When the aircraft landed, the gang was quick to leave their separate ways, meaning Duke went to his American shop while the rest of them went to a nearby museum where they were to meet with Professor Hopkins. The Kaiba brothers decided to stay long enough for them to hear what's going on, especially since Noah was in no condition to fly again for at least a few hours.
The gang and the two younger Kaibas were in front of the rivals, who were a few steps behind and they didn't chatter like the group ahead of them. They just walked in silence, casting each other occasional glances as they walked, since it was a nice day out, until they got near the museum. Yuna suddenly turned to Seto and told him grimly.
''Listen, Seto. We are meeting grandpa's old friend now so I will warn you.'' But Seto interrupted her.
''Don't worry, I won't be mean if he is as boring as Ishizu if that's what worries you. I have some manners.''
''I don't doubt that, but that's not what I was going to say.''
Seto raised an eyebrow. ''Then what is it?''
She sighed. ''He has a granddaughter that has wished to duel me for my grandpa's Blue-Eyes ever since she started to play the game, and quite frankly ... She can get really annoying. Listen, just ... Just don't draw attention to yourself, or mention dragons or that you like them and everything should be fine.''
The CEO frowned. ''Even if she is annoying, why do you refuse to duel her? It's not like you at all.''
''Because I dueled her once, she lost but that's not the point. She gets cocky, more so than you do, and she completely disrespects her cards. I think it got a little batter after she dueled Yugi some time ago, but I don't know.''
Seto nodded, understanding just how much it irritated his rival when people disrespect their cards, and they continued walking when they heard a shrill voice yell.
"Darling!"
They all stop and turn around to see a blond girl with half-glasses running madly towards him. She flings herself onto him, and he greets her confusedly.
Yuna quickly steps behind Kaiba and he eyes her strangely, but decides not to comment.
Téa asks if Yugi has any idea who she is.
She shows him a card to remind him—it's the Ties of Friendship card that Yugi gave her.
''Now I remember—it's Rebecca Hawkins.''
Joey is horrified.
''It's that brat! But she looks different. Did she get a haircut?''
Tristan says no, she traded her teddy bear for glasses.
Rebecca says she doesn't need a teddy bear to protect her, because she has a boyfriend—Yugi!
''Excuse you?'' Téa steams as Rebecca, holding tight to Yugi's arm, says her Grandpa wants to see him. They all stare at her in shock, Yugi not nderstanding why Arthur would want to see him!
Yugi gets all discombobulated as she clutches his arm. Joey says it's another weird event to add to the list! Tristan says they'd better stay out of it.
The gang join Professor Hawkins and Grandpa, who are at the Domino Museum Egypt Exhibit, standing in front of a stone tablet that was a replica of the original Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories.
Professor Hopkins calls Yugi "Nameless Pharaoh."
Yugi looks ready to explode with laughter once he realized that Arthur was gravely mistaken, but somehow held it in since his grandpa managed as well.
No need to make an ass of himself, right?
Professor Hawkins tells Yugi he's just the person he needs to see. He has a theory that all of these monster sightings have something to do with Yugi!
''What!?'' They all yell, before Yugi and Solomon almost died from laughter.
''And just what is so funny?'' Rebeca fumed at how they seem to be making fun of her grandfather.
''Excuse us, Rebeca, but that is really the funniest thing I have ever heard!'' Solomon said, chuckling and Yuna shakes her head, stepping out from behind her rival.
''I believe you mean me, when you say Nameless Pharaoh.''
''Aha!'' Rebeca exclaimed, pointing a finger at the Game Master. ''There you are, you coward! I challenge you to a duel!'' She cockily said, but jumped back when a giant in a trench coat and Duel Disk growled at her. ''EEP!'' She ran behind Yugi, clutching his jacket. ''Protect me from the evil giant, Yugi!''
Joey cracked up, laughing his ass off as the CEO stared at the girl he had heard was a genius. ''If she's a genius, then where is this world heading?'' He muttered to his brothers, who both snickered under their breaths. Yuna rolled her eyes.
''Rebeca! Stop fooling around and act like a genius you are proclaimed to be! Especially since you are in a presence of another genius.'' She scowled at the girl.
''What's the deal?'' She said, stepping out from behind Yugi. ''It's not like you don't know me, or anything.''
Mokuba and the others stared at her incredulously. ''You mean you don't know who he is?'' He asked, pointing to his brother.
''Of course I do!'' She said, crossing her arms. ''He's Seto Kaiba, CEO, president and owner of Kaiba Corp., the biggest gaming company in the world and the second best Duelist in the world. He organized Battle City, crashed Duelist Kingdom and participated in many much smaller tournaments. Everyone knows him, especially Duelists, since he held the greatest tournament ever!''
Noah raised an eyebrow. ''And?''
''And what? She snapped.
''If you know who Mr. Kaiba is, then why do you act like only Yuna is a genius here? Noah is, too, kinda.'' Serenity piped in.
Everyone nodded, but Rebeca rolled her eyes. ''Genius? Yeah right!''
Shocked silence, then a stunned Aurthur exclaimed. ''Rebeca! Watch your manners! He is a great man and duelist!''
''Oh please!'' She drawled, annoying the other Duelists in the room as she acted like she's the best of them, when the Duel Queen was right there! ''If he were such a great Duelist, he would have figured out by now how to defeat Yuna, since he Dueled her so many times!'' She huffed. ''If I had so many chances to duel her, I wouldn't dare show my face in public again if I didn't defeat her by the third try!''
Seo took a menacing step towards her, but she didn't notice it.
''And I don't understand why everyone thinks it's her and not Yugi that's the reincarnation of that great Pharaoh and what not! Yugi is the one that looks like him! You just need to use your eyes and see!'' She yelled, pointing to the replica tablet. ''And what's so hard about piecing together a measly puzzle to decide to who that ancient hidden temple belongs to? Anyone could do it!''
''Then why don't you?'' Seto growled out and Rebeca finally noticed just how enraged the CEO was. She stepped back, but then remembered herself and held her ground under those icy glaciers that were once oceanic eyes.
''You know what, I will. And them I will duel her for the title and take the Blue-Eyes White Dragon that was supposed to be rightfully mine in the first place!''
She flinched as his eyes narrowed even more, getting somehow colder. ''You aren't worthy of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.''
''Oh and you are?'' She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth when the CEO laughed harshly.
''Well, let's see. I have three, while you don't have even a half! So, who is more deserving?''
''Ouch!'' Joey said, faking a wince.
''Burned!'' Echoed Tristan. They were, for once, taking the dragon master's side, since they had seen just how loyal those dragons were to the tall Duelist. And they agreed with him. Rebeca, with her attitude, didn't deserve one of those magnificent beasts.
The bantering went on for a while, until finally both rivals accepted the challenges and soundly trounced the cocky girl, leaving her completely stunned with how mercilessly they Duel in comparison to her own skills. And when Yuna took apart the Millennium Puzzle and offered it to her to try and solve, Rebeca gulped when she saw all the pieces and conceded defeat after just 15 minutes. In that same time after that, Yuna put it back together, stunning her further.
Everyone was now gapping at the golden Puzzle that hung around the swan-like, ivory neck. Except for the Moutos and Seto, who had seen the Puzzle in peaces before.
Rebeca apologized for her behavior, but promised to get better at Duel Monsters and once again Duel with the rivals. She then, once again, attached herself to Yugi's arm and waited for the discussion about her grandfather's discovery.
''You were saying?'' Yuna prompted.
''Ah, um, yes. So if you are the Pharaoh's reincarnation I should warn you that you are in grave danger!'' The professor said.
''Why don't you skip the crap and tell us something that we don't already know?'' Kaiba rudely interrupted.
''Kaiba! That's rude! You should treat your elders with respect-!''
Seto snapped in Tea's direction. ''You just saw who raised me. Do you really think I respect those who look down at me because they are older? You are more delusional than I thought.''
Tea was about to say something else, and probably be backed up by Joey, but Arthur cut them off.
''He's partly right. I guess I should get to the point, ey Boy?'' He tried to get on the CEO's good side, since he was the one whose opinion Yuna most respected.
The young executive growled. ''Don't call me 'boy'!''
Arthur gulped, deciding that it's best to just move on.
''Yes well... These carvings confirm what I've suspected all along—that Yuna shares a bond with a five-thousand-year-old Pharaoh! Be it in appearance or soul doesn't matter. She and him are connected.''
Yuna nodded. ''I already knew that for a long time, but it's not a bond we share. It our very soul.''
Arthur nodded. ''Right. Well ... ''
Professor Hawkins says he's spent the latter part of his career studying Duel Monsters, and learned that it started as more than a game. Egyptian sorcerers discovered a way to seal real monsters away in stone tablets.
The reincarnated monarch once again nodded. ''Right. The Shadow Games that erupted into a war.''
''Yes. You seem to know more about this than I do! Why don't you just tell me what you know and I'll then tell you about the things that you don't?''
Yuna chuckled dryly. ''You wouldn't have what to say if we went that way. Just tell me, okay.''
He sighed. ''As more monsters were collected, the sorcerers' powers grew stronger until the shadow magic spun out of control and threatened to destroy all life on earth. But one man was able to turn the darkness to light—the great Pharaoh whose power you carry, Yuna.''
Yugi wonders how this explains what's happening now. ''Have these monsters come back?''
Professor Hawkins says they have—but there's more to it. He asks if the gang have ever heard of the lost city of Atlantis, and Téa says she read a book about it, while the rest of the gang call her a nerd.
Professor Hawkins says he may have discovered Atlantis—a world that existed long before ancient Egypt. But what puzzled him most were the carvings he saw there. He shows the gang photos of the carvings, which Yugi recognizes as Duel Monsters. So these monsters didn't originate five thousand years ago in Egypt, but ten thousand years ago in Atlantis.
Astonished, Grandpa tells Professor Hawkins that his discovery could completely rewrite history! But Professor Hawkins says there's still quite a bit he doesn't know. Yugi, looking through the photos, points out one that he says appears to show the monsters attacking the city. Professor Hawkins says that only some of the monsters are destroying the city, and Yugi wonders if that means that some of the monsters are good.
''This is ridiculous!'' Seto thundered. ''First these monsters come from Egypt and now Atlantis?! If you are pulling our legs, I'll gladly destroy your whole carer and life!''
''Hold on, Seto! This is why we came here.'' The tall Duelist turned to his much shorter rival.
''Ishizu could have told us this!''
''I don't need anyone to tell me anything. That's for you guys; a history lesson. I just needed to see these.'' Yuna said as she pointed at the photos. ''These are from the ruins? Directly from the ruins?''
The professor nods. ''Yes, the very first I took!''
Professor Hawkins believes there's a parallel world of monsters that exists alongside our world, and throughout history, certain people have been able to release these monsters. Some of them have helped mankind, while others have tried to destroy it. The monsters can be seen in the ancient carvings. He believes that many rituals, magic and spells throughout history are evidence of humanity's desire to invoke monsters from another world.
Tristan isn't buying it. He laughs, telling Professor Hawkins to give him a break. Rebeca kicks him in the knee, saying that anyone who messes with her grandfather messes with her, and he'd better keep his comments to himself! Rebeca points out that Pegasus created Duel Monsters after seeing the ancient stone carvings.)
But Professor Hawkins says he's no stranger to ridicule, and agrees that it's a bit farfetched. Rebeca protests that it's true, and Joey says he believes him. After all the weird things they've been through, he'll believe anything! He remembers the Shadow Game with Marik, and reminds the gang that Mai and Bakura were both sent to the Shadow Realm in duels. There's plenty of stuff out there that can't be explained.
''And how Yuna has certain knowledge that no one else has.'' Yugi pointed out.
Yuna raises her head ''Arthur...'' She starts. ''You are very wrong in thinking that the people of Atlantis knew what they were doing with these creatures. They weren't able to 'summon' them like Egyptian priests were. The creatures once lived with them, and so they stayed in our world until a certain event happened that caused them to leave, fearing their own safety.''
''What do you mean?'' Confusion, an expected reaction.
Rebeca says that their hypothesis suggests that the supernatural phenomena they've experience may find its roots in Atlantis.
''It's not what I was going to say, since it's not really supernatural and all, but let's first see what you guys have.''
Tristan thinks those are pretty big words coming from such a little kid. Rebeca goes off on him again, saying she's not a little kid, she's a college student! Professor Hawkins says his granddaughter is quite gifted, and she says she's just your average child genius, and begins to spell genius for them. Joey wonders if she can spell "obnoxious," and she starts to yell at him, when her grandfather tells her that's not the behavior of a college student.
The genius rivals snort.
Professor Hawkins continues, saying that when Egyptian sorcerers conjured these monsters five thousand years ago, the Pharaoh was there to save mankind from destruction. Now that Pharaoh has been reborn as Yuna, which could mean that mankind needs his help again.
''Indeed.'' Was all the said girl said. ''But we need you to do a little research for us. Yugi?''
He nods and pulls out the crystal that the bearded man was wearing, asking if the professor has ever seen anything like it.
Professor Hawkins thinks the stone is incredibly like something he discovered on his expedition. He asks if he can take it back to his lab, and Yugi and Yuna agree.
00000
After they parted ways with the Hopkins, the gang started heading for the Industrial Illusions when a lime arrived. A man stepped out, holding ope the doors for the kids to get in.
''Compliments of Mrs. Crawford.'' was all he said. The Yugi-tachi immediately jumped in, but Yuna and the Kaibas stayed outside. Seto turned to his only rival.
''Something's up. Be careful, Yuna. You are the one they want.'' He hugs her briefly.
She returns it. ''I'm not the only one they want, remember? Be careful and look after those brothers of yours!'' She pulled away and gave him a peck on the cheek, causing him to smile and Noah and Mokuba to snicker while Yugi giggled in the car. But they payed them no mind.
''Don't worry. I will. But you better keep an eye on those losers or they'll end up dead somewhere.'' They snickered to themselves and Seto placed a kiss on Yuna's forehead, turning to leave with his brothers and Solomon and Serenity.
The limo took off.
The three younger kids waved them until they turned a corner while the old man smiled and Seto just stood with crossed arms.
''Alright. We'll be escorting you to the airport, where you will take one of my jets for Japan. When you land, Kemo will make sure you make it safely to your homes or my mansion, as you wish. But if you chose home over my mansion, it will not be my responsibility if you end up hurt. I would send you, too, Noah, but I have a feeling that we might need your help at our HQ here.''
The green haired boy nodded with a smirk, ready to help his family in any way. ''Um, Seto-nii?''
''Hm?'' Was the response as the KC branded limo mad its way to them.
''Nee-chii will be alright, right?''
Seto looked over to the boy that should have been his age, but was around Mokuba's instead. He nodded firmly, confidence shining in his peculiar blue eyes.
Noah relaxed visibly, making Seto wonder if his rival meant to Noah as a sister as much as she meant to him as his everything else.
The three brothers were greeted by the ever loyal Roland and Fugata when they entered and the took off in the direction of the KC California HQ.
00000
As they rode, Yuna got a short vision of the legendary world of the monsters, the Dominion of the Beasts.
Yuna was in a big chamber with three giant statues of the Dragons she and Pegasus had found on only one tablet in Egypt.
Dark Magician Girl flies above them, explaining that these dragons are the protectors of the monsters' world. They defeated the great beast ten thousand years ago, but now they're frozen in time.
''The three dragons were exhausted by their past battles, and no one now knows their names.''
Yuna floats to join her as she explains that their two worlds depend on each other and that very little monsters are left due to the Great Beast feeding.
''The legend states that three brave warriors will awaken these dragons when they are needed again. I believe that the Pharaoh, meaning you, is one of these warriors, and if I'm correct, you'll be able to remove the sword sticking out of the frozen dragon's eye. Only a True Duelist can release them. I believe that my master can heal them.''
Yuna grabs the hilt of the sword together and pull. Light begins to glow from the ice, and suddenly the sword comes free, falling to the floor far below. Then the ice begins to crack, and a mighty blue dragon is revealed.
''As soon as you call out the dragon's name, you'll be linked together!'' The spellcaster explained in an excited voice.
"Nameless dragon! I know your name!" and she says, "Your name is..." The dragon looks her straight in the eye, almost recoiling at the magnificent color, recognizing the Chosen Pharaoh instantly.
She yells out the ancient name "Timaeus!" and the dragon roars, sending out waves of power to Yuna.
She absorbs the waves of power as the Dark Magician Girl asks her to use this power and save them all.
Yuna nods as the vision starts to fade away ...
The Duel Queen found herself waking up in the limo with everyone staring at her.
''What?'' Yugi sighs in relief.
''So, what was it about?''
Yuna was about to answer, but saw something strange. She frowned. ''I'll tell you later.''
''What? Why?'' Yugi asked in confusion. It's not like their friends didn't already know about her gift.
00000
Dartz calls for Rafael, who kneels, saying he knows what to do. He'll find the Pharaoh, and this time he'll drain the Pharaoh's power to feed the great beast. But Dartz tells him they need more than just the Pharaoh's soul. The other two motorcyclists join Rafael.
Amelda says they'll deal with the others, too. She'll take Kaiba.
And Valon says he's got his eye on Joey Wheeler.
Dartz tells the three that the Pharaoh and her friends are on their way to speak with the one they've been watching—they'd better reach him before Yuna does. He orders them to go see Pegasus at once.
00000
Inside HQ of I2, Pegasus sits at his desk, saying he can't believe the monsters he made famous are now terrorizing people around the world. Pegasus tells Yuna to please come quickly. Something has happened.
He hears a woman's voice at the window, asking him if he always talks to himself like that. He turns to see Mai standing there, and asks her how she got past his security.
Mai doesn't speak.
Pegasus looks at her and says, "You!"
They duel and after a while ...
Pegasus is heard to scream "No!"
00000
Yuna looks to the card with the pretty key on it. It was Pegasus key to the special room where he left her all the important messages that should only be heard by her. He had told her to guard it with her life, and she had a suspicion as to why all the paranoia.
It didn't help that Pegasus had disappeared and now this limo miraculously finds them to take them to Pegasus.
Oh she knew that it was a setup, but her instinct was telling her to go along with it anyway. She had never made a mistake doing that before, so now should be no different.
Her instincts were proven right in a rather short while after that.
00000
At the Kaiba Corp building, Kaiba is at his desk angrily telling one of his flunkies to hold all his calls, and tell the reporters once and for all that Kaiba Corp is not responsible in any way for these monster sightings. The man agrees and leaves Kaiba's office. Kaiba says someone's trying to make a fool of him. He's worked to hard at repairing the reputation of this company—this has to stop.
''Is this a scheme of one of my rivals? Now?''
He calls Roland on his intercom, asking for an update on their investigation. Do they have any leads? Roland says there's nothing yet. Kaiba says he wants answers now!
Kaiba thinks the timing couldn't be worse—he's about to announce his latest project.
The office door opens and Mokuba and Noah come in, telling their brother to check out their database—someone's out there buying up shares in Kaiba Corp. Kaiba checks his computer, and Mokuba and Noah are right—almost half of Kaiba Corp was just bought by one person, and he's still buying!
If this person buys any more shares, he could take control of the company, and Kaiba won't allow that. There's only one person who's capable of something like this!
Just then the phone rings—it's Pegasus. He says it looks like he and Kaiba are partners now.
Kaiba says the company is his, and he'll never let a snake like Pegasus wrap himself around it! Pegasus says he's not interested in Kaiba's company, he just needed the upper hand so he could force Kaiba to do something for him. Since both of their reputations are at stake, he thought they could boost their public image by dueling each other. Kaiba tells Pegasus he must be out of his mind, but Pegasus says if Kaiba refuses, he'll buy the rest of Kaiba Corp and take it apart, piece by piece.
Kaiba has no choice but to accept. Pegasus says he's set up a dueling arena for them at Duelist Kingdom, for old times' sake.
Kaiba heads down in the elevator with Mokuba, who thinks that his brother was stressed enough. Yes, Noah would stay behind and update them about all the stocks and shares, but Seto was already pushing his limits! They had just came back from the virtual world, for heavens sake!
"Nii-sama? You don't really think that it's Pegasus behind this, right? Isn't he missing?"
"That's definitely not Pegasus, but we'll have to fool that impostor that we think it's really Pegasus. It may help us find the real thing that way."
Mokuba nodded. They arrive at Basement Level 5, and approach a huge vault. Mokuba asks if Kaiba's sure he wants to go through with this, but he says he has no choice. (There's no dialog in the Japanese.) Using a card key and code, he unlocks the vault and they go inside. Mokuba suggests that Pegasus might have been bluffing, but Kaiba says he can't take that chance. Inside the vault, he opens a locked compartment with his card key, thinking that he knew that someday he would unlock his deck again, but he never thought it would be this soon.
'Except for Yuna, no one has ever defeated me. If Pegasus gets in my way, I'll destroy him.' He removes his metal briefcase from the compartment, and takes out his Duel Disk.
On top of the Kaiba Corp building, Kaiba and Mokuba go to their Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet. Mokuba stops, looking down sadly.
''Mokuba? What's wrong?''
''Nii-sama, do you remember why you locked your Deck away as soon as we entered the building?''
Seto nodded and realized what had his brother so worried. He smiled down at the kid and ruffled his hair.
''Don't worry, Mokuba! We will open Kaiba Land, just as soon as we help Yuna with this. And I won't allow seeing Gozaboro again to affect me, not with you, Noah and Yuna are here! I don't want to break my word to you to not Duel until we officially open our theme park, but we can't leave Yuna to deal with this with only those geeks as companions and allays, now can we?''
Mokuba looked up to his brother and laughed. ''No, of course not!''
''You better not! Or I swear I will buy your shares just to spite you!'' Noah jokingly threatened across the speakers, further assuring the youngest of the brothers that everything will be alright.
'Thanks, Yuna, for saving my family and so much more.' Mokuba thought with a smile as he looked up at the sky, as if he suspected the Game Queen to fly there on her God Monsters and chuckled as his Nii-sama playfully bantered with his new brother.
Mokuba laughs, and runs to join his brother as he climbs into the jet.
''Okay, you have permission for lift off!''
The dragon shaped jet sped off and Noah smiled a small smile. ''Be careful.''
00000
The gang rides in Pegasus's limousine through the city, which Joey says is nothing like back home. Tristan says of course it isn't—this is San Francisco, home of the Golden Gate Bridge, and all the seafood you can eat! Téa reminds him this isn't a vacation—they're here to see Pegasus.
Yugi glances at his sister and wonders why she was so tense.
Yuna just closed her eyes and waited for her instincts to be proven right.
'It won't be long now ... I can feel it!'
00000
Meanwhile, Kaiba and Mokuba are approaching Duelist Kingdom in the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet. Kaiba says he'll try to make this quick, and Mokuba agrees that this place has nothing but bad memories.
The jet lands in front of the castle, and the boys hop out. Kaiba says it's time to give Pegasus a royal beating. The doors open to an empty hallway. Mokuba says it looks like Pegasus's staff is on vacation or something. That's fine with Kaiba—fewer people to get on his nerves.
They head down the hallway.
Kaiba and Mokuba suddenly come to the end of the hallway, opening out onto a huge room with the floor far clutches Kaiba's arm, worried that they could have fallen, while Kaiba is about out of patience with Pegasus. He demands that Pegasus show himself.
Across the room, in a corresponding hallway, Pegasus finally appears, laughing. Kaiba tells him he's as irritating as ever, but Pegasus asks him where's the love? They've been through so much. Kaiba says he didn't come to catch up, he came to duel so that Pegasus would get out his life! Pegasus wonders what he's done to deserve such hatred, and Kaiba tells him it's a long list. Most recently, Pegasus has been buying up pieces of Kaiba's company.
Kaiba accuses Pegasus of being behind this monster scare. But Pegasus says Kaiba's afraid to admit that maybe these monsters are real. Kaiba says he doesn't believe in hocus-pocus magic tricks, and he certainly doesn't believe in real monsters.
They didn't waste much time, especially since Seto was rather impatient. With every moment he spent with this Pegasus-wannabe, Yuna and his company could be getting in more and more danger. His guts was starting to twist in a way that told him that something bad was going to happen soon, and he just wanted to keep all the tings he loved out of it!
Kaiba plugs his Duel Disk into the ring's controls, and the duel begins. Pegasus goes first, summoning Toon Alligator (1600 DEF) in defense mode. Then he sets one card face down. Kaiba thinks he knows what Pegasus is up to—he's using the same monsters he played in their first duel in order to mess with Kaiba's head.
''I'm different now. Psychological warfare won't work on me.''
Pegasus feigns surprise.
Kaiba summons Spear Dragon (1900 ATK) and attacks Toon Alligator. Even though Toon Alligator is in defense, Pegasus still receives 300 points of damage, due to Spear Dragon's effect. Then Spear Dragon switches to defense mode. Kaiba sets two cards face down and ends his turn.
00000
Pegasus says "God damn!" in English.
Kaiba taps his head, smiling and saying that he has all the data from all his duels in his memory, and all the strategies he'll use to deal with Pegasus.
Frustrated, Pegasus says, "Turn end."
It's Kaiba's turn, and he says it's time to play his favorite card. He sacrifices Spear Dragon and Toon Masked Sorcerer to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000 ATK). Pegasus says his Toon Masked Sorcerer is safe—Toon monsters can only be destroyed by other Toons. Kaiba says he's aware of that, but refuses to let a technicality stop him!
''I'm not afraid of Toon monsters. I've already told you, Pegasus. My strategies are flawless.''
So Pegasus activates his trap card, Toon Mask, allowing him to trade in his Sorcerer for a Toon version of Kaiba's monster. Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon appears on Pegasus's side of the field.
Kaiba fumes, telling Pegasus that thing is a disgrace to the original Blue-Eyes. Pegasus protests that cartoons have feelings, too! And the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon weeps streams of tears. Then Kaiba activates the magic card, Shrink, shrinking the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon down to 1500 attack points. Pegasus says he's still indestructible, and Kaiba's only made him more lovable.
Next, Kaiba plays a magic card, saying it will make the Blue-Eyes' attack even more fierce, but Pegasus says it's not going to work. Kaiba attacks with his Blue-Eyes, but the attack slides right off the little Toon Dragon. Kaiba says his magic card, Charm of Lamentation, allows him to draw one card from his deck every time his Blue-Eyes attacks and fails. Kaiba thinks to himself that the key to beating this washed-up has-been is somewhere in his deck, and he just has to keep drawing cards until he finds it.
Pegasus draws, then pays 500 life points to allow his Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon to attack Kaiba directly, bringing his life points down to 2200. But Kaiba activates his trap card, Negate Attack, which stops the Toon Dragon's attack.
00000
Kaiba finishes his turn by summoning Versago the Destroyer in defense (900 DEF).
It's Pegasus's move, but Pegasus stands silent on his side of the ring, staring down at his hands. Kaiba says if Pegasus doesn't take his move, he'll forfeit the duel, then says he'd quit, too, if his strategy was as lame as Pegasus'. Pegasus is using the exact same tactics as the first time they dueled.
Kaiba wants to know what the deal is—Pegasus is a lot of things, but predictable isn't one of them.
"Who are you?" He says his strategy was flawless, but Pegasus should have foreseen this situation. His opponent is simply imitating his old tactics. He knows Pegasus isn't that stupid.
"You are not Pegasus. Who are you?"
Pegasus finally raises his head. He just hasn't been himself lately. In fact, he means that quite literally! His voice changes, and he rips off his mask and costume to reveal that she's actually one of the three motorcyclists.
Furious, Kaiba demands that she identify herself, and she says her name is Amelda. Activating her Dark Duel Disk, he says to "Kaiba-boy, did you forget me already?" She purrs as the teen CEO bristles. "Now let's duel."
''What do you want, bitch?''
''I'm one of Doma's Three Swordsman, Amelda.''
Kaiba repeats, ''Doma? Three swordsmen?''
Amelda says she won't forgive Kaiba, and Kaiba asks what's going on.
Amelda says, "This is retribution, Kaiba Seto."
She draws, and plays the Seal of Orichalcos, causing the field to be encircled by the Seal. Amelda explains that they're trapped inside the Seal until the duel is over, and the loser's soul will be locked away for all eternity!
''I'm commanded by the King of Doma, Dartz, to take your soul. And I'll take quite a pleasure doing it!''
Kaiba looks around asking, "What is this?" and Amelda explaining that it's the Seal of Oreikalkos.
His head snapped in the girl's direction and he remembers Yuna being trapped in that thing when those three bikers had crashed the party and stole the God cards.
''You don't know who you're messing with!'' He growls out.
Mokuba yells, "Nii-sama!" over and over.
But Amelda says she knows exactly who he's messing with—a greedy little punk who's just as pathetic as his old man.
Kaiba angrily says that no one compares him to his stepfather and gets away with it. His family business has nothing to do with Amelda.
Amelda says she represents every single person whose life was ripped apart by Kaiba's company, and she's here to make sure Kaiba's never able to step on anyone ever again.
''Get in line! I hear that speech every day.''
The girl bristled. ''You will pay for your crimes with your very soul!''
''What crime? What the hell?''
00000
Meanwhile, the gang is still in the limo, now apparently traveling through a desert that has mysteriously appeared somewhere north of San Francisco. Yugi is still distracted, and Joey asks him if he's all right. He says he's been better, and asks Joey how he's doing. Joey says he's been worse.
Yuna snorts, her eyes still closed, making the others look at her briefly.
00000
Mokuba, watching just outside the Seal, worries that his brother's whole deck could turn against him. Amelda sets one card face-down and ends her turn.
Kaiba thinks that this wacko has more skill than he thought. But Kaiba's better, and he has just the cards to take Amelda down. In his hand, he holds the Crush card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Pitch-Dark Dragon. He thinks that once his virus wipes out Amelda's Gorlag, every monster it stole from him will be gone. Then Amelda's life points will be wide open.
Kaiba draws, saying it's showtime! First, he summons Pitch-Dark Dragon in defense (600 DEF), then he sets one card face down. But Amelda knows Kaiba's face-down card is the Crush card. She's had her eye on Kaiba for a long time, she says, and knows every pathetic detail of his life, including his obvious Duel Monsters strategies.
Kaiba smiles—he had no idea Amelda was such a big fan of his. If she wanted Kaiba's autograph, all she had to do was ask!
''A boor afraid of the powerful must be well-prepared.''
Amelda says Kaiba makes her sick!
Kaiba wants to know what he did, and Amelda says Kaiba ruined her life.
Amelda shows Kaiba a broken toy, saying this is all she has. It used to be her brother's, but Amelda will never see him again—Kaiba's father took Amelda's brother away from her. Kaiba and Mokuba stare in shock, as Amelda tells her story.
''It was seven years ago today,'' Amelda says. ''The tanks came back, but this time it was worse than before. The enemy wouldn't give up.''
00000
Mokuba shouts that his brother is innocent! Their stepfather was a big jerk, but Seto knew he was wrong. That's why he took control of Kaiba Corp and changed it into a company that helps people. What happened to Alister is not their fault!
Mokuba says it was Gozaburo who sold the weapons. ''My brother hated what Gozaburo did, so he bought out Kaiba Corporation. He wanted to use his wealth and abilities to create something better. He is the redemption of Kaiba Corp.!''
Amelda won't listen. Mokuba says he and his brother grew up without a family, too, but Amelda tells him to imagine what it would be like if he didn't have his brother either.
Mokuba can't.
Kaiba tells Mokuba not to listen to her, and Mokuba says he was only trying to help.
Amelda laughs at their little spat, telling Mokuba his brother won't push him around any more, once she takes away his soul!
00000
Kaiba draws, and smiles. He plays the magic card, Card of Demise, allowing him to draw three cards. He plays White Dragon Ritual, sacrificing his Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his hand to summon Paladin of White Dragon (1900 ATK).
Then he plays Monster Reborn to bring back the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He attacks Pitch-Dark Dragon with Paladin of White Dragon. Now that one of Amelda's fire monsters has been destroyed, Gorlag loses 500 attack points, bringing it down to 2500, so Kaiba can destroy it with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"You said I can't win. Now I return those words to you."
00000
Kaiba's out of moves. There's not a card in his deck that can save him now.
But as he draws, he finds himself in a vision of the hall in the monster world where the two remaining frozen dragons stand. He says he must be hallucinating, then sees the sword and wonders if he must pull it out, which he does.
Kaiba takes hold of the hilt of the sword embedded in the dragon's throat and pulls it free. The ice cracks and the dragon is released. After the dragon is freed, he asks himself how this can be—he knows the dragon's name.
"Your name is Critius," he says, putting his hand on its nose.
00000
In the limo, Yugi notices his sister poll her own Eye of Timaeus card out of her Deck when her eyes snapped open, the card glowing in response.
''Yuna?''
The Duel Queen ignores him as she brings the card to her lips, planting a small peck on it, making the guys jealous of a freaking card! She closes her eyes as the card is still pressed to her lips.
'I was right. Mighty Critius, please guard him!'
''Seto ...'' She said out loud, surprising her friends and brother.
''Kaiba? What's he got to do with anything?'' Joey asks, but is ignored.
00000
Back at the duel, Kaiba stands mid-draw with his hand on his deck.
As Amelda asks Kaiba if he's going to play or not, the card under Kaiba's hand glows. Seto hears a whisper of the voice he loved so much, saying ''Seto ...'' and he snapps back to his senses.
Then Kaiba draws his card. Astonished, he sees that he's drawn a card he never put in his deck—one that looks like the dragon he just dreamt about. Is this another of Amelda's tricks?
'Wait! This is Yuna's dragon! But I never put it in my Deck, yet I know its power.'
He hears the voice that he knows all too well wwhisper his name like it was a sacred prayer.
"Seto ..."
He now knew why YYuna gave them those cards, and so he summons the Fang of Critius. Amelda protests that Kaiba doesn't have that card, but Kaiba just goes on to merge Critius with his Crush card to form a new monster. Amelda says he can't merge a trap card with a monster, but Kaiba laughs, saying that he just did.
The Doom Virus Dragon appears on the field, with an attack of 1900. Its effect destroys every monster on the field with an attack of 1500 or more, and Amelda's three powerful monsters are destroyed. Kaiba then direct attacks with Doom Virus Dragon, saying it's game over!
But Amelda activates her set magic card, Contagion of Madness, inflicting 950 points of damage to Kaiba, so that both of their life points reach zero at the same time.
The duel ends in a draw, and the Seal of Orichalcos disperses, flinging Kaiba back onto Mokuba, as Amelda disappears and the duel ring reappears. They hear Amelda's voice saying that this isn't over. She'll be back, and Kaiba will pay for what his father did to him!
Kaiba stands up, staring at the card of Critius in his hand.
"Thanks ... Yuna."
00000
Yuna and the others are surrounded by the bikers before they can reach the limo. What should they do? The bikers pull out metal poles, and begin circling the gang, dragging the poles menacingly on the ground. One of the bikers swings a pole at Joey, who can only brace himself, arm protecting his face.
But before the blow lands, the biker is hit in the hand by a card (it's Harpie's Feather Duster), and he falls from his bike, the pole flying out of his hand.
The bikers stop, staring at their fallen rider. What just happened? They look around, seeing nothing. Then another biker rides out from behind a mesa. It's a woman in a red helmet on a red bike. The bikers ask who she is, but no one knows. She throws more cards, and more bikers are knocked from their bikes as she passes.
Rafael and Valon watch in surprise as their biker gang is taken down by this new biker in red.
Téa asks what's going on? Tristan grabs her hand, saying let's ask questions later! The kids run for the limo. But Joey stops to pick up one of the cards the red biker used to bring down the others.
00000
Mokuba says Amelda has the power to steal souls! Kaiba asks if Mokuba believes that nonsense. Amelda was just a desperate loony who wanted a shot at beating a real duelist.
Mokuba asks what they should do. Kaiba tells Mokuba not to worry about it. He takes on Gozaburo's sin along with the company. He can't solve it by himself.
Then he thinks that they got Pegasus already, and wonders what their purpose is.
But what Kaiba doesn't get is how this card got in his deck! He stares at the Fang of Critius card, and remembers the vision of the dragon statues, and pulling out the sword to free Critius. This is one of the most powerful cards he's ever seen, and he doesn't know where it came from. He has to find out more about it—and there's only one person who would have that kind of information. The real Pegasus! Kaiba wonders if the card is magic, or just a trick. Or is it something with huge power to guide him?
Kaiba and Mokuba hop into the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet. Mokuba says there's an e-mail from HQ—they need them to come back. Kaiba says he's the president of this company, and he'll decide what they do. Right now, they need to pay a visit to Pegasus.
The Blue-Eyes jet lifts off, heading for Industrial Illusions headquarters.
00000
Since the limo had overheated, the gang was left in the middle of nowhere, out in scratching heat. Just then, they see a truck coming towards them.
Téa stands at the side of the road with her thumb out, while the guys and Yuna, who was too dignified to do such a thing, hide. The truck driver goes all goggle-eyed when she winks at him, and immediately stops to pick her up. But he's not so pleased when the boys come out to join her.
Though, he did go into fan boy mode when he saw the infamous Yuna Yami Mouto, the world's biggest heartthrob and best duelist.
00000
Back in San Francisco, Rex and Weevil are trudging along the street, Rex wondering if this day could get any worse. He's been stuffed in a gym bag, dumped off in the worst part of town, and used as a trampoline by a bunch of street punks. Weevil says things can't get any worse, just as a mugger runs by and steals Weevil's wallet. The boys run after him, but he's far ahead of them.
Suddenly, a die hits him in the head and he drops Weevil's wallet. The mugger runs off, and Weevil's wallet is retrieved by none other than Duke Devlin!
Driving away in Duke's car, Duke is surprised that Rex and Weevil know Yugi and Yuna. What are the odds that Duke would run into a couple of Yugi's friends in his neck of the woods? Rex is about to tell him that they aren't Yugi's friends, when Weevil stops him, claiming to be Yugi's best friends.
The two had followed the Duel Queen and her brother and friends ever since they heard about the God cards being stolen, in the hopes that they would find them before the Queen of Games.
Unfortunately for them, karma works faster than they run.
00000
Then metal security gates come down all around the building, trapping the gang inside. They run to the gates, but can't budge them. They've been tricked. They hear a motorcycle from an upper level, and suddenly the red bike comes flying down to them and stops in the middle of the floor. Joey asks if that's Mai. The biker takes off her helmet, and it is indeed Mai.
Joey hates to say he told them so, but he did! He asks Mai what brings her to San Francisco, but she doesn't seem very friendly. Joey asks what's with the silent treatment.
She says she's not Mai. At least, not the Mai they knew. "And Pegasus ain't here, either!"
''Or else what?'' asks a voice from the upper level.
It's Valon, who's watching from above with Rafael. He taunts Joey, asking if his little reunion with Mai didn't go the way he expected it to. Then he asks Mai why she's keeping these guys all to herself.
''Why don't you share the fun with us? But you should know that you were only supposed to hunt Pegasus. The Nameless Pharaoh and Wheeler are my and Rafael's enemies.''
She tells Valon to mind his own business.
''These geeks are mine!''
Upset, Joey tells Mai they're her friends! He remembers saying goodbye to her at the end of Battle City, and now pleads with Mai to say this is all a joke! Tristan and Téa, too, find it hard to believe that Mai would betray them.
But Mai says she was never part of their little playgroup, and now she's going to take them apart one by one.
And she's starting with Joey! She activates her Duel Disk.
Yuna frowns at the ugly Duel Disk, knowing that if Mai was really going to side with those guys, she also had the Seal of Orichalcos and knows where Pegasus is.
Joey says fine, and Mai draws a card.
''To think I was once pathetic enough to call you a friend! But now I know the truth—you were holding me back from achieving true power! So now, say hello to my real friend—the Seal of Orichalcos!''
She plays the card, and the Seal forms around Joey and Mai. Joey tries to tell her that the Seal is messing up her head, and reminds her of everything they've been through together.
But when Mai looks up, the Seal glows in her forehead.
Yuna says it's as she feared.''The Orichalcos controls her. This duel must end.''
''Otherwise,'' Téa adds, ''she's going to do the same thing to Joey that she did to Pegasus.''
Tristan says she won't, because Joey will win!
Yugi tells Yuna they've got to do something!
But Yuna says the Puzzle is nearly powerless against the Seal.
Valon leans down from the balcony and tells the Pharaoh to quit mumbling to herself down there.
''Nothing can break the Seal of Orichalcos. Once it appears, it doesn't disappear until a soul's been captured.''
Rafael adds that as soon as Mai takes Joey's soul, he's taking the Pharaoh's.
Mai tells Rafael to get back in his cage.
''Once I'm through with Wheeler, Yuna belongs to me!''
''WHAT!?'' Was all that the once friends could say as Mai glared at the mentioned reincarnation. Yuna steadily returned the gaze, making Mai flinch under the undeniable fire burning in the depths of the ancient eyes of boiling blood. But Mai wasn't giving up either and so she continued to glare at the girl who had refused to leave her alone when she was lonely and demanded as such.
Rafael tells Valon he never liked Mai.
''Any more lip from Mai and she's next.''
But Valon says to give her a break.
''She's still new at this. And besides, she's kind of cute when she gets mad.''
Rafael tells Mai she's too willful. Did she forget Master Dartz's order?
Valon tells Rafael it's all right, let Mai do it. Dartz won't care as long as they get their souls.
Valon wonders what kind of duel Mai and Yuna would have, and suggests they just watch a while.
''We can always pick up after her if she loses.''
Mai asks Joey when he's going to make his move. Joey insists he's not going to duel against Mai, and she asks if he's afraid he's going to lose, like he did in Battle City. He says he's afraid he's going to win—if he does, she'll lose her soul!
Mai says she has no soul.
The Mai Joey knew is gone, she says. She traded in her soul for power. The old Mai was too lonely and pathetic. Now her weak side is gone for good. Joey says he liked the old Mai, and he's going to get her back.
00000
''But this time, the force they're up against is too strong! We can't stop it.'' Yugi says as he looks away from the duel for a second. Joey wasn't doing so well, and he just couldn't watch his best friend DIE right in front of him!
Yuna tells Yugi not to give up yet.
''I may have something that's capable of defeating this evil power—the Eye of Timaeus. I'm just not sure how to use it to save Joey. But he will have to become a True Duelist to be saved by a true miracle.''
Then she looks at the Eye of Timaeus card, wondering if she can use the power of this card.
Rafael thinks if the Pharaoh thinks she can use her new dragon to get her friend out of this, she'd better think again.
00000
Meanwhile, aboard the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet, Mokuba tells Kaiba that he's trying to contact Pegasus, but there's no signal from Industrial Illusions at all.
"Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an Error Document to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.27 Server at . Port 80"
Mokuba groans as the stupid message appears yet again and wonders how Noah is doing in locating Pegasus.
Kaiba says he had a feeling that would happen. Whoever Alister's working for has already gotten his hands on Pegasus, and they'll be expecting Kaiba next. Mokuba asks if that means they're flying right into a trap, and Kaiba says that's what he wants them to think.
''I'm not afraid of danger. Besides, Yuna needs our help.''
But, he says, holding up the Fang of Critius card, he's always one step ahead.
He remembers playing the card in his duel against Amelda.
This dragon seems to be just as powerful as the Egyptian God cards. But why has he never even heard of it before? Kaiba Corp's database contains every card ever made—except this one.
'I wonder how I could know the effect of this unknown card. Could it be that it's because I'm a True Duelist? I don't exactly believe in the supernatural, but the power of this card is very real in combination with that Seal. If it really is like that, then Yuna is in danger!'
He tells Mokuba they have to hurry.
00000
The gang wouldn't understand, she says. They've never been an outsider like her, all alone.
''Duel Monsters is all I had, and after Battle City, I set out to be the best. I dueled against chump after chump to improve my dueling skills, needing to make a name for myself. But even though I won match after match, I didn't feel any stronger as a duelist. I felt worse, and I wasn't making a name for myself. I tried to chase after you guys after Battle City, so I kept entering tournament after tournament, and I won all the time. But even though I won, I felt no relief.''
Flashback
Mai walks down the hallway with her trophy, and overhears the man she just beat being congratulated by his friends on a good duel. Who did he play again? Someone... Valentine? Her opponent says she came in something like eighth place at Duelist Kingdom—he almost beat her, too. But his friend says she's not one of the famous ones, like Kaiba or that Yuna kid. The woman says Joey Wheeler's always been her favorite—he's so cute! Those duelists could duel circles around him, but this Valentine girl's not in their league.
Mai's opponent says they're right—now he feels kind of lame for losing to her.
''Man, I wish I had a chance to duel against a real opponent, like that cute Yuna! But I won't get passed that jerk Ice Prince, Kaiba. This chick only has looks and no talent what so ever in comparison!
Angrily, Mai throws her trophy to the ground, shattering it. Her opponent and his friends look down the hallway, startled.
''Oops!''
End Flashback
Mai says that not long after that, the nightmares started. She dreams of Marik banishing her into the Shadow Realm, trapping her in the hourglass that fills with sand, suffocating her, as she calls for help from her friends that never comes. Every night it was the same dream. She was weak, and no one was there to help her.
Not even Yuna ...
She was at the end of her rope.
''I was scared and lonely and my so-called friends were nowhere to be found.''
Flashback
A motorcycle drives up and stops by her.
Valon says he knows her—she's Mai Valentine.
''You won the duel—how can you look so unhappy?''
He challenges her to a duel, and beats her. Then he walks over to her, as she kneels in the rain, telling her that she feels weak and thinks she doesn't belong. Valon tells her she's afraid of failure. She tells him to shut up, then asks for help.
She weeps, saying she just wants to be the best,says she doesn't want to lose, and says, "Help me, Joey.''
Valon tells her Joey can't help her. As long as she's weak, waiting for someone to rescue her, she can't win. But he knows she's really a strong woman.
She says she doesn't want to lose any more, and he holds out his hand to her, saying then she should come with him.
He'll give her what she really wants.
''What you want,'' he tells her, ''is true power. And I know how you can get it. But the first thing you have to do is stop expecting your friends to rescue you. All they do is disappoint you, but I have the answer to all your problems. All you have to do is take my hand, and you'll be the most powerful duelist on earth...''
End of Flashback
Present-day Mai says that was the smartest decision of her life. Now nothing can stop her.
Joey asks why she never told them she was so unhappy. They could have helped her!
She tells him to save it—she doesn't need his help. All she needs now is power.
''I want what you guys got in Battle City—the power to never lose a duel.''
00000
Joey's officially out of ideas. Mai's his friend, and he's not going to risk losing her again. With only 200 life points, there's no way he can win. Maybe if he gives up his soul to save her, she'll see the light.
He announces that he quits, and starts to lay his hand over his deck.
Yuna tells him no. ''Forfeiting is not the answer. If you give up on the duel, you give up on yourself, and your friends. If you want to save Mai, you must keep fighting or you will offend me as a Duelist! You are one, too, Joey, just like Seto and me. We are just in different categories. Right now, Mai is driven by anger, jealousy, and hatred. Joey, you must remind her what dueling is truly about—trust, conviction, and heart. Or we will lose her forever.''
Joey realizes that Yuna's right. He forgot about the Heart of the Cards. He tells Mai the duel's still on, and from now on, he's giving it everything he's got.
Joey draws, telling Mai it's time to show her what true dueling is all about.
Valon's glad to see that Joey decided to go down fighting, but Rafael doesn't care.
''There's no way that punk's going to win.''
Valon sees that Joey suddenly has energy.
Rafael agrees—it's because Joey is one of the chosen duelists.
Valon says it won't change the fact that Mai is going to win.
00000
Duke drives up to the Industrial Illusions building, Rex and Weevil tumbled in a heap in the back seat. Duke rushes to the building, wondering why it would be closed.
Duke stops outside the security gates, calling to the gang inside.
''Are you dueling in there?''
Téa says it's a long story and they don't have time for chitchat! Tristan adds that they're trapped inside, and Duke must find a way to get them out. Duke runs off to do just that.
Then Rex and Weevil run up to the gate, where they're horrified to see the same magic circle that they were trapped in.
00000
Mai places the three cards face down on the field.
Joey chooses.
It's Joey's trap card! He's still in the game—for now. But he's helped Mai, too—she gets to put the two cards she pulled from her graveyard on top of her deck. Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation and Harpie Sparrow Formation are two of Mai's most powerful cards.
Mai's turn isn't over. She moves one Harpie Lady to her rear defense, leaving Harpie's Pet Dragon in the front line, then she plays two cards face down.
Joey's got one more shot—but he's all out of ideas! He draws, sets one card face down, sets a monster in defense, then switches Fiend Megacyber to defense.
00000
Meanwhile, Duke's run around to the back of the building and is trying the doors, but they're all locked.
He finally finds a door that opens and quickly goes inside.
00000
Mai impatiently asks if Joey's strategy is to drag the duel out forever until she forfeits from boredom. Joey tells her to worry about her own strategy, but he knows he's just putting things off as long as he can until he can figure out a way out of this mess. He knows there must be a card in his deck that can help him, but what is it?
He asks the Heart of the Cards to show him some love.
And his deck begins to glow. Joey stares in wonder.
Then Yuna's Deck also starts to glow, and she draws out the glowing card—the Eye of Timaeus!
Joey and Yuna are both surrounded by cylinders of light.
00000
Aboard the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet, Kaiba's Fang of Critius glows, too.
00000
Three glowing balls of light fly into the castle where the statues of the three crystal dragons stood.
One dragon remains.
Two of the balls of light pause before the dragon—they are Yuna and Joey.
Joey wants to know where they are as he looks around, and Yuna tells him it's the Dominion of the Beasts, and the sculpture before them is a dragon frozen in time. She tells Joey it's chosen him, and he must remove the sword to awaken the ancient dragon.
As she looks on, knowing that her friend is probably freaked out by all of this, Joey takes the sword,he says he feels something speaking to him through it. Joey pulls out the sword, and the great beast comes to life.
Joey tells the dragon as he looks on in wonder that he knows its.
''Hermos.''
Suddenly, they're back at the duel.
Joey looks at Yuna, wondering if it was just a dream.
Yuna knows that now Joey has one of her dragons in his deck, too. It could be just what he needs to end the duel.
'Hermos, protect my friend' She thought as she gazed at the third Chosen Duelist. 'Good thing I always listen to my instincts when it comes to these things.'
00000
Kaiba comes to himself in his jet, asking Mokuba if he noticed anything strange. Besides the way you're acting? Mokuba asks, and Kaiba says forget it.
'I've felt this before!When I dueled Amelda, this card glowed out of nowhere even thought I never even put it in my Deck! It's Yuna's card, so I hope that this doesn't mean that she's in danger. Wait, didn't she give a similar dragon to Wheeler?'
He sped up his jet, not wanting to wander anymore.
00000
Rafael's Orichalcos stone glows, and Valon thinks the Pharaoh must be behind it.
Mai tells Joey to make his move, and he draws, astonished to find the card he's drawn is that dragon, Hermos.
'That's the card Yuna gave me! Could this be what I need to win? Is this going to save Mai? Well, I've got nothing to lose trying it!'
Joey holds the card aloft, telling Mai she's about to meet his new friend, Hermos!
Joey raises the Hermos card, to everyone's astonishment.
Yuna says that just as she was chosen by the Eye of Timaeus, Joey was chosen to wield the Claw of Hermos.
''He was chosen as a True Duelist by the Legendary Dragon.''
Valon wonders how a hack like Wheeler got his hands on that card, and Rafael points out that just because he has it, doesn't mean he knows how to use it.
''That will be the true test of his power. But maybe we look down on that guy too much. This means he is a strong duelist.''
00000
Meanwhile, Duke has made it inside the building and is running down the hall, saying he has to get the gang out of there fast! He finds a roomful of computers and monitors and sits down at the desk, thinking it looks like the main security system.
He starts busily working at a keyboard.
''Man, I wish I had that Noah kid here, right now!''
00000
Across town, a busy Noah gets a pretty loud message on his computer, telling him that something was happening in the HQ of I2. There was a signal coming from one of the security rooms, so he attached himself to it and soon found a connection.
When he took control of one of the cameras there, he heard what Duke said and chuckled, before taking over one of the few monitors in the room.
00000
''You called?''
Duke jumped away from the keyboard, falling to his butt some four feet away.
''Jesus Christ!''
He looked up and saw a smug looking Noah on one of the screens and scowled at the green-haired kid. ''Don't do that, Noah! You scared the shit out of me! God.'' He said, making it to his feet after he got over his brief shock.
''Sorry, but I guess that I should be thanking you. If you hadn't started snooping around that room, I still wouldn't have had access to their main frame. So, how can I help you?'' The kid asked, even thought Duke could see that he was already quite busy with something else.
''Um, what are you doing?''
The blue eyes looked up at him as Noah still continued typing something on a laptop. Duke guessed that that was how he had an image of the kid.
''Oh, just helping Seto-nii out with something while he's getting there. He says that if I got into contact with you guys, I am to immediately tell him and that's one of the things I'm currently doing. Pegasus' castle at Duelist Kingdom Island is no longer a safe location since one of the Doom(?) bikers attacked Seto-nii there and now he's going to look for Pegasus there for some explanations. Is he there? And how is Nee-chii faring?''
''Pegasus is nowhere to be found, but I just got here. Joey is dueling Mai, but she's using that strange Seal or whatever and it didn't look all that good when I saw them. They're locked in, so I was trying to unlock all the exits, but I didn't know how. So I wished that you were here to do it instead.''
Noah raised an eyebrow in amusement. ''And why me and not Seto-nii?''
Duke groaned. ''We kind of started off on the wrong foot since the day we met ...''
Noah chuckled. ''Something about Nee-chii I presume?'' It wasn't really a question, since he ahd kind of known ever since they had landed on his once home for the past few years. But it did help that Mokuba was all too happy to fill him in with all the details on the limo ride to the KC HQ and so they had teased Seto mercilessly.
Duke just sighed. ''What else?''
Noah chuckled again, then sobered up. ''I'll get on it in seconds, but I still need you to do some things there for it to be faster, okay?''
Duke nodded. ''You can count on me!''
00000
First, Joey plays Monster Reborn to bring back the Fiend Megacyber.
Mai's not impressed—her Harpie's Pet Dragon destroyed the Fiend once, and it can do it again.
But Joey's not done. Next, he plays Time Wizard (500 ATK), and then summons Hermos, combining Time Wizard and Hermos together.
Everyone watches as the two monsters fuse in a cone of light to form—a giant hammer with a winged clock face!
Joey's freaked—he's not sure what he's created. And Valon laughs, calling it a croquet hammer with wings, and Tristan slaps his forehead with his palm.
Téa wonders if Joey can change that hammer thingie back into a dragon, but Yuna says there's no need to.
Yugi adds that first impressions can be deceiving.
Joey says he doesn't care what it looks like, he's going to trust his deck. He orders Fiend Megacyber to pick up the hammer and attack. Téa hopes Joey knows what he's doing out there, but Tristan doubts it.
"That idiot!"
Mai thinks Joey's monster's attack points are still lower than hers, but she'd better play it safe. She activates her trap card, Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation to destroy Joey's monster. But Joey says his hammer has the power of his dragon and his Time Wizard.
The Fiend Megacyber pounds the hammer into the floor, and an abyss opens beneath it. Glowing numbers appear on each of Mai's monsters—Harpie's Pet Dragon is number 1, and the Harpies are 3, 2, and 6.
Tristan asks Téa what's going on, but she says she's the wrong person to ask.
Valon laughs, saying thanks for the counting lesson!
Joey exhorts his monsters to do something, but nothing happens, so dejectedly he ends his turn.
Mai asks if he's still trying to lose on purpose, and draws, saying it all ends here. But suddenly, her monsters are sucked into the abyss formed by the Hermos-Time Wizard hammer. She asks him what's going on, but he's as confused as she is! Yugi thinks whatever Joey did must have destroyed Mai's monsters, but Yami says the hole is still there, and Mai's monsters might return.
Mai sets one card face down and ends her turn. Joey attacks her directly with Fiend Megacyber, reducing her life points to 1400. He hopes she'll forgive him some day. Rafael tells Valon not to worry—they'll get a soul either way.
But Valon protests that Mai is one of them.
Then Joey sets one card face down and ends his turn, thinking he has to make sure that both their life points reach zero at the same time.
But Mai is holding herself and shaking, saying she can't lose! She can't go back there. The vision of her loss to Marik assails her again. She gave up everything to be a winner, she says, and she'll never lose.
Yami and Yugi realize that Joey's hammer sent Mai's monsters into the future. The numbers represented how many turns before the monster would return.
Unfortunately, Harpie's Pet Dragon was Number 1, so it came back first. And now it's Mai's turn.
Mai orders Harpie's Pet Dragon to attack the Fiend Megacyber. Rafael says he wouldn't do that if he were her, and Valon calls out to her to wait, but it's too late. Joey activates his trap card, Skull Dice. Mai's Dragon is about to lose some attack points. The die rolls a 2, and Harpie's Pet Dragon loses half its attack points, lowering its attack to 1250. It's destroyed by Fiend Megacyber, and Mai's life points are down to 450.
Now they're almost even.
Mai begins to shake again, mumbling that she can't lose, she won't go back to that place.
Rafael says she's lost it, and Valon leaps from the balcony. He has a piece of the Orichalcos stone in his ring, which he uses to break the Seal. It blows up, flinging everyone back. When the smoke clears, Joey is lying on the ground, and Valon is holding an unconscious Mai.
Rafael asks why Valon did it—he betrayed Dartz and risked his soul to save some girl.
Valon protests that she's not "some girl."
Rafael says he'll make up for it by taking the Pharaoh's soul, and raises the amulet around his neck, saying its power puts the Puzzle to shame. A blinding light shoots from the amulet.
00000
In the control room, Duke finally cracks the security system.
''All clear!''
''You rock, Noah! I need to get down to the guys before they leave without me!'' Duke yells as he runs out of the room, Noah yelling after him to make sure Yuna was alright.
The security gates begin to rise. The gang's not locked in any more—but Rafael, Valon, and Mai have disappeared. Tristan and Téa run to Joey, still lying unconscious on the floor. He recovers, rubbing his head, demanding to know where Mai is. He was so close, he says, then shouts that he'll get her back!
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet comes in for a landing outside the Industrial Illusions building, as Joey continues to be upset about losing Mai. Tristan says she turned her back on them. Joey's got to face facts—Mai wasn't just playing a friendly game of Duel Monsters, she was after Joey's soul.
Kaiba and Mokuba walk in. Kaiba's not thrilled to see the gang.
However, he immediately made his way to Yuna and started inspecting her for wounds, getting annoyingly angry when he saw a gash on her left cheek.
Yuna explained that it happened when they were attacked on their way here after it turned out that that limo driver works for Doma, making Seto silently promise to himself that he was going to strangle every one of them.
Then Duke runs in, saying ''Whoa, it's a party!''
Kaiba says it's a dweeb convention.
Then Kaiba asks if they've seen any sign of Pegasus
''Is all right?''
But Yuna says no, they're too late.
Tristan says Mai got to him before they did and took his soul with some Orichalcos thing.
Yuna asks Seto if he's had any experience with the Seal of Orichalcos card, and Mokuba jumps in to say his brother just wiped the floor with someone who played it. He explains that the duelist pretended to be Pegasus and forced them to go to Duelist Kingdom to duel him.
Kaiba adds, and then she ran away. So they came there to find some answers. Whoever captured Pegasus is trying to take over Kaiba's company, and that's unacceptable.
Yuna frowns at that, not doubting that it was Amelda, but then remembers that Pegasus said that someone was after him. Pegasus gave her a special card some time ago and told her to guard it with her life. Yuna pulls out the card, saying it might be a clue.
Duke says there was one door upstairs that wouldn't unlock, even after he'd cracked the security system.
Kaiba demands that Duke take them there right now!
Tristan is steamed, asking Kaiba who invited him!
Seto just looks at him with his glacial eyes set in a deadly glare.
''You do realize that I know that loony far better than any of you do, and believe me when I tell you ... I have more right to be here than any of you do, except for Yuna, Yugi and Mokuba.''
That shut him up as he remembered that Kaiba was a close friend to both the older CEO and the Duel Queen.
Yuna goes to Joey, who's still on the floor, worried about Mai. She tells Joey it will be all right, and Joey thanks him, getting up.
The gang all head for the elevators, wondering what's up there while Seto informs Noah about what's going on.
Rex and Weevil are upset about being ignored, but then decide that it will be easier to sneak in and grab whatever's behind that door.
Up at the top of the tower, Duke leads them to the door. Now they just have to figure out how to open it with a Duel Monsters card! Yami takes the card and runs it through a card reader. The door opens onto a large, dark room. Who wants to go in first? Tristan asks, and Joey says maybe they can draw straws.
Hmph, says Kaiba, and walks in. Mokuba follows, with a junior "hmph."
Joey suggests that they close the door and run.
But Yuna pushes the others aside and walks in after her rival and his younger brother, Yugi close behind her.
The lights come on, to reveal a room full of larger-than-life size Duel Monsters—all Pegasus' favorite Toons, with a huge version of Toon World in the center.
Kaiba grumbles that he hates Toons.
Weevil thinks Pegasus must have stashed his rarest cards in there, and he and Rex are eager to find them.
Then Pegasus appears—or a hologram of Pegasus.
''Yuna-chan. Welcome to my private room.'' He welcomes her and her friends, saying that here is a kingdom that can ease his mind, and asks if Yuna likes it, adding that, by the way, he did all the interior decorating himself, and isn't it impressive?
Tristan says Pegasus should get over himself, and Téa tells him to keep it down.
Pegasus says that if Yugi's hearing this, it can only mean that the people who were after his soul have captured him. It all began when a mysterious man tried to buy out his company.
Kaiba adds that he got dragged into this mess because someone tried to buy out his company, too.
Pegasus continues, saying that this individual—Dartz—possesses an ancient power stronger than any he's seen. They're all in danger. Dartz plans to use Pegasus' game to destroy civilization, and he must be stopped.
Pegasus says that the organization is called Doma, and that it's a very rich and secret organization, operating behind the scenes for thousands of years.
Pegasus gives a little history lesson, asking if the rise and fall of Rome was the inevitable result of history, and who provided the funds for exploration during the Sailing Age? Were the various popular revolutions spontaneous actions of the people? Who gave Napoleon his power?The Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance—who provided the investment for them?
Pegasus says he doesn't have any real evidence, but he believes that Doma was involved in all these elements of history. Now Doma is acting again, using the power of the Duel Monsters that Pegasus created. They seem to have some new evil plan.
The key to taking him down is somewhere in this room.
Ever since his retirement began, Pegasus continues, he's furthered his studies of the ancient Egyptian origins of Duel Monsters. He's discovered that these creatures existed long before the pyramids were built.
''In the city of Atlantis.'' Yuna adds. ''But as I said, these creatures might be mentioned in the legends of that city, but they never understood their real meaning! To those people, they were just decorations on the walls of their temples and palaces!''
''That's where Dartz comes in,'' the hologram Pegasus continues. ''He's trying to resurrect the most terrifying beast that ever roamed the earth, the great leviathan, by draining the souls of man and beast in order to build up the strength of this monster.''
Yuna remembers the bearded man speaking of the great beast awakening from its ancient slumber. Gurimo told her that her soul will be a sacrifice for their god, to destroy the corrupt world and become a foundation for the new age.
'Destroy the corrupted ...? That's what my soul was created for, but not to destroy the world!'
"You're our only hope!" Pegasus tells Yuna. He's created an exclusive card just for Yuna and hidden it somewhere in this room. ''Think strategically,'' he says, and asks where one would find an extra card.
''The Pot of Greed! It lets you draw extra cards.'' Yuna said out loud and Rex and Weevil run for the Pot, but Tristan gets it first and pulls out—a blank card.
Kaiba says it's worthless.
''It's far from worthless, Seto. Believe me. Pegasus had told me that he would eventually give me this card, when the time was right, because only I was meant to ever use it. It will help us more than you could imagine if we can't solve this on our own in time.''
Pegasus tells Yugi only he can save the Duel Monsters, and the hologram breaks up and disappears.
Joey can't believe this is happening!
''Why would Mai join a plot to destroy the world? They brainwashed her or something.''
Kaiba tells them to wake up! He warns the others not to get too close to Doma. He remembers something Gozaburo once said—that there must be some dark force behind the world economy. Kaiba says he didn't think it was important—he thought it was the nonsense of a coward.
Then he tells Yuna that no matter how she struggles, these are not opponents she can deal with.
''Not alone, anyway.''
Yuna says it's hard to say. Maybe she can't touch a huge organization by herself, but...
She pulls out the Eye of Timaeus, and a shocked Kaiba asks her where she got it.
Same place he got his, Joey says, pulling out his own Claw of Hermos.
Yuna knows that Kaiba has one of them, too, and Kaiba draws the Fang of Critius from his deck.
The dragon cards all begin to glow, and Yuna says she believes that the only way to defeat the leviathan is to use the three cards together. She asks Kaiba to trust what's inside his heart and join them.
''I may be the one that held all three of the dragons before, but I gave them to you so they could test you each and see what I see in you: True Duelists, worthy of their power. Pegasus really did make these cards, so they all come from him, but the inspiration for them comes from a single stone tablet in an ancient Egyptian tomb. I know that you don't like the supernatural, but this isn't it. There's far more secrets behind the scenes than you think about this Doma, one of the most important ones being that a man named Dartz, with his wife, tried doing an expedition for Atlantis some nine years ago, and he never came back. No, he didn't die. He was believed to have became a businessman once he got back, but his wife had disappeared. I have a hunch as to why Dartz really wants from us, but is just as crazy as some others who had wanted the same and didn't know how to ask.''
Yuna looked at her two friends. ''I gave you the cards since I knew that you would be targeted, well at least for Seto I was absolutely sure. Seto and I combined have the power to change the world, for the better or the worse.''
The young CEO stared at her in shock.
''Dartz won't kill us just like that. He can't, because he needs us,as well as Pegasus who had witnessed me do one of the weirdest, greatest miracles that I possibly could, before saving Noah's body that is.''
Yugi gasped. ''Cecillia!''
Mokuba caught on. ''That's right! You finished several medical schools and got a doctor's diploma all in the same year!''
Yuna nodded. ''Yes, but only due to Seto making a good enough machine which allowed the surgary to go so well. Dartz might need that technology as well, hence the company takeover.''
Seto nodded as well. ''Makes sense.''
Joey looked between them. He understood that Valon's obvious grudge was a personal matter in comparison to the other two Duelists' case. ''What should we do? Mai has been brainwashed or somethin' and Pegasus has been captured!''
Yuna looked him dead in the eye.
''We work together and save all those we care for!''
The toher two Duelists nodded their heads, captivated by the burning fire in those ruby eyes.
Seto Kaiba, Yuna Yami Mouto, and Joey Wheeler all hold up their dragon cards together as they glowed even harder.