DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

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Pegasus's Special Deck
Chapter 4: The Truth Revealed
By Shadow's Mirror

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"Yugi! Hey Yug! Wake up, man!" Yugi stirred at the sound of Joey's anxious voice. He opened his eyes and Joey grinned in relief before turning to look at someone out of Yugi's sight. "Hey! He's awake!"

"Yugi? Are you all right?" Yugi's head snapped around at Téa's sweet voice. She was sitting on the table he'd seen her on earlier. She looked over at him worriedly, the faintest of blushes colouring her cheeks.

He nodded. "Yes. I think so. How about you?"

"I… I'm fine." Téa's blush deepened and she looked away.

"What happened to you two anyway?" Joey looked from Téa, who refused to meet his eyes, to Yugi, who was looking awfully pale, like he was sick or something.

Yugi shook his head, frowning slightly as he tried to remember. "I… came in and found Téa lying on a table… then… Bandit Keith!" Yugi struggled to sit up as he remembered. "Bandit Keith was here!"

"Whoa! Relax Yug! We got him already! At least, Tristan did." Joey helped Yugi to sit up and then grinned at him. "He found him in another part of the castle, in a control room or something. He was playing with one of Pegasus's toys. Bandit Keith that is, not Tristan. Anyway, Tristan knocked him out, unlocked the door and told Mai and me what was going on over the PA system."

"Oh." Yugi blinked and swung his legs over the table, but didn't get down. He still felt shaky and had a feeling that he'd only fall if he tried it. "So… what exactly was Bandit Keith doing?"

Joey shrugged. "Not sure. He had all these cards and files and stuff. Guess he thought that with Pegasus out of the way, it was a good time to go through his stuff and see what he could get away with. Get this though, Pegasus had files on each of us! Tristan said Kaiba's file is thicker than all of the others put together though!"

"Kaiba's file…" Yugi looked thoughtful.

- - -

It was all in the file Pegasus had kept on Seto Kaiba. Actually, the file wasn't so much about the real Seto, as it was about a programmed version of him that Pegasus had created in a very warped program that he'd called 'Shame Monsters'.

The program had been designed for the sole purpose of entertaining Pegasus. Apparently he'd had a few issues with Seto Kaiba. In the program, a twisted version of Mokuba use special 'Shame Monsters' cards in a duel against Seto. The idea was loosely based on Duel Monsters in the way it was set up, but most of the cards were spell and trap cards, rather than monsters, and only one of the two participants used them. The second participant was the one that the cards were used on.

The cards hadn't been designed to hurt, merely to embarrass, taunt and tease. What made Yugi and the others cringe though was the fact that Pegasus hadn't designed it purely as a computer program. He'd created it as a Virtual Reality system, complete with special bracelets that connected the person into the system. During a search of the control room, they'd discovered a set of videotapes marked only with dates. Tristan had played one, out of curiosity, but quickly turned it off again. Apparently Pegasus had put himself into the game on more than one occasion, usually taking over Mokuba's role. His enthusiasm was more than a little disturbing.

The file had included information and instructions for running the program and Bandit Keith had apparently seen it as the perfect opportunity for getting even with Joey and the others. He'd broken into Téa's room during the night and kidnapped her, taking her to the virtual reality room and connecting her to the system so she was unable to escape. After that, he'd pinned the note to her door and then had sat back and waited for someone to arrive at the room.

The door had been set to lock at the push of a button from the control room, and the sleeping-gas had been set up the same way. It was part of an elaborate security system for the room. Apparently Pegasus had been serious about keeping intruders from finding out about his program. But Keith had found another use for it.

After he'd caught Yugi, Keith had simply waited for the gas to dissipate then gone into the room and slipped the second bracelet onto Yugi's wrist before returning to the control room to run the program. There was no telling how long he would have toyed with Yugi and Téa if the program hadn't suddenly suffered a massive system failure.

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To be continued...