Author's note: Sorry about the chapter name, couldn't really think of any others. It is inspired by the Dragonball Z episode of the same name. Also, please remember that any cards highlighted in bold are not actual Yugioh cards.
Chapter 12: Deadly Beauty
Mai stood there while the doors locked behind Yugi. She immediately challenged Joey to a Duel, after which the large cloaked figure from a few nights ago jumped out and challenged Gohan. For some reason, the Duel Disks registered the Duel as a Tag Team Duel, but after some hesitation, both Joey and Gohan activated their own Duel Disks. By that point, Mai and the cloaked figure had activated their own "The Seal of Orichalcos" magic cards with the former summoning a Harpy Lady (1300+500/1400) and the latter summoning a Gladiator Beast Bestiari (1500+500/800). Gohan went after the cloaked figure and immediately played Galick Gun, Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing and another new card that he had received from Yugi on his birthday: the continuous spell card Life Transfer. Joey then played Alligator's Sword (1500/1200) in Defense mode, bringing Gohan's weapon to 750 points.
In the turns to follow, Mai exposed more of her past after Battle City, with Android 18 scoffing every time she mentioned power or the need thereof. She summoned a second Harpy and attacked Joey's monster, destroying it, and with her other Harpy, she brought him down to 2200 Life points. The cloaked figure then took his turn, playing Shield and Sword to swap ATK and DEF points of all monsters, summoning Gladiator Beast Darius (1700+500/300), playing Hidden Passage, attacking directly due to its effect to get Gohan down to 1800 LP and ending his turn. Gohan played his Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense after he gained 2500 Life Points for a total of 4300. This now gave the Totem 3000 Defense points, after which he set a card and ended his turn. Joey summoned Rocket Warrior (1500/1300) in Defense mode, increasing the Galick Gun to 1500 points, after which he also set a card. Mai, on her next turn, set a card and destroyed Joey's monster. Her second attack was countered by Joey's Scapegoat magic card, but that in turn was countered by Nightmare Tri-mirror, giving her four more Harpies. Upon the cloaked figure's next turn, Gohan demanded to know who he was, so, tired of continually using the disguise, he removed the cloak to reveal a tall, bald, heavily muscled man… with a brown tail.
"Nappa?" Gohan asked.
"Yes kid, it is I, general of the Saiyan Army and five-time patty cake champion!" Nappa roared. "I now summon Gladiator Beast Equeste (1600+500/1200) in Attack mode and place a card face-down!"
"How did you survive Vegeta's blast way back then? I saw you; there was no possible way you could have survived!"
"Well, kid, the second before the attack hit, this interesting character blocked the attack and took me away. He offered me my position as a general back, except I would be the general of an army much greater than the Saiyans!"
"So you want to conquer the world alongside these people?"
"It won't stop at the world. Under the banner of Master Dartz and the Great Leviathan, we shall strip Frieza's empire of the title 'Most feared in the universe' and bring him to his knees!"
The Seal of Orichalcos then started glowing, and all of a sudden, all four Duelists were hovering over a wasteland. Krillin was just barely alive, and Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo were on the ground, dead. A much younger Gohan was just barely able to stand, and Nappa stood towering over his small body.
"Goddammit Nappa, why do we have to watch this?" Mai asked with some impatience.
"I still remember back then, I would have crushed you like a bug had Kakarot not shown up. But now with him gone, I will easily crush you again. Now take your turn!" Nappa spoke, after which they were taken back to the lobby.
Gohan complied, after which he gained 7000 Life Points due to there being fourteen monsters in play for a total of 11300. He then played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards but discarding two, after which he used his Life Transfer card to give up 1300 of his Life Points and add them to Joey's instead, bringing him to 3500. He then summoned Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense (X/0), which gained 7500 Attack points. Mai immediately started quivering. Gohan's next move was to activate Monster Reborn to bring back his Twin Sister of Light (1500/1500) in Defense mode which in turn Special Summoned his Twin Sister of Darkness in Defense mode (1500/1500) bringing the Galick Gun to 3000 points and his Totems to 8500, then he activated Pump Up, which doubled any monster's attack points for the duration of his move.
"Now Nappa, what is the strength of my Totems?" Gohan asked.
"It's... it's over nine THOUSAND!" Nappa responded, shocked. The strength of his Totems was 17000.
"Gohan, don't do this!" Joey pleaded.
"Relax Joey, I won't target Mai with this right now," he responded.
"But surely there's another way to do this. You don't want to lock away this Nappa guy, do you?"
"Actually I do Joey. If we allow him to remain free, he will just collect more souls. Nappa was evil from the very start."
"But…"
"Trust me Joey, I knew him when I was five, and he hasn't changed a bit! Now, my Offense Totem attacks Gladiator Beast Darius!"
Bolts of Lightning shot from the tip of the Totem's swords, hitting the beast. Nappa immediately activated his set card Lightning Aura, doubling the monster's attack strength to 4400 and giving it Piercing effect, but it wasn't enough as he took 12600 points of damage, knocking him out of the match, after which a second Seal began to close in around him and suck out his soul. His monsters were also destroyed, leaving Gohan's totems with 8000 points. Joey took his turn and summoned Panther Warrior (2000/1600) upgrading the Galick Gun to 4000 and tributed a scapegoat to allow it to attack, but Mai activated her Face-down Harpy Lady Sparrow Formation.
Mai activated her Harpy Lady Phoenix Formation on her next turn, destroying Joey's Panther Warrior, two scapegoats and Gohan's Totems, dealing the former 2000 damage (1500) and the latter 8000 damage (2000). Gohan immediately played his face-down Totem reconstruction, bringing back his Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing before Mai ended her turn. Gohan collected 5500 Life Points when he began his turn (6500) and played a second Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense. Immediately, he activated the Special Ability of the Totems, sacrificing them to summon Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire (0/?), which gained 750 Attack points and 250 for each of her Harpies, amounting to 1500 for a total of 2250.
Gohan hung back for the rest of the Duel, just collecting Hunger counters on his Totem while Joey took things over, something which Android 18 didn't seem to get. He eventually brought out a new weapon: the Claw of Hermos and with that, he took control of the Duel. At one point though, one of the two other God card thieves jumped down and destroyed the Seal, after which everyone withdrew.
The Kaiba Brothers landed as the security lockdown got lifted. Soon they, along with Yugi, Gohan, Joey, Krillin, Tea, Android 18 and Tristan found Duke Devlin and followed him to one room that wouldn't open despite the lockdown being overridden. Yugi inserted the one card he received from Pegasus with the tape, and it turned out to be the right keycard needed. Inside the room, a hologram of Pegasus appeared and explained what was happening: apparently, someone bought Industrial Illusions, and according to the Kaiba Brothers was buying KaibaCorp as well, and was planning something truly sinister. To combat this, he created a card specifically for Yugi, but he would need to find it himself.
Eventually, he did find it but it turned out to be blank. After that, the subject of Duels with the Seal of Orichalcos was brought up. Kaiba eventually revealed that he had gained access to a third Dragon aside from Yugi's Timaeus and Joey's Hermos. Gohan came to the conclusion that acquisition of these was akin to acquisition of the Super Saiyan form: the power comes in response to a need, not a desire.
Later, they found that Professor Hawkins was kidnapped, and Yugi was challenged to a Duel in exchange for his freedom. At the time the Kaiba brothers had left, as had Krillin and Android 18, and only Tea, Joey, Tristan and Gohan stayed with Rebecca at her mobile home.
While there, Gohan was unable to sleep until the Professor, who had apparently been set free beforehand, returned home, and by that point it was very early morning. Only then did Gohan sleep, and he had a strange dream. In it, he was falling through the sky towards a castle. He stopped falling and started hovering when he found himself in front of three crystalline pedestals. Immediately, he sensed another power level, and soon, the Dark Magician Girl appeared in front of Gohan.
"You are Son Gohan?" she asked.
"Yes, why?" Gohan could only ask
"Yugi Muto spoke highly of you. When we told him of the danger that both our worlds face, he brought up the possibility of enlisting your help as well."
"I will do the best I can, but I will need some information as to what threat you are facing."
"You saved the world from the evil of the Cell Games that threatened to destroy it. We believe you can do the same for us."
Dark Magician Girl then went on to explain what was going on with the Great Leviathan devouring both the human world and the Dominion of the Beasts. She then proceeded to create sunlight that shone down on Gohan, and as his skin took in the light, he felt himself getting stronger. She explained that she has gifted him with extra strength to help in the upcoming battles.
"Thank you-" Gohan began, but was cut off when he started sensing something wrong.
"Oh no, it's happening!" the Dark Magician Girl gasped in terror. The dragon Timaeus appeared soon after.
"Is it this Leviathan?"
"No, the Pharaoh has betrayed Timaeus. You sensed it too, didn't you?"
"I did sense something dark and foul, but I do not know what it is."
"The Pharaoh played the Seal of Orichalcos, and in so doing betrayed Timaeus. He now seeks someone else to bond with. Gohan, would you please?"
"What do I need to do?"
"Reach out to him and call his name!"
Gohan did just that, and as soon as he did, he began to feel power surging through him. Just as it finished, he awoke. The first thing he found was that Tea and Rebecca were watching him; the rest of them had gone in search of Yugi. Gohan felt the need to draw a card, and it just happened to be the Eye of Timaeus: he knew right away that what he dreamed was real.
He immediately tried to sense where Yugi was, and as soon as he found which direction to go, he flew off, finding him a couple of minutes later. Gohan's fears were confirmed when he saw the Seal of Orichalcos, and that it was played by the Pharaoh. Some time later, the Duel was lost.
Behind a barrier created by the Seal of Orichalcos, Yugi's spirit could see the outcome of the Duel, and knew that the Pharaoh would lose his soul. "I can't watch anymore!" he said, feeling a growing need to act. "One of my best friends will lose his soul!" the Millennium Puzzle lit up. "…and I won't watch this anymore!" he shouted, whereupon he grabbed the Millennium Puzzle in his hands and, with both his own power and the power of the item, blasted a Kamehameha wave right through the Seal's barrier. The Seal closed in, and Yugi shoved the Pharaoh out of the way, claiming that his soul will instead be taken.
As soon as the Seal left, the Duelist took Yugi's body and jumped on a rope ladder connected to a helicopter, dropping the body into the arms of Joey on demand. He soon woke up, but broke down on the spot. Joey immediately got excited, saying he knew Yugi would outsmart them, but got a response that they succeeded; Yugi's gone.
"But how can you be talking to us if he took your soul?" Joey asked, confused.
"Not mine! Yugi's!" the Pharaoh screamed, hitting the ground with his fists, his tail flaring up. "It's all my fault, it should have been me!" He continued screaming; shouting for Yugi to come back and that it wasn't fair. Just then, a massive ki blast could be seen in the sky near the horizon. A few minutes later, it fired, heading straight for them, and was closing in fast…