I'm tired… this is going to take a while, isn't it? Well, at least the plot gears are turning. I hope to drag out the Minotaur's Maze for another chapter after this, but I have no idea how much I can fit. I suppose I'm about to find out.
Yugi sat alone at a t-intersection in the maze. "Work," he said to his puzzle. "Work," he repeated for the thousandth time. Yugi was trying to see the solution to the maze with the Millennium Puzzle. "I guess it doesn't work that way," he decided. Then he figured it out. "`Power of Unity,` duh!" Yugi closed his eyes. He peered through the darkness. He could sift through the shadows, now he just had to find his friends. Yugi could see it now! His friend Dan! But something else, a figure? "Dan, look out!" he shouted. He got up and sped down the hall to his left.
"This is for having the gall to attack me," Kaiba said as he watched his Battle Ox close stealthily on Dan. Kaiba was stunned that his foe couldn't notice the two ton robot bull approaching him. What a fool.
"I know I heard something, Dan," Drago said watching Dan's back, because he wouldn't.
"You worry too much, Drago," Dan dismissed, "This is just a big maze Keba thinks well get lost forever in or something." Kaiba lost his temper and took control of the Minotaur himself. The beast charged Dan at full speed.
"Then what do you call that?" Drago said, regretting that he was right.
Dan turned just in time to dodge the axe. He leapt out of the way but was unable to land on his feet. "I call it big trouble!"
"Less jokes, more running!"
Dan got to his knee before the Ox readied as second attack. Just then an arm looped around his and Dan was pulled to safety in time.
"Are you okay?" a highish voice asked.
"Yugi!" Dan and Drago asked in unison.
"Yugi?!" Kaiba exclaimed, examining the image as closely as he could. It was Yugi! God damn Yugi!! Kaiba couldn't believe his eyes. What were the odds of Yugi showing up right at that moment? Astronomical, to say the least! Kaiba looked more closely at the scene. Then he saw it, that infernal Millennium Puzzle! That had to be the tool of Yugi's miraculous rescue.
Yugi and Dan bolted down the hall with the Minotaur crashing its way after them. "How did you find me?" Dan asked short of breath.
"Tell you later, keep running!"
"I see wisdom in his advice, Daniel."
The Minotaur chased the pair all around the maze for a good twenty minutes. Yugi didn't think he could run that long. Fear is a great motivator.
Meanwhile, Atem, Alice and Shun were having problems of their own. Atem's wound was still bleeding badly. He was starting to feel light headed and had trouble walking. This did nothing to help Mahado's nerves. He was still frantically floating about in a panic. Alice was still apologizing almost as profusely as Atem was bleeding, and Atem was still insisting that it was his own fault. That left Shun to help Atem along the maze and keep an eye out for the Minotaur and listen to the soap opera next to him unfold.
"Enough!" Shun finally said. "Mahado, dashing around ranting about how `you failed your king` causes more problems then it solves. Alice, Atem's condition is not your fault. If you must blame someone, I suggest the deranged megalomaniac that locked us in a gigantic maze with the bloodthirsty mechanical bull from hell. And Atem, do you think you could help me out with the little matter of finding the #%$*&$ exit?" That all came out in one breath. Everyone stood still as Shun caught his breath.
Alice had never heard any of her friends curse. "Sorry…" she said quietly.
"Stop apologizing!" Shun snapped, "What did I just say?!"
Atem propped himself on a wall, "Calm down, Shun," he said in a surprisingly relaxed tone, "Yelling at each other isn't helping out cause either."
Mahado was finally something close to calm how. "We have to find some real medical supplies and treat his highness's wound."
"I don't think Kaiba's going to have a bag with a red cross on it for the `players` to find," Hydranoid chimed in, "This isn't a video game, ya' know."
"Not necessarily," Shun thought out loud, "Before I ran into you two, I found a treasure chest."
"What was in it?" Alice asked.
"It was a trap," Skyrus said, "Shun was careful to open the lock at a distance. Good thing he did or he might not be alive right now."
"You picked the lock at a distance?" Hydranoid asked skeptically.
"When we find one, I'll show you."
"You mean if we find one," Atem said. He was starting to lose his sight and could barely stand.
"We have to find one!" Alice said with a renewed passion. She grabbed Atem's arm and slung it over her shoulder. She rushed off, leading the weakened Atem down the path with Shun, nursing his worsening head ache, in toe.
Elsewhere, Yugi and Dan were……… still running!
After a short hike, Alice found what she was looking for. "I found one!" she called back to Shun.
"G-good job… Alice," Atem said. He closed his eyes and his body went limp.
"Atem?" Alice cried,"Please wake up, Atem!"
Shun rushed to their side. He placed his fingers on Atem's neck, "We're losing him, he's dieing."
Atem snapped back to life, "No I'm not!" he said shooting an irritated look at Shun, than Atem returned to his comatose state.
Alice and Shun looked to the other for an answer to Atem's behavior. Mahado spoke up, "He's trying to lower his heart rate so he doesn't lose as much blood."
"Oh, that's so smart!" Alice praised, then she remembered Atem was out cold.
"So let's see you pick a lock from over here," Hydranoid said to Shun.
Shun walked up to the chest and drove a knife into the lock.
"That's what I thought."
"Quiet, Hydranoid!" Alice scolded.
Shun tied thin wire to the hilt of the knife. He walked, wire in hand to the others. "Watch and learn." He jerked the wire up and out, the knife followed. The lock of the chest clicked open.
Inside the chest were food, water, and medical supplies (in a bag with a red cross).
"That Kaiba kid's nuts!" Hydranoid said.
"I think the term is `eccentric,`" Atem said in pained sarcasm. Alice bandaged up Atem's right hand.
Shun tossed a bottle of water to Atem, "Drink that," he said.
"I'm not thirsty, someone else should have it," Atem suggested.
"You're dehydrated from blood loss, drink." Reluctantly, Atem complied.
"But what if it's poison?" Alice asked concerned.
"Kaiba won't poison something locked in a treasure chest that might have been boobie trapped, trust me," Atem said between sips.
After a while, Atem got tired of waiting. Shun and Mahado wanted him to rest longer but Atem claimed to be fine. Alice tried to stop the arguing, but her voice never got any louder then a whisper. Everyone suddenly got quiet. They heard something… footsteps? Suddenly Yugi and Dan rounded the corner and ran down the hall at full speed.
"Yugi! Where have you…" Atem started. Yugi just ran by without even slowing.
"Talk later! Run now!!!"
The Minotaur rounded the corner and continued after Yugi and Dan. Alice, Sun and Atem saw it fit to promptly follow.
After several more minutes of running, Yugi and the others hit a dead end.
"What do we do now?" Alice asked in desperation.
Everyone, including Kaiba, who was controlling the Minotaur was out of breath and exhausted. The Minotaur closed in to finish off the players.
Double digits!! Some stories on this sight don't even get this far! But I make this solemn pledge here and now that I will finish, at the very least, the main story. I even intend to do other "seasons" with new unique story lines. But the I am Darkness ark is going to be finished come hell or high water, so help me.