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The Orichalcos Saga

Fanfic Chapter 194: Friends and Foes Pt 1: Seduction Into Darkness
Episode Basis: My Freaky Valentine Pt 1

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Jonah and a force of Doma soldiers ambushed Yugi and the others. Her duel with Harold was interrupted as a mysterious red motorcyclist invaded and allowed the kids enough time to escape. Joey saw that she had a Harpie Lady card and knew that it was Mai Valentine. But when they met face-to-face at an empty Industrial Illusions, she revealed that she was not the Mai they knew. She had joined the Warriors of Doma and was now out to capture their souls. Mai was quick to challenge Joey to a duel and activated the Seal of Orichalcos entrapping both of them. Meanwhile, Rex and Weevil ran into Duke Devlin, and now they along with Kaiba are all on their way to Industrial Illusions. Talk about a perfect storm.

Joey was literally and figuratively backed up into a wall. The Seal of Orichalcos had enshrined himself and Mai and now Mai was ready to capture his soul just as she did to Pegasus. Gazing down on them like they were lords over all was three of the four Doma Warriors who stole the Egyptian God Cards.

"What are you waiting for, Wheeler?" Mai asked.

"I'm waiting for you to come to your senses," Joey replied.

"I can't believe Mai would turn on us," Tristan said.

"How could Mai side with the enemy?" Amara asked.

"It's all because of that Orichalcos thing," Tea pointed out.

"Now one of them will lose their soul," Yami said matter-of-factly.

"Wake up, Mai!" Harold called out. "You're putting your own life in danger as well as Joey's. I can't believe that after everything you've been through that you're willing to throw it all on the line like that!"

"Hello, he took a blast from an Egyptian God Card for you!" Amara added. "Doesn't that say anything?"

"Yeah," Jonah spoke up. "It shows what an imbecile he was and that he should've been K-Oed permanently by that God Card."

"Shut up, you little vixen, nobody asked you," Amara snapped.

"We have to do something," Little-Yugi protested.

"But what can we do?" Yami asked. "The Millennium Puzzle is powerless against the seal."

"Hey Pharaoh, quit mumbling to yourself," Valon jabbed. "Nothing can break the Seal of Orichalcos, lest of all your little trinket of a neck charm."

"Once the Seal of Orichalcos is played, nothing can get in or out until it claims a soul," Jonah explained.

"And once Mai is done with your friend, I'm coming after you," Raphael declared.

"Back in your cage, you big gorilla, I already told you these geeks are mine, that includes Yugi and Kumara."

Tea gasped but Harold placed a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Yugi and Mai dueled before and Yugi knows all her strategies. He can handle himself."

"I don't like her lip," Raphael said. "Any more out of her and I'll come after her next."

"Take a number and get in line," Jonah commented. "I didn't like her from day 1. If she so much as throws one more insult in my direction, I'll…"

"Ah, leave her alone guys, she's still new at this. Dartz won't care as long as we get a soul, right? Besides, she's kind of cute when she's angry."

"Only you would think that," Raphael said.

"I'm waiting for you to make your move, hot shot," Mai said.

"Mai, I won't duel you," Joey said seriously.

"Are you afraid you're going to lose like you did at Battle City?"

"On the contrary, I'm afraid I'm going to win. Because if I do; you lose your soul again."

"So what?" Mai asked startling the spectators. "I have no soul. I traded it in for power." She lowered her head. "The old Mai was too lonely and pathetic. Now my weak side is gone for good."

"I liked that side," Joey said. He activated his Duel Disk. "And I'm going to get that side back!"

(M: 4000)
(J: 4000)

"I summon Alligator Sword (1) in defense mode." I need to figure out a strategy.

"That's a pretty lame move, not like this one. I summon another Harpie Lady in attack mode!" Just like the first one, the second Harpie Lady received 500 extra attack points from the Seal of Orichalcos.

(HL: 1300-1800)

"First Harpie Lady, attack his Alligator Sword!" With a loud screech, the bird woman dove down and clawed the reptile warrior. "Second Harpie, it's your turn, attack him directly!" The second one did the same to Joey.

(M: 4000)
(J: 2200)

"I can't watch," Tristan said covering his eyes. "Not if Joey is going to give up his soul to save Mai."

"Joey wouldn't really do that, would he?" Little-Yugi asked.

"I don't know," Yami replied. "But it certainly wouldn't be the first time he did something like that for her."

"Hang on, Mai, I'll get you out of there!"

Mai struggled to remain conscious even as Joey's voice penetrated the shadows. It's that voice again…

"That's right, Mai, listen to my voice," Joey said as he pulled at the chains. "I won't let anything happen to you! We're friends, Mai, and nothing can ever change that." He grabbed Mai's face and turned it so she was looking straight at him, "When I was K-Oed by that fake Ra, I had a dream I was in school and couldn't get up. All my friends were there and they helped me up. You were there, Mai, it was your hand that I took and helped me up. When I took your hand, I knew that I would have to do anything to protect my friends, especially you, Mai, because that's what friends do, they protect each other no matter what!"

Slowly, the fog cleared from her eyes. And Mai truly looked at him. "Joey… you're here… but… I thought you didn't care…"

"Where did you get that idea? I was willing to face Marik so that you wouldn't have to… because I care about you."

"Joey…" Joey embraced her as best he could.

"That fool broke through my mind control," Yami-Marik said angrily. "It doesn't matter, Ra will destroy them both!" Ra opened its mouth and fired an enormous energy blast.

"Joey!"

"Don't worry, Mai, I'll protect you."

"If Harold and I hadn't jumped in to take the brunt of the attack, those two wouldn't be here today to duel."

"For a lot of good that did," Harold conversed. "Marik still won and sent Mai to the Shadow Realm."

"And now we're up against a powerful force," Little-Yugi added. "We can't stop it."

"Actually, we just might," Yami said pulling out the Timaeus card. "But I'm not sure how we can use the Eye of Timaeus to save Joey."

If the Pharaoh thinks he can use his fancy dragon to save his buddy Wheeler, he's got another thing coming, Raphael muttered.

On board the Blue-Eyes White Jet, Mokuba typed furiously on a laptop trying to get some connection with Industrial Illusions. He finally growled in frustration. "Still no signal from Industrial Illusions."

"I was afraid of that. Whoever Alister's working for may have already gotten to Pegasus and they're probably expecting me next."

"Does that mean we're walking into a trap?" Mokuba asked.

"That's what I want them to think, but as usual I'm one step ahead of my opponent." Except when it comes to figuring out where this card came from, Kaiba thought remembering playing it for the first time. This dragon seems to be just as powerful as the Egyptian God Cards, but why have I never heard of it before? Kaiba Corp. has a database of every card ever made, except this one.

"We have trouble," Mokuba announced. Kaiba looked up to see two F-14 fighter jets flying their way.

The radio crackled to life, "Attention unidentified aircraft, you are hereby ordered to follow us to an airfield where you will land and disembark. Failure to do so will result in us taking drastic action."

"Like heck," Kaiba said hitting the vertical thrusters on the Blue-Eyes White Jet's leg. The dragon jet literally jumped into the clouds above them. Kaiba switched back to lateral thrust and took off. He pushed the afterburners to their maximum until they had exited the cloud bank and was far away from the jets.

"Hurry up and make a move, Wheeler, my Harpies and I are getting impatient."

I don't know what to do, Joey thought. If I win, I'll lose her forever. But if I let her win, I lose my own soul. He looked up at Valon who was obviously enjoying Joey's plight. How could Mai choose creeps like those over us? Whatever they did to her, I'll undo it. "I summon Rocket Warrior (2) in defense mode." He looked at his Scapegoat magic card. "I then set this face-down and end my turn."

"Looks like your boyfriend's afraid of attacking you, Mai," Valon teased. "Go ahead and finish him off!"

"Hey, no backseat dueling," Mai scolded. She turned back to Joey. "It's time to lose," she said.

Mai, I promise I'll find a way to save us both.

"Harpie Lady, attack his Rocket Warrior now!" Mai's first Harpie clawed the little warrior. "Now it's time to go in for the kill! Direct attack!"

"Hold on, I reveal my face-down card Scapegoat!" Four goats of different colors appeared. "Now my life points are safe."

"Not as safe as you might think, I reveal my own trap card, Nightmare Tri-Mirror!" A demonic-looking mirror appeared in between them. "This mirror takes the reflections of all your monsters and turns them into more monsters for me!" Four more Harpie Ladies appeared.

"She can't have six monsters on the field!" Tristan protested.

"With the Seal of Orichalcos, she can," Yami pointed out.

The second Harpie Lady destroyed one of Joey's Scapegoat tokens. "Fortunately for you, my reflection Harpies can't attack on the turn they're brought onto the field. So I'll set a face-down and give you a shot."

"There's nothing Joey can do," Tristan said discouraged.

"It does look like she backed him into a corner," Amara said analytically.

"Hey how about some words of encouragement, Amara," Tea said.

"I'm just saying…"

"Tristan and Amara are right," Little-Yugi pointed out. "If Joey doesn't do something soon, Mai will win the duel!"

Yami nodded. "As long as the Seal of Orichalcos is on the field, Mai does have the advantage."

"I summon Panther Warrior (3) in attack mode and next I'll sacrifice one of my Scapegoats to have him attack one of your Harpies."

"Too bad it won't do anything; I reveal my face-down card Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation!" The Harpies formed a flaming bird. "This allows my six Harpies to join forces to repel one of your attacks." Panther Warrior was forced back to its original position.

"Mai never had that card before," Tristan said.

Yami nodded, "It looks like her deck has gotten stronger."

"Hopefully, not strong enough to defeat Joey," Harold said.

"I don't know what kind of spell those guys put you under but you have to wake up or we'll both be in trouble."

"You don't get it, there is no spell! No one's controlling me, I was sick of my life so I changed it!"

Everyone gasped.

Mai lowered her head, "You wouldn't understand."

After Battle City I participated in tournament after tournament trying to make a name for myself. I've won tournaments, but my opponents barely acknowledged me, preferring to take on the 'real Duelists' like the Battle City Four, Yugi, Joey, Kaiba, and Marik. They didn't even acknowledge that I existed let alone how good of a Duelist I was. Without recognition, trophies were just hunks of metal.

Afterwards, the nightmares started. That moment on the blimp where Marik attacked me with his Winged Dragon of Ra. I tried calling out but nobody, not even my 'friends' would hear me. I truly felt alone.

It was after one bittersweet tournament that I first ran into Valon in the rain.

"Hey, I know you, your Mai Valentine. Why do you look so sad, you won the duel."

"I won the duel but nobody seems to care. Maybe I'm just not strong enough."

"I'll be the judge of that. Come on let's have a duel right now!"

We dueled and I lost miserably. Afterwards I feel to my knees in total defeat. "Maybe I should just quit, I'll never get what I want."

"What you want is to be the best, right? Then what you need is true power, the power to win. And I know how to give it to you."

"Please, tell me!"

"First of all, don't expect others to come to your rescue. They'll only let you down. All you have to do is take my hand and I'll make you the most powerful Duelist on the planet!"

"Taking that hand was one of the smartest decisions I ever made! Now nothing can stop me."

"Why didn't you tell us you were so unhappy? We could've helped you out."

"Save it, I have everything I need! I play Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation." Once again the Harpies flew in formation. They formed a flaming bird. "Since I have six Harpies on the field, I can destroy up to six of your monsters. And then their attack points get subtracted from your life points. Joey's remaining Scapegoats and Panther Warrior were all destroyed.

(M: 4000)
(J: 200)

"This is ridiculous," Amara complained. "Joey's down to his last hundred life points!"

"While Mai's hasn't even been touched," Tristan added.

"I hate to say it, Yugi, but it doesn't look good."

"You may be right, Harold, but the game only ends when someone's life points reach 0 and Joey's hasn't reached there yet."

"This kid stinks," Jonah complained.

"Yeah, I guess he wasn't as good as I thought," Valon said.

"We need the souls of strong Duelists, not imbeciles like him," Raphael added.

"I told you," Jonah said.

I don't know what Mai ever saw in that buffoon, Valon thought.

I'm out of options, Joey thought. 200 life points, no monsters, Mai's my best friend maybe by giving up my soul, I can bring her back. Joey started to lay his hand on his Duel Disk. "I qu…"

"No!" Yami cried. Joey looked at him. "Quitting isn't the answer, Joey! Giving up on the duel means giving up on your self! If you truly wish to save Mai, you must keep fighting. Right now, Mai is driven by anger, jealousy, and hate. You have to show her how a true Duelist acts, with trust, conviction, and heart! Show her the true soul of the Duelist!"

Yugi's right, Joey realized. I forgot everything I learned at Battle City. I forgot the heart of the cards that Yugi's gramps taught me. A true Duelist fights with honor and justice. And that's what I'm going to do!

"Well, are you going to forfeit?" Mai asked.

"No way, Mai, this duel's still on!" He drew a card. "Time to show you what true dueling is all about!"

To Be Continued

Duel Monster Database

(1)
Name: Alligator Sword
Level: 4
Type: Reptile
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1200

(2)
Name: Rocket Warrior
Level: 4
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK; 1500
DEF: 1300

(3)
Name: Panther Warrior
Level: 4
Type: Beast-Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 2000
DEF: 1600