She couldn't quite explain it.
Battle City was over and peaceful times had returned.
So then...why?
Cat had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as she leaned against the wall on the roof of their school.
"Calm before the storm, they say." She muttered to herself.
Yugi, Kristen, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu were on the roof with her as well.
School hadn't started yet.
"I can't help but agree with ya, Cat." Jounouchi said. "With us, it always seems like once things get calm again, somethin' else has ta pop out of nowhere!"
Yugi was sitting against the fence, holding his Millennium Puzzle.
"I dunno guys. Now that we have the three Egyptian God cards, the Pharaoh can regain his memories." He said.
"Oh yeah!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"That's right! He can get his memories back!" Honda said.
Kristen smiled. They had explained everything to her as well.
Only Cat and Anzu remained silent.
Cat put on a small smile though.
"That's true. I'm happy he'll finally be able to reach his goal." She said.
Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang.
"Oh! We'd better head to class!" Honda said.
"Yeah."
Everyone agreed and left the rooftop.
The hallways were silent except for the quiet pitter-patter of Cat's shoes.
Before class had started, a teacher had asked Cat if she could do a favor for them.
Cat agreed to do so and was currently returning to her classroom. The errand that the teacher had asked Cat to do took up most of the class time, unfortunately.
Turning a corner, Cat suddenly stopped.
About ten feet in front of her, was Yami. He hadn't noticed her though.
Cat looked dumbfounded.
"Why is the Pharaoh here? He doesn't usually show up at school, does he? And...why isn't he in class?" She thought to herself.
While she was wondering if she should go approach him or not, he suddenly started walking away.
Cat took a step forward and reached out to him, intending to stop him, but she stopped. Perhaps he was heading back to the classroom?
She watched him for a moment more, expecting him to turn into the left corner. But he turned right! Away from their classroom!
"What is he doing?" She whispered to herself and quietly followed him.
Following him as quietly as she could, she followed him around the school.
Until she found herself at the main doors. Cat looked shocked.
"N-No way! He's skipping?!" She asked herself and rushed out the main doors after him.
Indeed, Yami was heading for the main gates of the school.
Cat shifted her eyes around anxiously, wondering if she should stop him herself, or go and tell their friends.
She clentched her fists and ran as fast as she could towards Yami.
Once she caught up to him, she grabbed the back of his jacket.
"W-Wait!" She cried.
Yami stopped and looked over his shoulder at Cat, who was still holding onto his jacket.
"Cat? What are you doing here?" He asked.
Cat looked up at him. "Where are you going?" She asked.
Yami smiled lightly.
"I'm going to the museum." He replied.
"Huh? Wh-Why are you going there? In the middle of school and without telling anyone, no less?" Cat asked.
"I now have the keys that will allow me to regain my lost memories as Pharaoh. And I'm feeling impatient about learning them." Yami replied. "I...didn't want to disturb anyone else. And besides...I don't know if me, regaining my lost memories, will mean that I have to leave everyone forever. I'm sorry."
"I see." Cat mummered, letting go of his jacket. "But...I'm sure everyone would want to say goodbye and good luck to you before you go."
Yami smiled a little sadly. "It would be too sad to say goodbye to them. I only wanted Yugi to see me off because...it would just be too sad. Maybe you should head back, alright?" He said before turning around and walking back towards the gates. "Goodbye Cat."
Cat watched him leave, a sad look on her face.
"It shouldn't be that way." She mummered as she turned and ran back towards the school. As she did this, the bell, excusing classes for a few minutes, rang.
On the roof, Anzu stood there, looking through the fence that prevented students from falling off.
It wasn't long until Jounouchi, Kristen and Honda came to join her.
"Hey Anzu...where's Yug?" Jounouchi asked.
Anzu shook her head. "I don't know. He left before class. He told me he had to go somewhere." She replied.
Honda thought for a moment.
"Well, that's odd...that's unlike him." He stated.
Jounouchi nodded.
"Where do you suppose he could have gone?" Kristen asked her new friends.
Before anyone could answer, Cat suddenly ran through the door to the roof, approaching her friends.
Everyone looked at her.
"Cat! There you are! Do you know where Yugi is?" Honda asked.
Cat tried to catch her breath from running the whole way.
"Y-Yeah! He said he was going to the museum."
"What?! And he didn't tell us?!" Jounouchi asked, annoyed.
"He has his reasons." Cat mummered.
"We should go and follow him, guys." Anzu said.
Everyone nodded and left the rooftop.
The area around the museum seemed rather silent.
Yami stood at the bottom of the steps, staring at the museum. He was about to regain his memories.
He was about to take a step, until he heard his name.
"YUGI!"
He turned around to find Jounouchi, Cat, Honda, Kristen and Anzu running up to him.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, looking a little stunned.
"We were worried about you, man!" Honda exclaimed.
"Yeah! Why didja just split like that?" Jounouchi asked.
Yami looked to the side.
"I have something I need to do...and I may end up not coming back. Saying goodbye would be too sad." He said.
"Hey! We're a team, remember?" Anzu pointed out.
"Even though goodbyes can be very sad, it's even sadder when you lose the chance to say them. You regret not being able to." Cat said.
"That's right." Kristen agreed.
Yami smiled at the five. "Thank you." He said.
"Let's go!" Jounouchi cried.
Everyone stood in front of the tablet of memories, amazed. Except for Yami and Anzu. They had already seen the tablets before.
But this was the first time that the other four had seen them.
"Whoa! Yug! That guy looks just like you!" Jounouchi exclaimed, with a freaked out look on his face.
Yami nodded. "Yes. I was shocked too when I saw this tablet. But Ishizu came and explained to me that I was the Pharaoh who locked away the shadow games 3,000 years ago." He said.
Cat stared at the tablet.
"So...this is the tablet where Yami discovered he was a Pharaoh? Huh...and if I didn't know any better, that other guy looks just like Kaiba. Ugh...this is getting stranger and stranger." She thought to herself. "Does Kaiba have some sort of connection as well?"
She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed Yami approaching the ancient tablet.
They all watched as Yami held the Egyptian God cards up to the tablet. Suddenly, the eye of Horus on the tablet, started to glow a bright, white light.
A laugh could be heard. No one knew where the unknown voice was coming from.
Suddenly, the ancient tablet was frozen within ice and the God cards in Yami's hand started to crackle with dark energy!
Yami grabbed his arm and kneeled down in pain.
"Yugi!" Everyone cried.
"Yugi! Let go of the cards!" Honda cried.
"I-I can't!" Yami said through his pain.
Cat kneeled next to him and tried to remove the cards from his hand. But when she reached out to grab them, the dark energy hurt Cat's hand.
After a moment, the dark energy had stopped flowing.
"Yug! Are you all right?" Jounouchi asked.
"Yes...I'm fine." Yami said, sighing. He glanced over at Cat. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." Cat said, looking at her hand.
Suddenly, they all heard a scream from outside of the museum!
Running to the outside to investigate, they froze at what they saw next.
Duel Monsters all over the place flew all around while people screamed, ran and cowered in fear.
"Whoa! Someone's Duel Disk must have gone haywire!" Honda exclaimed.
"It would take more than one busted Duel Disk to create all these monsters!" Kristen pointed out.
"I say we go straight to the only person I can think of that would know what did this! As much as I hate ta say it...let's go find Kaiba!" Jounouchi said with determination.
"W-Wait! Isn't he still gone?" Cat asked.
"That's right...Kay hasn't returned yet." Kristen said.
"It couldn't hurt to try anyways! Let's go!" Honda said.
Cat and Kristen looked hesitantly at each other before nodding.
Once the group of friends had reached Kaiba Corp., the entry way was clogged with news reporters and such.
One of Kaiba's employees was speaking for him.
"We assure you, that we are not responsible for what has happened! Mr. Kaiba is away in America doing business! But he will be holding a press conference in the U.S soon!" The man announced.
"Well...according to that man, I don't think we'll be able to get in." Kristan said.
"Yeah, but it's not like we would be able to get through this mess either!" Honda pointed out.
"Let's head back and see if anything is on the news about this." Anzu said.
Everyone nodded and headed off again.
At the Game shop, everyone sat in Yugi's living room, watching the news. Solomon Motou carefully dusted the God cards while they did so.
Through the news, they had discovered that monsters were appearing all over the world! But before the group of friends could discover anything else, the news quickly cut to Kaiba's press conference, live from the U.S.
Kaiba stood before microphones and began to speak.
"After testing our Duel Disk systems, we have discovered that the monster appearances have nothing to do with Kaiba Corp. Our technology is working perfectly." He said.
"I'll bet you Kaiba is just trying to cover up to keep his reputation! Who else can create holograms such as those?!" Jounouchi cried.
"Hold on. This may sound crazy...but what if they aren't holograms?" Cat suggested.
Kristen nodded.
"Yeah...what if they have something to do with the stone tablet we saw earlier. I'm no expert, but I'm sure neither glass nor stone freezes like that." She said.
"And I'm sure cards don't start to crackle with dark lightening." Anzu pointed out.
"You're right. I wonder if that drk force I felt in the museum has anything to do with this?" Yami suggested.
Jounouchi opened his mouth to say something, but it was cut off by a crash!
"YUGI!"
It was Solomon!
The six friends ran out of the room to find Solomon on the floor of the shop and the shop glass broken. Plus the God cards were gone! Yami turned back into Yugi.
Anzu and Kristen helped Solomon up while Jounouchi glared.
"Whoever took the God cards, I'll stop them!" He cried and ran out the door. He didn't go far, for he suddenly screeched to a halt and cried out in surprise.
Everyone else joined him when they heard the cry.
Above them was Obelisk, Slifer and Ra! The three Egyptian God cards!
"WHOA! Who would steal da God cards and summon them in the middle of the city for all to see?!" Jounouchi cried out.
"I don't think they were stolen. Nor do I think someone summoned them with their Duel Disk! From what I know, only a person with a connection with the Millennium Items can summon a God card!" Yugi piped in.
All of the sudden, they were all blinded by a bright light, coming from three motorcycles with three figures on them.
Yugi glared at the three.
"Give me my God cards back!" He shouted, figuring they were the ones who stole them.
The three men laughed.
"When the forbidden door is opened, the light of the Orichalcos will punish this filthy world. We are Doma's three swordsmen!" They all said at the same time.
Jounouchi held up his fist at them.
"You dun scare us, ya buncha freaks!" He snapped.
Yugi stepped in.
"The God cards don't belong to you! Give them back!" He demanded.
"The God cards serve a new master now, Nameless Pharaoh." One of the men said.
Yugi blinked in shock.
"How did they know about the Pharaoh?" He thought to himself.
The three men turned their motorcycles around.
"If you want you God cards back, follow us!" One of them said before they all sped towards and unfinished building with a crane at the top.
With a flash of gold, Yami took over again and followed the three men with his friends following as well.
Once they reached the top of the building, they ran into a man with a beard in a cloak.
"My name is Gurimo and I serve Lord Rafael!" The man announced.
"Gurimo! Those God cards hold more power than you understand! Return them! Before someone gets hurt!" Yami yelled at the man.
Gurimo smirked.
"I'm well aware of how much power the God cards hold. If you want them back, you'll have to duel me!" He said, activting his Duel disk.
"Very well then!" Yami accepted, activating his own Duel disk.
Cat stared at the two duelists.
"I don't believe this. Battle City is finally over and suddenly, dangerous events turn up, wanting something to do with the God cards, the Pharaoh or the Millennium items!" She thought to herself before she looked to the ground, a little sad. "Don't...they ever get any peace? Doesn't Yami get any peace? I can only hope this will all pass after this duel. Although...I have a feeling it won't."
The duel was about to begin.
The duel started out as a normal duel. But as the duel continued, something strange happened.
Gurimo played a strange magic card that no one had ever seen before. It was called, "The Seal of Orichalcos".
Once he played it, a circular boundary filled with magical symbols appeared on the ground around the duelists and the duel area. Within the circle, a series of lines drew out an asymmetrical six-pointed star-like shape within it. It glowed green.
After Gurimo played the card, a miniature version of the seal appeared on his forehead.
When the seal appeared, Cat, Jounouchi, Honda, Kristen and Anzu were all thrown back by the seal's energy. When Yami tried to run to his friend's aid, he realized that he could not leave the seal.
Gurimo explained that once the seal surrounded someone, no one could enter or leave the seal.
But that wasn't the only thing the seal did. At the end of the duel, the loser's soul would remain locked within the seal while the winner could leave unharmed.
Whomever played the Seal of Orichalcos would also get their monster powered up.
The Millennium Puzzle seemed almost powerless within the seal.
The duel didn't end quickly, but Yami won in the end.
What Yami and his friends didn't realize, was that three motorcyclists were watching the duel nearby.
Yami fell to his knees, exhausted.
"That...was close..." He sighed to himself.
Gurimo looked up to the three motorcyclists and tossed them Obelisk, one of the God cards.
The three motorcyclists had let Gurimo borrow Obelisk to help him win the duel, but he failed anyways.
"Master Rafael!" Gurimo cried as he tossed the card to them.
They caught the card as the seal grew smaller around Gurmio, forming a column of light that seemed to create a vortex that reached the sky, sucking Gurimo's soul out.
As the seal disappeared, Gurimo fell to the ground senselessly.
"Gurimo..." One of the motorcyclists said silently. The motorcyclist's name was Rafael.
"We now know more about the Pharaoh's duelist strategies. Let's go." Another motorcyclist said. This one's name was Valon. The last motorcyclist, who remained silent, was named Amelda.
The three turned to go.
"Stop!" Yami cried after them. The three stopped and looked at him. "I won! Return the Egyptian God cards!"
They laughed.
"You have to defeat all three of us to get them back, Pharaoh." Amelda said.
Jounouchi growled.
"You cowards!" He yelled angrily. "No one told us we had to duel all three of you! Give them back before I beat them out of your hands!"
Valon laughed. "That one reminds me of myself. Only dumber and less attractive." He said, grinning. "He'll be fun to duel."
Without another word, the three left.
Yami rushed over to Gurimo and looked at him.
Honda joined him.
"Is he...dead?" He asked.
"No. But his soul is gone." Yami replied.
He picked up the Seal card. It had the man's picture on it.
Kristen bent down and picked up a glowing, green crystal necklace that Gurimo was wearing.
"Wow...pretty." She mummered before turning and calling to Yami. "Hey Yugi! Check this out!"
Yami came over and looked at the crystal. Cat joined the two.
"Do you think it has something to do with all this?" Cat asked.
"I don't know. But it's like the dark power of the Millennium Items." Yami replied.
Cat stared at the necklace a moment more before turning around and walking away a little while her friend's behind her continued to investigate the area.
She hugged herself.
"I knew it. Something strange is happening and it sounds like we're going to be on some sort of mission again." She thought to herself and sighed. "First it was Marik, threatening people's lives. And now some weird Duel Monsters card that can capture people's souls within the card! Plus, we don't know who's behind all this and whoever they are, they now have the God cards! The key's to Yami's memories! He...he was really looking forward to regaining his lost memories."
Cat looked back at her friends. Most of them seemed to act like this was nothing new.
She sighed again.
"I won't be standing at the side-lines anymore. I'm going to help Yami this time. With the lessons he taught me about Duel Monsters."
Yeah, I realize the break in between Battle City and the Waking of the Dragons/D.O.O.M saga was pretty short but...yeah.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See ya next chappie! :D