Sam: Okay, disclaimer as usual, I dont' own any of the characters except for afew Darians and the story!

Chapter 5: The Black Cat

Ryou walked for a good 30 minutes till eh came to the forest's edge.

He slowly walked the path leading in, and soon came to a gate like place.

Vines grew around trees, up and wrapped around the branches, then around themselves when they met in the middle, creating an arch.

He gasped as black smoke or dust circled around under the arch and a with with purple hair, and three eyes stood there. (It's the Witch of the Black Forest)

Ryou swallowed and walked a step closer. "halt!" The Witch commanded. Ryou did as told. The witch then said her riddle, a gloomy tune in her voice.

"I cannot be heard,

Cannot make sound,

I lay behind stones

And under the hill,

And empty holes I fill,

What am I?"

Ryou closed his eyes and thought hard. 'I swear I've heard that riddle... But I was sure it was longer...' Ryou thought for a long while, the witch became annoyed and hissed. "Have you the answer?!"

Ryou jumped at the force of the question. "Half a moment! Let em think!" "What is the answer!?" Ryou growled. "Give me some time!"

The witch growled, and Ryou knew if eh didn't answer the riddle soon, he'd be in trouble. Suddenly, he remembered!

"The answer is Dark, or Darkness!" The witch screamed like someone had poured boiling oil on her. "You wretch!" She screamed and disappeared.

Ryou sighed and went on in. The Shadow forest was well named, there was very little sunlight, and the only light that came threw the trees shine don the path.

Ryou walked for many hours, doing his best to try and not get terrified out of his wits by anything too creepy.

He saw a tree actually breathing once or twice and knew those most have been Darians. Spiders and other sorts of bugs as big as his palm crawled around not eh ground and trees. There was plenty of sounds, of bugs, the wind the trees snoring...

At one point Ryou felt a bit tired and decided to take a rest somewhere. He came to a clearing then, a brook was there. He sat down and took a few sips. "Oh my... Knocker was right. The water's wonderful!" Ryou said quietly to himself.

After awhile, Ryou noticed something. "It's so quiet..." He whispered. In fact, it was so quiet, he could hear himself breathing. He stood and held his staff in a defensive position. "Who's there?" he said.

Ryou saw something rustle in the bushes. Ryou turned to ti. "Come on out! I know your there!" He tensed as the bushes rustled some more. He prepared for the worst.

Then, out of the bushes, comes out... a cat! But not any kind of cat, a large cat, it was black as knight... well almost, there were some strange colored marks on it's paws and forehead. They were colored a light purple, almost magenta color.

Ryou stayed silent as it limped into the clearing. It's front paw was cut badly, and it had other wounds all over it's body. The cat made a sorta growl/meowing sound and padded up to him, rubbing against his leg. "What? S-stay away!" Ryou said, stepping back a few steps.

The cat looked hurt, then it seemed to notice something about Ryou... like it had mistaken him for someone else. Joe hopped off Ryou's shoulder and ran over to the large cat.

Joe sniffed at the creature, and the creature leaned down, and gave her a lick. The cat meowed happily and rubbed up against it's leg.

Ryou swallowed and slowly knelt in front of the creature. "I haven't seen anything like you before!" He whispered. The large cat sniffed him, his whiskers tickling Ryou's neck, making him giggle.

It purred and rubbed against Ryou's chest. "Are you a Darian?" The cat made a dangerous noise, almost enraged. He crawled back, frightened by it's out burst.

The cat realized it's mistake and went over to Ryou and rubbed against him. Ryou sighed and stroked it's head. "Come on. Let's clean those wounds." Ryou said and walked over to the brook, Joe and the Large cat following.

The cat sat down and watched Ryou intently as the boy ripped off a part of his cloak and soaked it in the clear water. After letting it soak for a minute, Ryou turned to the cat. "It would do better if it were hot, but..." Ryou leaned down and was about to start cleaning it's paw when he said. "This may sting, so try to hold still."

The cat growled in pain as the boy cleaned his wounds carefully. Joe licked the cat's other paw to try and comfort him. The large animal purred at this.

After cleaning the wounds, Ryou was a bit surprised to find the wounds were healing. "What on earth?" He then looked at the water, then at the cat. "Do you think it was the water that did that?" Ryou asked.

The cat made a sort of nod, to mean he confirmed what Ryou asked. Ryou gaped. "can you understand me?" The cat nodded again. "Huh, go figure..." Joe meowed and jumped up onto Ryou's shoulder.

"Well, we have to go. Me and Joe are looking for a friend, he was taken by the Blue Eyes White Dragon, Kisara." The cat growled at the name, dragon.

Ryou stroked it's fur. "Your welcome. Well, see ya." And Ryou walked off.

He and Joe walked for a few more hours, when Ryou heard a strange noise. "What on earth is that?" He said.

Sam: I know, I know, it's shorter then usual, maybe, btu I couldn't think of naything else at the moment, and if your wondering whats happening to Yugi, You'll have to wait till the next chapter! Mua ha ha ha!