"And now the last Star Chip..." Mai said as she inserted the tenth Star Chip inside the slot of the castle doors. An unlocking sound was heard. She then turned the doorknob and pushed the doors open.
"Woah..." Everyone exclaimed.
They all started heading inside, when, suddenly, a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses, with a very long and pointy hairdo, blocked Anzu, Bakura and Honda's way.
"You guys are not allowed to enter the castle! You must be contestants that have ten Star Chips to make it through!" The security guard told them.
"Oh please, can't you let us off the hook this time? We're here to encourage our..." Anzu tried pleading with him.
"A no is a no! Now come with me..." He cut her off.
Mai then intervened and stood in front of him. She took on a seductive tone and looked at the man with a sexy gaze, "don't be so uptight. Do this little favour for me?"
The man blushed and started stuttering, "u-uh! I have my orders ma'am! I can't just..."
Mai then walked around, distracting his gaze from Anzu, Honda, and Bakura.
"Come on, big guy, you can be more lenient than that, can't you?" The blonde kept the charade going.
"I... I... I..." The security guard was speechless.
Now free from the man's attention, Anzu, Honda, and Bakura ran for the door. Mai followed them. When the former noticed that he was being fooled, he ran towards them while yelling, "hey! Get back here-"
They all pushed the door as hard as they could and closed it in his face. A loud bang was heard from the other side.
"Oof, that was close," Mai sighed in relief
"That was awesome, Mai-san!" Akia praised her older friend.
The red-eyed girl was really starting to idolize Mai. She looked up to her and she felt like she was a role model to her. She was a strong willed woman who always got what she wanted. The more Akia got to know Mai, the more she liked her and respected her. As for Jounouchi, Akia almost completely lost any romantic feelings she had for him. She just knew it wasn't going to work anyway. Besides, she'd rather just be his friend than complicate things. If she were to be completely honest with herself, she'd admit that Bakura occupied a much bigger part of her mind.
"I wonder who that big man back there was. Was he one of Pegasus' goons?" Akia asked.
"That was Saruwatari," Yugi answered, "we ran into him after I duelled Mokuba who wanted revenge for his brother."
"Ah... Oh! I remember I saw him on the boat, too," his sister confirmed.
As they were talking, they reached a balcony overlooking an arena of some sorts. There, leaning on the rails was a blonde man wearing a bandana bearing the american flag design.
"You dirty cheater!" As Jounouchi was about to lash out at him, Honda grabbed him to hold him back, "calm down, Jounouchi! This guy is not worth your efforts!"
"Who's that guy?" Akia inquired.
"That's Keith Howard. He knocked Jounouchi out and forced him to play against one of his accomplices. When they lost, they locked us up in a cave. It took us a while to find our way out. Without Bakura's ring, we would probably still be stuck there," Yugi explained.
"Well now I get why Jounouchi is so worked up about him," Akia said.
"Hmph, I guess you losers made it out somehow. Not that it really matters since I'll be the champion," Keith mocked them.
"You'll have to go through me first!" Jounouchi shouted back at him.
"Hey guys! That's Kaiba down there!" Anzu shifted everyone's gaze to where she pointed.
They turned their attention to what was happening below them. Kaiba and Pegasus both came out from the two opposing doors.
"Pegasus! Where did you take Mokuba?" Kaiba inquired.
Pegasus chuckled. He seemed amused at how agitated Kaiba sounded, even though the latter tried to keep a controlled tone of voice.
"Oh, do you mean this?" The tournament organizer answered as he took out a card from his pocket and showed it to Kaiba.
"Mokuba! What did you do to him?!" The young CEO demanded to know.
"Don't worry, Kaiba boy. I merely trapped his soul in this card. If you want him back, you'll have to win in a Duel against me."
"Imprisoned his soul? That's not even possible! Your tricks won't fool me! I'll duel you and win everything back."
"Be careful, though. If you lose, you will end up in the same pitiful state that your baby brother is in."
"I won't lose."
Kaiba then took out two disks from the suitcase he'd been carrying and challenged Pegasus, "we will be playing using the new technology that I developed."
Pegasus then rose his index finger and shook it, "tsk, tsk, tsk. You are not in any position to enforce your own rules into this, Kaiba boy. We will play using the duelling platforms that have been used during this whole tournament. Otherwise, your brother can stay a captive for all I care."
Kaiba groaned in frustration, "fine... Have it your way."
Having agreed to Pegasus' ways, the Duel started. From the beginning, it seemed like Pegasus had the upper hand. He was somehow reading Kaiba's every move and every card before Kaiba even did anything. After a few turns, Pegasus revealed his toon deck. His love for cartoons was what inspired him to create these cards.
"I know he's the creator of the game and all, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit unfair to have cards that were especially made for him," Akia commented.
"His weird power to read someone's mind gives him a huge upper-hand too. He's almost unbeatable. I don't think I'd even be able to stand a chance against him. Yugi might, though. He has a strange power in his millennium puzzle that might help him. Maybe I'm just trying to escape the responsibility of facing such a powerful opponent," she wondered.
"It's really something that can't be helped..." Bakura commented.
Kaiba was losing. He was losing fast. Even his Blue Eyes fell prey to Pegasus who took control of it and transformed it into a toon monster. All Akia and her friends could do was watch the tragedy unfold. They all knew the outcome.
Pegasus launched the last attack, which brought Kaiba's Life Points all the way down to 0.
"Kaiba!" Yugi called out.
"Well, a deal is a deal. Am I right, Kaiba boy?" Pegasus said as he revealed his eye from under his hair and extracted Kaiba's soul and absorbed it into a blank card that was then filled with his figure.
"Dammit! Now you too, Kaiba..." Yugi grit his teeth.
"Yugi..." Anzu whispered to her friend.
"All the more reason to do everything we can to defeat Pegasus," Akia asserted.
"Even though I'm not particularly fond of Kaiba, I still hate to see him in such a sad state," the black-haired girl thought to herself.
"This is a whole new level," Mai commented.
"I can't believe... Kaiba lost..." Jounouchi expressed his disbelief.
"Well that was a waste of time," Keith scoffed.
Akia looked at him with annoyance. She had only met him and he was already getting on her nerves. She really hoped she'd go against him in her first match. She just wanted to crush that annoying ego of his.