A/N: Random Fact: As I child, I wasn't allowed to watch Yu-Gi-Oh. I don't think my parents understood that anime was a broad spectrum and just assumed it was all full inappropriate content, so yeah, I didn't even watch the 4Kids dub until I was out of college.

Their first day of research kicked off the entire project in grand fashion. Immediately after an early breakfast; Project Dawn was officially underway.

The environment team: Setsuna, Honda, Akira and Sabrina visited the Karnack Temple Complex to take tedious amounts of photos, sand and rock samples, collecting weather patterns and climate information, even taking note of odors specific to the area.

The story team, comprised of Karin, Ishizu, Yugi and sometimes Leo began pouring over the history of the city via the libraries and various museums, learning about the history, culture and era in which they would be setting their grand adventure. It was a cultural experience for the three foreigners with Ishizu as a superior guide.

The coders stayed in their respective hotel rooms with "Do Not Disturb" signs over the handles. Kaiba hunched in the familiar slouch behind a multi-monitored computer was experimenting with the coding already programmed into the duel disk to make the solid objects display different textures rather than just pressure. Dzam next door was trying to safely expand the hologram tech, experimenting with a duel disk and one of their hologram projectors used in a dueling arena.

Mokuba was assigned the singular task of finding as much as possible on Coliseum, which he elected to do from the comfort of his laptop.

Dzambul had arranged for each dinner time to be eaten together privately to bond, debrief, and collaborate. After room service arrived, the eleven of them ate in Dzam's room.

"Day one I take it was productive?" he asked.

The general vocal, albeit non-verbal consensus was positive.

"Good, what did we learn?" he asked as a way to begin the debrief.

Karin, who was sitting cross legged on the floor raised her hand. "Egypt is hot." She announced.

"That is true. Anything else?"

"Sand and sandstone comprise everything so we need to be careful the environment doesn't turn out drab," Sabrina commented from her seat on one of the beds.

"And how will we prevent that?" Dzam asked to the quorum.

"Good lighting to introduce warm tones and correct costumes that will introduce cool colors." Setsuna replied. "That falls on Akira and you, but I'm confident you'll do fine."

"Anything else?"

"I do have something to add," Setsuna said turning from her underling back to Dzam, "If we do this environment right, we can create an environment for several different stories. This same environment can be fitted to an adventure genre, escape room or horror room for Halloween. What I'm saying is, we lucked into this environment being versatile, perhaps in the future we can select our next settings based on how we can use them."

"Duly noted," Dzam nodded, jotting it down on his tablet. "Anything else about this project in particular?" He waited a few seconds for any more contributions before continuing. "Let's go over the plan for tomorrow then, the younger Mr. Kaiba has some information to share on Coliseum. I have us scheduled to go on a private tour of the valley of kings tomorrow. Try to act like tourists, but remember you're there to gather information, not enjoy the sites, however interesting that may be. If you see or learn something you think would be pertinent to another specialist, don't hesitate to share." He turned to Mokuba, offering him the floor.

"I spent most of today digging up everything I could on the company Coliseum, but for a business interested in making money, they seem difficult to pin down. While they claim to be a corporation, the do not list any shareholders and stocks are not available for purchase. I know Seto is exceptionally disappointed by this since his main form of vengeance is to just buy out companies that cross him."

"Stay on point," Kaiba frowned.

"Right. Balthazar Nimr was the only name I could find associated with the company, and he is the CEO though he has no social media accounts and has little public record. No other employees are mentioned anywhere, I've tried locating their servers to hack into and they're difficult to find even by deep web standards. My guess is they have an excellent techie that regularly scrubs the internet of any mention of Coliseum that gives away too much information. As to their business model, they cater to high end clients hoping to offer an adrenaline rush so each job turns a considerable profit. They've miraculously managed to stay on the right side of the law: the only example I could find of an investigation is one last year: Coliseum was suspected of organizing a cannonball race which they have denied and no formal charges have been filed."

"They're all about thrills," Setsuna mused. "You think this is them setting up a new location or organizing a new service? It seems odd that people embroiled in the young, money spending generation would be eager to set up shop her and muscle us out."

"We pose some threat to them," Mokuba replied, "Which means whatever they are planning is related to ancient Egypt. Perhaps they're planning a high-end scavenger hunt or grave robbing expedition. I'll be honest, I'm a little leery of prying too deeply. If Coliseum believes we're poking around they might tighten security and become even harder to pin down. We might not know their motives, but if we can accumulate over the course of the trip we can come up with a good defense." It wasn't a great deal to go on but knowing just a little put the minds of the team at ease.

"If no one has anything to further ask or add, the debriefing is dismissed. You are free to go," gestured to the door.

The group split; Mokuba leading the few of them that wanted to check out the pool while the others just went back to their rooms to rest and check in with loved ones. Sabrina talked Karin into shopping in the market for souvenirs and the pair of them talked Leo into being their bodyguard for the evening. Soon, only Seto, Yugi, and Ishizu remained in the middle room.

"I did find something interesting I thought you two would like to see when we were touring the various museums today," Ishizu said it her usual, modulated tone. She removed her smartphone from her purse, showing the two men pictures of the layout of the Valley of Kings. The buildings and rooms were outlined in white like a blueprint and labeled according to their function. "This might be nothing, but there's a chamber here in the ruins of the unnamed Pharaoh that none of the historians can account for." She pointed to a perfect square room that had no labeling, and no second story, meaning the room went to the second floor. "Archaeologists are arguing over whether this was some kind of religious chamber or a small banquet hall."

"There's nothing to indicate what was inside?"

"Not from what they've discovered. It's been looted. I happen to have other sources. The tomb keepers have extensive records on the shadow games, and this chamber correlates with records of a private sealing room, where the pharaoh's priests would separate the ka's from people out of the public eye."

"Interesting," Kaiba mused, but wondered where Ishizu was going with it.

" What makes it even more interesting is that it was uncovered on Maximillian Pegasus' first dig. If anyone knows what was in that room, or what it was for, he would."

"I've already tried that avenue," Kaiba shook his head, "Most of his research is hidden away from the public."

"Ishizu pursed her lips. "Have you called and asked him?" Her smooth, demure voice contained a hint of frustration.

"Um…no." Kaiba retorted.

"That might be an important clue, Kaiba," the curator pointed again to the location of the room. "If Kisara's soul became unsealed, there might be answers in that chamber as to how."

"That would require Maximillian Pegasus and I talking and I'm not inclined to do that," Seto folded his arms, signifying the conversation was over.

Ishizu looked to Yugi for support, but the former duelist shook his head, signifying he wasn't going to cross his friend on the issue. He was curious about her findings, but he also understood why Seto had no desire to have any dealings with the flamboyant American. "So stubborn," she muttered as she left through the front door.

"Mind if I watch TV?" Yugi asked, reaching for the remote.

"Do whatever you'd like, I'm going to work on the coding some more," Kaiba said, sitting back in the computer chair and putting on a pair of sound cancelling headphones so he could focus. He stayed that way until Mokuba returned, bringing the distinctive pool smell with him. With everyone returned, they changed and went to bed, though they could hear the girls giggling and talking for almost an hour afterward.

At least they were enjoying themselves.

The Valley of Kings tour proved to be the most influential on the environment team. Their guided tour was early in the day, giving them the advantage of beating the heat of the day, but the disadvantage of being on the most crowded bus rides and tours. The team blended in with the tourists taking tons of pictures and noting valuable information. Honda had the most difficult time as they were repeatedly told not to touch anything behind the roped off areas and his entire purpose for existing was to record how things felt.

The tour began at the most recent buildings and worked their way back to the oldest buildings that predated the recorded dynasties. Though the meat of what they wanted to see was at the end of the tour, it was still an interesting sightseeing expedition.

The ceremonial dueling room, which was something of a cross between a religious chamber and a public meeting hall, was a proverbial candy store for Karin, each hieroglyph and column providing her with fodder for her story.

"I understand why Maximillian Pegasus based a game off of this concept of dueling with monsters," she beamed as she studied the images etched into the walls. "High stakes, fantastic creatures, and a real element of danger if you lost. It's fascinating. Look: this one looks like the Exodia card." Her enthusiasm was impossible to contain as she bounded from one plaque to the next, absorbing the shadow games into her imagination. The tour guide was about to chastise her and ask her to quiet down, but a tourist reaching across the rope to stroke the stone panels caught her eye.

"Miss, if you could please refrain from touching," she began, "Those are thousands of years old."

Sabrina withdrew her hand, shocked at her own lack of self-control. "I am so sorry," she apologized still a little dazed, "I don't know what came over me." She looked at her hand and back at the wall, squinting in confusion. Karin popped over her.

"You ok?" she asked Sabrina, then before waiting for a reply she turned to the tour guide, "Why are these panels gone?"

"Those were removed and are part of the Domino City Museum of Science and History's permanent collection." The tour guide replied. "The were on a travelling exhibit, but something about the exhibit stuck with Japan so they paid to keep it."

"So, we can see them when we go back to HQ! That's awesome! What are the odds, Sabrina?" Karin turned to Sabrina to share the excitement but her friend was still squinting at the wall. "For realsies, Sabrina, are you ok?"

"I….just got this sudden headache," Sabrina said. "It's probably just the heat, but I need some water."

The entire exchange caught Seto's attention. He elbowed Yugi, subtly nodding in their direction. They observed for a moment, understanding something was happening but unsure what or how it would impact Kisara's new incarnation. "Here," Kaiba whispered, handing his friend a water bottle and nodding in Sabrina's direction. Yugi took it wordlessly, worming past Akira to where the ladies were standing.

"It has germs on it, but at least it's still cold," he said, extending the bottle to Kisara who made no reply, but began sipping immediately.

"Thank you," Karin said in her friend's stead as the tour guide began moving on.

Where Sabrina was at the front with Karin before, she now lagged behind the rest of the KC away team. A tiny glance from Ishizu to Kaiba indicated she'd also was privy and that she would keep an eye on Sabrina for the rest of the tour.

It seemed ironic that the last room on the tour was a tomb. To the majority of the tour group, the pharaoh was a nameless, faceless king who impacted a handful of people eons ago. To three of them, he was a soul who fulfilled his destiny of saving the world while trying to simply find himself. To Yugi, however, he was Yami. The other members of the tour group chatted and dove back to the air conditioning of the travel bus, but Yugi remained in revered, looking over the engraved tombstone that he had faced ten years before. Ishizu put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I know you miss him." She consoled.

"I can't even explain how much," he replied.

"At least he's at peace now," she said.

"That makes one of us," he sighed.

Ishizu was taken aback. She'd never heard the blonde be pessimistic before. She offered a quiet apology before disappearing behind him.

Mokuba approached him, pushing a number of bills into his hand. "Stay as long as you need to. Just catch up with us at dinner, ok?"

Yugi seemed moved by the gesture. "That's very kind, thank you. I think, I'll stay and talk to him for a little while, if that's ok."

"Take a cab back or the bus. Seriously, whenever." Mokuba assured him.

Back on the bus, Sabrina was holding her head in her hands while Setsuna fished through her purse looking for aspirin or something to relieve the pain. Kaiba watched from a distance, refusing to show his concern on his face. Dzam counted the members of the party after Mokuba got on.

"Have you seen Yugi?" he asked the younger Kaiba.

"Yeah, we can head back without him," Mokuba made excuse, "He's going to visit with an old friend in town."