Yuya was gasping for breath when he saw the open door.

"In here!" he shouted back to Kirtida in his broken English.

She was lagging behind him, her face flushed and lips fluttering as she gasped for breath. He managed to grab her hand and half dragged her into the next room, slamming the door shut behind them. He only understood half of the words that Kirtida was shouting at him but he got as much as "that's not going to stop it from getting to us."

"I know, I know, I know," he said.

But he needed something, anything—he needed something for a new strategy. He whipped around to examine the room, his eyes roving over it. It wasn't the small side room that he had expected, he thought with a jolt. It was a giant warehouse room like the one where Yusei had found that robot. Rows upon rows of metal shelves packed tightly with boxes—some were simply cardboard, but others a thick, dark metal that glowered at him with the possibilities of what could be inside.

"Where are we?" he asked. "What's this room?"

He squinted at the boxes but with his brain all scattered it was impossible to make sense of the English characters. Kirtida read something out loud, a word that Yuya wasn't sure had a translation or not—Wondertainment? It sounded like "entertainment," which he understood, but it had a weird sound at the beginning that he couldn't make sense of. He thought maybe he had heard that word before...

"What?" he said, looking at her. "What—what does that mean?"

Speaking English while he was so worked up was so hard! He could barely remember what everything meant and translating was impossible as Kirtida chattered nervously at him, wringing her hands together and shifting from foot to foot as she pointed at some of the boxes and said that word, Wondertainment, several more times. He remembered, then, where he had heard it before. Luelle had said something about it—oh! The Super Paper! It was the guy that had made the super paper. What did that Dr. Wondertainment guy have to do with this room, though?

"I-I don't know what that means—"

And then the wall exploded. Kirtida screamed. She pushed Yuya out of the wall of the raining debris—a piece or two still bounced painfully off of his head and he thought he felt something warm begin to trickle down his forehead. He stumbled back and landed heavily on the ground. Shelves swayed, boxes groaned, he had just enough presence of mind to grab Kirtida beside him and roll over on top of her as the shelf came down with a shrieking groan towards them.

There was a resounding crash as the shelf crashed together against the one behind it, sending that one tumbling down. A scream ripped from Yuya's throat as boxes rained down over their heads, a metal one crashing point down to the ground inches from Yuya's face and then spinning across the floor. More than one box toppled on top of Yuya and he could have sworn that the giant metal shelf was going to come down on them next as he heard it creaking and crashing above their heads—

Things quieted. Settled.

Yuya's ears rang. He was still tangled up with Kirtida's small frame. He could feel her heart beat fluttering ridiculously fast against his chest—or was that his own heart? He could hear the blood pulsing in his ears clearly in the sudden ringing silence after that crash. Was there—he thought he could hear a commotion in the hall outside but with the buzzing in his head he couldn't understand what the sounds meant. Dust coated his throat when he tried to take a breath and he started to cough, his entire body shaking and wracking with each movement. Kirtida appeared to be pushing at him, speaking in that rapid English that his brain currently couldn't focus enough to understand. Did she want him to get off of her?

He rose slowly, still coughing as the dust stirred from his passing. Kirtida managed to wriggle up to a hunched sitting position, and Yuya understood why when he tried to sit up and bumped his head against a metal shelf.

His blood chilled—they had been—too close.

The metal shelf had fallen just inches from where they had fallen, stopped from crushing them by landing on top of the fallen shelf behind it. They were hunched, now, underneath the one shelf unit leaning on the other, boxed in by the contents of the shelves that had crumpled to the ground. Most of the boxes were still intact, but some of them had thrown up their contents across the ground: a strange assortment of things, like party poppers, boxes of airplane model pieces, wrapped candies. Things that he wouldn't have thought of as uncertain and strange if he hadn't known what kind of place this was. He tried to avoid touching anything as he situated himself and checked himself over mentally for any broken or bruised bones.

"A-are you okay?" he asked, and then realized he was speaking Japanese again and tried to repeat the sentence in English.

Kirtida at least understood what he was trying to say and she nodded, eyes wide. She said something that he didn't understand, reaching out to touch his forehead. Her fingers came away with blood and he blinked dust from his eyes. Was he actually bleeding? He touched his forehead experimentally and found his hair matted with the warm stickiness. The debris must have cut him somewhere under his hairline. He didn't even feel any pain though—he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not Was it not very bad, or was he simply not feeling it because of shock and adrenaline?

Either way it didn't matter—they had to try and get themselves out of here.

Now that Yuya's hearing was starting to clear from the ringing explosion, he could hear the crashing and hissing of the fight that was going on outside. He tried to peer through their fenced in prison, between the shelves and the dust and the darkness. There was movement in the hall—a huge rent torn in the wall between the warehouse room and the hallway. He caught a glimpse of Judai's strange wings, and was—was that the guy from the cube, too? He couldn't tell if Cain was there as well but there was definitely a fight. Something big had ripped through here and almost killed them in the explosion.

Yuya swallowed. He reached for Kirtida's hand.

"We—get out of here," he said, stumbling over the words. "Try—" But he couldn't remember how to say "that way" and just nodded in the direction behind Kirtida. There was no getting around Yuya's way—there was a giant metal box wedged tightly between the floor and the fallen shelving unit and there was no way he was going to be able to make it through that. There were still some boxes left on the shelves, too, so there was no slipping out between an empty shelving unit. They would have to find somewhere else to get out.

Kirtida nodded. She understood what he was trying to say. Her small frame benefited her now as she turned around and began to crawl forward, carefully pushing what boxes she could out of the way. Yuya followed on his his hands and knees. He wasn't too much bigger than Kirtida, but trying to fit himself between the shelving unit and the boxes as they crawled towards freedom was more difficult than he wanted to admit. He kept checking the unit beside them, hoping there would be an empty enough place for them to slip between the shelves and crawl out on top of the wreckage.

He realized vaguely that he had lost his origami gun somewhere in the commotion. He was weaponless again—his little box of shuriken had opened and spilled too, so he only had one left.

Kirtida stopped then, and Yuya already knew why before she started talking in words that he couldn't quite grasp. They were stuck. She couldn't get any farther.

Yuya growled under his breath, feeling panic rise up in his chest and trying to mask it with frustration. He turned over on his back and tried to push at some of the boxes still on the shelves with his feet, attempting to push them out of the way so they could crawl free. No good. The boxes were wedged tight, or too heavy to move. Kirtida's eyes glittered with fear—Yuya attempted to smile at her, but he could barely think for the panic himself.

Okay. Breathe. He needed to find a way out of this. What were their options? He needed options.

He still had part of that wonder paper. He could unfold the shuriken and try to make something else. A knife? To cut themselves free? He didn't know how to fold an origami knife, though. He could remake his gun but trying to blow themselves free was probably not a good idea.

Was there anything in the boxes they could use? He was a little wary of the strange collection of items, but thinking back to that super paper, maybe there was something in this mess...

He looked around at the pieces that had spilled from a few burst boxes. He saw a top hat and a stack of party hats, a box that appeared to be a toy set of some kind of zoo, a scarf that was curling in on itself sluggishly like some kind of snake—

Yuya flinched back, pushing Kirtida behind him at the sight of the scarf. Kirtida yelped and tried to peer over his shoulder.

That thing was definitely moving, Yuya thought. At one point he thought he could be imagining it, but at his movement he thought he saw one fringed end perk up. Like a snake's head—was it a snake? No, it was definitely a scarf, a blue and black striped thing made of a thin, almost fraying cottony fabric, with dangling fringes on both ends. It moved slowly, as though it were confused, or tired. Yuya wasn't trusting it though, and watched with his heart hammering in his chest as it seemed to roll itself up into a thin line. It started to slither about then, moving into...a letter? It was spelling out a letter in English. Yuya's brain was still racing by the word was easy enough for him to understand in his head.

HI?

Yuya blinked.

"H-hello?" he said in English. "Can you...hear me?"

The scarf hesitated. Then it began to slither again, forming each letter with its length seperately.

YES.

It took Yuya a few moments to construct the sentence he wanted to ask in his head and translate it to English.

"What...are you?"

The scarf immediately began to move.

SCARF.

Well. Either it was incredibly literal, or he had a smartass on his hands. He glanced back at Kirtida. She shrugged, clearly as confused as he was. Yuya ran his tongue over his dry, cracked lips.

"Where did you come from?"

The scarf curled into the letters one a time and Yuya struggled to remember each letter.

BOX.

Yuya hesitated. Clearly, the scarf didn't really understand what Yuya was asking. It was kind of like talking to a small child. Yuya shifted onto his hands and knees, leaning tentatively towards the scarf. Kirtida's hands curled into his jacket and half tugged him back. At the back of his consciousness, he recognized that the sounds of the fighting were getting closer and closer. He could hear shouting and hissing and screeching and crashing. The sound of claws scraping across the wall. His mind flickered to that long armed creature that killed everyone that saw its face. Where was Yusei now? And where had Yuma gone? Where they all safe or was that creature done with them already, headed for Yuya and Kirtida next. He had to find a way out of here, and here he was sitting and talking to a scarf.

"Okay, I'm—we have to try and find a way out of here. So I'm..."

The scarf started moving again. Frantically, barely holding each letter for more than a fraction of a second. Yuya almost missed a few letters.

DON'T GO.

"W-we have to get out of here, it's dangerous..."

LONELY.

Yuya hesitated. Kirtida tugged on his jacket.

"Yuya, we have to go," she said.

"I know, I know..."

But his eyes kept being drawn by the scarf. He knew he should be afraid of it—maybe it would choke him to death if he put it on, like every other damn dangerous thing in this place. And yet...there was something endearing about it. Something sweet, innocent, frightened, about the way that it seemed to tremble slightly.

Against his better judgment, he reached out and gently lifted the scarf into his hands. Kirtida yelped with protest as immediately the scarf seemed to snap around his arm and tightened like some kind of boa constrictor. Yuya gasped—fuck, fuck, fuck, he was so dumb, why had he done that, next thing he knew it was going to slither up to his neck and strangle him—

But then it relaxed its grip, settling to a comfortable twisting around his arm. He thought, for a moment, that he could hear it sigh in the back of its head, an echoey sort of sound that rippled through him.

He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, let's try and—" he started.

And then Judai was flung into the room and crashed into the shelf, sending some boxes tumbling over their heads. Yuya threw his arm over Kirtida's head and they both dropped with a cry, trying to shield themselves from the rain of debris. The shelf groaned ominously over their heads—if they didn't get out of here soon, they were going to be crushed!

Through the slats of boxes Yuya could see Judai's red jacket, his eerie demonic wings flaring frantically as he staggered back to his feet. Did Judai know they were down there? Could he help?

Yuya's voice was hoarse and almost too quiet.

"Judai," he gasped. "Judai!"

"Judai!" Kirtida said, her own voice barely loud enough for even Yuya to hear. There was no way he would be able to hear them!

But inexplicably, he flinched at the sounds of their voices and whipped around. Yuya gasped for a moment as he caught a glimpse of Judai's glowing, bichromatic eyes—one a brilliant green, the other a deep orange. He shook his head, then—it was no more odd than the fact that he was sprouting wings and scales and fangs, so it was something that could be thought about later. Judai was definitely on their side and they needed help.

"Down here," Yuya gasped. "We're in here!"

"Yuya? Kirtida? Hell, you two, how did you—"

There was a roar of anger and Judai had to whip around to meet the swinging blade of Able charging into the room. Judai stumbled backwards and almost hit into the shelves but Yuya could see him wheeling his arms and trying to stop from crashing into the unit again. Now that he knew they were under there, he was trying to make sure they didn't get hurt! The action caused Judai to go open for a moment and Yuya thought he saw the shadow blade slash across Judai's chest.

He almost screamed but the sound died in his throat. Oh god, no, Judai, if he hadn't known they were down there he could have jumped onto the unit and protected himself, but he was trying to protect them and now he was staggering to his knees and Yuya was stuck and couldn't do anything—

He felt heat blossom at his side and thought, out of the corner of his eyes, that he saw Kirtida's eyes blazing orange and red like glowing embers. She screamed, a rage-filled sound as the heat washed over Yuya. He was already sweating and he could see the metal melting over their heads and if this kept up Kirtida was going to bury them in melted metal or at the very least burn Yuya to a crisp—he had to get them out of here right now—

The scarf twitched on his arm. That was when he felt it—the twitter of a voice at the back of his head. Or—not really a voice, but the concept of a voice, a scatter of images that seemed to mean something. He got the impression of the shelf disappearing, gone from their immediate area, the pair of them standing up straight and free.

Yes, yes we need the shelf moved away, we need it gone so we can get out!

The concept of a voice fluttered at the back of his head. He got the image of someone nodding their head and smiling. Then the image of a big buff man pushing the shelf out of the way.

We don't have one of those—

But then the images shifted slightly, showing Yuya, with the scarf on his arm, moving the shelf up.

I'm—I'm not strong enough for that...

The scarf in the image was twisting up and wrapping around the shelf, pushing it back.

Can you...do that?

An image of Yuya, then.

You need me to help.

The picture of a head nodding up and down.

I don't know...how...

And then he saw, swinging at the back of his head, his pendulum. It was a complex concept that the scarf was trying to tell him—because it was the scarf, he realized, the scarf was talking to him in his head—but he understood immediately. Possibilities. Yuya had to open up possibilities for the scarf with his power.

It was so odd, such a feeling that he couldn't put words too, only the image of the pendulum swinging back and forth in his head. The scarf was offering him possibilities. He just had to help it out a little.

His eyes fluttered shut. He could feel the fabric of the scarf tight around his arm, feel the soft pulsing of some strange form of life within it. He could see his pendulum swinging in his mind's eye. Swing, back and forth, back and forth, all these bad things happening had sent them spinning one way, but now it was time...

Time for the pendulum to swing the other way.

Yuya's eyes opened. He felt something knew burning in his chest, felt something within him attach to the scarf. He raised up his arm, and as though it were a part of his own limb, sent the scarf outward, stretching longer than it should be able to, wrapping around one of the shelves above him and then pushing.

Yuya let out a cry, feeling his soul wrench inside of him. The shelves groaned, he felt Kirtidia's heat falter with her surprise, and then Yuya and the scarf were pushing, pushing, pushing, lifting the shelf up, enough for them to slip through between the boxes.

"Go!" Yuya shouted.

Kirtida only hesitated for a second. She crawl quickly past the box they hadn't been able to pass before. For a moment, Yuya thought that he was going to be stuck too. But then the scarf seemed to nudge him on, and he realized that he could stretch it even farther. He crawled forward, the scarf stretching along with him like some kind of retractable dog leash.

Kirtida was already scrambling free of the shelves. She turned around quickly to grab Yuya's outstretch free hand and help yank him free. As soon as Yuya was clear, he gasped, withdrawing the scarf with a snap. The shelves crashed down again and this time it crumpled downward completely—if they had been in there, they would have been crushed. Yuya shuddered with the idea. In the back of his head, there was an image of someone hugging someone else. Was the scarf comforting him? This was so weird.

Judai was still grappling with Able at the other side of the warehouse. Judai whipped Able into the wall with a cry, sending him crashing through the wall.

"Judai!" Yuya shouted. But Judai couldn't seem to hear him this time, staggering back and preparing for Able to launch himself back through. Where was Cain? Wasn't Cain fighting this guy too? What had happened that Yuya had missed?

"Yuya! Kirtida!"

Yuya's eyes snapped to the door. Yuma was there, eyes wide. Behind him stood a strange little man, pale skinned and wrinkled with his white hair poking out at odd intervals around his face. Kirtida was the first to react, grabbing Yuya and dragging him across the hall to Yuma. Yuya gripped Yuma's shoulder as both of them gasped for breath.

"You're okay, thank god," Yuya said. "Where's Yusei?"

"I don't know, I thought he might have caught up with you already—" Yuma said.

The scarf on Yuya's arm perked up. He got the image of a fatherly sort of figure at the back of his head, and his eyes lifted up to the old man. The old man's eyes lit up at the sight of the scarf.

"Scarf!" he cried, reaching out as the scarf poked its head happily into the man's hand. "You found Scarf! And oh my, it seems to like you quite a lot young man! What's your name?"

"W-who are you?" Yuya asked. He glanced at Yuma, who shrugged helplessly.

Scarf hadn't released Yuya yet but it curled itself around the man's hand and almost seemed to purr, like a cat rubbing against its owner after they had been away for a long time. The man smiled happily and then glanced at Yuya.

"Ah, right! Dr. Wondertainment, at your service. You don't know how grateful I am that you found Scarf, really, I'll have to tell you—later, about how grateful I am, since we should probably be going, yes?"

And then he gathered up all three staring people in his grip and herded them into the hallway away from the chaos of Judai and Able's fight.

"Wait—" Yuya said. "You're Dr. Wondertainment?"