GodAlmighty
01-16-2007, 09:16 AM
Chapter 1-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=383420
Chapter 2-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384089
Chapter 3-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384611
Chapter 4-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384917
Chapter 5-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=385760
Chapter 6: When in Rome
Yugi’s first word that came to mind as the gang was being driven by a limousine Kaiba had hired was ‘beautiful’. Tea was definitely not wrong. Rome was an absolutely astonishing place. What was even better was that the gang had arrived at the hotel room in considerably shorter time than it had taken in Tokyo, partially due to the fact that, even though there were in Europe, everybody recognized Seto Kaiba, evident from the showers and praises he was given in Italian such as, “Viva la Kaiba!”
“Hey, Yuge, I don’t get how it is that no one here acknowledged you, but everyone knew who Kaiba was. I mean, you’re both equally famous, if not you more famous,” said Joey.
Kaiba snorted. “It’s because they realize I’m a much superior duelist.” Again with the fake ego, thought Yugi. He remembered that Kaiba would never admit that to Joey. “Also, if you didn’t notice, I was gone a lot during our senior year. I was traveling to various European dueling tournaments as a guest of honor and for business expenditures. People here know me because of what I’ve done for the game.”
“Or how much money you’ve given them,” muttered Duke bitterly, once again showing his distaste for Kaiba’s money.
Meanwhile, the chauffeur and the bellboy at the five-star hotel Exedra, the official hotel sponsor of Duelist’s Empire, hastily, but efficiently, pulled all of their bags up towards the building.
“By the second mouth of Slifer, this place is so beautiful!” crowed Yugi.
Tristan bent down to Yugi’s level. “That’s beginning to get a little annoying there, champ. You’re in Rome now, remember? The least you could do is say somethin’ like uh, damn it, what’s that guy called-“
“By the beard of Jupiter! By the trident of Neptune! By the helmet of Pluto! By the strife of Mars! By the grains of Ceres!” cried Yugi. “I think I’ve got it now, Tristan, thank you!”
Several people began to stare at him and sweat dropped in confusion. Some simply shook their heads.
As the eight of them entered the magnificent building, they once again marveled at the luxury that Kaiba’s status and power had gotten them. Ryou picked up a map of the place, and the gang discovered six restaurants, two of them with bars, a 24-hour Front Desk (‘By the chest of Venus, those receptionists are hot!’ hissed Joey to Duke), a newsstand, four of the biggest and fastest elevators they had ever seen or been on, as Duke and Tristan took them for a couple of ‘joyrides’, a huge sauna and fitness center, solarium, massage center, a jacuzzi, and an outdoor swimming pool twice the size of any one they’d ever seen (with the exception of Kaiba).
The gang had also discovered a lot of comfy little services free of charge, such as internet, long distance phone, public transit(which they wouldn’t be needing), and a beauty salon. Finally, Kaiba ushered everyone into the elevator. They were on top, at the 30th floor, in a specially made room for Kaiba.
“Okay, everybody, now that we’ve wasted an hour and a half getting all worked up over the hotel…” Kaiba stared disapprovingly at Joey and Duke. “…Mokuba will meet us here in precisely one hour. He had to go to a competitor’s meeting and knowing him, he’ll probably bring that annoying Hawkins girl with him, and so, I’d suggest we use our time to get settled into our hotel room. Luckily, it is actually probably big enough to house eight people. There are three king-sized beds, numerous leather couches for Wheeler, and one queen-sized cot, if he and Tristan wish to bed together.”
“Hey, hey, come on, that’s uncalled for!” whined Joey and Tristan, though Kaiba’s joke had drawn laughter from many members of the gang. “If there are only three beds, then doesn’t that mean two people will sleep in each bed?”
“Yes, but these are not really regular king-sized beds. They are actually big enough to technically be able to fit the total body mass of nine regular sized males. So if you’re too immature about sleeping with someone else in one bed, at least you could move to the opposite end and still have at these three feet between you.”
“That’s such a waste!” lamented Ryou. “Why did they give you three beds, then?”
Kaiba smirked again. “I asked for them. I got the cot because three might not have been enough, if you know what I mean.”
“Nice,” said Duke smoothly, putting a lot of extra emphasis on the‘s’ sound. Joey and Tristan grinned too and nodded approvingly. Yugi and Ryou smiled at each other nervously, clearly establishing themselves as the two most innocent ones.
Tea rolled her eyes. “Oh, get your heads out of the gutter, all of you. Men. I doubt you would have been able to get that many groupies in your room anyway.” She said this in a challenging voice, as though she meant ‘Prove it’.
“Yeah, guys,” chimed in Ryou. “It doesn’t mean he had to have groupies in his room. It could have been his ‘work associates’ or his, ‘business partners’.”
Everyone obviously got what Ryou was referring to. Duke high-fived Ryou, stating he didn’t know he had it in him. Kaiba was on the verge of a smile, a genuine one, of actually being happy.
“Sometimes I wonder how you can stand having these guys around all the time,” whispered Serenity to Tea.
“No kidding. What a bunch of losers.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Kaiba, you know,” giggled Serenity.
When they had arrived at the hotel room through a gigantic and lustrous ebony gate, Yugi’s first instinct was to blurt out his feelings.
“By the lyre of-“
Everybody chanted an exasperated, “SHUT UP!”
As everyone got settled into the room, and went through the entire routine of everyone but Kaiba gushing over the luxuries and niceties of room, Kaiba had set up an itinerary.
“Okay, in two hours, we will leave this place. We will go to the opening speech at the Piazza del Popolo. From what I hear, it is a decently good looking place; apparently it’s one of the most famous places in Rome for foreigners,” Kaiba pulled out his laptop. He went over to one of the massive walls with a large painting depicting the Coliseum. He typed rapidly on his keyboard, and eventually, the large painting flipped around, revealing a large, white projector screen. Kaiba typed rapidly some more on his laptop, and what appeared to be a slideshow of images of the Piazza appeared. “These are shots of the Piazza that the tournament director sent me. Apparently he thinks I’m an idiot who’d actually manage to miss something as huge as that place…”
“No kidding, there’d be tons of duelists there, too,” added Ryou.
As the slideshow flipped to another image, Yugi gasped. “What’s up, Yuge?” asked Joey. Kaiba immediately paused the slideshow, for it seemed someone actually had a vested interest in it. The image depicted the center, the heart of the Piazza.
“That’s an obelisk!” said Yugi with a look of shock on his face.
“That thing sure doesn’t look like you could sacrifice two monsters to it, and it sure doesn’t look like if you did, it would get infinite attack strength,” said Tristan.
“For crying-“Kaiba paused to slap his head at Tristan’s stupidity. “Seriously, Tristan, did Wheeler give you a hot tip on how to buy some Grade A moron pills on Ebay? REAL obelisks are Egyptian monuments that were originally made from stone and pointed towards the sky! They have one in Washington, D.C.!”
“Ha, in your face, loser!” Joey stuck out his tongue and gloated rather childishly and in rather immature manner.
“Yugi is right,” said Ryou, ignoring the two more immature boys. “And that was one was made for Ramesses the Great. Out of interest, and to try to connect duel monsters and obelisks again, obelisks were made to represent the Sun God, Ra. It was also thought that the gods lived within the obelisks.”
“That’s rather ironic, because when Yugi used Ra, he usually sacrificed it to Obelisk,” noted Duke.
Suddenly, the ebony doorway opened. Two people, one a boy, one a girl, of pretty much the same height walked in. One had neat, trim black hair while the other had semi-long blonde hair. Mokuba Kaiba and Rebecca Hawkins.
“Ah, Mokuba, you’ve arrived.”
It was once again everyone’s but Kaiba’s turn to be shocked. “By the-“ Yugi’s mouth was sealed shut by Tea’s hand.
“I don’t believe it. It’s Kaiba Jr,” said Duke. “How ya been, Mokuba?”
“Fine, thanks. I had no clue this many people were coming, Seto,” Mokuba’s voice was much deeper; Duke and the others almost felt weird listening to such a powerful voice coming from the once diminutive Mokuba.
Rebecca immediately rushed over to Yugi, nearly smacking Tea aside. “Yugi, it’s so good see you! Oh, Tea, I’m really sorry, I’ve missed you so much, too”
“It’s good to see you too, Rebecca!” said Yugi somewhat weakly.
“Yeah, you, uh, haven’t changed much, have you,” Tea said, brushing herself off. “Same, charming self, huh?” Tea feigned her best happy voice.
Joey and Tristan stopped fighting on the ground over who was the bigger moron and Joey vigorously shook Mokuba’s hand. He had seen Mokuba duel a couple times over the past two years in tournaments and had seen his physical development happen. “Good to see ya, champ. Have you grown even more since I last seen ya?”
“No kidding,” said Tea. “You’re even taller than me now!”
“Hi, I remember you, not sure if you remember me, but I’m Joey’s sister, Serenity.”
“And I’m Ryou Bakura, if you didn’t know that. Nice to meet you, I do not think we’ve been formally introduced before.”
“Yeah, I wonder why, I’d seen you a couple of times before, at Battle City, and I would have seen you at Duelist Kingdom…I know you, now I remember!” Mokuba said, with a thinking face on.
“That wasn’t really me at Battle City, actually. It was my evil, maniacal, avatar of the God of darkness side that tried to take over the world.”
Mokuba raised his eyebrow. “Um, okay, that was very good to know.” Everyone paused for a second, somewhat in disbelief that Ryou was so open about what everyone referred to as ‘the ugliness’.
Then, conversation erupted as everyone began to tell Mokuba and Rebecca how much they’d grown up within the last two years. Mokuba was now standing a good five foot seven, at least eight inches taller than he was when they’d first met him.
Puberty is such a fascinating thing, thought Yugi. How the hell did I miss out so much? “So Mokuba, I’ve heard you’re quite the duelist now. I guess you’re really becoming a Kaiba now, huh?”
Mokuba grinned his trademark grin. “You know it! It’s a long shot that I’d ever be as good as Seto or you, but I think I’ve got a good shot at doing well in this tournament. This is my big break, I think, just like Duelist Kingdom was yours, hey? Say, Seto, you never did answer the question, how’d you manage to get everyone here?”
“Well, Mokuba, it might have something to do with the fact that being a multi-billionaire CEO gives me just a little bit of power. And I invited these guys just to have Yugi come, having the ‘King of Games’ at a junior tournament really does create some publicity, doesn’t it? We could toy with the idea that Yugi would mentor the champion or something.”
Yugi was positively horrified. “Please tell me you’re kidding. If you do that, I would-“
“Yes, I am, can none of you people take a joke?” Kaiba shook his head.
“Seto, you’re the most serious guy I know. For you to crack a joke is about as likely as cracking a dinosaur egg,” Mokuba pointed out.
“Hey, I’m not that cold. I made a ‘new season resolution’, for summer, to lighten up.” Kaiba said that with a certain innocence and joking ness that Yugi had never, ever seen before. He followed it up by cracking a smile. Now that was rarer than seeing someone crack a dinosaur egg.
They sat down, had a couple of snacks, ransacked and raided Kaiba’s fridge. “We really should be going now. The Piazza del Popolo isn’t far from here, but if one of the tournament’s most important sponsors isn’t there early with his guest of honors, it’ll look kinda bad.”
The gang filed out of the beautiful ebony door once again and went down the elevator. Getting downstairs in a matter of seconds, Kaiba arranged for two cars to transport the group; Kaiba, Mokuba, Rebecca, Yugi, Tea in one car, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Duke, Ryou in the other car. Within fifteen minutes, the group arrived at the gorgeous square, the Piazza del Popolo. It was every bit as stunning as the photos Kaiba had shown. They entered through a giant, castle-like, square-like gate with either concrete lions on the sides pillars, perched on the concrete. There were lots of random vintage details on the towers all around them. And the largest and tallest spectacle of them all, was of course, the obelisk of Ramesses the Great.
Hundreds of people were gathered there, reminding Yugi sharply of graduation. However, he felt a little more welcome here, as he was a dueling Champion and these people were all up and comers. He doubted many of these people knew him too well, as only people on the Asian and North America circuits really knew about him.
“Wow, Kaiba, Kaiba Corp must’ve stepped up the duel disk technology, huh?” said Joey, noting the advances in technology the duel disk had made.
“Check it out, they come in lime green and pink, too!” squealed Serenity.
“Yes. It’s a new option on privately ordered disks that is called K-Color; a new concept in which duelists can design and paint their own duel disk online, much like sport companies do that with their shoes to accommodate college sports teams. The duel disk has also been modified to be lighter and easier to carry. It can also be morphed into the size of a small watch, giving it versatility and diversity that was never enjoyed by the duelists of Battle City.”
“Say, why didn’t we get one of those, Kaiba? You could have given it to us like, as a promotional gift. Couldn’t hurt sales if everyone had known Joey Wheeler was wearing one o’ these babies, hey?”
“Why would I endorse an amateur who would probably draw his favorite monsters on the disk and give away all of his strategies to his opponent before the duel starts?” sneered Kaiba, once again poking fun at Joey’s stupidity.
“Joey, aren’t you in the least bit sick Kaiba always pokes fun at you being a moron, not that you are, of course,” Ryou said quickly to prevent hostility. “I mean, this has been going on for like three years, it’s always, moron,”
“Hey, Ring-boy, why don’t you stop being a pansy, huh? In case you haven’t noticed it’s who I am, after all, it’s only fair since Joey always calls me ‘rich-boy jerk,” sneered Kaiba.
Ryou fell silent after the ‘ring-boy’ jab. “Hey, man, you shouldn’t say that,” Tristan said sullenly, almost as if he was being serious.
“Yeah, man, making fun of Ryou getting taken over by the ring spirit isn’t cool, dude,” said Duke.
“Dude, Kaiba, you’re an insensitive jerk, no question, but have you never heard the rule about tragic events? You gotta wait twenty-two point three years until it’s funny!” Joey shook his head.
“Oh grow up, dweeblings. Hey, where’s Mokuba?” wondered Kaiba, with somewhat of a panic in his voice.
“There he is, I think,” pointed out Tea. Rebecca and Mokuba had long since advanced into the crowd of duelists, with Mokuba having his arm around Rebecca and them laughing along the way.
“Puppy love,” muttered Kaiba.
“Yeah, love don’t cost a thing, don’t it?” said Joey, resting his hand on Kaiba’s shoulder “Oh well, at least you know that if he knocks her up or somethin’ he’d be able to pay for it,”
Tea, instead of giving Joey the patented shin-kick, instead simply backhanded him. She was even more disgusted when Kaiba responded with, not an offended response, but instead a casual, “Well that’s a given,”
“You guys have got to be the most…ugh. I have got to get more girlfriends. Kaiba’s right, you guys really are dweebs somtimes,” Tea spat rather bitterly.
Suddenly, a loud noise filled the air, as a fire cracker sounded off. The firecracker had shot out of the top of the obelisk at the center of the square. Everyone’s attention turned. More firecrackers, several smaller ones, started lighting off at the base of the tower. People began to back off as a large stage was instantly set up within minutes. Several neon lights were set by the stage, illuminating the people on the stage. A rather tall and muscular man wearing a fitted, striped, expensive looking dress shirt with a tacky looking duel monsters tie held a microphone, who everyone presumed was the tournament host. Kaiba beckoned for the rest of the gang to get up closer. The gang worked to part the crowd and when they finally got to somewhere quite near the front.
“Attention, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, all, to this beautiful city. My name is Aurelio Fabiano. As you can probably tell, I am the tournament host. Some of you know me as the owner and CEO of the company called Del l’Antico, a company dedicated to preserving and trading rare artifacts. Our industry runs on expeditions to the mundane and unknown, pursuing the undiscovered. And I think that is what makes all have so much in common. Most of you competitors are up and comers in the new world-wide phenomenon called Duel Monsters. And you are pursuing the, I will call, undiscovered, to you, and that is fame and glory. Some of you have money, some of you have power, but what you all are pursuing, along with the right to be considered one of the best at what you do, is fame and glory. I do not see this as a tournament, really. Duelist’s Empire is more of a search, than a tournament. We are not trying to prove who is the best out of a bunch of big names and stroke someone’s ego. Well, maybe, we’re trying to stroke someone’s ego. But in the end, this is a search for a new talent. A fresh, inspiring face to promote the name of Duel Monsters across the world; we are looking for the next big thing. The next Yugi Mutou of Seto Kaiba,” His voice was powerful, and also completely impervious to the fact that Yugi’s giant, multi-colored hair was mere feet away from him. “As I wish all of you good luck, and may the best man or woman win, I will reveal to you the prize of this tournament. There is one million Euro up for grabs at this tournament, but I suppose this is not what most of you are after. Some of you are not even after the eternal glory. The winner of this tournament will have the opportunity to be the International Duel Monsters Association’s newest sensation, and travel around the world, dueling for a profession. Also, the winner of the tournament will acquire three new, hot off the press cards, extremely powerful duel monster cards. Cards with powers that exceed any card being played today. The creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, will personally present them to the winner of this tournament. In conclusion, I would like all of you to have a good night’s sleep. For tomorrow, the battle of the ages will commence, mighty duelists, competing as the gladiators did in the Coliseum during the ancient times, and only the last one standing shall be crowned the Emperor, or Empress of the Duelist’s Empire!”
The large crowd became raucous and started cheering loudly, all waving their duel disks in the air. Celebration and excitement filled the crowd.
“Geez, three, all new and powerful cards, huh?” said Tristan. “Think they’re more powerful than the Egyptian Gods?”
Everybody, including Kaiba looked at Yugi for his opinion. “Well, I wouldn’t know as well as any of the rest of you,” he said. “I doubt they are, though. I mean, if Pegasus feared the power of the Gods, why would he create something more powerful? Chances are, if he did, he’d have to look towards some divine inspiration to do it.”
“I think you’re right, Yugi,” said Ryou. “Pegasus is not one to create extremely powerful cards for no reason, I mean, look at the way he fashioned his own deck. He’s got that inner conscience that makes him want the game to be fair.”
As the wave of people began to leave the square, some of the group nearly went missing in the crowd. Duke and Tristan had gone to search for Mokuba and Rebecca, as ordered by Kaiba, and enforced by Tea. The tournament host, Aurelio Fabiano walked towards the group after some of the crowd had disappeared. “Ah, Mr Kaiba, I’m glad you were able to make it! I hope you did enjoy the opening speech, did you not?”
“It was bearable,” muttered Kaiba.
“Quite the charming gentleman, isn’t he, ladies?” Fabiano smirked, looking towards Tea and Serenity. “So, Mr Kaiba, are these ladies your only guests of honor?”
“Not quite.”
Yugi, Joey, and Ryou finally emerged from the crowd, wheezing. “I really hate the mass exodus of humans,” muttered Joey, as people continued to leave.
Fabiano was shocked. “My, my, Mr Kaiba. Haven’t you assembled an all-star cast of guests? Hm, I count four Battle City finalists, all in the same square!”
Kaiba smiled awkwardly. “Well, you know my opponents and I are like. We just love socializing outside of competition. Especially Joseph; he and I are just the best of friends. He’s a funny guy, don’t you think, Mr Fabiano?” The sarcasm in his voice was ear splitting.
Everyone snickered, including Joey, who would have doubled over in laughter. He tried to stand upright without completely falling over.
Fabiano had either missed the sarcasm or actually thought Joey was extremely funny. “Why he certainly is, I mean, he’s so completely full of life and outgoing, I’m sure. And I’m sure this is the legendary Yugi Mutou, judging by the dazzling hair cut. I’ve taken a personal interest in your career, Mr Mutou.”
“Uh, well, thanks, that’s pretty flattering,” Yugi reverted back to his bashful and timid self.
“I understand you’ve done some work in Egypt, and are quite familiar with Egyptian artifacts. I myself, being a collector, and doing it for my profession, am also quite interested in the Egyptian artifacts. And so, Mr Mutou, I’d like to extend to you an invitation of sorts; I plan on going on an expedition to Egypt soon, would you care to join me?”
“Um, well, I’d have to mull it over with my grandpa and everything, you know, and uh, well,” Yugi suddenly paused, feeling as though he’d suddenly forgotten how to speak English.
“Ah, of course, I understand! I did not expect you to say yes right away, of course. I understand you need to plan the rest of your summer and of course, you don’t know me very well, but I hope we shall be seeing each other a lot throughout the tournament. The winner, after all, will become one of my partners, employee, whatever you want to call it, and he will definitely want to challenge you or Mr Kaiba!”
A man in sun glasses and a bodyguard outfit came up to Fabiano. “Mr Fabiano, sir, your attention is needed in other matters. Sorry, to interrupt-“
“Ah, I see. Well, Mr Kaiba, it was delightful meeting your interesting guests. I need to go now; apparently being tournament director is somewhat important and demands attention. I hope to see you all soon!”
With that Fabiano departed, leaving behind a group of mixed reactions.
“He’s definitely gay,” said Joey.
He didn’t even receive any sort of abuse from anyone, physical from Tea or verbal from Kaiba. “No kidding, what a fa-“he said, uttering an obscenity rather quietly.
“I don’t get a very good feeling from him as well, actually,” Serenity stated and Ryou agreed. “That was a little awkward that he just, invited Yugi on a random expedition to Egypt, huh?
As Duke, Rebecca, Mokuba, and Tristan arrived. They were filled in on Aurelio Fabiano.
“He sounds kind of gay…” said Tristan. “I don’t trust him.”
“Trust me, he did seem gay,” Joey rolled his eyes.
“Not anymore gay than Pegasus, though,” said Kaiba. “Then again, we know Pegasus is straight because he was in love with a woman.”
“Or so he said. Maybe he lied! He might actually be gay!” said Tristan.
Tea rolled her eyes again. “Oh, cut it with the gay!”
“What, you think he’s straight? He sure didn’t talk-“
“Stop being a stereotype, Joey. And I think what you’re talking about is an Italian accent,” said Serenity rather testily.
“What I’m particularly interested in are these three new cards awarded to the new ‘Emporer’ of this tournament,” It was Duke who spoke this time. “I’m sure you’re all wondering if they’re stronger than the Egyptian Gods.”
“Yuge’s already said it; Pegasus wouldn’t create cards stronger than the Egyptian Gods. I mean, it’s high doubtful he would, cause Pegasus couldn’t control the power of Gods, right?” said Joey.
“I dunno, never rule out anything from a guy like Pegasus,” Kaiba interjected. “I doubt that he’d try to use them himself, maybe he created them, and just gave them to the host of this new tournament just to dump them or something. If that’s the case, this entire tournament is just an impending disaster.”
Kaiba’s hired limo chauffer came into the Piazza, asking the group ‘politely’ if they would hurry up. After all, limos picked up at specific times and were on a schedule too. Kaiba and the rest of the group filed out of the square, Yugi simply stared at the obelisk.
“We’re just waiting for you, Yugi,” called Kaiba.
“Hold on, I’m not coming! I’ll walk to the hotel later,” Yugi called back.
Without questioning, for fear of being given an out of the ordinary reason such as something to do with the supernatural, Kaiba tossed him a pouch, containing a hotel key and a bunch of Italian money, presumably if he wanted to taxi home. “Leave him,” he commanded the rest of the gang. The chauffer happily drove off.
I feel, a mystical energy coming from this obelisk, thought Yugi. I feel, somehow, as though it will answer all of my questions. His hand stuck out almost by instinct, as though to touch the obelisk. He couldn’t tell if his hand moving forward was just pure curiosity or he was being controlled by an outside force. As he touched the pillar…
“Ah!” screamed Yugi. He immediately covered his eyes at the hieroglyphics on the wall suddenly glowing radiantly and emitting bright waves of light and eventually it seemed to open a portal of light. He opened his left eye and saw what he’d thought his eyes would never see again.
“Atem,” breathed Yugi. The ‘Nameless Pharoah’ and spirit of the Millennium Puzzle stood before him. Three considerably larger figures, the Egyptian Gods appeared behind him. As he uttered his name, and Atem began to walk towards him, Atem disappeared. As this happened, the Egyptian Gods’ expressions changed from normal to painful and scrunched up, and the three of them either disappeared or were destroyed by an outside force as they turned to dust.
“Atem! Obelisk! Slifer! Ra!” cried Yugi as he tried to run towards the light.
Atem disappeared, and a new, much taller figure appeared in his place. In Pharaoh dress, was Priest Seto. He looked considerably older.
“Priest Seto! What happened to Atem!?” cried Yugi. “What the hell is this?!”
Priest Seto reached out to Yugi, trying to run rowards Yugi, as well. Soon, he disappeared as well. A rapid succession of different Pharaohs appeared briefly, disappearing as well, until finally, one more Pharaoh appeared. He was quite similar looking to Priest Seto. He did not disappear however, as he beckoned for Yugi to follow him.
Wondering what the hell was going on, Yugi wandered on anyway, interested in what happened to Atem and Seto. The portal of light exploded, with a plethora of light beams following. He was sucked in, and he closed his eyes once more.
Chapter 2-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384089
Chapter 3-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384611
Chapter 4-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=384917
Chapter 5-http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=385760
Chapter 6: When in Rome
Yugi’s first word that came to mind as the gang was being driven by a limousine Kaiba had hired was ‘beautiful’. Tea was definitely not wrong. Rome was an absolutely astonishing place. What was even better was that the gang had arrived at the hotel room in considerably shorter time than it had taken in Tokyo, partially due to the fact that, even though there were in Europe, everybody recognized Seto Kaiba, evident from the showers and praises he was given in Italian such as, “Viva la Kaiba!”
“Hey, Yuge, I don’t get how it is that no one here acknowledged you, but everyone knew who Kaiba was. I mean, you’re both equally famous, if not you more famous,” said Joey.
Kaiba snorted. “It’s because they realize I’m a much superior duelist.” Again with the fake ego, thought Yugi. He remembered that Kaiba would never admit that to Joey. “Also, if you didn’t notice, I was gone a lot during our senior year. I was traveling to various European dueling tournaments as a guest of honor and for business expenditures. People here know me because of what I’ve done for the game.”
“Or how much money you’ve given them,” muttered Duke bitterly, once again showing his distaste for Kaiba’s money.
Meanwhile, the chauffeur and the bellboy at the five-star hotel Exedra, the official hotel sponsor of Duelist’s Empire, hastily, but efficiently, pulled all of their bags up towards the building.
“By the second mouth of Slifer, this place is so beautiful!” crowed Yugi.
Tristan bent down to Yugi’s level. “That’s beginning to get a little annoying there, champ. You’re in Rome now, remember? The least you could do is say somethin’ like uh, damn it, what’s that guy called-“
“By the beard of Jupiter! By the trident of Neptune! By the helmet of Pluto! By the strife of Mars! By the grains of Ceres!” cried Yugi. “I think I’ve got it now, Tristan, thank you!”
Several people began to stare at him and sweat dropped in confusion. Some simply shook their heads.
As the eight of them entered the magnificent building, they once again marveled at the luxury that Kaiba’s status and power had gotten them. Ryou picked up a map of the place, and the gang discovered six restaurants, two of them with bars, a 24-hour Front Desk (‘By the chest of Venus, those receptionists are hot!’ hissed Joey to Duke), a newsstand, four of the biggest and fastest elevators they had ever seen or been on, as Duke and Tristan took them for a couple of ‘joyrides’, a huge sauna and fitness center, solarium, massage center, a jacuzzi, and an outdoor swimming pool twice the size of any one they’d ever seen (with the exception of Kaiba).
The gang had also discovered a lot of comfy little services free of charge, such as internet, long distance phone, public transit(which they wouldn’t be needing), and a beauty salon. Finally, Kaiba ushered everyone into the elevator. They were on top, at the 30th floor, in a specially made room for Kaiba.
“Okay, everybody, now that we’ve wasted an hour and a half getting all worked up over the hotel…” Kaiba stared disapprovingly at Joey and Duke. “…Mokuba will meet us here in precisely one hour. He had to go to a competitor’s meeting and knowing him, he’ll probably bring that annoying Hawkins girl with him, and so, I’d suggest we use our time to get settled into our hotel room. Luckily, it is actually probably big enough to house eight people. There are three king-sized beds, numerous leather couches for Wheeler, and one queen-sized cot, if he and Tristan wish to bed together.”
“Hey, hey, come on, that’s uncalled for!” whined Joey and Tristan, though Kaiba’s joke had drawn laughter from many members of the gang. “If there are only three beds, then doesn’t that mean two people will sleep in each bed?”
“Yes, but these are not really regular king-sized beds. They are actually big enough to technically be able to fit the total body mass of nine regular sized males. So if you’re too immature about sleeping with someone else in one bed, at least you could move to the opposite end and still have at these three feet between you.”
“That’s such a waste!” lamented Ryou. “Why did they give you three beds, then?”
Kaiba smirked again. “I asked for them. I got the cot because three might not have been enough, if you know what I mean.”
“Nice,” said Duke smoothly, putting a lot of extra emphasis on the‘s’ sound. Joey and Tristan grinned too and nodded approvingly. Yugi and Ryou smiled at each other nervously, clearly establishing themselves as the two most innocent ones.
Tea rolled her eyes. “Oh, get your heads out of the gutter, all of you. Men. I doubt you would have been able to get that many groupies in your room anyway.” She said this in a challenging voice, as though she meant ‘Prove it’.
“Yeah, guys,” chimed in Ryou. “It doesn’t mean he had to have groupies in his room. It could have been his ‘work associates’ or his, ‘business partners’.”
Everyone obviously got what Ryou was referring to. Duke high-fived Ryou, stating he didn’t know he had it in him. Kaiba was on the verge of a smile, a genuine one, of actually being happy.
“Sometimes I wonder how you can stand having these guys around all the time,” whispered Serenity to Tea.
“No kidding. What a bunch of losers.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Kaiba, you know,” giggled Serenity.
When they had arrived at the hotel room through a gigantic and lustrous ebony gate, Yugi’s first instinct was to blurt out his feelings.
“By the lyre of-“
Everybody chanted an exasperated, “SHUT UP!”
As everyone got settled into the room, and went through the entire routine of everyone but Kaiba gushing over the luxuries and niceties of room, Kaiba had set up an itinerary.
“Okay, in two hours, we will leave this place. We will go to the opening speech at the Piazza del Popolo. From what I hear, it is a decently good looking place; apparently it’s one of the most famous places in Rome for foreigners,” Kaiba pulled out his laptop. He went over to one of the massive walls with a large painting depicting the Coliseum. He typed rapidly on his keyboard, and eventually, the large painting flipped around, revealing a large, white projector screen. Kaiba typed rapidly some more on his laptop, and what appeared to be a slideshow of images of the Piazza appeared. “These are shots of the Piazza that the tournament director sent me. Apparently he thinks I’m an idiot who’d actually manage to miss something as huge as that place…”
“No kidding, there’d be tons of duelists there, too,” added Ryou.
As the slideshow flipped to another image, Yugi gasped. “What’s up, Yuge?” asked Joey. Kaiba immediately paused the slideshow, for it seemed someone actually had a vested interest in it. The image depicted the center, the heart of the Piazza.
“That’s an obelisk!” said Yugi with a look of shock on his face.
“That thing sure doesn’t look like you could sacrifice two monsters to it, and it sure doesn’t look like if you did, it would get infinite attack strength,” said Tristan.
“For crying-“Kaiba paused to slap his head at Tristan’s stupidity. “Seriously, Tristan, did Wheeler give you a hot tip on how to buy some Grade A moron pills on Ebay? REAL obelisks are Egyptian monuments that were originally made from stone and pointed towards the sky! They have one in Washington, D.C.!”
“Ha, in your face, loser!” Joey stuck out his tongue and gloated rather childishly and in rather immature manner.
“Yugi is right,” said Ryou, ignoring the two more immature boys. “And that was one was made for Ramesses the Great. Out of interest, and to try to connect duel monsters and obelisks again, obelisks were made to represent the Sun God, Ra. It was also thought that the gods lived within the obelisks.”
“That’s rather ironic, because when Yugi used Ra, he usually sacrificed it to Obelisk,” noted Duke.
Suddenly, the ebony doorway opened. Two people, one a boy, one a girl, of pretty much the same height walked in. One had neat, trim black hair while the other had semi-long blonde hair. Mokuba Kaiba and Rebecca Hawkins.
“Ah, Mokuba, you’ve arrived.”
It was once again everyone’s but Kaiba’s turn to be shocked. “By the-“ Yugi’s mouth was sealed shut by Tea’s hand.
“I don’t believe it. It’s Kaiba Jr,” said Duke. “How ya been, Mokuba?”
“Fine, thanks. I had no clue this many people were coming, Seto,” Mokuba’s voice was much deeper; Duke and the others almost felt weird listening to such a powerful voice coming from the once diminutive Mokuba.
Rebecca immediately rushed over to Yugi, nearly smacking Tea aside. “Yugi, it’s so good see you! Oh, Tea, I’m really sorry, I’ve missed you so much, too”
“It’s good to see you too, Rebecca!” said Yugi somewhat weakly.
“Yeah, you, uh, haven’t changed much, have you,” Tea said, brushing herself off. “Same, charming self, huh?” Tea feigned her best happy voice.
Joey and Tristan stopped fighting on the ground over who was the bigger moron and Joey vigorously shook Mokuba’s hand. He had seen Mokuba duel a couple times over the past two years in tournaments and had seen his physical development happen. “Good to see ya, champ. Have you grown even more since I last seen ya?”
“No kidding,” said Tea. “You’re even taller than me now!”
“Hi, I remember you, not sure if you remember me, but I’m Joey’s sister, Serenity.”
“And I’m Ryou Bakura, if you didn’t know that. Nice to meet you, I do not think we’ve been formally introduced before.”
“Yeah, I wonder why, I’d seen you a couple of times before, at Battle City, and I would have seen you at Duelist Kingdom…I know you, now I remember!” Mokuba said, with a thinking face on.
“That wasn’t really me at Battle City, actually. It was my evil, maniacal, avatar of the God of darkness side that tried to take over the world.”
Mokuba raised his eyebrow. “Um, okay, that was very good to know.” Everyone paused for a second, somewhat in disbelief that Ryou was so open about what everyone referred to as ‘the ugliness’.
Then, conversation erupted as everyone began to tell Mokuba and Rebecca how much they’d grown up within the last two years. Mokuba was now standing a good five foot seven, at least eight inches taller than he was when they’d first met him.
Puberty is such a fascinating thing, thought Yugi. How the hell did I miss out so much? “So Mokuba, I’ve heard you’re quite the duelist now. I guess you’re really becoming a Kaiba now, huh?”
Mokuba grinned his trademark grin. “You know it! It’s a long shot that I’d ever be as good as Seto or you, but I think I’ve got a good shot at doing well in this tournament. This is my big break, I think, just like Duelist Kingdom was yours, hey? Say, Seto, you never did answer the question, how’d you manage to get everyone here?”
“Well, Mokuba, it might have something to do with the fact that being a multi-billionaire CEO gives me just a little bit of power. And I invited these guys just to have Yugi come, having the ‘King of Games’ at a junior tournament really does create some publicity, doesn’t it? We could toy with the idea that Yugi would mentor the champion or something.”
Yugi was positively horrified. “Please tell me you’re kidding. If you do that, I would-“
“Yes, I am, can none of you people take a joke?” Kaiba shook his head.
“Seto, you’re the most serious guy I know. For you to crack a joke is about as likely as cracking a dinosaur egg,” Mokuba pointed out.
“Hey, I’m not that cold. I made a ‘new season resolution’, for summer, to lighten up.” Kaiba said that with a certain innocence and joking ness that Yugi had never, ever seen before. He followed it up by cracking a smile. Now that was rarer than seeing someone crack a dinosaur egg.
They sat down, had a couple of snacks, ransacked and raided Kaiba’s fridge. “We really should be going now. The Piazza del Popolo isn’t far from here, but if one of the tournament’s most important sponsors isn’t there early with his guest of honors, it’ll look kinda bad.”
The gang filed out of the beautiful ebony door once again and went down the elevator. Getting downstairs in a matter of seconds, Kaiba arranged for two cars to transport the group; Kaiba, Mokuba, Rebecca, Yugi, Tea in one car, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Duke, Ryou in the other car. Within fifteen minutes, the group arrived at the gorgeous square, the Piazza del Popolo. It was every bit as stunning as the photos Kaiba had shown. They entered through a giant, castle-like, square-like gate with either concrete lions on the sides pillars, perched on the concrete. There were lots of random vintage details on the towers all around them. And the largest and tallest spectacle of them all, was of course, the obelisk of Ramesses the Great.
Hundreds of people were gathered there, reminding Yugi sharply of graduation. However, he felt a little more welcome here, as he was a dueling Champion and these people were all up and comers. He doubted many of these people knew him too well, as only people on the Asian and North America circuits really knew about him.
“Wow, Kaiba, Kaiba Corp must’ve stepped up the duel disk technology, huh?” said Joey, noting the advances in technology the duel disk had made.
“Check it out, they come in lime green and pink, too!” squealed Serenity.
“Yes. It’s a new option on privately ordered disks that is called K-Color; a new concept in which duelists can design and paint their own duel disk online, much like sport companies do that with their shoes to accommodate college sports teams. The duel disk has also been modified to be lighter and easier to carry. It can also be morphed into the size of a small watch, giving it versatility and diversity that was never enjoyed by the duelists of Battle City.”
“Say, why didn’t we get one of those, Kaiba? You could have given it to us like, as a promotional gift. Couldn’t hurt sales if everyone had known Joey Wheeler was wearing one o’ these babies, hey?”
“Why would I endorse an amateur who would probably draw his favorite monsters on the disk and give away all of his strategies to his opponent before the duel starts?” sneered Kaiba, once again poking fun at Joey’s stupidity.
“Joey, aren’t you in the least bit sick Kaiba always pokes fun at you being a moron, not that you are, of course,” Ryou said quickly to prevent hostility. “I mean, this has been going on for like three years, it’s always, moron,”
“Hey, Ring-boy, why don’t you stop being a pansy, huh? In case you haven’t noticed it’s who I am, after all, it’s only fair since Joey always calls me ‘rich-boy jerk,” sneered Kaiba.
Ryou fell silent after the ‘ring-boy’ jab. “Hey, man, you shouldn’t say that,” Tristan said sullenly, almost as if he was being serious.
“Yeah, man, making fun of Ryou getting taken over by the ring spirit isn’t cool, dude,” said Duke.
“Dude, Kaiba, you’re an insensitive jerk, no question, but have you never heard the rule about tragic events? You gotta wait twenty-two point three years until it’s funny!” Joey shook his head.
“Oh grow up, dweeblings. Hey, where’s Mokuba?” wondered Kaiba, with somewhat of a panic in his voice.
“There he is, I think,” pointed out Tea. Rebecca and Mokuba had long since advanced into the crowd of duelists, with Mokuba having his arm around Rebecca and them laughing along the way.
“Puppy love,” muttered Kaiba.
“Yeah, love don’t cost a thing, don’t it?” said Joey, resting his hand on Kaiba’s shoulder “Oh well, at least you know that if he knocks her up or somethin’ he’d be able to pay for it,”
Tea, instead of giving Joey the patented shin-kick, instead simply backhanded him. She was even more disgusted when Kaiba responded with, not an offended response, but instead a casual, “Well that’s a given,”
“You guys have got to be the most…ugh. I have got to get more girlfriends. Kaiba’s right, you guys really are dweebs somtimes,” Tea spat rather bitterly.
Suddenly, a loud noise filled the air, as a fire cracker sounded off. The firecracker had shot out of the top of the obelisk at the center of the square. Everyone’s attention turned. More firecrackers, several smaller ones, started lighting off at the base of the tower. People began to back off as a large stage was instantly set up within minutes. Several neon lights were set by the stage, illuminating the people on the stage. A rather tall and muscular man wearing a fitted, striped, expensive looking dress shirt with a tacky looking duel monsters tie held a microphone, who everyone presumed was the tournament host. Kaiba beckoned for the rest of the gang to get up closer. The gang worked to part the crowd and when they finally got to somewhere quite near the front.
“Attention, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, all, to this beautiful city. My name is Aurelio Fabiano. As you can probably tell, I am the tournament host. Some of you know me as the owner and CEO of the company called Del l’Antico, a company dedicated to preserving and trading rare artifacts. Our industry runs on expeditions to the mundane and unknown, pursuing the undiscovered. And I think that is what makes all have so much in common. Most of you competitors are up and comers in the new world-wide phenomenon called Duel Monsters. And you are pursuing the, I will call, undiscovered, to you, and that is fame and glory. Some of you have money, some of you have power, but what you all are pursuing, along with the right to be considered one of the best at what you do, is fame and glory. I do not see this as a tournament, really. Duelist’s Empire is more of a search, than a tournament. We are not trying to prove who is the best out of a bunch of big names and stroke someone’s ego. Well, maybe, we’re trying to stroke someone’s ego. But in the end, this is a search for a new talent. A fresh, inspiring face to promote the name of Duel Monsters across the world; we are looking for the next big thing. The next Yugi Mutou of Seto Kaiba,” His voice was powerful, and also completely impervious to the fact that Yugi’s giant, multi-colored hair was mere feet away from him. “As I wish all of you good luck, and may the best man or woman win, I will reveal to you the prize of this tournament. There is one million Euro up for grabs at this tournament, but I suppose this is not what most of you are after. Some of you are not even after the eternal glory. The winner of this tournament will have the opportunity to be the International Duel Monsters Association’s newest sensation, and travel around the world, dueling for a profession. Also, the winner of the tournament will acquire three new, hot off the press cards, extremely powerful duel monster cards. Cards with powers that exceed any card being played today. The creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, will personally present them to the winner of this tournament. In conclusion, I would like all of you to have a good night’s sleep. For tomorrow, the battle of the ages will commence, mighty duelists, competing as the gladiators did in the Coliseum during the ancient times, and only the last one standing shall be crowned the Emperor, or Empress of the Duelist’s Empire!”
The large crowd became raucous and started cheering loudly, all waving their duel disks in the air. Celebration and excitement filled the crowd.
“Geez, three, all new and powerful cards, huh?” said Tristan. “Think they’re more powerful than the Egyptian Gods?”
Everybody, including Kaiba looked at Yugi for his opinion. “Well, I wouldn’t know as well as any of the rest of you,” he said. “I doubt they are, though. I mean, if Pegasus feared the power of the Gods, why would he create something more powerful? Chances are, if he did, he’d have to look towards some divine inspiration to do it.”
“I think you’re right, Yugi,” said Ryou. “Pegasus is not one to create extremely powerful cards for no reason, I mean, look at the way he fashioned his own deck. He’s got that inner conscience that makes him want the game to be fair.”
As the wave of people began to leave the square, some of the group nearly went missing in the crowd. Duke and Tristan had gone to search for Mokuba and Rebecca, as ordered by Kaiba, and enforced by Tea. The tournament host, Aurelio Fabiano walked towards the group after some of the crowd had disappeared. “Ah, Mr Kaiba, I’m glad you were able to make it! I hope you did enjoy the opening speech, did you not?”
“It was bearable,” muttered Kaiba.
“Quite the charming gentleman, isn’t he, ladies?” Fabiano smirked, looking towards Tea and Serenity. “So, Mr Kaiba, are these ladies your only guests of honor?”
“Not quite.”
Yugi, Joey, and Ryou finally emerged from the crowd, wheezing. “I really hate the mass exodus of humans,” muttered Joey, as people continued to leave.
Fabiano was shocked. “My, my, Mr Kaiba. Haven’t you assembled an all-star cast of guests? Hm, I count four Battle City finalists, all in the same square!”
Kaiba smiled awkwardly. “Well, you know my opponents and I are like. We just love socializing outside of competition. Especially Joseph; he and I are just the best of friends. He’s a funny guy, don’t you think, Mr Fabiano?” The sarcasm in his voice was ear splitting.
Everyone snickered, including Joey, who would have doubled over in laughter. He tried to stand upright without completely falling over.
Fabiano had either missed the sarcasm or actually thought Joey was extremely funny. “Why he certainly is, I mean, he’s so completely full of life and outgoing, I’m sure. And I’m sure this is the legendary Yugi Mutou, judging by the dazzling hair cut. I’ve taken a personal interest in your career, Mr Mutou.”
“Uh, well, thanks, that’s pretty flattering,” Yugi reverted back to his bashful and timid self.
“I understand you’ve done some work in Egypt, and are quite familiar with Egyptian artifacts. I myself, being a collector, and doing it for my profession, am also quite interested in the Egyptian artifacts. And so, Mr Mutou, I’d like to extend to you an invitation of sorts; I plan on going on an expedition to Egypt soon, would you care to join me?”
“Um, well, I’d have to mull it over with my grandpa and everything, you know, and uh, well,” Yugi suddenly paused, feeling as though he’d suddenly forgotten how to speak English.
“Ah, of course, I understand! I did not expect you to say yes right away, of course. I understand you need to plan the rest of your summer and of course, you don’t know me very well, but I hope we shall be seeing each other a lot throughout the tournament. The winner, after all, will become one of my partners, employee, whatever you want to call it, and he will definitely want to challenge you or Mr Kaiba!”
A man in sun glasses and a bodyguard outfit came up to Fabiano. “Mr Fabiano, sir, your attention is needed in other matters. Sorry, to interrupt-“
“Ah, I see. Well, Mr Kaiba, it was delightful meeting your interesting guests. I need to go now; apparently being tournament director is somewhat important and demands attention. I hope to see you all soon!”
With that Fabiano departed, leaving behind a group of mixed reactions.
“He’s definitely gay,” said Joey.
He didn’t even receive any sort of abuse from anyone, physical from Tea or verbal from Kaiba. “No kidding, what a fa-“he said, uttering an obscenity rather quietly.
“I don’t get a very good feeling from him as well, actually,” Serenity stated and Ryou agreed. “That was a little awkward that he just, invited Yugi on a random expedition to Egypt, huh?
As Duke, Rebecca, Mokuba, and Tristan arrived. They were filled in on Aurelio Fabiano.
“He sounds kind of gay…” said Tristan. “I don’t trust him.”
“Trust me, he did seem gay,” Joey rolled his eyes.
“Not anymore gay than Pegasus, though,” said Kaiba. “Then again, we know Pegasus is straight because he was in love with a woman.”
“Or so he said. Maybe he lied! He might actually be gay!” said Tristan.
Tea rolled her eyes again. “Oh, cut it with the gay!”
“What, you think he’s straight? He sure didn’t talk-“
“Stop being a stereotype, Joey. And I think what you’re talking about is an Italian accent,” said Serenity rather testily.
“What I’m particularly interested in are these three new cards awarded to the new ‘Emporer’ of this tournament,” It was Duke who spoke this time. “I’m sure you’re all wondering if they’re stronger than the Egyptian Gods.”
“Yuge’s already said it; Pegasus wouldn’t create cards stronger than the Egyptian Gods. I mean, it’s high doubtful he would, cause Pegasus couldn’t control the power of Gods, right?” said Joey.
“I dunno, never rule out anything from a guy like Pegasus,” Kaiba interjected. “I doubt that he’d try to use them himself, maybe he created them, and just gave them to the host of this new tournament just to dump them or something. If that’s the case, this entire tournament is just an impending disaster.”
Kaiba’s hired limo chauffer came into the Piazza, asking the group ‘politely’ if they would hurry up. After all, limos picked up at specific times and were on a schedule too. Kaiba and the rest of the group filed out of the square, Yugi simply stared at the obelisk.
“We’re just waiting for you, Yugi,” called Kaiba.
“Hold on, I’m not coming! I’ll walk to the hotel later,” Yugi called back.
Without questioning, for fear of being given an out of the ordinary reason such as something to do with the supernatural, Kaiba tossed him a pouch, containing a hotel key and a bunch of Italian money, presumably if he wanted to taxi home. “Leave him,” he commanded the rest of the gang. The chauffer happily drove off.
I feel, a mystical energy coming from this obelisk, thought Yugi. I feel, somehow, as though it will answer all of my questions. His hand stuck out almost by instinct, as though to touch the obelisk. He couldn’t tell if his hand moving forward was just pure curiosity or he was being controlled by an outside force. As he touched the pillar…
“Ah!” screamed Yugi. He immediately covered his eyes at the hieroglyphics on the wall suddenly glowing radiantly and emitting bright waves of light and eventually it seemed to open a portal of light. He opened his left eye and saw what he’d thought his eyes would never see again.
“Atem,” breathed Yugi. The ‘Nameless Pharoah’ and spirit of the Millennium Puzzle stood before him. Three considerably larger figures, the Egyptian Gods appeared behind him. As he uttered his name, and Atem began to walk towards him, Atem disappeared. As this happened, the Egyptian Gods’ expressions changed from normal to painful and scrunched up, and the three of them either disappeared or were destroyed by an outside force as they turned to dust.
“Atem! Obelisk! Slifer! Ra!” cried Yugi as he tried to run towards the light.
Atem disappeared, and a new, much taller figure appeared in his place. In Pharaoh dress, was Priest Seto. He looked considerably older.
“Priest Seto! What happened to Atem!?” cried Yugi. “What the hell is this?!”
Priest Seto reached out to Yugi, trying to run rowards Yugi, as well. Soon, he disappeared as well. A rapid succession of different Pharaohs appeared briefly, disappearing as well, until finally, one more Pharaoh appeared. He was quite similar looking to Priest Seto. He did not disappear however, as he beckoned for Yugi to follow him.
Wondering what the hell was going on, Yugi wandered on anyway, interested in what happened to Atem and Seto. The portal of light exploded, with a plethora of light beams following. He was sucked in, and he closed his eyes once more.