Seto pushed past the man trying to block his way, and passed the doors into the castle dining room. It was time for Pegasus to keep his promise. The man was sitting at the end of a long table and looked up with an annoyed expression on his face at the intrusion. It cleared when he saw who it was. "Kaiba-boy," Pegasus greeted warmly, standing with his glass in hand, "So you defeated little Yugi and wish to duel me now?"

He gritted his teeth at Pegasus' pleasantries. "Yes," Seto said simply.

"Very well," Pegasus said, drinking the last of his wine. He set the empty glass down and looked past him. "Croquet, prepare the dueling arena,"

"Yes, sir," said the man who'd tried to stop him from entering, before leaving.

Seto looked at Pegasus for a long time before he asked him a question that had been bothering him since he had put Crystal's spirit in a card. "Why did you take Crystal? She trusted you and look at what you've done!"

Pegasus seemed to look through him, "It will all be worth it in the end."

"What is it that you're willing to give up your daughter for?" he exclaimed, his fists clenching (I think I've used the word clench or a form of it in every chapter I've written!).

"I won't be giving her up," Pegasus told him, a small, triumphant smile on his face.

Seto's eyes widened as he understood. "You're going to make her forget all of this,"

"Yes. Crystal often remember's things she shouldn't; things better left forgotten."

"How many times have you done this to her?" he snarled at him. There was no one to protect her from Pegasus on the island. She was isolated from any help; trapped with her crazy father.

Pegasus frowned a little, "This is the first time I've done something like this."

"I find that hard to believe. You could do anything you want to her, and she'd never remember!"

"You would never be able to understand why I did this, Kaiba. Eventually, everything will work out just the way I planned."

"The end justifies the means," Seto whispered, quoting what he had previously thought a good philosophy for business.

"Precisely."

Seto stood there speachless until Croquet came in a minute later. "The dueling field is ready, sir. The last contestants have also arrived."

"Excellent," Pegasus smiled brightly, "You're going to have an audience to witness you lose the duel, and your soul."

"I will not lose," Seto said, responding to the trash talk. "I'll defeat you, and you will restore Mokuba and Crystal. Not only that, you're also going to let her go free. You will never mess with Crystal's memories again."

"As you wish. You'll be losing anyway," he chuckled, and walked out the door.

Seto glared at his receding back until Petasus turned a corner and he lost sight of him. "If you'll follow me Mister Kaiba," Croquet said. "I will take you to the dueling field."

As Seto followed Croquet, he realized that Pegasus had never told him what it was that he wanted so badly.


I'm not going to write this play-by-play, because nothing really happens in it. You just learn that Pegasus uses toons and they are much better (and cuter) than the normal monsters. Seto loses his soul (:( I feel sad inside). After that duel there are the preliminiaries (SPELLING FTW!) in which Yugi and Joey win. Then there are the semi-finals in which Yugi wins. Then Yugi gets to go up against Pegasus. I will continue writing from here, since the two character's whose perspectives I write in are both out of commission. Actually, I can write about what happens when Seto shows up in the cells. AWESOME! I'll do that first.


Seto groaned and stood up, looking at the cell around him. What happened? One minute he had just lost the duel against Pegasus and then...

I lost. Seto bowed his head in shame. He'd let down Mokuba. He'd let down Crystal. Now they were all in Pegasus' cluches. Seto slammed his fist into the wall in anger. I blew it!

He heard a voice cry out in surprise on the other side of the wall and gasped in response. "Mokuba!"

"Seto!" his brother asked in amazement.

He ran to the cell bars and tried to look into the cell next to him. Seto could just see Mokuba's smiling face on the other side. "Seto, it's you!"

He grinned at him and nodded, reaching a hand through the bars, to take his brother's hand. Seto saw Mokuba's face fall a little. "Pegasus got you too?"

Seto's closed his eyes and leaned his head against the bars. "I'm sorry Mokuba. I couldn't beat him."

"It's alright bro," Mokuba said, his eyes gentle.

"Excuse me," said a voice across the aisle. He looked up and saw Yugi's grandfather standing in a cell of his own. "Is my grandson alright?"

"Yes. He's in the semi-finals."

Solomon Moto smiled, "We've still got a chance then. Yugi's fighting for the people he cares about, and that's something that Pegasus can't overcome."

Seto shrugged. He now understood where Yugi got his beliefs about the Heart of the Cards from. Then he remembered something. "Where is Crystal?"

Mokuba looked at him in surprise. "Crystal?"

"She's not here." They all whirled around to look at Pegasus as he walked down the passage. "I'm keeping her somewhere else until the tournament is over. You're a bad influence on her."

"You're one to talk about being a bad influence," Solomon said.

Pegasus ignored him. "The Shadow Realm is enormous. I prefer my prisoners in one place."

"What about Crystal?" Seto demanded.

"I know her well enough to know where she is in there. It's not an ideal place to put a young girl, but she'll be fine. Crystal's strong; she's recovered once from being in it, she will again." Pegasus began to walk away, his form fading.

"You said that you'd never done this to her before!" Seto yelled at him.

"I haven't," he replied, his voice fading into nothing.

Seto sighed, more confused than ever. There was nothing left he could do to change what was happening. Seto's hands gripped the bars. He hated it when he couldn't control his future.


Play by Play! No thoughts in this one (except for my own :)). Btw way, this is only part of the duel, the other half will be later on in the chapter. After this part of the duel, you read Crystal's perspective. Don't miss it. :)

The dueling banter goes on for like 15 minutes! OMG!

Yugi goes first. He plays a card facedown and a monster face down.

Pegasus tells him he laid down a Beaver Warrior. 8o He also knows that his facedown card is Horn of the Unicorn.

Pegasus puts a card of his own facedown and plays Red Archery Girl in defense mode.

Yugi attacks Red Archery Girl with his Beaver Warrior equiped with Horn of the Unicorn.

Pegasus activates a trap card known as Tears of a Mermaid. It destroys the Horn of the Unicorn and makes Beaver Warrior too weak to defeat Pegasus' monster.

Pegasus destroys the beaver with his mermaid.

Yugi is down to 1800 life points.

Yugi places a monster in defense mode and ends his turn.

Pegasus plays Ryu Ran in defense mode and switches Red Archery Girl to defense mode too.

Yugi draws a Summoned Skull, which Pegasus points out (Maximillion Pegasus has the same powers as Patrick Jane on the Mentalist. Just saying!).

For some reason that's how they end the first part of the duel. How odd.

Anyways, Yugi plays the Spellbinding Circle trap (facedown) and puts his Summoned Skull in defense mode.

"Goody," (is Pegasus gay? You'd think he was after listening to him for 2 minutes!).

Pegasus switches Ryu Ran into attack mode and attacks Yugi's Summoned Skull.

Yugi activates his trap card, stopping Ryu Ran and reducing its attack to 1500.

Yugi attacks Ryu Ran, but Pegasus plays Trap Displacement, switching the Spellbinding Circle to Summoned skull. Ryu Ran's attack is restored and Summoned skull's attack is reduced to 1800.

Pegasus attacks Summoned Skull with his dragon and Yugi is reduced to 1400 life points.

Yugi puts a monster in defense mode.

Pegasus plays Toon World, turning all his monsters into toons.

Manga Ryu Ran attacks Yugi's defensive monster. He then puts Toon Mermaid into attack mode and ends his turn.

Yugi attacks the mermaid with his Celtic Guardian, but the clam catches his attack (WTF?).

The Celtic Guardian is destroyed.

Pegasus lays two cards down (trap/spell cards).

Yugi puts a monster in defense position.

Pegasus plays the trap card Gorgon's Eye. It's a permenant trap that turns Yugi's defensive monsters into stone, and when they are destroyed, half of their defense is subtracted from Yugi's life points.

He then plays Doppleganger, the copy card. It takes the form of Yugi's Summoned Skull, and Pegasus turns him into the Toon Summoned Skull, possibly the most demented cartoon ever drawn.

Toon Summoned Skull attacks Yugi's monster, subtracting 500 points from his life points.

Yugi's down to 900.

Yugi plays his Dark Magician in attack mode and hids it under the Magical Hats. He then uses the "Mind Shuffle" thingy so Pegasus can't read his mind.

Pegasus attacks the wrong hat and is very pissed off.

Yugi play the Living Arrow facedown and switches.

Pegasus plays Magic Neutralizing Force, wiping out the Magical Hats and revealing the Dark Magician.

Pegasus attacks it with the Toon Summoned Skull, but Yugi plays the Living Arrow, destroying Toon World, and protects his Dark Magician with the trap he laid earlier: Mirror Force.

All of Pegasus' toons are destroyed. Pegasus has 600 Life Points left.

Pegasus is a sore loser so he sends the duel into the Shadow Realm (asshole).

Yugi draws a card and ends his turn.

Pegasus draws and plays Dark Eyes Illusionist.

Yugi plays Curse of Dragon and attacks Pegasus' monster.

Dark Eyes Illusionist uses its special ability to paralyze the attack.

Pegasus then plays the Dark Illusion ritual card, sacraficing his monster to summon Relinquished.

Relinquished sucks up Curse of Dragon, gaining its attack/defense points.

Yugi attacks with his Dark Magician, and loses 500 life points since it was his monster that was destroyed.

He's down to 400 life points.

Relinquished sucks up the Dark Magician.

Yugi plays a card face down and puts Feral Imp in defense mode (where is Gorgon's Eye at the moment?)

Pegsaus attacks, pushing Yugi over the edge and leaving Yami to duel alone. :(


I figured I should probably apologize in advance for how the segments of this chapter don't line up. I kinda jump back and forth in time, so don't get too confuzzled :)

Crystal lay on the floor, barely breathing. If her body had been placed in the Shadow Realm like the first time she'd been trapped here, she would be shredded to ribbons. The monsters had eventually given up trying to kill her after they noticed their claws and teeth went right through her. It had taken an excrutiatingly long time though, and she was still weak with pain. Crystal tried to sit up, but collapsed again, her head spinning.

She lay there, shuddering in agony for a few minutes before trying to get up again. It wasn't so bad this time. Crystal wobbled to her feet, staggering forward. A blinding pain raked across her back, and she fell back down, forcing herself not to scream. If she did, all the monsters would come back. The deformed creature that attacked her quickly lost intrest and slithered away. Crystal lay curled in the fetal position, gasping for breath. Sweat ran down her face, mingling with her pained tears.

She pushed herself up again, her arms trembling with the effort. She was too weak now to stand, so she crawled forward. The reason for her movement was the thing formed in the wall of her prison. A door. All Crystal had to do was open it, and she'd be out of her nightmare. She reached up and grabbed the knob with both hands, gradulaly turning it until it clicked. Crystal permitted herself a small, hopeful smile.

It faded quickly.

There was dead silence at the click. The monsters had realized that their prey was getting away. Crystal quickly crawled through the door, slamming it shut just before their hideous noises reached it. There was the sound of claws and teeth and crazed beating on the other side, but the door didn't budge.

She crawled a little ways from the door and stopped, trying to catch her breath. Even though she'd escaped her own little piece of hell, there were still plenty of monsters slinking through the Shadow Realm, and she'd pissed quite a few of them off.

Crystal lay on the shifting floor for a few minutes. Eventually she managed to stand up, a little unsteadily, and look around. Something was happening. She could see the shadows of other lost souls around her, appearing from the shadows and weaving about restlessly. "What are you doing Pegasus?" she whispered.

As if in answer, a large section of the floor in front of her rose up suddenly. Crystal rolled head over heals, eventually coming to a stop, propped up on her elbows with a startled look on her face. Why did this place have to knock her down the moment she stood up?

She struggled back to her feet and her jaw dropped as she saw what had risen from the ground. It was a dueling field! So Pegasus broke another promise, she noted grimly, Never bring another person to the Shadow Realm. The poor soul Pegasus had brought to this black pit was Yugi.

Crystal listened to their conversation with great interest. It seemed she wasn't the only one sharing a body with another spirit. Her eyes widened with horror as she realized why Pegasus had brought the duel into the realm. He was trying to make Yugi so weak that he couldn't keep up his Mind Shuffle, overtaxing him until his soul was torn and dispersed throughout the Shadow Realm.

A few turns later Yugi was exhausted, barely able to stand as he drew his card. He placed it facedown, played Feral Imp in defense mode, and ended his turn. Crystal saw the glint in Pegasus' eye and screamed a warning at Yugi, but he couldn't hear her. She could only watch helplessly as Pegasus destroyed Yugi's monster, sending his soul spinning into the darkness nearby.

Crystal ran toward where he lay, the shadows already stretching their greedy fingers around his motionless figure. She wrapped her arms around him and dragged him away from the writhing blackness. His head rolled limply on her shoulder when she paused, trying to fight off her own exhaustion.

A deep growl came from behind her, and Crystal hunched protectively over Yugi's body. He was much more vulnerable than she was; if one of the creatures attacked him, his soul would be shredded and he'd never find peace. There was even a chance he'd become a monster himself.

Instead of the raking claws she expected, there was a snarl that turned into a whine. Crystal looked behind her and was blinded by the bright light shining from a familiar figure. "Wingweaver?" she exclaimed, a broad smile spreading across her face.

Wingweaver smiled back, "Are you two OK?"

"I am," she said, looking down at Yugi, "I'm not so sure about Yugi though, he's unconscious."

"He must be weak for his very soul to be unresponsive," Wingweaver frowned, looking worried, "Keep an close eye on him while I dispatch these shadows."

Crystal winced and looked away as Wingweaver shone again, driving away the darkness. She gently laid Yugi down and brushed the hair away from his face. Her breath caught in her chest as she saw the long fracture running along his forehead and down the bridge of his nose (in case you haven't figured it out, you don't bleed in the Shadow Realm, since its your soul. Before, Crystal would have died from the attacks on her, because her body was also in the Shadow Realm. That's also why she's such a big target for the monsters and such, 'cause they still think they can kill her. Just so you know). His soul was starting to break. She pressed her hand to it, making it shimmer and heal; for the time being. Her gaze drifted up to the dueling arena, where Pegasus was mocking the other spirit sharing Yugi's body. Crystal turned away, tears in her eyes. What's happened to you Maximillion? You were never so cruel before.


Yami plays Winged Guardian of the Fortress in defense mode.

Pegasus destroys it, then plays Jigen Bakudan.

Yami has two turns left before the game is lost.

Friendship is aparantly the most powerful thing it the universe. It prevents Pegasus from reading Yami's mind.

Yami plays Mystic Box, switching the Dark Magician with Jigen Bakudan.

Pegasus passes, and Yami plays Brain Control, taking over Relinquished.

He then uses the ritual card Yugi played before he was... well... It's not explained very well what happened to him...

Yami sacrafices Jigen Bakudan and the Dark Magician to create the Magician of Black Chaos! (Yay!)

Yami then plays a monster facedown and a card facedown.

Pegasus regains control of Relinquished and fuses it with Thousand Eyes Restrict, and extremely ugly monster.

It paralyzes all the monsters on Yami's side of the field, making them unable to attack or defend.

Pegasus starts to suck up the Magician of Black Chaos, but Yami activates Mulitply, making the Kuriboh he placed facedown multiply. They get sucked up instead, exploding as they hit Thousand Eyes Restrict, blinding him. (How exactly does that work? This is a load of crap! Well written, but COME ON)

Yami destroys Pegasus' monster with his Magician of Black Chaos, winning the duel.



Once again, this doesn't match up. My apologies. This is probably a few minutes after Yugi's soul gets separated from his body.

Wingweaver's legs shook as the shadows hammered relentlessly against her shield. Crystal turned away from the duel and stood, feeling a power surge down her arms. Her hands glowed and she curled her fingers as if she was holding a pole; pressing her hands together. Crystal pulled her hands apart and a trail of light remained suspended in the air. She stretched her arms as far as they could go, and the beam continued about a foot after her reach. It solidified and dimmed slightly, and Crystal held a spear of light in her hands. Cyrstal's eyes widened as she realized what she'd done, then she twirled it, surprised by the familiarity of the weapon. Aparantly spear fighting or using magic is like riding a bike; you never forget how.

Crystal stabbed at the monsters, making them cringe back. She didn't even need to hit them to drive them off. She ducked and stabbed and twirled, keeping the shadows at bay. The monsters pulled back, milling about for a moment, before disolving into an oily smoke. The vaporized monsters began to mesh together creating several stronger creatures.

She turned around, hoping to heal Yugi before the darkness could attack. Someone had beaten her to it though. "Tea?" she gasped, her jaw dropping.

A transparant Tea smiled at her, then turned back to Yugi. Crystal looked up at the dueling field and was shocked to see that all of Yugi's friends were next to the spirit using Yugi's body, protecting his thoughts from Pegasus' probbing. She smiled at the show of devotion. There was still a chance that Yugi could win the duel.

"Crystal!" Wingweaver cried out in warning. She whirled around in time to raise her spear in defense, before the humongous monster tackled her to the ground. It's dog-like head chewed furiously on the spear, it saliva dripping on her in large, smelly globs. Its red eyes rolled in anger and pain as her spear burned its gums like acid. Crystal summoned the magic in her and forced it into the spear, making it shine even brighter. The creature jumped back and off of her, whining and shaking its large head.

She stood up quickly and turned around, hearing something behind her. Another monster was racing towards where transparant Tea crouched over Yugi's still body. This one had the body of some shaggy animal with a serpent's head attached by at least five feet of neck. Crystal raced forward to intercept it, pointing the business end of her spear at the monstrosity. It spat at her, splashing the arm with venom. She cried out in pain as it burned her skin, and tried to wipe it off with her other arm. "Idiot!" she hissed at herself for her stupidity. Now both her arms were burning. She siphoned off some magic to keep the pain down and sent another burst into her spear, which she started to twirl. She backed up, still spinning her spear and storing magic in it; waiting for the right moment. Just when it became difficult to contain the power inside her weapon, she sent a beam of light the width of her spear at the creature. The monster's screech of pain separated into many different shreeks as the creature separated. She kept the stream of light going, feeling lightheaded. Finally, the monsters' cries faded into relieved sighs as their souls were released and allowed to pass on.

The monsters paused and stared at the spot the creature had disappeared, dead silent. As one they turned toward her with their burning eyes. Crystal swallowed nervously, preparing herself for the onslaught. Every single monster charged her, running straight past Wingweaver and Yugi. She backed up quickly, summoning her depleted magic and pushing it into her spear. There was precious little change. Crystal searched her mind for a solution, and found what felt like a tap in her head that slowly leaked magic into her. She turned it and felt the new magic flow through her. Too much. It swamped her mind and everything became sureal, including the charging monsters (the tap thingy will become more important as the story goes on).

Crystal struggled to turn the tap back, but barely turned it back enough to concentrate. It would have to do, the creatures were mere feet from her. She slammed her spear, blunt end down, into the floor, sending out a shockwave of light. The beasts turned and ran from the attack, keeping ahead of the wave. Wingweaver ran up to her, barely making it in time to catch her when her legs gave out. She helped Crystal walk over to where Yugi lay, sitting her down and knealing next to her. "Crystal," Wingweaver said, shaking her a little. She struggled to focus on her face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

She frowned, "Stop moving your hand!"

"I'm not."

"Oh. That's probably not the best sign." Her eyes closed and she passed out for a moment before coming to. Crystal blinked and looked around. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what, Crystal?"

Her eyes widened as she recognized the sound. "Mamma and Daddi (the i is accented, sounds like an E. Don't ask me why, but I like it when it's pronounced like that)! You don't here them?"

Wingweaver shook her head. "What are they saying?"

"I can't understand it."

Her friend frowned, "Did you turn some sort of magic dispenser in your soul room?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" she asked.

"You have to turn it back to where it was Crystal, or you'll die!"

Crystal blinked. "Oh, my bad."

She struggled to turn it back, gritting her teeth. It had been much easier to increase the magic than to shut some of it off. When Crystal finally turned the valve back to where it was, she had to lay down. It wasn't a physical exhaustion, but it still made her feel weak. Tea looked up from tending Yugi and gently touched her arm, sending a bit of strength into her. Crystal smiled gratefully at her, and tried to stand, but she only succeded in sitting up.

Wingweaver got up and looked at the monsters returning, her jaw set with determination. She once again set up a shield, not as bright as the first, but still capable of fending of the darkness.

Crystal looked up at the duel arena where the two duelist still fought, oblivious to what was happening just a few yards away. Her jaw dropped as she saw that the field was covered with Kuribohs, all of them being sucked into some sort of monstrosity Pegasus was controling. As soon as they touched Pegasus' monster, they exploded. As the dust settled, she saw that the creature had been blinded.

That was when the monsters reached Wingweaver's shield. Her friend gasped when the shadows began beating it, but she stood her ground. Crystal turned back to the duel just in time to see the Magician of Black Chaos destroy Pegasus' monster, ending the duel.

She heard a soft sound next to her and looked over at Yugi. He was sitting up, staring at the wall of light around him and the monsters on the other side. "Yugi! Your awake!" she grinned.

He didn't seem capable of speech at the moment and stared at her. He finally found his voice. "I... I need to go."

Crystal nodded, still smiling. "Your friends are waiting for you."

He faded and turned into a little ball of light that streamed through the shield, around the monsters, and up the duel arena. Yugi had won. He'd get his grandfather soul back. She watched his soul sink back into Yugi's body, before struggling to her feet. She took Wingweaver's hand and they melded their power together and shrank their shield. Now only three monsters could ram it, prolonging how long they could stand the attacks. They wouldn't last very long though; their magic was exhausted.

Eventually Crystal had to drain her spear back into herself to keep the shield up. She looked at Wingweaver. "We have to take it down and fight."

"We're not strong enogh!"

"I'd rather go down fighting than hiding," Crystal said, her eyes bright.

Wingweaver bit her lip, then sighed. "On three," she said. "One."

"Three!"

Crystal charged through the shield and swung her fist at the nearest monster. Her vision went blurry and when it cleared she saw that she was sitting in a cell. Her jaw dropped even more when she saw Johnny curled up next to her. "Johnny! What are you doing here?"

"Trying to rescue you without being punched in the face!"

He took his hand away, and Crystal saw she'd given him a bloody nose. "Whoops!" she smiled at him weakly. "Thanks for coming for me." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Johnny shrugged, looking embarassed. "Your my responsablility. It's my duty to protect you, not follow Pegasus' orders."

Crystal stood, wondering why she had returned to her body. "Do you know what happened?"

He nodded, standing too. "The finalist, Yugi Moto, asked Pegasus to release all the souls he had taken if he beat him, which he did."

She smiled. Yugi had a purity of heart that you didn't find very often. Then she realized something. "If he freed all the souls, then Seto and Mokuba should be back too!"

"Kaiba's in the cell next to yours."

Crystal ran out of her cell and peered into the gloom of the one next door. "Seto? Are you there?"

"Yeah," he groaned. "Where's Mokuba?"

Her smile faded. Something very bad was happening in the castle. Another shadow game was beginning, one that involved Pegasus and a very dark spirit. She looked at Johnny. "Do you know where Mokuba is?"

"Yes," he said, looking at her curiously, "Is something wrong, Crystal?"

"Maybe. Help Seto find his brother, I need to go." Crysal hurried through the corridors, following the foreboding she felt in her gut. Pegasus was in deep trouble, and no matter how much he had hurt her, she had to help him.

He was the only family she knew.


Awesome! 5,XXX words! I'm sorry but I must make a smiley :))))

Wow! This took me much longer to write than I thought it would. Sorry for the wait everyone! Either after the next chapter or the chapter after that I'm going to go off in a different direction. Tangent ftw! Anyways plz review, cause I'm proud of my action in this :)