dragon I play is safe from all magic, trap, and monster cards," Kaiba explained. "Therefore, I activate the Flute of Summoning Dragon." Though Kaiba was permitted to summon up to two Dragons, he decided to only summon one and that was his trusty Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"That's just the card we hoped you'd play," Bakura whispered. "Now it's time for a little stroll down memory lane."
Kaiba began to feel a strange sensation. "What's going on?" Before his eyes, the same scene played out once again. He saw his ancient self kneeling before the tablet of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "What has he done to you, Kisara," he said to the white-haired girl he was holding. Looking at her with pain and sorrow, he silently vows, "In the name of the pharaoh, I will save thee." The scene ends, but the same feeling of sorrow still lingers. Kaiba snapped out of it and gasped. "Oh, no, it's that vision again." My mind's playing tricks on me again just like when I dueled against Yugi, he wondered, recalling what happened in the Battle City finals. He shakes his head and tries to keep it together. I'm not falling for that nonsense. Whatever happened in the past has nothing to do with me.
Max torments the brunette once again. "Kaiba, something wrong? Are you feeling all right?" she asks, pointing to Mokuba.
Kaiba begins to feel more relaxed once he looks at his brother. "I've never felt better. Now let's get back to the duel, shall we?" Blue-Eyes tried to attack Diabound with her White Lightning, but Bakura revealed a trap card called Spirit Shield. By removing a monster in his graveyard from play, Bakura was able to render his opponent's attack useless and it would stay that way as long as he had monsters in his graveyard. To end his turn, Kaiba plays a card face down.
Bakura makes his turn by playing Pot of Greed, allowing him to draw two cards from his deck. One of the cards is Grief Tablet and he uses it to seal Lord of Dragons in stone. And with Lord of Dragons sealed, he couldn't protect Blue-Eyes from Bakura's cards anymore. The doppelganger decreased her attack points to 1200 and the original Diabound was about to destroy her until Kaiba used his Attack Guidance Armor to redirect the attack to the Tablet his Lord of Dragons was sealed in. Destroying the Grief Tablet costed the brunette 500 life points, but he was able to save his Dragon. To end his turn, Bakura plays two cards face down. I can sense your fear, Kaiba.
You rats are going to pay for what you did to Mokuba. No one messes with the Kaiba family and gets away with it. Kaiba plays Card of Demise to draw four cards from his deck. He knows he'll have to discard his hand if five turns, but it's a card worth playing because one of the cards he drew was Soul Release and he used it to remove five cards from Bakura's graveyard. And with no monsters left, Spirit Shield was useless to Bakura. Kaiba plays Silent Doom to revive Vorse Raider in defense mode. He sacrifices Vorse Raider and Blue-Eyes because he knows it's the only way for him to restore his Dragon's attack points. The sacrifice is complete and Blue-Eyes returns with 3000 attack points. Her White Lightning destroys the original Diabound. And now that he was gone, his doppelganger would be destroyed as well.
Bakura reveals his two trap cards. The first is Rebirth Tablet, reviving Diabound from the graveyard. The second is Mirror Tablet. When Blue-Eyes White Dragon returned to the field with full power, the Mirror Tablet absorbed half of her attack points and transferred them over to Diabound, making him 300 attack points stronger. Diabound attacked the White Dragon, but she wouldn't be gone for good because Kaiba played Monster Reborn to bring her back to the field.
Oh, if he only knew what my Diabound had just accomplished, Bakura wondered. By destroying his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, my creature was able to duplicate and absorb her power.
I'd say mission accomplished, his partner figured. They both turned and saw that the sun was rising, meaning that their time with Kaiba was through. Not that it mattered, their business was done and they got what they wanted. "Oh, well, I guess you're in luck."
"You see, Kaiba, we have other business to attend to."
The brunette was outraged. "You're joking! You're leaving in the middle of a duel?"
"Trust me, we'll return soon enough to finish what we've started. Meanwhile, take this." He reaches into his coat pocket and takes out a small object and tosses it to Kaiba.
Kaiba catches it and gasps as he looks at it. "Hold on, didn't this belong to Pegasus?"
"Why, yes," the spirit of the Cobalt Star shard answered. "I believe he once used it to capture your soul."
"The Millennium Eye," the brunette muttered, remembering what happened in Duelist Kingdom.
"Excellent memory, Kaiba," said the spirit of the Ring. "It's a wonder you don't remember a thing about your ancient past. I'll tell you what, bring the Millennium Eye to Egypt and we'll give you a history lesson."
Kaiba refused. "I don't have time to run halfway around the world chasing a fairy tale. I have a company to run."
"So you're not interested in learning about why you share such a strong bond with your Blue-Eyes?" Max asked.
"Or why you care so much about Yugi and the princess?" her partner added.
"What does that mean?" the brunette inquired.
"The answers lie in the sands of Egypt," Max pauses for a second and finishes by saying, "Seto." She and her partner cackle and use their magic to disappear, leaving the brunette alone on the roof.
He growled and looked at the Millennium Eye once again. "Like I'm going to Egypt because two lunatics told me to." Then he remembered. Last weekend, he was paying his friends a visit and noticed that they were packing up to go to Egypt. He understood Yugi's reasons for going, but wasn't sure why Emily was going with him. She said it was because of her own ties to the ancient past and that she wanted to help in any way that she could. They asked Kaiba to come along for the same reason, but he reminded them that he had a company to run and a little brother to look after. But he still wished his friends well and asked them to send him a postcard and tell him about their adventure. They said they would and even promised to bring him a souvenir. But now after what happened, he changed his mind and wondered if Bakura and Max met up with Yugi and Emily too. If he could hurry, he could meet up with his friends at the airport.
Yugi and Emily made it through security and were on their way to the gate. A voice on the monitor spoke and announced that the flight to Cairo was now boarding and they had to hurry. Then they heard their names being called and saw Kaiba and Joey coming.
"Don't leave without us," said the blonde.
"We're coming to Egypt with you guys," the brunette told them.
Emily was delighted. "We knew you would."
"You kiddin', Em? We wouldn't miss this for the world," Joey tells her. "And besides, Kaiba paid for the tickets."
Kaiba dropped his briefcase and told Joey, "Try I lent you the money because you conveniently forgot your wallet."
"Uh, right, that's what I meant. And I'm gonna pay back every penny," the blonde lad promised. "In fact, my check's in the mail already."
Kaiba loosened up and turned his attention to Yugi and Emily. "The important thing is we're not letting you two take this trip alone."
Joey agreed. "We know how much this means to you and we wouldn't miss it."
"You guys are awesome," said Emily.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Kaiba said, picking up his briefcase. Everyone agreed and resumed their path to the gate.
I hope we're ready for this, Yugi, Yami wondered. For it's so much more than just a trip to my homeland; it's a journey to my ancient past.
They boarded the plane and took their seats. Kaiba sat in the aisle across from his friends. Yugi sat near the window and Emily sat between him and Joey. Pharaoh, I hope you find what you're looking for, Yugi prayed as he looked out the window.
