I was fighting for my life.

Monsters surrounded me and Annabeth, while Bob the Titan was holding his own against Tartarus as best as he can. His sabre-toothed cat pounced and slashed at any monster that came close to killing Bob, its fangs dripping with golden ichor when he bit into Tartarus's leg.

"Percy, behind you!" Annabeth screamed as she slashed a cyclops with her drakon bone sword.

I ducked and swung my sword in a wide arc, taking the head of a hellhound clean off its shoulders. "Thanks, Wise Girl!"

"Perseus Jackson, you will not escape!" Tartarus roared in rage as he smacked Bob to the side.

I let out a guttural scream of rage, and my vision went red...
==========

"AHH!" I shot up awake with a cry of terror.

I looked wildly around the room, panting hard and sweating like mad, the rough hard heat of Tartarus still lingering in the air even if it were a dream. I pressed my head into my arms, groaning in pain and frustration after having the same nightmare again. It's the same nightmare I had for the past few years, ever since me and Annabeth escaped Tartarus. It was a side effect that still lingered in my head constantly.

I looked at my hands, seeing that they were glowing a small mint blue aura. I sighed in annoyance, since they always do that every time I had the same nightmare.

I shook my head, getting out of bed and standing up, trying to get rid of the sense of dread that I was still feeling. I could still see the flashes of that hellhole, seeing Bob and our other giant friend give their lives up for me and Annabeth. I was still guilty about them being left there for dead.

I heard a slight knock on the spare room door, making me jump a little. The door opened and I saw Yugi look at me in concern. He wore loose PJ's and his hair was a massive mess.

"Percy, what's wrong?" he asked in a panic. "I heard you scream from the other room. What's up?"

I leaned on the bedside table, hunched over. "Just a bad dream, that's all."

Yugi looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I sighed - he didn't believe me. "Just a bad dream? I find that very hard to believe."

I sighed. "For the past seven years of my life, I've been having the same nightmare over and over again. It never leaves me alone. And worst of all - it always shows that place. The one place I try to forget."

Yugi frowned, before a look of realisation crossed his face. "You mean Tartarus?"

I snapped my head towards his direction, looking at him wide-eyed. "How the heck do you know about that place?"

"Nico told me about it," the King of Games answered. "He told that it's a realm where you don't want to find yourself in. He didn't tell me what it was. In fact, he looked very hesitant to talk about it."

"I don't blame him," I muttered, sitting down on my bed. "Tartarus is the Greek version of hell. Named after it's Primordial namesake. Nico was dragged into that place. I've been in there as well, with Annabeth dragged into it. The place was killing us, little by little. We could barely breathe in it - the air was just-just sulphur in our noses and mouths. The ground was littered with broken black glass and fire; monsters were constantly roaming all over the place; you had to drink from the River of Fire in order to heal yourself... It just constantly haunts me in my sleep. Even now I can still see the landscape - it just flashes in my eyes."

Yugi looked appalled by what I told him. He leaned on the door frame. "It must've been hard for you to go through that. I know for a fact that I wouldn't survive that. I just hope for your sake that you won't dream about that place again."

"I hope so," I told him. "I seriously hope so."
========

"Percy, wake up man!" a voice complained right next to me.

I woke up groggily after another restless night. I looked at Jason and groaned, burying my face into my pillow. "What? Can't you see I'm sleeping? Give me five more minutes, can't be bothered to get up yet."

"Percy, it's gone past ten. Seriously, if we were still in Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood for that matter, you wouldn't be sleeping still," Jason said in a stern manner. "Now I'm ordering you to -"

"Hold up, did you just say order?" I said, raising a finger upwards towards, my face still buried in my pillow. "Don't say order again, otherwise you'll regret it."

"What do you mean I'll regret it?" Jason said incredulously.

In answer, I punched him in the balls. He immediately clutched them, letting out a high pitched yelp as he dropped to his knees. I just resumed my snoring and almost drifted back to sleep, until Nico entered the room, taking the scene in.

"Can't get him awake, Jason?" Nico laughed after seeing Jason clutching his private area in pain.

"Seriously, how do you even wake him up?" Jason demanded with a gasp. "He's impossible to wake up!"

In answer, Nico just walked over and shook me slightly. "Perce, do you want pancakes or not?"

Immediately, my eyes flew open and I looked at Nico in surprise. "Pancakes? There's pancakes on the go? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?!" I got out of bed and immediately started getting dressed. "Come on, lets go before they run out!"

Nico laughed, while Jason looked shocked. "That's how you wake him up? With the mention of pancakes?! Jeez, all he ever thinks about is flipping food!"

"That's me alright!" I shouted back as I bolted out of the spare room, making Nico laugh even further.

Well, Nico didn't disappoint when he said that Solomon had pancakes on the go. As soon as I walked into the kitchen and dining area, I could literally smell the pancakes from the kitchen. To my surprise, I saw Yugi sitting at the table nearby, already eating a small stack of them with a few rashes of bacon on the side, as well as a jug of syrup.

"Hey, Percy," Yugi said, waving me over. "Have a seat, my grandpa is gonna bring out some more pancakes in a moment."

I looked at him, a little confused. "Okay, why are you here? I thought you were in Domino High School."

Yugi shrugged. "It's my day off. I don't have to go in until tomorrow. So, I'm pretty much free all day." He then gave me a questioning look. "What about you? Did you get much sleep last night?"

"Oh, he did alright," Jason growled, still clutching his balls in pain whilst giving me a murderous glare. "He's impossible to wake up when he's sleeping. He literally punched me where it hurts the most, when I tried waking him! What guy deserves that?"

Yugi laughed. "Well, Joey and Tristan are like that when they're asleep, but Teá and I sort them out."

I nodded, just as Solomon came in with a heaping tray of pancakes and a large dish of bacon.

"Coming through. Hot pancakes, coming through!" Solomon announced. You know, even for a guy his height and age, he sure is pretty cool. He looks at me, sighing through his nose. "Honestly, you don't have to stand up for them, make yourself comfortable."

"Sure thing, Mr Muto," I said, immediately sitting down, but before I did the door knocked loudly.

"Hmm, who could that be this early in the day?" Solomon pondered. He walked over to the door, and opened it. Solomon gasped in shock.

"Oh, no you don't!" He immediately closed the door. "You're not coming in here after what your boss did to me!"

"Who was that, grandpa?" Yugi asked, getting out of his chair.

"Big burly guy, the one who works for Pegasus," Solomon answered quickly.

"Pegasus? You mean the guy that created the game of Duel Monsters?" Nico asked, frowning. He looked at me and Jason. "Why would one of his men be at the front door?"

"Beats me, but if he's sent one of his personal staff members here for a reason, it must be important," Jason summed up. "I'd say open the door, but then again, after what Yugi and the others told me about Pegasus...I'm not so sure."

I looked at the front door with great interest. I looked at Solomon, his face pleading. In answer, I just gave him a wink, and nodded my head to one side, asking him to move. It was a 'trust me' kind of look, one that he instantly picked up. He slowly moved away from the door, and I crept up to it, leaning my shoulder against it.

"Who is this?" I demanded, raising my voice loudly.

"This is Kemo, Mr Pegasus's personal bodyguard," the man said on the other end of the door. "I'm looking for a Mr Percy Jackson. According to Mr Pegasus and some of the satellite imagery we've been getting, he stays here at Yugi Muto's house. He wants an audience with you."

I looked at the others with a frown. He all looked just as confused and guarded as I was. What in Poseidon's name is Pegasus doing, asking me to come and meet him? According to Solomon and Yugi, as well as Joey and Teá, Pegasus is someone who could not be trusted. He had Kaiba, his little brother and Solomon's souls locked away in cards, in hopes of using them for some purpose. That, and he had an item that could do that - one that was lodged in his eye, replacing the original.

I looked back at the door. "If I open the door, you will not be violent in any way shape or form. Because if you do, you'll get the beating of your life. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear sir," the man said behind the door.

I took a deep breath and swung the door wide open. I was face to face with a tall guy wearing a black suit and sun glasses. His hair was gelled up to a single spike in his head, and his arms look as if they had enough strength to beat up ten guys at once.

"What does Pegasus want with me?" I asked.

"He wishes to speak to the man everyone is starting to call the Blue Eyes Duellist. I'd advise you to go, because Mr Pegasus will keep on asking you until you go."

I looked at Jason and Nico, who shrugged. Solomon was shaking his head slightly, silently telling me not to go. Yugi just stood there, emotionless. Finally deciding on what to do, I looked back at Kemo.

"Alright, I'll come with you," I told him. He was about to answer, but I held up a hand. "However, my friends Jason and Nico are coming with me. I won't go unless they come with me."

"Why would you want to bring them with you?" Kemo asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Let's just say that they're my bodyguards as well," I told him. "And if anything should happen to me, let's just say that you don't want to mess with them."

Kemo looked sceptical about what was being said, but to prove my point, Jason and Nico came up beside me and stood by me, their fists clenched as if expecting a fight.

Kemo just nodded, and waved his hands towards the limousine parked outside the Game Shop. I looked back at Yugi, exchanging a look with him. He nodded slightly, but didn't say anything. And with that, I walked into the limousine and the car door slammed shut.
==========

After driving for little under ten minutes, Kemo finally stopped the limo. I looked out the passenger side window, seeing that I was outside a tall private hotel.

It looked slightly grand, but none of that interested me. For all I knew, this was a place that only rich people go to. So why the hell would Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, want to meet me here of all places? Did he somehow know that I'm not wealthy and that he wanted to rub it into my face or something?

I stepped out of the limo, straightening my black jacket a bit. "And Pegasus wants to meet me here?" I asked Kemo as he tucked his keys away in his pocket.

"The building is closed down for the day, since Mr Pegasus asked the staff to have the day off," the bodyguard told me.

Suddenly, his earpiece buzzed, and he instantly placed a a hand over it. He held up one finger, and turned away, speaking to whoever was speaking to him

Jason came up to me and whispered quietly, "Okay, now I'm getting the feeling that this is turning out to be a trap - Pegasus asks the staff for a day off, meeting us here alone; he sends his loyal bodyguard to collect us; and he's talking in that earpiece, probably to he guy himself. Something doesn't feel right, Percy. I just know it."

I gave Nico a sideways look. "Do you agree with Jason, Nico?"

Nico nodded. "He's right. Something definitely feels off about this. I can feel it. Not the 'people dead thing', but something is wrong."

I nodded. "Okay, if anything happens, we bust the swords out. We got our weapons concealed in our pockets anyway. So if all goes wrong, you know what to do"

They nodded quickly, before Kemo turned back around.

"Alright, you are to head up to the very top of the building. Mr Pegasus is waiting for you there. He said that you should go up alone. Your friends are to remain here. No questions asked."

Without looking at my friends, I nodded and entered the building.
==========

Waiting in the elevator was annoying. Just like the one in Olympus, there was music playing on in the background and that got on my nerves. Like I really want to listen 'Raindrops keep falling on my head...' whilst going to the top of the building, which was at least thirty stories high at most.

To pass the time, I quickly looked through my deck. To say that I was still in awe of the deck was an understatement. I looked at the top card of my deck which was face up: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy Of The Beginning. Out of all the Warrior type monsters in my deck, I thought that this card had proved to be the best because it was just so powerful, and I thought that it kind've reminded me so much about what I was. I smiled slightly at the card, before the elevator dinged.

The doors opened and I instantly stepped out, feeling slightly nervous about meeting the creator of Duel Monsters. I looked to my right, then to my left. I had no idea where to go, so where was Pegasus?

I was about to give up, before a blaring light came from my deck. I looked at it with a frown, before I noticed that my Black Luster Soldier card was lit up. Before I knew it, a stream of energy flew out of the card and stopped in front of me. It changed form, and to my shock it turned into a transparent Black Luster Soldier, who looked down at me. He was at least 6'8 tall, so he was pretty huge.

"You're...how?" I stuttered.

Black Luster Soldier smiled. "You're a warrior, a hero of Olympus. I think you're use to seeing strange things by now," he said in a normal voice. It sounded pretty much like my voice, when I say brilliant stuff, but I couldn't help but smile internally at his sarcastic comment.

"But that doesn't explain how I can be able to see you in spirit form," I said. "So, what? You just appear in front of me from now on?"

Black Luster Soldier smiled and nodded. "I'm what you may call your spirit monster. Yugi Muto and his friend the Pharaoh has Dark Magician as theirs, so I thought that you could do with a Warrior as yours. Besides, I'm sure you might find me useful when the Battle City Tournament begins soon."

Yeah, that's the third time I heard of that. The Battle City Tournament that Kaiba was setting up. Apparently, in this tournament, you get to win your opponents rarest card after you beat him or her in a duel. According to Yugi, he plans on entering because it would be something to do. He asked if I should go, but I told him that I would think about it.

I nodded at the duel monster spirit. "Yeah, you will. You're mine after all. But first, we deal with Pegasus."

Black Luster Soldier nodded, before pointing down the hallway to the right. "He's down there. According to one of his fellow monsters in his deck, he's preparing himself for something."

I frowned before a look of realisation crossed my face. "He's preparing for a duel. Oh boy. I don't know how I can be able to stand up to him and his Toon monsters. According to Yugi, they're tough."

My Chaos monster patted my shoulder. Even though he was transparent, I could still feel the pat. "You can win. You have us in your deck after all." He indicated behind me and to the side of me.

I looked behind me, seeing the Dark Magician Of Chaos looking at me with a smile. Next to him was my Dark Magician, bowing his head in respect when I looked at him. To my right was one of my three Blue Eyes White Dragons, snarling at me in a friendly manner (I stroked its head gently, making it shiver from the contact slightly). And to my left, was a monster known as Mystic Swordsman LV6, who nodded at me, gripping his twin blades tightly.

I smiled gratefully. "Thanks you guys."

They bowed to me before vanishing, leaving me and Black Luster Soldier alone. Together, we walked down the hallway.
===========

"Ah, so you must be the famous Percy Jackson I've been hearing all about," Pegasus said as I entered his rented out apartment. Or by the looks of things, his new office.

The whole apartment looked massive to me - private terrace; huge balcony outside; massive bedroom and living room; king sized bathroom; and a massive work desk with couches in front of either side of it.

Pegasus sure looked like a businessman alright - he wore a dark red suit and matching trousers, with the tip of his white shirt peaking out of his jacket sleeves, he wore black shoes and a white bow tie. His hair was a greyish white, and it covered one of his eyes. His only revealed eye was a dark brown.

I nodded in greeting. "Mr Pegasus. What an honour."

I noticed that Black Luster Soldier didn't look pleased to see Pegasus. He looked at the creator of duel monsters with a look of disgust.

Pegasus - to my shock - looked at my spirit monster. He sighed. "I'm guessing that you're not pleased to see me, Black Luster Soldier?"

"That's Black Luster Soldier - Envoy Of The Beginning to you, Maxamillion Pegasus," my monster snapped. "After the stunt you pulled with Yugi Muto and everyone else three years ago, you've lost my respect."

Pegasus just nodded. "I understand. I made a stupid mistake, thinking that I could do those things." He turned to me, seeing the look of confusion on my face. "It's a long story, Percy Boy. One you don't need to hear. But I'm curious, you can see duel monster spirits as well, can't you?"

I nodded, still unsure. "Apparently I can according to Yugi and Black Luster Soldier here."

Pegasus winced at the mention of Yugi's name. "I figured that you would trust the word of Yugi Boy."

He shook his head. "But that's not the reason why I asked you to come. You are here because of something that everyone else is talking about. Apparently, you are the owner of a deck that is full of Blue Eyes Dragons. Is that correct?"

I instantly placed a protective hand over my deck case, the one that contained my Blue Eyes cards. "Yes, that's correct. But with all due respect, I'm not parting with the deck if that's what you're asking."

"Oh no, I'm not asking you to do that," Pegasus said reassuringly. "I am curious though - some of the cards you use are very unknown to me. May I see you deck? I promise I won't do anything to them. I simply want to check them."

I hesitated at first, but I gave up in the end. Who was I to ignore the very person who might have created them in the first place? I slowly pulled my deck out and placed it on his desk. He sat down and started to look at my cards, one by one.

"Hmm, some very powerful and rare cards in this deck indeed," he admitted. He looked at my Blue Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon. "And this is the card that some duellists state is your most used card. I can see why - with a double piercing damage ability, you might as well have won." He placed it down and looked at my Deep Eyes White Dragon. "Ah yes, I've heard about this monster. You used it in your duel against Seto Kaiba, which I must congratulate you on. Rarely anyone but Yugi wins against him." He looked ack at Deep Eyes. "Look at the artwork on this monster - so dazzling..."

On he went with every card, until he finally reached my most powerful monster - Blue Eyes Shining Dragon. "And here it is, your most rumoured powerful monster. Now this is a monster that I've been wanting to create. How it's design manage to get out is beyond me, but never mind. I'm glad that it's finally put into action. The greatest Blue Eyes Dragon in your deck. And to gain a thousand attack points for every individual dragon in your graveyard...that makes it even more unbeatable."

He placed the card face up on my deck, before handing it back to me. "I must admit that it's a little overpowered, but I can see that you have ways around that. Tell me, how did you come across this deck? I know for a fact that some of these cards are ones that I was meaning to create soon, but I never would've thought that they were already out. Plus, I thought that there were only four Blue Eyes White Dragons in existence."

I told him everything, leaving out the details of me being a demigod - that I found the deck inside a crater that crashed outside my home in a forest nearby. That my Blue Eyes Shining Dragon appeared in front of me, Jason and Nico and somehow transported us here, where we met Yugi who took us in.

"Hmm, interesting..." Pegasus admitted. "I might need to research on this dragon, because I remember when I first discovered the Blue Eyes White Dragon tablet back in Egypt that there were markings that told of different forms. I might contact my friends in Cairo about that. But for now, I must ask something of you."

I held up my hand. "I know what you're going to say. Black Luster Soldier told me that you were preparing for a duel. And before you ask me how he knew, let's just say that one of your Toon monsters told him."

Pegasus nodded. "And? Are you interested?"

I thought about it, looking at my spirit monster friend, who nodded. "Yeah, I'm up for it."

Pegasus gave me a small smile. "In that case, lets go to the arena above us and...how do you say it - get our game faces on."

"Hey, that's my catchphrase," I pointed a finger at him sternly.

Pegasus chuckled, before we left his apartment and took the elevator on the other side of the hallway. We went up an additional two flights of stairs before we found ourselves on the roof of the building.

In front of me was what looked long a duel ring. I could tell that it was something that Yugi and Joey used in their time at Duellist Kingdom - a platform with two separate stations for each duellist. On the four corners of the platform were two lights that would project the holographic images of the cards, which was the same for the duelling field.

I stepped inside the blue tinted side of the duelling platform, bringing my deck out. "Pegasus, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Why, of course I am, Percy Boy," Pegasus said, standing at his station and bringing his deck out. "I want to see just how powerful your deck is. But if it's all the same to you, I'll be using my Toon World deck as it also happens to the one I'm closest too."

I nodded. "Okay. I've heard about this deck, and that it's not easy to beat. But I'm not even phased by it, so bring it on, Pegasus."

He nodded and placed his deck down on his duelling table. "Okay then, let's begin this duel."

I nodded, before placing my deck to my right. "Pegasus, it's time to get your game face on."

"Game on!" we both said, drawing five cards each.

"I'll do the honours this round," Pegasus said, drawing a card. He smiled widely. "And for this round, I think it's time for some fun. By sacrificing a thousand of my Life Points, you're about to enter a fabulous world, Percy Boy. A world of absolute mayhem. Welcome Percy...to Toon World!"

Pink smoke covered his side of the field, and emerging from the pink smoke was what looked like a kids pop-up green book. It spun in the air for a moment, before it opened with an explosion of more pink smoke. When the smoke cleared, the book was open and it looked like a tiny village with a graveyard in the background.

"Let the fun begin," Pegasus announced with a playful smile.

I actually chuckled. "So this is Toon World? Gods, if my daughter Zoe was here right now, she would've loved this."

"You have a daughter, eh?" Pegasus said, surprised.

I nodded. "She loves watching cartoons in her spare time - honestly, the amount of times she made me and my wife watch the Looney Toons is tiring work. Don't get me wrong, I like the Looney Toons, but I don't watch a lot of TV."

"Fair enough," Pegasus said. "But why stop right there? Since Toon World is on the field as a continuous spell card, I get to summon the Toon Gemini Elf in attack mode!"

With an explosion of graffiti and pink smoke, two laughing women in blue dress appeared, one with brown hair and the other with blonde hair. They stood with their backs against each other, smiling and laughing like crazy at me.

(Toon Gemini Elf - 1900/900)

"And to end my turn, I place one card facedown."

"Alright then, its my turn! I draw!" I said, drawing my sixth card.

I checked out my hand: Silent Swordsman LV2, Level Up!, Cancel Out, Block Attack, Negate Attack and Pot Of Greed.

"First off, I'm summoning Mystic Swordsman LV2 in attack mode," I announced, picking my Warrior type monster out of my hand.

The image of the card showed a little guy, maybe a eight year old kid, holding a singular sword in both his hands, wearing white clothing with a pointed hood on top of his head.

(Mystic Swordsman - 900/0)

"Then, I play the spell card called Level Up! This lets me level up my Mystic Swordsman LV2, which means I get to sacrifice him for Mystic Swordsman LV4."

A new Mystic Swordsman appeared, and this one looked like he aged by ten years, since he was in his late teen years. He wore the same white clothing, but he had patches of blue in it. This time, he carried two swords instead of one, and he stood at a height of 6'2.

(Silent Swordsman LV4 - 1900/1600)

"Next, I activate the magic card called Block Attack. This card switches the position of your monster from attacking to defending, which means that with its defence power of nine hundred points, it's weaker than my monster."

"That might be true, but you're forgetting one thing: my monster can't be destroyed as long as Toon World is on the field," Pegasus explained. "It will simply dodge your Mystic Swordsman's attack."

"Oh really?" I asked sarcastically, picking another card out of my hand. "You'll be changing your mind after I play this magic card - Cancel Out!" (Made up)

This card showed an image of a green magic card, with an 'ERROR!' sign on it.

"Thanks to this card, your Toon World is considered as not available for the rest of this turn, so that means that your twin ladies over there are gonna get it," I explained with a smirk.

"You what?" Pegasus gasped. His twin elf monster shrieked in dismay and horror.

"Mystic Swordsman, attack his Toon Gemini Elf with Sword Volley Assault!"

My Swordsman rushed forward, and with a grunting yell he slashed his twins swords in a undercut slash, making the twin elf card explode into pink dust.

"My precious Toons!" Pegasus exclaimed.

"And there's more where that came from, Pegasus," I said, picking up my deck and picking out one of the cards. "Since my Swordsman managed to destroy a monster this turn, I get to level him up again, meaning that I can sacrifice him to summon this: Mystic Swordsman LV6!"

My LV4 Swordsman vanished, only to be replaced by another taller Swordsman. This one was 6'5 feet tall, with white and darker blue clothes, carrying longer and bigger twin swords that glowed sky blue. He sported gold armour pieces on his wrists, knees and chest.

(Mystic Swordsman LV6 - 2300/1700)

"Next up, I play Pot Of Greed which means I get two cards from my deck," I said, drawing my two cards (Attack Guidance Armour and Monster Reborn which brought a smile to my face). "Next, I place two cards facedown for later.

I placed Negate Attack and Attack Guidance Armour facedown waiting for Pegasus.

"Well, this is turning out to be an effort here, Percy Boy," Pegasus admitted with an impressed look on his face. "You've managed to wipe out one of my beloved Toon Monsters, but in this duel you'll need more than cancel out effect cards to stop my Toons. This game has just begun!"

To Be Continued...