Kaiba and Mokuba exit Duelist Kingdom on their way back to their jet. After being tricked by Allister, Kaiba is growing increasingly agitated after their duel that resulted in a tie. But something else happened during that duel that still perplexes Kaiba. He reaches into his deck to pull out a card that he previously didn't have.

The Fang of Critias. A powerful dragon that aided him in his battle when all hope seemed lost. But Allister had his own tricks and since the duel resulted in a tie, the Seal of Orichalcos took no one. He isn't sure how the card ended up in his deck. He just remembers a voice calling out to him, telling him to release the monster from its icy prison and he did just that. He places the card back into his deck and growls.

Mokuba lowers his head as he follows his older brother. "Seto? Aren't you worried he'll come back for revenge? You heard him. He has the power to steal souls!"

"Come on. You believed all that nonsense?" Seto asks in disbelief as he looks at his younger brother over his shoulder. "Allister was just a desperate looney who wanted a shot at beating a real duelist. He didn't have any magic powers, Mokuba."

"But Seto! That Orichalcos thing seemed pretty real to me!"

'It had to be a trick,' Seto replies in his head. 'But what I don't get is how this card ended up in my deck. It's one of the most powerful cards I've ever seen. And I need to find out more about it. There's only one person who would have that knowledge. And that's the real Pegasus.'

They both hop into the jet, preparing for take off. Mokuba presses a few buttons and the jet starts to ascend into the air. "Initiating navigation systems."

"Activating rear thrusters." And on cue, the jet zooms off to it's next destination. The headquarters of Pegasus, known as Industrial Illusions.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

Yami and the others finally arrive at Pegasus' headquarters. As they walk into the lobby, they notice that it is surprisingly empty with no signs of anyone else being there.

"Hello? Pegasus?" Tristan calls out as they stand in the middle of the enormous lobby. "This place is completely empty!"

"Well maybe it's like…some kind of holiday or something," Joey guesses, placing a hand in his pocket.

"But why were the front doors left wide open?" Teá asks. "It's just weird."

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Yugi says, appearing next to Yami.

'So do I. I suspect the thieves that were after Pegasus have already gotten to him. And if that's the case, then I'm sure they're expecting us.'

Teá walks over to one of the receptionist phones and places it up to her ear. But there is no dial tone and instead there is complete silence on the other end. She turns to the group. "Hey guys! The phones aren't working!"

Soon after she makes that statement, the gates of the headquarters begin to lower down in front of all of the doors and windows, causing them to be trapped. Yami, Teá, Joey and Tristan all run in separate directions, trying to lift and tug at the gates, but to no avail. They are stuck there.

"We've been tricked!" Teá exclaims as she tries to lift up the gates alongside Tristan.

"Aw man, not again!" Tristan yells.

Yami gives the gate a few pulls, but it doesn't budge. "Stay calm."

Joey whips his head around to Cairo who still stands in the middle of the lobby, watching as this all goes down. "Hey Cairo! Can you get us outta here?" Before she can answer, she quickly turns around when she hears the sound of a motorcycle revving up. It echoes throughout the large room, making it hard for them to pinpoint where exactly it is coming from.

"Show yourself!" Yami demands as he stands alongside Cairo.

"It's probably those biker thugs again," Tristan says.

Cairo's amethyst eyes slowly scroll up to a balcony and she points upward to the source of the noise. Yami and the others look up just in time to see a motorcycle hop down from the balcony. They all gasp in unison seeing it come down from an incredible height, but the rider still manages to land on its two wheels with no problem at all. Finally after much suspense, the bike rider takes of their helmet. Her long, blonde hair is released and it flows down to her back. She wears black knee high boots, shorts, a crop top and a matching jacket.

Joey runs a few feet ahead, standing in front of Yami and Cairo to get a closer look at who he thinks to be a familiar face. She shakes her head a few times to straighten out her hair before looking over to the group with her narrowed, violet eyes. Joey sighs in relief.

"It's Mai!" he says happily. She is an old friend of theirs, dating all the way to when they dueled one another at Duelist Kingdom and the Battle City Tournament. She especially had a close bond with Joey, especially after her duel with an evil man known as Marik during Battle City. After losing a duel to him, Marik had sent her mind to the Shadow Realm. But regardless of her not showing any signs of waking up at that time, Joey stayed by her side.

"Hey Mai!" Teá greets with a smile.

"It's been awhile," Joey says, taking a few more steps toward her. "What brings you here to San Francisco? The trolleys?"

She scoffs at him which takes him by surprise and he tugs nervously at his collar. Swinging a leg over, she finally gets off of her motorcycle, revealing a dark colored duel disk that resembles the duel disks of the other henchmen. Joey raises an eyebrow at her silence. "What's going on, Mai? Why the silent treatment?"

"I'm not Mai. At least, not the Mai you knew," she replies, taking a card out of her deck.

"Huh?"

She turns the card to reveal it to them and they all gasp in shock when they see an image of a distressed Pegasus on it, covered by the seal. "Say hello to Pegasus."

"What?!" Yami says, not expecting Mai of all people to be on the side of the Orichalcos. And he definitely did not expect for her to be the one to capture Pegasus' soul.

"Did you do that to him?" Teá asks, not believing what she's seeing.

"Start talking Mai! What happened?" Joey asks.

"What's the matter Wheeler? Your little reunion with Mai not turn out the way you'd like?" comes a familiar voice from up on the balcony. Joey looks up to see Valon and Rafael spectating their interaction. Valon then turns his sights to Mai. "And you! Why are you keeping these guys all for yourself, Mai? Why don't you show some manners and share some of the fun with us?"

"Mind your own business you lackeys!" Mai snaps. "These geeks are mine!"

Joey frowns at the word. "Geeks? We're your friends Mai." He thinks back to when they left Battle City, remembering how Mai and him talked about their growing friendship and everything they've been through together. But now it seems like all of that didn't matter. "Please Mai. Tell me this is all a joke! You're on our side, remember?"

"Great. Mai totally turned on us!" Tristan says.

"No! Mai would never do that!" Teá exclaims in disbelief, turning to him briefly before turning her head back to Mai. "Tell him, Mai. You're still our friend, right?"

"Time to explain yourself," says Yami.

"I was never apart of your little play group. And now I'm gonna break you apart, one by one," she replies, whipping out her duel disk in preparation for a duel. "And Wheeler, I'm starting with you!"

"Fine," Joey accepts, taking out his duel disk as well.

"And to think, I was pathetic enough to call you my friend," she says, taking out a card in particular. "You were holding me back from achieving real power. Say hello to my real friend, The Seal of Orichalcos!" She raises the card momentarily before placing it down on her duel disk, activating the card and it forms around them.

Yami shields his face as the seal grows larger, pushing them back. "No. Not this."

Joey gasps, realizing that he is now surrounded by the seal. She has put him in a tough position and has given him no choice but to duel her. But the dilemma is if he wins, she'll lose her soul once again like she has in the past. But if he loses, he won't be able to help Yugi fight the evil that is causing all of this mess.

Mai laughs at Joey's panicked expression. "If you're scared now, just wait til you lose."

"Wake up Mai. This thing's nothing but bad news!" he yells as a black aura surrounds her and she stands with her arms folded and a grin on her face. "It's messing with your mind! Don't you remember everything we've been through together? Just ditch that freaky card and things can be the way they used to be!"

But she doesn't respond to his pleas. Instead, she laughs once again at his feeble attempts to convince her what she's doing is wrong. She lifts her head, revealing the seal on her forehead and he grits his teeth. He isn't getting through to her at all.

"It's exactly as I feared," Yami says as he witnesses this all going down. "The Orichalcos controls her. This duel must end."

"Otherwise, she's gonna do the same thing to Joey that she did to Pegasus!" Teá says worriedly.

"Mai…let's talk. Please!" Joey begs of her.

She throws a card down on her duel disk. "I summon Harpie Lady!" A monster with long red hair, ghoulish skin and long arms with wings attached appears on the field. It is her signature card that she has used in all of her duels. Her eyes glow red as the seal appears on her forehead just as it does to her master.

"No Mai. Someone's gonna get hurt," Joey says as his eyes begin to water.

"That's the point. Whoever loses this duel, loses their soul."

"No…I won't lose you again. You have to snap out of this!"

Yugi appears next to Yami. 'They can't go through with this. We've gotta do something.'

Yami looks down at his Millennium Puzzle and grunts. 'Yes, but the puzzle is powerless against that seal.'

"Aye pharaoh! Quit mumbling to yourself down there will ya!" Valon calls out tauntingly. "Once the seal appears, it doesn't disappear without taking a soul along with it."

"And don't think you're off the hook pharaoh. Once she takes your friend's soul, I'm coming for you!" Rafael chimes in.

"Get back in your cage, gorilla boy!" Mai shoots back, sending them a glare. "Once I'm done with Wheeler, Yugi is mine!"

"She's nuts," Teá comments, not understanding where all of the animosity is coming from all of a sudden.

"I never liked her," Rafael mutters with his arms folded."No respect. Any more lip from her and she's next."

"Aw give her a break," Valon says with a smile, getting a kick out of it all. "She's still new. Plus she's cute when she gets mad, don't you think?"

"Uh…no."

"Your move hot shot. This year would be nice," Mai responds, pointing at him. "The old Mai you knew is gone. She was weak and pathetic."

"Well I happened to like the old Mai!" Joey says. "And I'm gonna get her back!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

Joey finally but reluctantly readies his duel disk for a duel. But just as quickly as he plays down a card, Mai is already on the offensive, attacking his monster that is weaker than her Harpie Lady and then attacking his life points directly after summoning another one of her Harpie Ladies.

Tristan looks away. "I can't watch this. Not if he's gonna throw away the duel to save Mai!"

"Would he really do that?" Cairo asks, looking up at Yami.

"It wouldn't be the first time he risked his life to save Mai," he replies, remembering the moment at Battle City where he did just that. She was up against Marik and down to her final life points. It was a similar scenario in which the loser would lose their soul along with their memories. She was chained down by one his magic cards, with no way to escape. With the god card, The Winged Dragon of Ra on the field, Marik delivered the final blow that was supposed to be a direct hit to Mai. But at the last minute, Joey jumped in to try and set her free. Just as the attack was about to make contact, Yami rushed on the field to shield them both.

"Last time I stepped in and saved them both. But this time, the force we're up against is too strong. Even for my Millennium Puzzle."

"You have to snap out of this spell Mai! Otherwise, someone's gonna lose their soul!" Joey continues as the duel goes on. He is losing at the moment, but his mind isn't fully on the duel. How can he focus when both of their lives are at stake?

"What spell?" Mai replies to everyone's shock. "I'm not being controlled. I'm doing this on my own!"

"Say what?"

"I was sick of my life. So I chose to change it!"

"No way!"

"How could you?" Teá asks in disbelief.

"You guys would never understand…You've never been an outsider like me." She lowers her head, thinking back to all of the times where she has been lonely or made fun of. After Battle City, she continued to try and make a name for herself. But even after winning numerous tournaments after the fact, no one took her seriously. "Shortly after those tournaments, I started having nightmares. Nightmares of Marik and being sent to the Shadow Realm. Every night it was the same dream. I was weak and no one was there to rescue me."

"I never knew you felt that way," Joey says, clenching his fists. "Why didn't you say anything? We coulda helped you Mai."

"Save it! I don't need your kind of help. All I need now is power!"

Flashback

"You've been lied to for too long," Dartz tells her as they stand in his lair. After wandering the streets aimlessly, she had come across Valon who had promised to help her gain what she wanted most. "Those who called themselves your friends all turned on you. You poor thing. Those scoundrels left you alone in that terrible place while they soaked up all the glory. And you deserve so much more than that. You deserve to be the greatest duelist the world has ever seen!"

Mai drops down to her knees as heart begins to pound. Finally. Someone who understands her. "That's what I want!"

"Trust me and the ultimate power shall be yours!"

"I trust you." She looks up at him with desperation in her eyes.

"Then there's one thing left to do."

"I'll do anything! Anything!" she exclaims, jumping up to her feet.

"Will you surrender your weak side?"

"Of course!"

He grins as he points to her forehead. "Good. Then the power you desire is now yours." As his finger makes contact, her head jerks back and she lowers it, revealing the seal on her forehead.

"Welcome. From this day forth, you'll now serve the Orichalcos."

End Flashback

"Time's up. In just a few moments, I'll win and you'll lose your soul!" she says, drawing a card and Joey narrows his eyes. This duel hasn't been going in his favor, and now he's down to his law few life points. He looks down to his deck and takes a deep breath. As he begins to reach his hand to draw his next card, the card suddenly begins to emit a glow.

A light from the corner of his eye also causes Yami to look at his deck as well. He draws the Eye of Timaeus card and looks at it with wonder. As both of their decks glow, they are both transported to a large castle, a place very familiar to Yami. He and Joey appear in front of a large ice sculpture of a dragon with a sword within it and Joey looks around in confusion.

"What's going on? Wasn't I just in the middle of a duel?" he asks.

"I've been to this place before," Yami says.

Joey looks up at the large sculpture in awe. "Whoa. That's a large dragon!"

"It's a legendary dragon frozen in time. And if my theory is correct, you must release it by removing that sword."

"Say what now?" He hesitates before placing hand on the handle of the sword. He feels a huge wave of energy overcoming him that almost takes his breath away. He puts another hand on the sword and pulls with all of his might, finally releasing the dragon known as Hermos. It appears in front of them with a loud roar as the ice shatters from its body, finally being freed from its icy prison.

Joey blinks as he finds himself back in real time during his duel. He looks around and then down to his deck. "Was that a dream just now?" he asks himself before looking over his shoulder to Yami who looks on knowingly. He finally draws the card out of his deck and gasps. "No way…"

"Did he draw something good or not?" Tristan yells as the suspense is killing him. "Cuz this is his last shot!"

Joey lifts the card into the air. "Meet my new friend, HERMOS!"

"No way…" Rafael says, recognizing the monster he just played as one of the legendary dragons.

"How did he get his hands on such a powerful card?" Valon asks, narrowing his eyes, fearing the worst for Mai.

Mai holds her arms, knowing that this is signaling the end for her. She begins to breathe heavily as panic sets in. "No…I have to win…I won't go back to that dark place."

"Oh well," Rafael says with a shrug. "It was fun while it lasted. She's a goner."

"Hermos atta—"

But before Joey could call out the attack, Valon leaps from the balcony, grasping the necklace around his neck that contains the Orichalcos stone.

"What are you doing?!" Rafael calls after him.

"With this fragment of the Orichalcos stone, I unlock the seal!" he chants as the stone glows. He slams it down on the barrier, causing the seal to burst, blowing everyone back to the floor.

Yami and the others slowly sit up as the smoke disappears. The Seal of Orichalcos has miraculously gone away. Joey lays face down on the floor from the impact and Valon holds Mai in his arms as Rafael joins his side. "Valon, what are you doing? You mean to tell me you did all that just to save some girl? You've betrayed our master and put your soul at risk! "

"She's not just some girl!" he yells back defensively.

Rafael grunts. "Would you listen to yourself?" He gets up and stands across from Yami. "I'll make up for this by taking your soul, pharaoh." He raises his Orichalcos stone into the air, causing a blinding light and it when it finally fades, they are gone.

"Joey!" Tristan yells as he and Teá rush to his aid. He slowly gets up on his hands and knees and holds his head. Then realization sets in and he whips his head around.

"Where's Mai? Did those thugs take her?"

Teá bows her head. "Yeah. They're gone."

He punches the floor in anger and frustration. "I'll get you back Mai…"

The gates that were once blocking them from getting out begin to lift to everyone's surprise. And in comes a man with black hair in a ponytail, green eyes, a red vest and black pants.

"Duke!" Tristan says, recognizing the familiar face. "How'd you know we were here?"

"Long story," he replies. "But as you were dueling, I noticed you were trapped. So I was able to crack the code. What happened here?"

"It's an even longer story," Teá responds.

The entrance's sliding glass doors open, revealing Kaiba and Mokuba who walk into the lobby to join them.

"Sheesh…what are the odds?" Tristan asks, holding his head.

"Oh great. The dweebs are here," Seto says, looking away. Cairo tilts her head and levitates until she is floating directly in front of him. "Can I help you?" She didn't realize that a few people from her past have been reincarnated into this present world. First Shimon and now Seto? But this version of Seto seems to be a little bit on the meaner side telling by his attitude.

"Seto?" she says as her face edges closer to his to observe and compare more of his similar features to a certain individual of her past.

"Back off, kid."

Mokuba looks down and then back up at Cairo before gasping in realization. "Hey wait! You're flying!"

"Uh…who is that?" Duke asks, noticing the same thing Mokuba has just pointed out.

Teá sweat drops and chuckles. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Any sign of Pegasus?" Seto asks to which Yami shakes his head.

"I'm afraid we're too late."

"Believe it or not, Mai Valentine got here before we did and took his soul using this Orichalcos card," Tristan explains.

Seto narrows his eyes, the name of that card ringing a bell. "Orichalcos?"

"Kaiba, have you experienced this card before?" Yami asks.

"You bet!" Mokuba answers for him. "And Seto wiped the floor with someone who played it. He pretended to be Pegasus and made us fly all the way out to Duelist Kingdom to duel him."

"And then he ran away," Seto finishes. "So we came here to get some answers. Whoever captured Pegasus is trying to buy my company and that's unacceptable."

Yami takes the card from the package Pegasus gave them the other day out of his pocket "This card Pegasus sent us may be a clue. It seems to contain the image of a key."

Duke perks up. "Wait! There was one door that did not open even after I cracked the security system."

"That it!"

"Take us there right now!" Seto demands loudly.

Duke blinks a few times. "Uh…calm down."

After leading them to the door, Yami swipes the card in the slot, causing the door to open. They enter into the dark room and a hologram of Pegasus appears before them.

Yami's eyes widen. "Pegasus…"

"A hologram" Seto corrects.

"Yugi-boy. At least I hope you're the one that's found this room," he begins. "If you're hearing this, then that can only mean the gentlemen who are after my soul have finally managed to capture me. So listen closely…"

"This is it."

"It all started when a mysterious man started buying shares of my company…"

Seto narrows his eyes."Hold on. I got dragged into all this mess when someone tried to buy up my company as well."

"His name…is Dartz. He plans to use my game to destroy civilization. Ever since my retirement began, I started doing more research on the origins of Duel Monsters. That's when I came upon the astonishing discovery that these creatures existed way before the pyramids were ever built…"

"In the city of Atlantis," Yami says, already knowing from their conversation with Professor Hawkins.

"And that is where this Dartz character comes in. 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 the strength of this unstoppable monster." He lowers his head and sighs. "Those poor creatures. Soon they'll be gone along with the rest of the world. Only you can save humanity!"

The hologram disappears, leaving them to digest all of the information he has just given them.

"I don't believe in any of this magical stuff one bit," Seto says, folding his arms. "This is all apart of Pegasus' plan to take control of my company!"

"That's enough Kaiba!" Yami shoots back. "It's not always about you. There's a bigger force at work here and you know it." He takes the Eye of Timaeus card out of his deck to Kaiba's surprise and Joey follows along, revealing his Fang of Hermos card as well. "You have one of these cards, don't you Kaiba."

Kaiba growls and reluctantly takes out The Fang of Critias. All three cards begin to glow after being in close proximity with each other.

"Yup. Definitely no magic going on here," Duke says sarcastically.

"I was told that fate had chosen three modern day warriors to release these beasts," says Yami and Seto scoffs.

"Get real. I'm the only one that decides my fate! Not some mythical fairytale about monsters and dragons."

"Be reasonable for once. The world needs us. We must do this as a team."

"Sorry. I don't do the teamwork thing. You geeks have wasted my time long enough. I have a multi-million dollar company to run," he says and he turns to leave as Mokuba follows.

"Now what?" Tristan asks after their failed attempt at recruiting Kaiba.

"Professor Hawkins," Yami says. "He said he was going to look more into this and research the Orichalcos."

"Good call!" Teá agrees. "Maybe he'll have some new information!"

"Then it's settled. To Professor Hawkins!" Joey exclaims.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

Whew. That was doozy. I probably won't delve too much deeper into too many duels since I'd like to get more into Cairo's back story a little bit. But I wanted to lay the foundation of the Orichalcos at least. The next chapters will be more centered around Cairo and the pharaoh's past.

Please review!