Thanks for reading! I hope you are all enjoying the story so far :D

*Revised*

Bakura's POV

By the time I opened my eyes again, the night had already enveloped the forest all around me (which was already dimly lit to begin with). I groaned tiredly as my eyes strained to adjust to the darkness until I eventually was able to see clearly thanks to the 'night vision' I possessed.

Was I really out that long? I thought to myself; we had just entered the forest this morning, and for it to be night already meant that I had to have been unconscious for several hours. Where did Ryou and Malik go? I can't remember... I scrambled to get my thoughts together, but there was still a slight resonating ringing in my ears that only helped in aggravating the killer headache I already had. The whole incident had been rather foggy, to be honest. I sighed in defeat and got up onto my feet slowly, having to wait for the world to stop spinning around me so I wouldn't fall over.

"This is great. Just great." I muttered to myself in frustration. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Was it an attack from a hidden assailant? Perhaps, but then why would they take the others and leave me- who, I would say, was the most vulnerable in that moment- lying on the ground unconscious? I groaned again, finding it pointless to try to come up with any logical reason when it felt like my head was going to pop off.

I felt too weak to transform at the moment, so I stumbled my way over towards the edge of the path where I rummaged through the foliage in order to find a makeshift walking stick. I managed to find a sizable piece of wood that was able to support my weight. Steadily, I continued down the path in the darkness with the hopes that I would run into either Ryou or Malik, while also hoping I wouldn't run into whatever attacked us earlier…

Ryou's POV

I sat with my back against an old and hollowed out tree in complete darkness, hugging my knees against my chest while keeping my little (and now ripped) bag in between. I was able to catch up to the weird, little floating lights eventually, but I had failed to realize at the time that they had taken me off the dirt path and into the menacing shadows of the woods. I tried to recall what path I had taken, but it was nearly impossible to make out any sort of recognizable landmark in this place. Luckily, I managed to find one spot where the towering trees didn't block out the sky; so, I sat down unsteadily and waited for night to come.

The sun eventually hid itself, allowing the moon to take its place and illuminate the spot where I was sitting. The forest was silent again- no more humming, no more plants, no more lights. It was hard trying to not act scared because, frankly, I was terrified. But I had to be ready to run, hide, or fight back if anything else decided to make itself present. I felt warm tears gathering in my eyes and I did my best to hold down the whimpers trying to escape my throat.

I just had to wait right here, right? Malik said they would catch up to me. So that's what I decided to do. Just… wait.

Malik's POV

My eyes opened slowly to the sound of more rustling, and I peered down to notice that the vines that were currently wrapped around me were beginning to shift. When the vines had grabbed me, they dragged me deep into the forest before halting at a massive heap of plant material- which is where I presumed, they originated from in the first place. They had strung me up several feet above the forest floor, and I now noticed the crimson pool of blood collecting underneath me and on some of the twisting vines.

Now, I silently watched as the vines moved again in a much more sedated manner. In fact, I could feel the intense grip they had around me beginning to loosen. I waited patiently, making sure to stay as still as possible to not draw any attention to myself. If these strange, sentient vines had forgotten I was trapped in their grip, I wasn't about to remind them. With each passing moment, the vines continued to change position while sliding away from me ever so slightly. The muscles in my jaw tightened reflexively as I withstood the pain of the fresh air hitting the jab wounds the thorns had left in my flesh.

At last, with a sudden but quiet thump, I landed on the hard and dusty ground below me. I allowed myself to collapse completely as my body tried to recover from the pain that had been dulled for quite some time. The tiny puncture wounds throbbed with each subtle movement I made, and the even larger scratches that- although no longer bleeding- managed to send searing pain through my muscles. I remained immobile for some time, lying on my back while staring up at the small patches of the night sky peeking through the trees.

My break was cut short, however, when a very familiar rustling sound started up again. My reflexes drove me to sit up, but the pain halted me halfway and caused my breath to hitch.

"I'm not going down without a fight, you son of a-" I began to mutter angrily, forcing my arms to lift my torso against the crippling waves of pain. But I stopped when my eyes met with a familiar white-haired figure, who was now standing a few yards away from me and looking down at me in bewilderment.

"Malik?" He seemed to blink in confusion, but then abandoned that sentiment for one of concern and quickly made way over to me. "You look like you got shredded to pieces!" I winced as he took a hold of my arm to lift me to my feet.

"Y-You could say that…" I managed to groan out tiredly. "Where's Ryou? Is he with you?"

"I… I thought he might be with you. That noise really took it out of me, I've been unconscious up until a couple of minutes ago."

"We have to go look for him." My response was a little more frantic than I would have liked, but I'll admit that I was beginning to panic. If that map was lost… then it was all over. The slight rush of fear was one I hadn't felt in years; but while it felt oddly disturbing, the adrenaline did reward my body with a small amount of revitalization.

"Right!" Bakura responded a little more eagerly, and I watched as he stepped away from me to grab a large branch. "I just hope he's-"

A sharp crack suddenly rang through the air, much like that of a large whip. Quickly, my eyes darted in the direction of the oversized, spiny growth that had once kept me captive. My body didn't move- frozen in time, almost- as the thorny vine extended right at me. I waited for the sensation of sharp needles to pierce my skin as they did before, but…

It never came.

I stared in front of me in genuine astonishment as the thing in front of me wasn't a vine or thorns, but Bakura; he was tightly gripping the make-shift staff with both his hands and fighting back against the vines that were now themselves wrapped around the staff with an equal vice-like grip.

He had… jumped in front of the attack? But why? He wasn't anywhere near the vine's trajectory and could have easily avoided it- there was no reason for him to stop it from hitting me. My mind reeled with strange and new emotions that I couldn't quite place.

"Don't just stand there!" my companion grunted back at me, still struggling against the plant creature with (what appeared was) all his strength. My instincts returned instantly, and I moved quickly to search for my dagger. The daggers I had during my previous encounter with the sentient vines were nowhere to be found, and I assumed they must have gotten lost somewhere in the wretched forest while I was being restrained. I scowled to myself at the thought of losing two of my most valuable weapons, but I had no time to feel any regrets now. Direct attacks were futile anyway- I had learned that the hard way hours before. If more vines were to make an attack, both Bakura and I would be done for.

So, I made up my mind and did the next best thing: I hastily wrapped my arms around Bakura's waist and hoisted him over my shoulders before darting back into the cluster of trees and foliage once again.

The sound of branches snapping and trees creaking under the power of something much larger than myself alerted me that the plant monster was in close pursuit behind us, but I made no time to turn back to face the green behemoth. A familiar pain flooded my system as the tiny wounds reopened with every step I took, yet the fire burning inside me only made me run faster. I was reminded of those nights where bottles crashed to the ground and fists flew without aim- nights where bloody knuckles or broken ribs didn't do anything to deter the rush of excitement that came with chaos.

Running, dodging, weaving- the insignificant feeling of fear that I had felt earlier faded from my memory while, in its place, a rekindled feeling of wild exhilaration overcame me. A wide grin found itself onto my face as I carried on through the death-forest.

"I already told you," I screamed into the darkness at the top of my lungs, not caring who or what might be the recipient of my earnest message, "I'm not going down without a fight, you son of bitch!"

Sorry for a shorter chapter this time around, but I wanted to avoid jumping around between POVs too much, so I cut it off here. I think most of my chapters have been at a steady ~2K words or so that's usually my goal in most cases, with some exceptions (like this one).

See you next chapter! :)