"What—what happened!?" Yugi was the first to recover. Having been pulled into the world of "Time Stop" by Pegasus once before, he immediately realized he had just been drawn into that space again.
The only difference was that last time, his mind could function normally within that space. This time, however, his mind had entered a state of stasis, just like how everyone else had been "frozen" while he was dueling.
Kaiba was the second to come to his senses. One moment, he was holding his unconscious brother, but in the next, the brother in his arms had vanished. He had no recollection of who took him or when, as if a segment of time itself had been erased.
"Mokuba is gone?"
"This feeling... it's just like that time at Yugi's house." Joey was the third to recover, weakly lifting an arm to his forehead. Already in a bad state after the mental torture, his mind had just been frozen again by Pegasus, putting considerable strain on his nerves.
Thanks to the protection of [Rainbow Kuriboh] and the resistance of the [Millennium Ring] against other [Millennium Item]s, Chumley was the only one who hadn't been affected by the "Mind Stasis." However, the blow Pegasus had left him with before taking Mokuba had been quite forceful, and it took him a long while to stand up by leaning against a tree trunk.
"It was that guy, Pegasus. The power of his [Millennium Eye] is to interfere with the mind. He just put everyone's thoughts on hold and took Mokuba," Chumley said, his expression grave as he looked at the [Gaia] card in his hand.
As his earliest Ace Card and the strongest Duel Monster he had awakened, [Gaia] had helped him stage a comeback multiple times. Whenever he needed help, the [Gaia] sleeping within his Deck would always respond.
But now, the card spirit dwelling within the [Gaia] card was silent?
"He stripped the Soul from Yugi's grandfather, Grandpa Muto, kidnapped Kaiba's brother Mokuba, and even took my Soul, my [Gaia The Fierce Knight]." Chumley clenched his fist. "Yare yare daze... This is really starting to piss me off. I can't just stand by and watch."
"It was Pegasus!" Yugi and the others wore expressions of surprise upon hearing Chumley's words. Téa muttered to herself, "Pegasus was supposed to be in the castle. Why is he out here?"
"It's like the final boss who's supposed to be waiting at the last stage suddenly showed up halfway through the hero's journey," Joey said, glancing at Yugi, who was also clenching his fists in agitation. "But if he dares to roam around the island, does that mean we have a chance to beat him early and free Grandpa Muto's Soul?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple."
Yugi shook his head and looked at Chumley, then at the spot where the two unconscious Men in Black had vanished. "If I'm not mistaken, it must be like that time on the ship—Pegasus is controlling other people again, right?"
Chumley nodded, but just as he was about to speak, Kaiba let out a cold snort from nearby.
"Hmph! You've been spouting all sorts of nonsense since just now—'Soul,' 'spirit,' 'Mind Stasis.' What is all this gibberish?" A firm believer in science who refused to acknowledge supernatural powers, Kaiba looked at Chumley with a cold, arrogant expression. "Don't try to placate me with such unrealistic ravings and waste my time!"
Chumley felt the urge to retort but didn't know where to begin. In this world of ridiculously metaphysical Duelists, you, Kaiba, are probably the only one who believes so fanatically in science, right?
"Uh, here's the thing. That guy Pegasus has some kind of Infrasonic Weapon that can paralyze the thinking ability of anyone who hears it, and then he removes the Ark Reactor from their chest." Chumley did his best to translate the ability of the [Millennium Eye] into language Kaiba would accept. "Anyway, we were all just attacked by Pegasus with that weapon, and then he took Mokuba."
"An Infrasonic Weapon? Hmph, so that's how it is. That charlatan Pegasus." Kaiba couldn't accept talk of supernatural powers, but he immediately believed it when it was given a forced scientific explanation. "To snatch Mokuba from my side again... unforgivable, Pegasus!"
Glancing at Pegasus's castle in the distance, Kaiba stormed off in that direction, ignoring the attempts of Chumley and Yugi to stop him.
"My mind is made up. I will use my [Blue-Eyes] to reclaim Mokuba from that bastard Pegasus, and no one will stop me. Anyone who dares stand in my way, even you, Yugi, Chumley, I will crush them!"
Yugi quickly explained, "That's not it, Kaiba. When it comes to defeating Pegasus, I'm on the same side as you. I'm even more desperate than you are."
"But, if you haven't collected ten Star Chips, you can't enter Pegasus's castle."
As he spoke, Yugi revealed the glove on his right hand, which was already embedded with seven Star Chips.
Beside him, Joey proudly raised his right hand as well. He had managed to modify the dueling glove he got from Weevil to fit him reasonably well, and it now displayed eight Star Chips. "Heh heh, we all have Star Chips, unlike some people who don't even have one. Even if someone agreed to Duel you, the Top 8 matches would probably be over before you collected ten."
Téa and Tristan exchanged a speechless glance. "Is Joey getting a little too carried away? Did he forget that he didn't have any Star Chips at the beginning either?"
But Kaiba only glanced at Joey before looking down condescendingly at Yugi and saying coldly, "You're even slower at collecting Star Chips than that Fourth-Rate Duelist? You disappoint me, Yugi."
With that, Kaiba shook off Chumley's hand and walked off alone toward Pegasus's castle.
Kaiba's arrogant demeanor infuriated Joey. He shouted at Kaiba's retreating back, "Tch! If it wasn't for what your brother did, Yugi would have originally collected all his Star Chips! The only reason he's still a few short is because that guy from Industrial Illusions at the docks threw them all into the sea!"
Seeing Joey angrily start to chase after Kaiba, Chumley quickly grabbed him. "Alright, alright, is this really the time to argue about this? The most important thing right now is to figure out how to collect enough Star Chips to qualify for entry into the castle, and then get Mokuba, Grandpa Muto, and my [Gaia] back from Pegasus."
Yugi was also troubled. He had originally collected enough Star Chips. If the incident with Mokuba hadn't happened, Joey would have had enough by now as well. But now, the first person to collect all their Star Chips had already entered the castle. If they didn't hurry, he was afraid—
Just as Yugi was thinking this, he suddenly caught a familiar scent. A hand, clenched into a fist, extended in front of him and opened. In the palm lay five Star Chips.
Buying a face mask for Mom, I misremembered the star count. Activating Garp's effect, let's pretend I didn't say that.
(end of chapter)