Author's Note: Okay! Here - have some Kaiba-Goodness! Also: does anyone out there know the Egyptian words for Fire, Earth, and Lightning?? If you do, please let us know in your reviews! Thank you!

Chapter 14

"A Slew of Reunions"

Meanwhile, in the giant tournament Pyramid, operations had already begun. Vitani took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was her duty to inform Lord Jetsu of all the happenings in the tournament and whatever else had taken place concerning the Ancient Egyptian magic. Being the right-hand women, some might envy her, because she was on such close terms with the powerful lord.

This was, however, not the case. If she failed in any of her duties (or if there was another breech in security) Lord Jetsu would hold her responsible. He had told her this upon her return from escorting that stupid kid out of the building. She knew that it was all Ambrosius' fault, but he had paid for his mistakes, and Lord Jetsu would hear nothing of it. Job security, my ass…

As she went to knock on his chamber door, she heard a voice from within, "Vitani, come in…"

She pushed the door open nervously and stepped inside. Somehow she never needed to know. Her lord could always sense that she was approaching. More millennium magic, she guessed. The room she entered was large and dimly lit. Lord Jetsu himself was hidden in shadows, seated on a stone throne.

"My lord," she said, bowing deeply, "You message to Yugi Moto has been delivered – and discovered – just as you planned."

"Good," he said.

"The Tournament is progressing nicely," she continued, "In a few more days, only the finalists will be left."

"And do they suspect anything?" he asked.

"Only those surrounding the boy," she said, "As you planned. All others have no knowledge of our doings."

"Excellent," he said.

"And the Elementals have arrived," she said, "They await your orders, sir. What shall I tell them is your command?"

Jetsu was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Dispatch them immediately. But tell them to stagger their confrontations with Moto. I want him to be on his best when he duels each one."

"Yes, my lord," Vitani bowed again and made to leave.

"Oh, and one more thing," Jetsu said, and she turned back to face him, "Tell them that if they wish – they may act as Eliminators while they wait for their chance to face off with the Pharaoh."

"As you wish," she nodded. Then she turned and left the room, shutting the thick stone door behind her. The Three Elementals…here. She had seen them work before, but every time it was amazing. As she headed down the corridor, she decided that she was very looking forward to seeing them in action again.

* * *

Across town, in the hotel that held only one pair of brothers, Mokuba Kaiba was wide awake and already hyper from the heaping bowl of sugary cereal he'd helped himself to that morning. He wandered into the room his big brother had claimed, to see if he was up yet.

Seto, of course, was most definitely not awake. He was curled up in the fetal position on his king-sized bed, hugging his pillow to him. Mokuba couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the sight. He darted back out of the room and returned with a camera in hand.

SNAP! FLASH!! The blinding light of the flash bulb filled the room, and as it faded, Seto woke up. He blinked in surprise and then his gaze fell on his little brother, who was grinning broadly. "What the…?" he asked.

"You're very photogenic, Seto," Mokuba said, waving the camera in the air.

"What?? Gimme that!!" Kaiba cried, clambering out of the bed.

Laughing, Mokuba took off, getting a good head start when Seto got tangled in the sheets. He was out the door and halfway down the hallway by the time his big brother started after him. He slid down the banister into the empty lobby and ducked inside the common room. Thinking that Seto had given up the chase, he slumped down on one of the couches, panting.

He had barely begun to catch his breath when he heard a "Gotcha!" from behind him and felt his big brother grab him under the armpits and lift him into the air!

"Hey! Put me down! Come on, Seto!" he cried, scrambling to get loose.

"No way," Kaiba said, holding tight, "Not until you give me that camera."

"Uh-uh!" Mokuba said, lifting it high in the air, "I'm keeping it."

To his surprise, Kaiba's voice was gentle when he responded, "Alright…"

"Huh?" Mokuba said. Kaiba set him down so he was standing on the back of the couch, then turned him around so they were facing each other. Then he lifted him up again, straddling him on his hip like he used to do when they were littler. Mokuba put his arms around Kaiba's neck and hugged him. "How come you gave up?" he asked.

"It just didn't seem worth it anymore," Kaiba shrugged, "But if you show that to anyone…"

Mokuba laughed, "I wouldn't do that…unless I really needed to."

"You'd better be careful what you say," Kaiba said teasingly, "You're not the only one with a camera you know."

Mokuba leaned back so he could look at his brother's face. "Whadda you mean by that?"

"Oh nothing…" Kaiba grinned, "Just watch out next time you go to take a shower."

"You wouldn't!!" Mokuba cried.

"You wanna bet?" Kaiba asked, smiling almost evilly.

"Ooh…" Mokuba pouted, "You're no fun."

"That's your opinion," Kaiba said, "Now, speaking of fun – what do you say we head out and eliminate some dueling losers?"

"Kay!" Mokuba agreed. Kaiba set him on the ground, and he ran off to go get ready. The older boy just smiled and followed after him.

* * *

After a quick breakfast (Yugi refused to eat anything), the group headed out of the hotel, ready to begin a new day. Bakura made sure that he had his deck with him, though he wasn't sure if he would get to do any actual dueling. He could sense the Spirit of the Ring stirring, getting ready to take him over at a moment's notice. It worried him because his Spirit was never a help or comfort to him, like Yugi's was. He often found himself jealous of the relationship Yugi and Yami had. Why did he always have the worst luck in the world? It just wasn't fair…

As they roamed the streets together (during which Tristan and Joey were bickering like the old friends that they were, Yugi was giving Bakura some pointers on his deck, and Tea and Mai compared the styles and trends of Egypt to Japan), they were nearly bowled over by two children (Japanese by the look of them) that were running between buildings.

Yugi heard one of them say something as they ran off. It sound something like: "Yeah, we gotta hurry! Seto Kaiba's dueling!" Surprised, Yugi turned to his friends, "Hey guys! Did you hear that? Those kids said something about Kaiba dueling! He didn't quit after all!" Excited beyond belief, Yugi ran off, following the kids as they ran to the duel.

"He's really worked up about this, isn't he?" Mai said, cocking an eyebrow. She turned to Joey, and was shocked to see that his eyes were sparkling just like Yugi's had. "Oh man," he said, "No way I'm missin' this!!" With that, he tore down the street after Yugi.

"Huh?" Mai said.

"Hey, wait for me!" Tristan called. Then he, Tea and Bakura ran off as well.

Tsuki looked up at Mai, "Do you think it's really Seto Kaiba?" she asked.

"Well," Mai said, "There's only one way to find out, right?"

"Right!" Tsuki nodded, and she and Mai hurried off as well.

* * *

They arrived at the scene of the duel in a matter of minutes. Yugi, being the smallest, was able to squeeze through the crowd and come through to the front quickly. The sight he beheld was a disappointing one. Kaiba was there alright, along with his younger brother Mokuba. But the duel was over, and Kaiba's opponent was on his knees.

"Aww…we missed it!" Joey moaned.

Mokuba was pumping his fists in the air triumphantly, "Way to go, Seto!"

Kaiba smirked and approached his opponent, whom Yugi recognized as Espa Roba. The false psychic was picking himself up when Kaiba stuck a hand out in front of him. It was no gesture of sportsmanship, though. "Hand over you're Items, just like we agreed."

Sadly, Espa unhooked his gold chain with two items from around his neck and dropped it into Kaiba's outstretched hand. Kaiba's fingers closed around them and he grinned smugly. That made five altogether. "Next time, I hope you'll know better than to call me a has-been," he said. He put the chain into the pocket of his cloak and called, "Let's go, Mokuba."

"Kay!" the black-haired boy said cheerfully, picking up Kaiba's silver briefcase. He had started after his brother, but stopped short when he caught sight of a familiar face at the front of the crowd, "Yugi! Hi!"

Kaiba cringed as he heard the little King of Games exchange happy greetings with Mokuba. Why?! Why??? My day was going so good… Sighing, Kaiba turned back and strode over to where Mokuba had stopped. Since the duel was over, the crowd had begun to disperse and Kaiba could see that Yugi had all of his little groupies with him as well.

"Mokuba, I said 'Let's go'," he said, scowling.

"I know," Mokuba said, "But look who's here!"

"Yeah…I see," Kaiba said, grimly nodding at his most worthy adversary, "Yugi."

"Kaiba," Yugi returned the nod.

"And the gang's all here," Kaiba said, surveying the group, "So Wheeler, I see you're still following Yugi around like a lost puppy."

"You wanna say that again??" Joey snapped, and Tristan had to hold him back, as he tried to lunge at Kaiba.

Kaiba just smirked. Then his gaze landed on Tsuki, who had come up beside Yugi. "Oh, this is too cute," he snickered, "Found yourself a girlfriend, have you, Moto?"

Yugi felt his cheeks burn. "It's not like that…" he murmured.

"Look who's talking," Mai said, "I don't see a woman on your arm, Kaiba. I'd think someone with your cash would be able to afford one."

Kaiba flushed. "Would you like to back up your big mouth, Valentine?" he snarled.

"No," she said, smiling, "I'm happy just insulting you."

For a moment, Kaiba was furious beyond words. At last, he grabbed Mokuba by the ear and began walking of, "Like I said – Let's go."

"Ack!" Mokuba cried, hopping along behind his brother, "Bye guys!!"

As the Kaiba brothers disappeared around the nearest corner, Yugi turned his attention to Kaiba's defeated opponent. Espa was moping a ways over, as his little brothers tried to comfort him.

Joey immediately reverted his anger from Kaiba to Espa and ran over to him, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKIN', DUELIN' KAIBA?? I DIDN'T EVEN GET THE REMATCH I WANTED!!"

"Joey!" Yugi cried, running over with the others.

Tristan pulled Joey away from the younger duelist and slapped him twice in the face, "Chill out, man!"

Joey seemed to snap out of it. "Huh? Oh…heh heh heh," he laughed nervously, putting one hand behind his head, "Sorry 'bout that, Roba."

Espa shook his head, "No…I deserve that, I suppose. I should have known better than to taunt Kaiba that way."

"Taunt him?" Yugi echoed, "What do you mean?"

Espa tried to answer, but the words wouldn't come, so the eldest of his younger brothers stepped forward. "Big brother said…well he…uh…"

"He called him a has-been!" blurted out one of the younger ones, making the older two spazz slightly.

"Yeah," added another, licking a lollipop, "Told 'im he was all washed up after his defeat at Battle City."

Espa turned crimson, and Mai said, "From the mouths of children, and all that."

"I don't get it," Joey said, scratching his head, "Why would you do that? I mean, I know Kaiba seemed pretty out-of-it after Battle City, but why get him all riled up like that?"

Espa's shoulders slumped. "It was pride, I guess," he shrugged, "I'm sorry we didn't get the rematch you wanted."

"Ahh, forget it," Joey said, wiping a finger under his nose, "There'll be other times, right?"

"I certainly hope so," Espa agreed.

It was then that they all heard a high-pitched scream in the distance. Espa and Joey cut off their apologies and stared in the direction from whence the noise had emitted. Espa spoke first, "It sounds like someone is in need of your help, my friends," He reached up and put a hand on Joey's shoulder, "There will be other times for us to duel. Maybe after the tournament is done, so we can enjoy ourselves."

Joey smiled and gave Roba the thumbs-up, "Alright, I'm lookin' forward to it!"

"C'mon Joey!" Yugi and the others had already begun to run off.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Joey ran off without so much as another word to Espa, who sighed to himself, and went back to moping.

They entered the center of the city quickly, and came upon the source of the scream. Rebecca Hawkins (the 9-year-old dueling "genius" from America) had fallen to her knees on the sandy street, teddy bear in one hand, pounding the ground with the other hand. "No! No! No! No! It's not fair!! My Shadow Ghoul was supposed to win!!"

The gang exchanged confused glances. Where was Rebecca's opponent?? Yugi took a quick look around the area and spotted the only possible candidate. A man in his late twenties was sitting Indian style on one of the café benches. He had short, spiked, red hair, and green eyes. He wore a typical 'biker-boy' style outfit, complete with leather jacket (despite the unbearable heat).

"Too bad," he said, hopping off the table and approaching her, "Twin-Headed Fire Dragon won instead. Now hand over your items."

Rebecca looked up at him with watery eyes, her lower lip trembling.

But pulling the cute act was not going to work this time. The stranger raised a hand and smacked her across the face, sending her sprawling on the street.

"HEY!!!" Joey cried, running forth, "What's the big idea, ya creep?!?"

Mai and Tea rushed to Rebecca's side. Mai lifted her up gently, checking for any serious injuries while Tea fumbled in Mai's bag for a first-aid kit.

The red-haired man gave Joey a smug sneer, "You wanna do somethin' about it, punk?"

"You bet I do!" Joey cried, "Nobody gets away with hittin' a little girl!" He moved to step closer, but someone put a hand out in front of him, stopping him. "Huh?"

It was Bakura. He was very pale, but his jaw was set, and there was determination in his eyes. "Let me duel him, Joey," he said, though his voice shook a little.

"You sure?" Joey asked.

"Yes," Bakura said, swallowing hard.

The stranger laughed heartily, "Oh, this'll be good," he said.

Yugi looked from one to the other worriedly. Did Bakura really know what he was getting himself into? For his friend's sake, he hoped so.

As Bakura stepped forward, he felt a suddenly prick at his mind, and it began to grow numb. He feebly looked down and saw that the Ring was glowing brightly against his pale white cloak. No, I can duel on my own… I don't… want …your…help…

The fiery man's eyes widened, "You… You have a Millennium Item! I'll bet all five of the items I've collected from the weaklings in this tournament against your Item!"

Much to the man's surprise, the white-haired boy pulled it forcefully from around his neck and thrust it out towards the man, "Here, take it! Please!" Suddenly, Bakura noticed that everything was going black around him. No…

In a flash of light, Bakura was gone, and Yami Bakura had replaced him. He calmly placed the Ring back around his neck, "I will accept your challenge and your terms," he activated the Duel Disk 2 that Bakura had been wearing. His head turned and he looked at Yugi briefly. The Puzzle…that and the Scale would both soon be his.