When Seto awoke, he immediately tried to get to his feet, but fell back upon the feeling the wave of pain. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was beside him, also wounded; they had apparently de-fused after the impact with the door had depleted the last of their energy.
Seto instantly recalled what had happened before; he remembered the Harpy Ladies and their Pet Dragon. He also recalled the flash of golden scales. But all was driven from his mind when he heard a familiar voice.
"Are you OK, Seto?"
"Mokuba!?" he asked, in disbelief. "I thought I told you to wait until I returned!"
"Well, you're lucky I didn't listen!" the boy retorted.
"I'm in no mood to argue now," Seto replied, trying to get to his feet again. "Just tell me what happened."
"Just after you left, I found another capsule," Mokuba explained. "It was Kaiser Dragon. And when I saw that the Harpies were giving you a tough time, the dragon and I came to help."
"Where are we now?"
"The good news is that we're in the turret; after you crashed in, Kaiser Dragon and I followed, and we barricaded the door. The bad news is that all of those Harpy Ladies are trying to break the door open as we speak," said Mokuba. "So we have to move on. Can you walk?"
"I think so," he replied. And to prove his point, he started walking down the corridor.
Blue-Eyes followed suit, trying to spread its wings as it gave its characteristic roar of pride.
"Don't I get a 'thank you' or something?" asked Mokuba.
"Thanks, little brother," Seto said. "Though I could've handled everything on my own…"
"Uh-huh…" the boy replied, with a roll of his eyes. "So you were only letting the Harpies think that they were getting the better of you, right?"
"It was the Shadow of Eyes," Seto admitted. "That's what got to me. How come you weren't affected by it?"
"Kaiser Dragon probably was affected slightly, but I wasn't bonded to it," Mokuba reminded him, indicating Seto's armor. "I don't know, Seto… maybe you might want to try fighting without the armor. That way, if Blue-Eyes goes into a fog again, at least your mind will stay clear."
Seto considered this as the Blue-Eyes exchanged glances with him, as though asking for his take on the situation. The bond between him and the dragon certainly increased their power, but as Mokuba had pointed out, it opened up unforeseen complications.
"That may be true, Mokuba," he said. "But there's still that Pet Dragon to deal with, and Blue-Eyes won't stand a chance against that thing alone. Even with the armor, that thing was too powerful. I need to come up with a different plan of attack. There has to be some way of taking out the Harpies before they overcome me with Shadow of Eyes again."
"No wonder the challenge here is to defeat all of the monsters in the tower," said Mokuba. "But didn't the parchment say that we needed to wake up Osiris, or we wouldn't have a chance?"
"Then we have to--" Seto began, but he was cut off.
Harpy's Pet Dragon had forced the front doors open, and now he and all of the Harpy Ladies were after the brothers.
"I can't fight them like this…" Seto growled, still to weak from his previous battle.
"Invitation to a Dark Sleep!" called Mokuba, summoning the sorcerer again. Unfortunately, the sorcerer was also affected by the Shadow of Eyes, and was only able to get their pursuers slightly drowsy as opposed to the deep slumber he would have wanted.
Mokuba called back the mage, Seto called back Blue-Eyes, and the brothers retreated, praying that they could lose the attacking monsters.
"I think we lost them for now…" said Mokuba, looking back. "That Shadow of Eyes ruins everything! Isn't there any way around it...?"
He trailed off upon hearing the flapping of wings.
"Get back," Seto warned.
He retreated to the shadows of the unlit room as Mokuba sought cover behind a suit of armor. A few Harpy Ladies came into view, speaking with a winged man whom they recognized as Harpy's Brother.
"You didn't catch the intruders?" he asked them.
"They escaped," one of the Harpy Ladies replied, bitterly. "Oh, if only Kazejin were here…"
"We don't need Kazejin," snarled Harpy's Brother. "He left me in charge of this turret when he left, and I shall give the orders!"
"Well, then?" asked the second Harpy Lady.
"Release all of the Pet Dragons," he replied. "Between your Shadow of Eyes and just one of them, we were able to defeat one of them--"
"You defeated nothing!" hissed the third Harpy Lady. "The entire flock except you powered up the dragon!"
"Fine," agreed Harpy's Brother. "You defeated him. But there is no way he will last against two dozen powered-up Pet Dragons. Are you sure all of the Monster Capsules are gone?"
"Djinn the Watcher of the Winds took them away, apparently under the direct orders of Kazejin," she replied. "He took them all, except the one Kazejin told him to leave behind."
"Kazejin told him to leave one?" he asked. "Why?"
"Kazejin has since left, and even if he had not, I shall not be the one to question him! And do you realize what the fury of Kazejin will be if he returns to find intruders in the Turret of Winds!?"
"He shall not find them of the Pet Dragons work efficiently. The door has been guarded, you say?"
"Yes."
"Then the intruders shall be captured soon enough."
The winged creatures all departed the room.
"Seto…?" asked Mokuba.
"What?"
"What do we do!?" he asked. "We can't escape, and now they're going to unleash more Pet Dragons on us!"
"I am concerned, Mokuba," Seto replied. "But something I overheard intrigues me. Apparently, this place belongs to Kazejin. Do you remember the special effect of that monster?"
"Sure; he's one of the three monsters that fuse into the Gate Guardian, right?" asked Mokuba.
"Exactly. He's out somewhere right now, ordering all Capsules to be removed except one," said Seto. "He's obviously on some sort of mission; maybe he's looking for another monster. And perhaps this monster is somehow connected to him and the monster that's still here."
Mokuba's eyes widened in realization.
"You think he's trying to gather the other two monsters that make up Gate Guardian!?"
"And if I'm correct, that capsule he left behind contains either Sanga or Suijin," rationalized Seto. "And if we had either one of those in our possession, the Gate Guardian wouldn't be able to form."
"Which means that we'd be in a position to make a deal or two with Kazejin," concluded Mokuba. "That's how we defeat the monsters here! …But then how does Osiris fit into all of this?"
"Never mind about Osiris; we need to get that Capsule if we have any hope of gaining the upper hand," said Seto.
"But what about all of the other Pet Dragons?"
In response, Seto summoned Blue-Eyes and used the armor to merge with it.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Mokuba. "I don't think you've had enough time to recover from the last fight, and that goes for Blue-Eyes, too. And what about the Shadow of Eyes?"
"If we can get to that capsule, it won't be an issue," Seto said, trying to reassure himself as well.
Seto knew that he was taking a chance merging with the dragon again. But he was a businessman, and would never have been where he was today without taking risks; many of them had been against the odds. This was no different; there were risks, and there were benefits. But these risks and benefits were far greater than any business venture could show.
A series of roars from down the corridor dissuaded his train of thought. Realizing that the Pet Dragons were hunting them down, the brothers fled, searching for the Capsule that was quickly becoming their one key to victory.
The brothers searched the stone corridors, trying to stay ahead of their assailants. Finally, Mokuba discovered a large room with several pedestals. They were all empty, save for one upon which stood a single Capsule.
"Seto!" he exclaimed.
Seto was there in an instant.
"That Capsule doesn't seem right," he said, before Mokuba could claim it. "It's not gold like the others; it's not even metal. I think it might be a decoy, if not some sort of trap."
The Capsule stood upon its pedestal, glimmering red. For some reason, this Capsule had been carved out of ruby. It gleamed brightly, the Wadjet eye carved on it staring at the brothers.
"Voarse Raider!" called Seto, summoning the Beast Warrior. "Can you inspect the room for any traps?"
The creature dashed around the room, trying to set the traps off, but nothing happened. Finding nothing, Voarse Raider picked up the Capsule. He was about to bring it back to the brothers when one of the Pet Dragons swooped from the ceiling, seizing the Voarse raider in its talons, proceeding to haul monster and Capsule out the window.
Seto took off after the Pet Dragon, and Mokuba summoned Kaiser Dragon and followed him. They followed the Pet Dragon outside where the other dragons were waiting, along with all of the Harpies.
"Well done," said Harpy's Brother, taking the ruby Capsule from the trapped Voarse Raider. "Kazejin would have been after my wings had we lost the Capsule to these thieves. Let him go."
The Pet Dragon let Voarse Raider fall from its grip. Seto and Mokuba made an attempt to catch the falling creature, but he had vanished beneath the sea of clouds below them. Seto turned away from his fallen monster to glare at Harpy's Brother, his sword at the ready.
Harpy's Brother merely laughed, and Seto attacked. Shadow of Eyes from the surrounding Harpy Ladies was once again clouding his judgment, aim, and mind, as he attempted to seize the Capsule from the winged man. The two dozen Pet Dragons were spewing flames everywhere; Mokuba and Kaiser Dragon were trying to keep their distance to dodge them, but even Kaiser was showing signs of being affected by the Shadow of Eyes.
Seto had been in mid-attack when his strength suddenly left him. He realized why; despite being bonded to the Blue-Eyes, Voarse Raider was still his monster, and he would therefore receive the same amount of damage as his monster had. Voarse Raider must have just now been defeated after his fall, and Seto's strength had fallen accordingly.
Harpy's Brother smirked at him now; he, too, realized why Seto had stopped in his attack.
"Go join your monster," he sneered, and he formed his clawed foot into a fist, striking Seto with it.
Seto was much too weakened; he, too, began to fall out of the sky. Harpy's Brother watched him fall, distracting himself for one moment. That was all Mokuba needed; a well-aimed tackle from Kaiser Dragon caused Harpy's Brother to lose his grip on the ruby Capsule, which fell after Seto.
Mokuba went after the Capsule and his falling brother as two dozen Pet Dragons attacked them. Harpy's Brother dove down to retrieve the Capsule, but Seto had enough consciousness left in him to see the Capsule falling a few feet away from it. His hands closed upon the capsule at the same instant Harpy's Brother seized it.
Harpy's Brother may have been strong enough to pull the Capsule away, but there was one unforeseen factor. Capsules responded to human touch more than that of Duel Monsters.
Red light shone from the Capsule, forcing Seto to close his eyes as he continued to fall. Harpy's Brother screeched, and Seto suddenly became aware that he was no longer falling, but in fact rising. And his lost strength was following suit, his power increasing once again.
"Seto!" he heard Mokuba call.
Seto looked to see himself surrounded by a wall of large red scales. He used the armor of the Blue-Eyes to fly higher to get a better look at what he had unleashed from the ruby Capsule. He stared in amazement at the two-mouthed dragon before him. The creature's long serpentine body extended to beyond a thousand feet in length, with a gigantic pair of wings emerging from its back.
And suddenly, everything made sense. The verse on the papyrus had said that the task could only be completed after Osiris had been awakened. And Seto had unleashed Slifer the Sky Dragon, which Yugi had once referred to as the embodiment of Osiris. He had awakened Osiris.
Slifer opened one of his enormous mouths as the wall of Pet Dragons still attacked. With one breath from the giant dragon, all two dozen Pet Dragons were defeated.
"We must warn Kazejin!" cried Harpy's Brother. He and the Harpy Ladies fled in a panic.
Slifer turned his attention to them. But before he could attack, Mokuba noticed that another segment of the pendant had now been illuminated. With the retreat of the Harpies, the second task had been completed.
Slifer took the brothers to the ground before he, Kaiser Dragon, and Blue-Eyes all retreated into their Capsules.
"So, it wasn't Suijin or Sanga that Kazejin was looking for," said Seto, smug about his victory. "It was Ra and Obelisk."
"You think they're here, too?" asked Mokuba. "That makes sense… remember that papyrus we read back in that ancient village? It mentioned Osiris, Ra, and Thoth sending 'manifestations of themselves to fight.' Thoth must be Obelisk! Seto, if you got all three…"
"I know," he replied, his eyes narrowed in anticipation of acquiring the others. "I intend to do just that."
Bandit Keith would regret sending him here. Seto would use the Egyptian Gods to win against him; they had chosen him, just as Obelisk had done so in Battle City. And this time, not even Yugi could stop him from gaining all three.
