Chapter 2

A New Evil: Part 2

Barrier of Orichalcos

"Take a look around you, Pharaoh. Now that the Seal of Orichalcos surrounds us, Obelisk is strengthened while your Valkyrion stands powerless within its shadow. First you'll lose Valkyrion, then your soul, all by the hand of your own creature." Gurimo stated with a chuckle as his three compatriots watched on from on-high. "Who knew that the very card that brought you so much glory would lead to your own downfall?" he pondered.

"And it all begins right now!" he declared as Obelisk roared. "Obelisk the Tormentor, attack, with Fist of Fate!" he commanded before the punch landed and destroyed Valkyrion, lowering Yami's life points to 2000. "Oh, no! Yugi!" Fluttershy called out. "It'll take more than that to keep our pal down!" Rainbow shouted. "There's not a card in your deck that can match the unparalleled strength of Obelisk." Gurimo said with a scoff.

'He's right. Obelisk is stronger than ever thanks to that Orichalcos magic card.' Yugi thought. But as Gurimo chuckled, he started to feel woozy, which his compatriots took notice of. "Looks like someone needs a rest." said one of the bikers. "Well, the boss did warn us that the Egyptian God Cards and the magic of the Orichalcos might not mix so well, didn't he?" Valon asked.

"Yeah, but it also seems that Gurimo is getting too old for this." said one of the other bikers. "Well, that's why we made him duel first, right? To test the pharaoh's strength?" asked another. Down at the duel, Yami kept his determination. 'I have an idea that just might work.' Yugi thought. "I now play, the magic card known as Graceful Charity! Which allows me to draw three cards, as long as I discard two." Yami said before drawing and then looking at his hand.

'Excellent. There may be hope for me after all.' Yugi thought as Yami discarded. "First I'll summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in defense mode, then I'll set one card on the field. That ends my turn." the ancient one said as he completed his move. But both Yami and his friends noticed that Gurimo was holding his head. "Oh, dear. I hope he's okay." Fluttershy said, worried. "Where was I?" he asked as he drew. "Oh, yes. I was just about to attack you again." he added as he set a card. "Obelisk, attack!" he commanded.

Right on cue, the mighty creature threw another Fist of Fate and destroyed Gazelle. "Aw, man. If the duel keeps going like this, Yugi won't have any monsters left to defend himself." Spike said, somewhat worried. "Pharaoh, the age of destruction is here. The Earth shall be shrouded in darkness, and your soul shall fuel the very force that will devastate mankind." Gurimo said, confidently.

"What do you mean by that?" Yami asked. "A great beast is now awakening from its ancient slumber to complete what it began centuries ago. But before this beast can arise, it must absorb enough souls." Gurimo answered. "Sounds like the same thing Weevil and Rex were babbling about earlier this morning." Rainbow figured before they all had a flashback to the moment they saw Weevil and Rex in their dazed state.

"Who are you, Gurimo? And how do you know these events will come to pass?" Yami asked. "Someone's got an awful lot of questions." Valon said aloud. "Well, we wanted to know where those biker boys went, guess we got our answer." AJ stated. "Aside from thieves, just who do you three think you are?!" Joey shouted. "Guess you haven't been paying attention, we're soul collectors." said one of the bikers as he held up two cards. "Matter of fact, I've got two poor, unfortunate souls in my hand right now." he added.

'They can trap people's souls inside cards?! That's exactly what Pegasus did to my grandpa, Kaiba and Mokuba with his Millennium Eye!' Yugi thought in horror as he had flashbacks to the moments when Pegasus stole both Sol's and Kaiba's souls. 'But how do these guys have that kind of power?' he wondered.

"The sooner you make your next move, the sooner Obelisk the Tormentor can stomp out the rest of your life points." Gurimo said. "Obelisk is powerful, but not unbeatable! And I intend to prove it!" Yami declared before drawing. "Like Slifer and The Winged Dragon of Ra, that card belongs to me and I'm quite familiar with both its strengths and its weaknesses!" he stated, surprising Gurimo. "What weaknesses?" he asked, puzzled.

"I'll show you, by first activating Monster Reborn in order to bring back Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!" Yami replied before his monster reappeared. "That monster? In case you forgotten, Obelisk already crushed Valkyrion earlier." Gurimo pointed out. "Yes, but I've decided to give my Magna Warrior a second chance. So say goodbye to Obelisk." Yami replied. "But my monster is clearly stronger than yours." Gurimo said.

"Perhaps, but you've forgotten one thing; my warrior is made of three other monsters!" Yami replied. "Valkyrion, disassemble!" he commanded before his one monster turned back into three. "Now I have one more card to activate, the magic card known as Brave Attack! It automatically sends my Magnet Warriors into battle!" he continued as his three creatures charged at Obelisk. "Alpha, attack!" he commanded before it left a gash on Obelisk's chest before being destroyed.

"That's all?" Gurimo asked, thinking that the attack was already finished. "No! Beta, attack!" Yami declared before Beta landed a headbutt on the gash, making it bigger while it was destroyed. "Your monsters barely made a large enough scratch on my Egyptian God Monster." Gurimo said. "I think you should take a closer look because I see a large scratch on your Egyptian God Monsters." Yami replied before Gurimo looked back and saw he was right.

"But how? Your puny magnet warriors are nothing compared to the divine strength of Obelisk." Gurimo said. "But I played Brave Attack, therefore the attack points of all three of my monsters are added together, enabling them to bring down Obelisk as a team!" Yami explained. "That can't be!" Gurimo said in surprise. "Wait, if Alpha has 1400 attack points, Beta has 1700 and Gamma has 1500, then that makes a total of..." Spike said, calculating the numbers in his head. "4600." Twilight said, astonished.

"Obelisk has 4500 attack points, but when my Magnet Warriors' attack points are combined together, they total to 4600, making them 100 attack points stronger!" Yami declared, to Gurimo's chagrin. "Go, Gamma, destroy Obelisk, now!" he commanded before Gamma landed the final blow, destroying Obelisk and lowering Gurimo's life points to 2100.

"It worked!" Rarity shouted. "Guess Kaiba should be lucky that Yugi didn't use that strategy against him at Duelist Kingdom." Pinkie said with a giggle. "That was plain, dumb luck." Valon said, unimpressed. "He'll need more than luck to break the Seal of Orichalcos." said one of the other bikers. "You can say that again." the other said in agreement. "This duel is far from done. I don't need Obelisk to crush you. I've got all the power I need to win this duel right here in my deck!" Gurimo declared before drawing.

"And now I'll draw it out with Card of Sanctity!" he added before his card activated. "Fine, that lets me draw more cards as well." Yami replied before they both drew until they each had six cards in their hands. "Well, at least Yugi has more options to pick from, now that he has six cards." Rarity said. "Yeah, but they're not even, since that guy still has his magic seal in play." Tristan pointed out. "Yeah, and not to mention it gives his monsters a 500 point boost in power." Rainbow added. "I summon Watapon to the field in defense mode." Yami said.

"But its still my turn." Gurimo pointed out as the little puff ball appeared. "I'm aware of that, but Watapon's special ability allows me to automatically summon it to the field once its been drawn by the effect of a magic card." Yami replied, though Gurimo chuckled. "That monster's useless anyway, unlike this! My Warrior Dai Grepher!" he declared before his monster, a level four, Earth attribute Warrior with 1700 attack points and 1600 defense points, appeared. "And thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos, like all monsters before him, he gains 500 points." he added as his warrior's attack points increased to 2200.

"You've activated my trap! Behold, Dark Renewal!" Yami declared as his trap sprung. "Thanks to this card, I now have the ability to sacrifice one of your monsters in addition to mine!" he explained before both Watapon and Warrior Dai Grepher were drawn into the coffin and sacrificed. "Now I can bring a Spellcaster monster back from my graveyard! And I choose my Dark Magician!" he declared before his mighty mage appeared.

"But how? This must be some sort of trick! I never sent your Dark Magician to the graveyard!" Gurimo said in shock. "No, but I did when I played my Graceful Charity card. Now my magician is back and you have no monsters on the field to protect you." Yami replied, but Gurimo scoffed. "This set card is all I'll need." he said as he set said card.

"Rarity, better get a broom, because Yuge's about to clean house!" Joey said in excitement as Yami drew. "You're done! Attack, Dark Magician! Wipe out his life points!" the ancient one declared before the mage launched a Dark Magic Attack at Gurimo. "I activate Shield Wall!" the man said before four level one, Earth attribute Rock monsters with 0 attack points, now increased to 500, and 1000 defense points, appeared on the field, causing the Dark Magician's attack to destroy one of them instead.

"What was that?" Yami asked. "Its quite a handy magic card." Gurimo answered. "Shield Wall reinforces my defense by creating four new monsters known as Shield Tokens. With them on guard, your Dark Magician will never reach my life points." he explained. "No!" Yami said in shock. "I'm afraid so. But just to make sure, I'll summon a few more monsters to the field, by utilizing the power of my Bronze Knight magic card!" Gurimo replied before his card activated.

"Now I discard these three cards from my hand in order to summon three Bronze Knight tokens to the field." he continued before his new creatures, all level one, Earth attribute Warriors with 500 attack and defense points, appeared behind the Shield Tokens. "Wait a minute! You have six monsters on the field! The absolute limit of monsters a Duelist can have on the field is five!" Spike shouted, thinking Gurimo was cheating. "Spike's right, that rule was on page three of the Duel Monsters handbook I read during my training!" Joey concurred. "Same with all of us!" AJ added.

"Then you should all get a set of new rulebooks because it sounds like the ones you read for training are outdated." said the tallest of the three bikers. "The Seal of Orichalcos does more than just give 500 extra attack points to monsters when you play it, it also doubles the number of monsters the Duelist who played it can have on the field to ten." he explained.

"No way! Ten monsters in play?!" Rainbow shouted in disbelief. "Looks like there's more to the Seal of Orichalcos than we thought." Twilight figured. "Correct, and my back row of monsters can't be attacked as long as the front row is still standing." Gurimo pointed out. "And since every one of my monsters gains 500 extra attack points, you'll never take them down, Pharaoh!" he added as his knights' attack points increased to 1000.

"Your lone Dark Magician is nowhere near capable of standing against my army of creatures and the ancient magic that encircles us will only apply to me, so prepare to say farewell to your soul!" he concluded. "Don't count on that happening, because it's my move." Yami replied before drawing. "I set two cards facedown and summon Queen's Knight in defense mode." he said, seemingly concluding his move.

"Very well, now watch this." Gurimo said before drawing. "I'm not finished just yet!" Yami declared, stopping Gurimo in his tracks. "I activate Dust Tornado!" he said before his trap sprung. "This great storm can wipe out any magic or trap card I choose, and I choose to blow away your Seal of Orichalcos!" he explained before the tornado engulfed the battle field. "Looks like old Red-Eyes won't be so tough when THIS blows over!" Joey shouted. "Why of all nights did I pick to wear a skirt?!" Rarity asked aloud as she held her skirt down to keep it from blowing up, off and away.

But before anyone could celebrate, the dust tornado stopped and the seal was still standing. "What in tarnation?! That Dust Tornado didn't work?" AJ asked in surprise. "They must not realize that the sacred seal is too powerful to be destroyed by some measly trap card." said the tallest biker. "Maybe they're slow learners." the other biker suggested. "Nice try, but now its time to strike! I play The Warrior Returning Alive!" Gurimo declared. "It allows me to bring back one lost soldier, and I choose Warrior Dai Grepher!" he explained before his fallen warrior returned.

"And like every single one of my other monsters, the Seal of Orichalcos raises its strength!" he declared before his warrior's attack points increased to 2200 once again. "But wait, there's more! I activate Allied Forces!" he added. "Not only does this card grant Dai Grepher with an extra 800 attack points, it increases the power of my three Bronze Knights as well!" he explained before Warrior Dai Grepher's attack points rose to 3000 while his Bronze Knights' attack points increased to 1800.

"Say farewell to your monsters." he continued. "Warrior Dai Grepher, destroy his Dark Magician!" he commanded before, with one slash of the warrior's sword, Dark Magician was slain and Yami's life points decreased to 1500. "Now, one of my Bronze Knights will attack!" Gurimo declared. "Wipe out his Queen's Knight with Medieval Sword Slash!" he commanded. "Queen's Knight, escape!" Yami shouted before his knight disappeared.

"She's gone?!" Gurimo said in shock. "Yes, thanks to my set card, Magical Academy, which allows me to discard two cards in order to replace Queen's Knight with Dark Magician Girl!" Yami replied before his best female monster appeared. "That's not possible!" Gurimo shouted. "Thanks to my magic card, it most certainly is! And now, my Dark Magician Girl shall rid the field of all your monsters and lead me to victory!" Yami replied.

"Really? And just how will one monster destroy seven?" Gurimo asked. "First, she'll receive 500 extra attack points from Magical Academy, as well as two extra level stars, making her a level eight monster! And then she'll gain 300 more points from the Dark Magician you just sent to the graveyard!" Yami replied before her attack points increased to 2800. "Your little girl will need more than 800 extra points to defeat my army of warriors." Gurimo pointed out.

'Well, there's one card in my deck that can change that. But I have to draw it, now. Heart of the Cards, guide me to victory.' Yugi thought before Yami made, possible, the Final Draw of Destiny. "Perfect! I activate this, Diffusion Wave Motion!" the ancient one declared as his card activated. "That's the card he used to beat Kaiba at Battle City!" Fluttershy said in surprise. "Whoa, man!" said one of the bikers. "You're kidding me. Talk about luck of the draw!" Valon added.

"Now, by paying 1000 of my life points, this duel will end." Yami said before his life points dropped to 500. "Now, Dark Magician Girl, destroy every one of his monsters with Dark Burning Attack!" he commanded before all of Gurimo's monsters were destroyed. First the Shield Warriors, then Bronze Knights, and finally, Warrior Dai Grepher. "The more monsters you have, the more life points you lose!" Yami declared as Gurimo's life points hit zero, ending the game and sealing his fate. "I lost!" the man shouted in horror, knowing what happened to those who lost while dueling within the Seal of Orichalcos while Yami dropped to a knee.

"Yugi! Are you alright?" Fluttershy called. "Of course he is, likely just exhausted." Twilight said, reassuringly. "Hand me the Egyptian God Cards." Yami said, bluntly. "No. Never. The Egyptian God Cards are OURS!" Gurimo shouted before turning and looking up at his compatriots. "But we had a deal!" Yami shouted before Gurimo tossed a card to his allies. "Here! Take Obelisk!" he shouted before the tallest biker caught the card.

"Wait, no! Whoever loses in the seal, loses their soul! This wasn't supposed to happen!" he shouted before the seal encircled him while he screamed in horror. "Please, spare me, master!" he shouted as his soul was sucked out of his body and into the sky. "Oh, well. Its his own fault for underestimating the pharaoh." said the tallest biker as the seal faded and Gurimo's soulless body collapsed. "I always thought the old man was cramping our style anyway." said the other biker.

"Well, he wasn't that useless. Besides, we now know more about Yugi's dueling strategies." Valon pointed out. "Right, now let's go." said the tallest biker. "Hold on!" Yami shouted, bringing the three to a stop. "Give me back the Egyptian God Cards!" he demanded. "Sorry, but you didn't hold up your end of the deal, pal. You have to beat all of us, not just one. But I'll tell you what, this is for being such a good sport." the tallest biker replied before two green balls of light came out of the cards he held up earlier and went out into the city. "Here!" he shouted before tossing the two cards down to Yami, who caught them.

"Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood?" the ancient one asked as he, Twilight and the others from Equestria looked upon them before the cards went blank. "I released their souls as a gift." the tall biker revealed. "Well, we've got a gift for you, too! Come down here and get it!" Rainbow shouted. "Yeah, and it keeps on giving, too!" Joey added, making Valon chuckle. "Those two have some spunk. They both remind me of meself, only one's a girl and the other's not nearly as attractive as I am. Toying with those two is gonna be fun. At least, later. Come on, fellas." he said before taking his leave. "We'll meet again, you haven't seen the last of The Three Swordsmen." said the tallest biker as they all walked away

"Hey! Don't turn your backs on us!" Rainbow shouted, but to no avail. Yami and Twilight then examined Gurimo's unconscious body. "I don't think he's going to be getting up anytime soon." Twilight said before Yami spotted something. "Looks like what Gurimo said during the duel is true, when he lost our duel, his soul was trapped in this card." he said. "Twilight, can't you use your magic to free him?" Spike asked. "I don't think I can, he said this kind of power is older than the Shadow Games and I don't even know where the power of this seal comes from." Twilight answered.

Tea then spotted something, Gurimo's necklace was still glowing. "Check this out, guys." she said before showing it to Yami and Twilight. "Well, it was around Gurimo's neck, but what does it have to do with all this?" Twilight wondered. "Well, we'll have to ask Weevil and Rex about what happened." Yami figured. "You're right. Tomorrow, after school, we'll have a word with those two." Twilight concurred.

The next day, they did just that. "To what do we owe this visit?" Weevil asked. "Is Yugi willing to duel us for the Egyptian God Cards?" Rex asked. "First of all, those cards were stolen last night." AJ replied. "Stolen?!" the boys asked. "That's right, we met one of the friends of the three thieves that did it." Rainbow answered. "Tell us, what happened before those monsters started to appear yesterday?" Rarity asked, wearing her detective outfit.

"Well, before that happened, we almost ran into some guy in a hooded robe." Rex answered as he and Weevil remembered what happened. "After that, we had a three way duel. Weevil was the first to lose, which surprised me since he's a former champion, and then I lost, too." he added. "Yeah, the guy we almost ran into played some strange field spell." Weevil concurred. "Was it called the Seal of Orichalcos?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, that's the name." Weevil confirmed. "We both thought it was one of those knock-off cards." Rex added.

"Well, he was working with the thieves that stole the three Egyptian God Cards, they call themselves The Three Swordsmen. Did he mention those cards at all?" Rarity asked. "No, he didn't." Rex replied. "What would they want with the Egyptian God Cards?" Weevil asked. "We don't know, but we'll find out after we find the Swordsmen." Joey replied. "Well, we best be on our way, but if you three see the Swordsmen, steer clear. They ride on bikes and have Duel Disks that look like they have scythe blades when they activate, so they won't be too hard to spot." Rarity said as the group left.

"Wait, if the cards are stolen, they're technically up for grabs, right?" Rex asked. "Yeah, but if these Swordsmen punks have them, and if they have one of those Orichalcos cards, we'd better be careful." Weevil pointed out. "So to recap, first the Tablet of Lost Memories became incased in ice and the Egyptian God Cards had their power drained at the museum, then monsters start appearing both here in Japan and around the world, and now a gang of bikers called The 3 Swordsmen are stealing people's souls with Duel Monsters field spell cards." Tristan said.

"I'd say that all of those events are connected somehow." Rarity suggested. "Maybe, but why does all this strange stuff always happen to us?" Joey asked. "Well, you got a point, Joey." Pinkie replied.

("But then again, that's the way this sort of story goes, eh, Mr. Narrator?")

Suddenly, they were spotted by someone. "Yugi! I've been looking all over the city for you!" shouted a girl who came up and hugged him. "Uh, you have?" Yugi asked. "Don't tell me you've forgotten all about me now that you're world champion." she said. "Yugi, do you have any idea who this is?" Tea asked. "I think I recognize her, but she looks different than how I remember her." Spike said. "Well, just in case, this card should ring a bell, since you gave it to me." the girl said before holding up the Ties of Friendship card, a card Yugi won at Duelist Kingdom, indicating this was Rebecca Hawkins, granddaughter of Professor Arthur Hawkins.

"Rebecca?!" Rainbow said in shock before they all remembered the moment after Yugi's duel against Rebecca, when he gave her The Ties of Friendship. "Rebecca Hawkins? You've grown quite a bit since we last met." Joey said. "Yeah. I just wanted to catch up with an old friend, right, Yugi? How are you and Fluttershy doing in your relationship?" Rebecca asked. "We're fine, thanks." Fluttershy replied. "Glad to hear it, though I do admit, if you two weren't still together, I'd snatch up Yugi in a heartbeat." Rebecca joked.

"Oh, before I forget, my grandpa wants to see you, Yugi." she added. "Professor Hawkins wants to see me? Where?" Yugi asked. "At the Domino Museum. Come on, race you there!" Rebecca replied before running off. Later, they all arrived at the museum where Prof. Hawkins and Sol were looking at the ice-encased Tablet of Lost Memories. "Remarkable, isn't it?" Arthur asked. "That's my boy." Sol replied.

"Grandpa! Professor!" Yugi shouted as they all entered the room. "Yugi Muto. You're just the person I need to see. I have a theory that all of these monsters sightings have something to do with you." Arthur said, bringing a look of shock to Yugi's face. Meanwhile, miles above the clouds and far from the mainland, The Three Swordsmen flew in a plane to their hideout.

"Well, here were are, gang. Home sweet home." Valon said before they approached an island with a spiraling tower in the center. "Wait till the boss learns that we found the pharaoh." said the tallest of the Swordsmen as he flew the plane towards the island.