"I think he's waking up..."
Joey pushed his upper body up from the ground slowly... Tea called his name again which caused him to hold his head...
"Ow..."
"Joey! The gates have been lifted" Natalie told him, Joey turned onto his side to look for Mai... only to be disappointed.
"I'm sorry Joey... but they took her" Tea informed him.
"Oh no... I was so close!" Joey mumbled.
Natalie helped him up "don't beat yourself Joey you'd done all that you could..."
Joey blinked "weren't you knocked out a moment ago?"
"Joey..." Natalie said with a wet drop in the side of her head "I've been awake for ages now... it's no biggie"
"Erm... hello! You fainted remember?"
"Yes..." The Pharaoh spoke "So take it easy Natalie... maybe it wasn't such a good idea bringing you along..."
"But I'm fine!" she argued "so I caught a couple of Zs at a very bad time... don't you start treating me as if I'm a mental case!"
"Natalie please..." Yugi begged
"I'm a big girl! I can look after myself and... Who the hell are you?"
The Pharaoh turned his head... "Kiba?"
Sure enough there stood the young businessmen himself looking as stern as ever and by his side was his little brother Mokuba.
"Oh great..." Kiba groaned.
"What are you guys doing here?" Mokuba asked.
"Hey! I asked a question first, who are you?" Natalie cut in which made Kiba laugh.
"I could ask you the same question girl..."
"Girl! Why I ought..."
"Natalie" the Pharaoh spoke grabbing her arm "that's Seto Kiba, owner of Kiba Corpe and his brother Mokuba... remember? I told you about them the other day..."
Natalie made an 'o' shape with her mouth "Oh right..." she laughed nervously. Kiba raised his eyebrow... 'So that's the infamous Natalie that I've heard about...' he thought 'I have to give it to Yugi, he has good taste'
Suddenly Duke appeared with Rex and Weevil behind him, "Whoa it's a party..." Duke remarked then noticed Natalie "and who's the cute girl?"
Natalie was a little taken back at how forward he is "Er... I'm Natalie..."
Duke smirked at her "well I'm Duke Devlin... it's very nice to meet you" he mused as he grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"Er... likewise..." she replied quickly taking her hand back.
"Hey back off Duke!" snapped Rex with Weevil hastily agreeing.
"ANYWAY!" Natalie cut in "what brings you here Seto Kiba?"
"Well certainly not the dweeb convention..." he answered making Tristan yell some very colourful words at him. "Any sign of Pegasus?" he asked completely ignoring what was just said.
The Pharaoh shook his head "I'm afraid we're too late"
"That's right" finished Tristan "believe or not Mai Valentine got to him before we did, she took his soul with some... what was it again?"
"The Seal of Orichalcos" Natalie finished and stood next to the Pharaoh, maybe that would be the sign for Duke, Rex and Weevil to back off.
Kiba narrowed his eyes "Orichalcos?"
"You say its name as if you've heard it before" Natalie noted.
The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow "have you experienced this card before?"
"You bet!" Mokuba replied loudly "Seto wiped the floor with whoever played it! He pretended to be Pegasus and had us fly all the way to duellist kingdom to duel him!"
"And then he ran away" Kiba finished "so we came here to get some answers, whoever captured Pegasus is trying to take over my company... and that's unacceptable!"
The Pharaoh suddenly remembered the card that he and Yugi was given by Pegasus himself and pulled it out of his pocket "Hold on... this card Pegasus sent us maybe a clue, it seems to contain the image of a key..."
"Wait..." spoke Duke "there was a door upstairs that wouldn't unlock even when I cracked the security system..."
"Then that's it!" The Pharaoh stated.
"Take us there now!" Kiba demanded.
Duke looked a little baffled at their sudden reaction, but then Tristan stepped in.
"Who invited you! We were here first you moocher!"
"Tristan!"
"What? I don't like the guy... he's Yugi's biggest rival Natalie don't stick up for him!"
"I'll do what I like you doofus!" she snapped back as a vein popped in her forehead.
Duke then placed his hand on her shoulder "just ignore him Natalie, he just an..."
But Natalie shrugged his hand off "I'm sure you're a lovely guy but one: I have a boyfriend and two: you not my type!"
Duke stared at her shocked... did she just reject him? He didn't even ask yet he thought!
It was then Tristan crept beside him "Yugi is a little protective over her so I'd suggest you back off..." he whispered.
"YUGI! HER BOYFRIEND IS YUGI!"
The Pharaoh paid no attention but Yugi however...
Jee... thanks a bunch Duke" he grumbled.
"It will be alright Joey" the Pharaoh reassured his friend "We'll rescue Mai"
Joey got up on his feet "thanks Yug"
"Come on..." said Duke "it's this way" Everyone followed him to the lifts, since the lifts could only fit three people... everyone split into separate lifts. The Pharaoh made sure that him and Natalie got one separate so Yugi could talk to her. Once they walked in, the Pharaoh pressed the level they needed to go on.
"So is there any particular reason you rushed to drag me in this lift? Or am I just paranoid?"
The Pharaoh turned to look at her "I figured you and Yugi could use this time to talk..."
Natalie gave him a puzzled look "why is something wrong?"
"No..." spoke Yugi appearing next to the Pharaoh "I haven't been able to talk to you properly all day... so I told the Pharaoh to seize this chance"
The Pharaoh leaned against the wall of the lift and crossed his arms "actually I think there is something we three need to discuss, firstly about you fainting..."
Natalie stared at him long and hard, she figured she might as well tell them now. "I... well... when I saw that symbol, it made me have a flashback of the night the Great Beast appeared..."
"You mean when you slept walked?" Yugi asked wanting confirmation.
Natalie nodded "only I didn't sleep walk" she then looked up at the ceiling "this is gonna sound completely insane... but... I think I was possessed"
"Possessed? By what?"
Natalie closed her eyes, she wasn't sure telling them that Nefertiti was the one who possessed her... they already had enough on their plate. However... Nefertiti seemed to have encountered the Great Beast before, she had knowledge on what was going on... if only Natalie could talk to her...
"Natalie?"
"I think it was Nefertiti..."
The Pharaoh's eyes widened "How... how can you be so sure?"
"Because..." whispered "it called me a queen of Egypt..."
The Pharaoh couldn't believe it, if Nefertiti could take control of Natalie were they now connected like him and Yugi. But that's impossible he thought, Natalie would need to be in possession on a Millennium item.
"Natalie... did she possess a Millennium item?"
Natalie shook her head "only the Pharaoh and his higher priests were allowed to wield the items, the number of priests that a Pharaoh could have was six... there are seven Millennium Items in total".
"But surely a queen has some roll within the court?" Yugi quizzed.
"You'd be surprised, it's true the Queen was highly respected by the people... but she was more... how should I say this... a trophy." Natalie could tell that both Yugi and the Pharaoh were getting a little lost, so she simplified some more... " As you know arrange marriages were to strengthen the royal blood line. But what was also important was that the Queen had to be a symbol of beauty, kindness and peace. For example, if a candidate was bad with children... she would set as a bad representation among Egyptian women and may very well bring shame on the country..."
The Pharaoh took in all that she said, could he have only married her if she suppose to be a trophy? He would've of liked to have believed that he treated her well... but he knew nothing.
"I will say this though" she suddenly spoke "Nefertiti was a very opinionated woman... hence why she's was so highly written by the priests, it is said she ruled Egypt some time after her husband time... but it was only brief..."A ding echoed through the left and the doors slowly slid open, as they stepped out they saw the others waiting for them.
"Ready you two?" Tea asked. The Pharaoh nodded and let Natalie go first before following her shortly after. It felt as if they were talking for hours, especially since everyone was pretty tired from travelling all day... the Pharaoh and Yugi in particular kept an eye on Natalie encase she felt faint again.
"Okay" spoke Duke "this is the room..." he placed his hand on the handle and turned it.
"How can anyone find their way around this place?" Tristan commented as Duke opened the door, as everyone walked in they scanned the room to see that it was actually Pegasus's office.
Duke walked over to the second door of the room "this is it! Now we just have to figure out how to open it with a duel monsters card... anybody got any ideas?"
The Pharaoh then stepped from to notice a card slot next to the door on the wall, going with his gut he slid the card through and the red light flashed green.
"Exactly what I would've done..." Duke shot in. The Pharaoh opened the door to see that the room it led to was in complete darkness, no windows shone the bright SF sun and it looked as if the room wasn't visited often as cobwebs covered the ceiling and corners of the walls.
"So..." Tristan dragged "who wants to go first?"
"Anyone wanna draw straws?" Joey joked. The Kiba brothers were the first to walk in the room.
"Okay lets close the door and run!"
"Joey!" Both Tea and Natalie scolded. Natalie was the one switched the lights on and it was as if the gang walked into a miniature toon world.
"Okay... this is weird" Joey stated.
Tea agreed "yeah, and on the border line of creepy"
Natalie felt a shiver run down her spine "I hate cartoons! They freak me out..."
Kiba seemed to have the same attitude "lets get this over with quick!"
"It's the jack pot!" Natalie heard from behind her "Pegasus probably stashes his rarest cards here!"
"When did you come in?" she asked facing Rex and Weevil "you better not be stalking me!" However she was cut off when she felt someone... or something behind her. Turning around she couldn't help but scream in surprise...
At first the Pharaoh threw her a puzzled look but then saw watch she screamed at "Pegasus?"
"Not quite..." Kiba shot in "its a hologram..."
"Good job Nat!" Joey cheered, but Natalie wasn't exactly proud of her discovery since it nearly scared her half to death.
"Yugi boy!" Pegasus mused "at least I hope it's you that found this room, by the way if you couldn't tell I did all the interior decorating myself! Pretty impressive isn't it?"
"Someone remind me to kill this guy when this is all over..." Natalie mumbled.
Tristan raised an eyebrow "and you want to do that why?"
"For making a scary room and putting a projector on the floor..."
"Will you two be quiet!" Tea scold "I can't hear him!"
"If you're hearing this, that can only mean the gentlemen that were after my soul have been able to capture me... So please listen closely..."
"This is it..." the Pharaoh muttered.
Pegasus then cleared his throat "It all began when a mysterious man tried to buy out my company...
"Hang on..." Kiba spoke "the whole reason I'm here is because someone tried to buy out my company!"
"Sounds like one greedy creep" Natalie commented.
"But there's more..." spoke Pegasus "this individual possess an ancient power stronger than any other I've seen" He then cleared his throat "his name... is Dartz"
"Who's Dartz?" The Pharaoh questioned which caused Kiba to scoff
"Who cares Yugi?"
"You're in danger!" Pegasus warned "Dartz wants to use my game to destroy civilisation, he must be stopped and fast! And the key to taking him down is somewhere in this room!" he then proceeded to explain his research on the origins of duel monsters which at the time, believed to be from Ancient Egypt. But he then stated that the monsters existed long before the pyramids were built...
"In the City of Atlantis" the Pharaoh answered for him.
Natalie glanced over at him "that means Grandpas theory is true!"
"And that is where this Dartz character comes in..." clarified Pegasus "He's trying to resurrect the most terrifying beast to ever roam the earth! The Great Leviathan... By draining the souls of man and beast in order to build up its strength"
"Rewind a moment" ordered Natalie "As in the demon Leviathan of the sea?"
The Pharaoh glanced at her "you've heard of this creature?"
Natalie crossed her arms and closed her eyes "it is mentioned in the bible... it's one of the seven princes of hell and the gatekeeper of Hellmouth"
"And what's Hellmouth?" Joey asked.
"Think about it" she told him "Hell... Mouth?"
But Joey still didn't get it which made Tea angry "he guards the gate to Hell you idiot!"
"If his plan works... Dart will have succeeded in unleashing a devastating power! The likes of which have not been seen for ten thousand years" He then flung his arms in the air "you are our only hope! So I've created an exclusive card just for you Yugi boy!"
"NO WAY!" both Rex and Weevil cried and then proceeded to look for it.
"I've hidden this one of a kind card somewhere in this room, think carefully, where can one find an extra card"
Although Natalie wasn't a duellist she could remember some of the cards Yugi showed her, scanning the room she set her eyes on a very ugly looking pot. "Funny... that looks a lot like the pot of greed card".
The Pharaoh to turned to look at it "of course! Pot of Greed lets you take two cards! Well done Natalie!"
"Well..." she mused proudly "I do try..." but was then nearly knocked over by Rex and Weevil diving towards the pot... only to have them hit the floor first face because she grabbed their feet...
"YOU DOUCHEBAGS I'VE ALREADY BEEN KNOCKED OUT I DON'T WANNA BE AGAIN! SO WATCH IT!"
But instead of being scared of her they just drooled and kept mumbling about how they like demanding girls or something a long them lines which really made her feel uneasy...
"I wash those two would back off already!" Yugi grumbled.
Tristan was the one to pick up the pot and pull the card out... "Oh yeah! A real special card" he drawled sarcastically "the cards completely blank!"
"Time is running out" said Pegasus "its up to you!" and with that the hologram dispersed.