Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or Mulan

Chapter 20

Lucky Escape

The snow began to rise, and as it did, the expressions on the faces of Jim, Aster and Chazz grew more and more shocked. The three started running again, running to jump behind a huge slanted rock. The rest of the soldiers were hidden underneath. The rock was sloped so the snow would go over it and pass over them, letting them not be caught in it. Just a few metres in front of the large rock was a huge drop of a cliff.

Chazz and Jim made it safely over the rock, and Aster managed to trip on the way there. He got back up instantly and leaped over the rock and was almost carried away by the force of the snow, but Jim caught him in time and pulled him back.

The soldiers, and Crowler, huddled together and watched the snow pour over the cliff's edge, unforgiving in its force.

Meanwhile …

"Jaden!" Atticus called! The dragon was travelling down on top of the rushing snow, on a shield, searching for the female. "Jaden!"

He spotted a tuft of brown hair poking out of the snow.

"Jaden?" he said hopefully, yanking it up.

An angry, brown haired fiend yelled. Atticus pushed the head back under the snow.

"Nope" he said. He scanned around again and called. "Jaden!"

Travelling down the snow at a fast pace, Atticus spotted two antennas poking up through the snow, and he grinned, reaching out to pull up the owner.

Syrus hung limp in Atticus hand by his antennae.

"Man, you are one lucky bug" Atticus grinned.

And the two continued down the snowy route, looking for Jaden.

Further down towards the others, Jaden managed to get the horse to break free of the hold of the snow, and she fought against its force. But then she looked back, and saw that Jesse had been knocked unconscious and was being carried away by the force of the snow. There was a cliff in the same direction.

"Jesse!" she called, turning the horse to follow him. Reaching the unconscious captain, she pulled him up onto the horse and lay him in front of her.

Meanwhile, Aster, Chazz and Jim were trying to find Jesse and Jaden.

Jim had Aster on his shoulders, and Aster had Chazz on his shoulders. Chazz had a bow and arrow - the arrow tied with a long piece of rope - in his hands.

"Do you see them?" Jim called to Chazz. He heard Chazz gasp a little.

"Yes" Chazz shouted.

Chazz aimed the bow and arrow at the horse, that he could see was carrying both Jaden and Jesse, and fired it towards them. They would catch the arrow and he would pull them over to the safety of the rock.

His aim was spot on.

"Perfect" Chazz grinned. "Now I'll pull them to …" his voice trailed off as the rope the arrow was attached to passed by him without him catching it, "…safety."

Jaden was still struggling with the horse in the force of snow. She knew that if she didn't do something they were all going to go over the edge of the unforgiving cliff and they would be killed.

A shield, that she noticed was carrying Atticus the dragon, suddenly arrived at her side, and Atticus grinned up to her, holding out his hand to show her a cricket bug.

"Hey, Jaden!" he called. "I found the lucky cricket!"

"We need help" Jaden reasoned.

Suddenly, an arrow landed next to the horse in the snow. She grabbed it quickly and tied the end of the rope attached to it to the saddle of the horse.

Jaden grabbed her own bow and started to angle the arrow with it, difficult when the horse was being carried away by the force of the snow.

Atticus carried Syrus onto the horse and sat down just behind Jaden.

"Nice" Atticus said gently, setting Syrus down beside him. "Very nice, you can sit beside me."

Then, he and the cricket spotted the cliff.

They screamed in terror.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Atticus screamed in panic. "That's it, no way are we surviving this! Death is coming!"

The horse went over the edge, and Jaden fired the arrow from the bow.

On the top of the cliff, Jim and Aster looked sadly at Chazz, who was truly unhappy with himself. He held out his hands to show they were useless.

"I let them slip through my fingers!" he said sadly.

At that moment, his expression changed from sad to shocked, because an arrow - the same one he'd fired earlier - landed in his hands. The rope was still attached to it.

And Chazz went flying off his feet, getting dragged to the edge of the cliff.

A bunch of soldiers, including Aster, jumped onto Chazz to keep him from going over the edge. Well, at least they had got the arrow.

Chazz was half hanging off the side of the cliff, and the soldiers were bunched together, not having the strength to lift two people and a horse on their own, though they were managing to keep them from falling.

Suddenly, with a calm expression, Jim walked up behind them. He lifted his long arms around them and stepped back, walking backwards and taking the rest of the soldiers with him. The others had mixed expressions, especially Chazz, whose hands were held out in front of him, gripping the arrow fiercely.

Jaden and the horse were being pulled up. Her improvising skills had saved them! Jaden kept one hand on the rope and used her free hand to gently stroke Jesse's back soothingly. He wasn't conscious yet, but they were okay now.

Atticus cheered.

"I knew we could do it! You're the man!" Atticus cheered. "Well, sort of."

Jaden grinned at him, half jokingly.

The horse jumped onto a lower ledge and trotted up onto safety, while Chazz and Aster pulled Jesse and Jaden onto the safety of flat ground. The soldiers crowded around them in a huddle as Jesse started to wake up.

"Step back, guys, give them some air" Aster said, and they all obeyed.

Jesse turned to face the soldier sitting beside him, both panting slightly.

"Yubel" he said. "You are the craziest man I ever met!"

Jaden looked down, but then back up at the green eyes she liked so much as she felt Jesse put his hand on her shoulder and smile at her. A genuine smile.

"And for that I owe you my life" Jesse said. "From now on, you have my trust."

Jaden could only smile at him.

Then, cheers erupted around them.

"Let's hear it for Yubel!" Aster cried. "The bravest of us all!"

"You're king of the mountain!" Chazz grinned.

Cheers continued as Jaden and Jesse stood up, but then Jaden let out a gasp of pain and fell to her knees, her hand wrapped around the wound on her side. She could feel it really badly, now, where Haou had cut her. Jesse crouched down in front of her.

"Yubel? What's wrong?" he asked.

Jaden gasped a little, and removed her hand from her side, showing the bloody stain on her clothes and the blood on her pale fingers.

Jesse gasped.

"He's wounded! Get help!" he shouted, the soldiers obeying him.

Jaden looked up, her vision going blurry. She could make out the figure of Jesse in front of her, and the figures of Jim, Chazz and Aster behind him.

"Yubel, hold on" Jesse said softly. His lips were the last thing she focused on, before she fell unconscious, as they whispered again, "hold on."

Please R&R