Kara

She noisily bit into a slice of pizza, not caring that a long string of cheese was dangling past her chin and gunks of sauce dripped down and stained her top and lap. "Well, that takes care of that," she said.

They are not out of the woods yet, m'lady, said Cyber Dragon Infinity. I am detecting multiple anomalies in Seto Kaiba's game world. Many of them were not there the night before.

"You know this?"

You should know this. Infinity said flying in the skies above the lighthouse. You DID program me to hack into the Kaiba Corp mainframe just to prove how inefficient it was.

"That's my boy," Kara said, putting on her RGB headphones to listen to some techy LoFi music as she worked on keeping Cora and her friends safe in the game world. She bit into her pizza, not caring that her fingers were staining her expensive LED keyboard "Look at all that malware." She started typing up a storm of code as she bypassed all of the firewalls keeping her from accessing the game. "Huh. Seto Kaiba better hire me after this flimflam. Tenna almighty, I love you, Infinity! Nothing gets past you, huh?"

I know everything that goes on around here, my lady. Especially inside your PC. I must say, your history tab worries me. May I recommend a psychologist?

Kara frowned and ground her teeth as a slimy string of cheese dangled from the corner of her lips. The once light-pink color of her lipstick was coated orange and red and crusted with pepper. She pouted as she narrowed her eyes. "Rule number one! What did I say about rule number one!"

You humans never cease to disgust me. I didn't know people could do that to one another.

"Ah, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh!" Kara said holding up her finger. "You never EVER explore my PC! You can hack into Kaiba Corp. You can waltz around the Eredian Military mainframe, hell, you can even spy on Zane's stuff. But my PC is OFF LIMITS!"

I can see why. I'm glad perversion is a sin I can never be afflicted with.

"Can you get back to your task? Ugh, are we on box?"

"Yeah you are, Kara," Nixie said, her giggling voice coming through on Kara's headset. "We can hear everything."

"Ugh, whoever's laughing, tell 'em to shut up! How are things going down there?"

"Zose goons from ze Church are banging on ze door," Madaline replied. "But it's no use. Zey'll never get in here. Thankfully Seto Kaiba is a loon when it comes to barricading doors."

"This is nothing," M said. "You should have heard how bad he told Mokuba to lock the place up when he wanted to duel Master Yugi. Hopefully, this facility can grant us the same luxury."

"Unlikely," said Kara. "It's still pretty new so only the places with Seto's favorite toys are in under tight security. Hey, it's lucky you guys have a vending machine in there. I reckon you're going to be stuck in that place for some time now."

"Our supplies aren't going to last long at the rate M's been getting the food," said Jericho. "The guy ate all of our peanut butter cups."

"Easy now," Kara said, thankful she had a pizza all to herself. She picked up another slice and bit into it. "Mmm, you guys will be out of there in no time. How's our team doing?"

"They're doing just fine from the looks of things," Nixie replied. "They're about to return to town to claim their reward for beating the monster."

Cora

The forest seemed calmer now that the Ogre of the Black Shadow had been defeated. The birds were chirping much louder, the sunlight shone ever more fiercely through the endless rows of tall pines that scented the air with peppermint. A great curse had been lifted from the forest and the townsfolk celebrated the arrival of the party, welcoming them with thunderous applause. The mayor of the town blessed Mokuba and the girls with a pouch of 500 gold coins with two handsome rubies that were valued at 100. He bid them farewell and wished them luck as they headed into the Valley of the Graves...that name alone did not sit well with either of them.

"Why do you suppose it's called the Valley of the Graves?" Candy asked, trailing close behind Cora and Kasumi.

"I know why," Mokuba said. He knew the lore of this world like the back of his hand. "There was once a prosperous logging community there. But one day, the evil Dragon God flew in and destroyed it for fun. He killed thousands of people that night. They were all buried by people from the city where we're heading, but a lot of good that did. The spirits of the people who died in the Dragon God's attack could not rest in peace. Their anger and sorrow did something to the valley. Now it's a place where zombie monsters roam."

Candy shivered and grabbed Cora's arm. "Isn't there a better place we can go? A safer place to the capital?"

"Nope," said Mokuba. "We could go the long way around but it will take us forever. And time is of the essence right now, Candy. My brother needs help. If we've gotta cross the Valley of the Graves to get to him, so be it. I'm not afraid."

Alexis huffed. "Well, if we could take a giant ogre, how hard can a few zombies be?"

"I'm with Alexis on this one," Cora said. "We can take on an undead horde no problem."

Candy gripped Cora's arm even tighter and then whimpered. "I sure hope you're right. This is so scary."

Kasumi looked over her shoulder and glared at her. "Get off my girlfriend you little runt."

"Huh?" Candy squeaked and did as she was told. "What's wrong?"

Kasumi felt her chest tightening from frustration. Just the tone of Candy's voice she found irritating. She couldn't take it anymore. The petit character. The shyness. The babyish tone, the FUCKING teddy bear. Why did everything about her have to be cute and fluffy? It was disgusting. "Ugh, you're so pathetic!" Kasumi finally snapped. "You didn't have to come, you know."

"Hey, hey, hey," Cora said, smacking her on the arm. "Don't be mean to her. She just wanted to help."

"Help?!" Kasumi shouted. "Nixie, M, Jericho, and Madeline, and everyone else we left behind can at least fight. But her? We get stuck with the little babe who still clings to a teddy!? Girl, you're like twenty-one-years old! What the hell are you still doing with a teddy bear!"

That put a fury in Candy. If there's one thing she hated, it's people calling Mr. Gael nothing but a toy. "He's not just a teddy bear, meanie! He's my best friend!"

"Oh, spare me, you big baby!"

Candy stopped in her tracks. She hunched her shoulders and balled both her little hands into fists. Her face turned scarlet and her bottom lip trembled as she tried to think of a way to get back at Kasumi. "You're such a bitch!"

"Bitch? Ha!" Kasumi reared her head back and laughed. "I'd rather be a tough bitch than be in your shoes! Look at you! You could have been a badass archer. A beastmaster! A forest sage. A hedge knight. No, you instead choose to be a cute little forest elf! Instead of summoning something that can fight, no! You choose to use your abilities to summon some wimpy deer that couldn't do shit!"

"But I thought it would be fun."

"This is NOT a game, Candy! A lot is at stake right now! Cora's father is in danger but that little detail just flew over your head, didn't it?"

"That's enough!" said Alexis. "Remember, the Church of Yeyu is behind this mess. They could be anywhere around here! They could be watching us right now! We're not going to last long if we keep fighting each other."

"She's right," said Mokuba.

"We're not going to last long with Candy as a party member either," Kasumi added.

"Lock it down!" yelled Cora. "Both of you! I don't want to hear another peep out of any of you!"

Alexis scoffed lightly and stepped forward until she was many paces ahead of the party. Cora glared back at her friends and narrowed her eyes, shaking her head slowly and venomously. "Now look what you've done," she hissed. "You embarrassed me in front of the princess."

"Uh, and what does that make me?" Kasumi asked.

"I don't know what that makes you," said Alexis, her gear clanking and jingling with each step. "But I'm feeling kind of iffy. The air is getting heavier here. Lots of sorrow all around us." She stopped and saw tombstones poking through the veil of mist. "We're here," she said.

"Stay close," Mokuba said. The wind started to sound like whispers and deathly groans. Leaves rustled in the ground and crows started cawing in the trees, now bare and bony like the arms of a rotting corpse. "Aw, man. Leave it to my brother to make this place so friggin' creepy."

Cora gripped her sword and looked around to make sure nothing came out and surprised them. The dead trees were so close to each on each side of the path. It looked like there was barely any room to run. There were tombstones in the forest in all shapes and sizes. There must have been hundreds of them. Thousands maybe. The voices in the wind were getting louder. Thunder rumbled in the gray skies above. The whole world seemed to be in a filer of grayish-blue. The wind started picking up, blowing the leaves above their ankles in little twisters. Suddenly blue ghosts rose out of the bases of the tombstones, howling and groaning like beasts.

"This is bad!" Alexis yelled. "Damn it! We never should have come here!"

"AYEEEE!" Candy yelled running back to the entrance of the woods. Seconds later, she appeared on the opposite side of the path. "I'm back!" she squealed.

"You're back!" Kasumi yelled in reply. "We're trapped! There's no way in or out!"

Candy's eyes started to bubble with tears and she hiccuped like a child lost in the mall. She gripped Cora's arm again as the sounds of the cursed forest got louder and louder, filling her with discomfort. "Where's the escape button!? I wanna quit the game."

"Maybe that's a good idea," said Mokuba. "Candy is in no shape to be playing this game. We can replace her with someone new. Open your hud."

"Um, how?" Candy asked.

"Just touch the smartwatch on your wrist," Mokuba said, tapping the surface of his. Candy did as she was told. The holographic menu appeared in front of her face. "Good," said Mokuba. "Now, touch the little head icon on the bottom right of the screen. That's for logging out. Click on it and you'll be back in the real world."

"Okay," Candy said.

She felt bad leaving her friends behind but this place was just too frightening for her. Her belly bubbled at the thought of what her friends were going to think of her when this was over. Would they even allow her to be their friend anymore? Kasumi was going to hate her forever, that's for sure. And Alexis! Princess Alexis Rhodes. Candy looked over her shoulder and saw Alexis. Her hands were on both her hips and she was shaking her head slowly in disappointment. Great, Candy thought. Princess Alexis now thinks I'm a big joke. She then gulped nervously. Candy knew she was most likely going to get a spanking from Mr. Gael for the tantrum she performed. Their adventure could be seen from the screen in the control room. He was watching. He was always watching. Always waiting for her to screw up so he could make her pay. Still, at least she would be back in the real world and away from this awful place. She breathed a sigh of relief. She touched the icon. Nothing happened.

"Touch it already!" said Kasumi.

"I AM!" Candy yelled. She touched the icon over and over again. "What's happening?"

Muahahahahaha!

"What was that!?" shouted Alexis.

AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Hold on a minute," Cora said tensely. HAHAHAHAHAHA! "I know that laugh. Come on out, you ugly bastard!"

Eyes and teeth suddenly appeared on a branch above them like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, a story Cora had to read in her Study of Literature from Earth class.

"Why Cora. Is that any way to speak to your father?"

A body and face soon formed. It was the evil clown creature that represented the dark side of Seto Kaiba. He was clad in polished royal purple armor festooned with silver scrollwork. It was all over him from the extra-large pauldrons to his chestplate, gauntlets, greaves, and down to his boots that were curved and pointed. He still had the round white Ruff around his neck and a dark purple cloak flapped behind him in the eerie wind.

"It's that creature Cora beat!" cried Alexis. "What are you doing here?"

"Beat?" the clown said. He licked his lips with a very long and slimy tongue when he laid eyes on Alexis. "Oh no, my dear. She merely set me back a bit. But no fear. The Church of Yeyu is ever so persistent and resourceful. With a little of their 'holy magic'" —he said this while making quotations with his sausage-sized fingers— "They were able to get me to come into this virtual world and pay you lovely adventurers and little Prince Mokuba of course a visit in this amazing world. There is still a way for me to take control of Kaiba Corp after all."

"What do you mean?" said Cora. "TALK DAMN YOU!"

"Why, Cora, don't you know? Seto Kaiba is in this world, too. All I have to do is keep him here and then I will take control of his body. The Church of Yeyu promised me his body if I can keep, you pests away. And well, here I am." He held out his hands. Purple flames with skull-shaped embers flickering off them appeared over his palms. The flames formed a giant hammer with the same color scheme and design as the clown Kaiba's armor.

"YA!" he shouted, raising his hammer up before he jumped from the branch. Cora, Mokuba, and the others ducked out of the way before he smashed the hammer on the ground, creating fissures with an eerie purple light glowing from the depths. "As for the little one's problems logging out," he continued. "Let's just say, I rewrote a few lines of code, and voila! I locked you in here. Now, none of you can get out!"

The ground beneath them started to quake. Clown Kaiba summoned creatures of the undead. A Dragon Zombie, Clown Zombie, and Armored Zombie climbed out. Then, out from the tombstones, bony, festering blue hands came out. Cora and the others recognized them as the monster known as Graveyard and the Hand of Invitation. They stretched out forever until they hung over the party like a cage.

"Oh, and one last bit of good neeeews!" the clown sang while wagging his finger. "When you die in the game, you die in real life!" He started to laugh maniacally, his voice echoed across the dark forest.

"Oh, that's just great!" Alexis groaned. "Kara! Did you pick that up?"

"Clear as crystal," Kara responded. "Don't worry. I'll rewrite this little code of his and have you guys out in a jiffy." She started typing away, flushing every ounce of code she knew into the game. But then, the clown Kaiba's face appeared on her screen and laughed at her. "Ah, ah, ah!" he said wagging his finger. "You didn't say the magic word!"

"ARGH!" shouted Kara. "Damn it! I hate this hacker crap!" She typed up a storm, trying to find a way to bypass the trolling firewall. But then black smoke started coming out of her PC and purple static sparked on her monitors. "No! No, this can't be!"

"Kara, what's going on!" Alexis shouted over the infernal laughter of the clown.

"There's something keeping me out. I can't access the game. There's a powerful force messing up my systems!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's sorcery, Alexis. I'm sorry! There's nothing I can do! The Church of Yeyu infused black magic into the game!"

Clown Kaiba heard this and found the grim expressions the party members made so humorous. He reared his head back and placed both hands on his large belly as he cackled at their misfortune.

All of a sudden, a branch reached out and grabbed Alexis by the ankle, and hoisted her up into the fog where she disappeared.

"ALEXIS!" Cora and Kasumi shouted at once. Candy suddenly tripped and fell on the ground with a thud. She then screamed as another branch coiled around her foot and carried her away.

"HELP! HELP!" she cried.

The stillness of the forest was broken by the loud spine-tingling moans of a tree-like duel monster called Trent. The entire forest was nothing but those terrible creatures. Two of them growing on either side of the path were fighting over who got to eat Candy. They grabbed her by each leg and started pulling on her in a horrible game of tug-of-war. Candy screamed as the joints on her legs started screaming in pain. Kasumi was about to run and help her but she turned and punch a branch that was about to grab Cora. She, Kasumi, and Mokuba formed a ring and drew their weapons. Cora slashed the air with her sword and cut a branch that was about to get her.

Kasumi dodged and jumped to avoid the hands of the Grave Invitation monster. She reached the clown at last and held up her fist, charging it up with fire, a new ability she learned when she leveled up, then she smashed her fist into the clown's chestplate. When she did, she clamped her jaws shut as a fiery pain enveloped her knuckles and surged all the way up to her wrist. She yelped and backed away from the clown, massaging her fist. The pain was so severe, droplets of tears formed in the corner of Kasumi's eyes.

"Aw, man, that hurt!" she hissed.

The clown laughed again, it seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do. "Don't think you can put a dent in my armor, little girl! I'm at a much higher level than you. You can't even touch me!"

The little damage Kasumi did to him instantaneously regenerated. She gasped in horror. No! What a creature! Quickly, she used the game's HUD to assess the clown's stats and his power level. No. It wasn't over 9000 but his level didn't have a number anymore, neither did his stats. It was MAX all the way down.

"Mokuba! Girls!" Kasumi cringed. "You're not going to like this."

"I just saw," said Alexis. "No! No! You can't defeat us!" She broke free of the Trent's grip and flew down toward the dark clown. She raised her sword and let out a fierce battle cry. Mokuba charged in as well. Since he was a high-level character himself, he had a better chance of fighting the clown than the rest of them. He drew both his legendary weapons and with a cry of his own, sped towards the clown. Both he and Alexis reached him in time and started smashing his armor with their swords. He just stood there with a smug look on his face, still as a statue. What little health they were able to bring down went back up just mere milliseconds before their swords touched his armor.

"This can't be!" Cora said. Now she was getting scared. The situation was incredibly dire. A Maxed out character was fighting them, no, harassing them. At this point, it wasn't much of a fight. He was making fun of them. Toying with them. Allowing them to believe they had a chance to beat him. When he had his fun, he raised his hammer and smashed it on the ground, creating a terrible earthquake, and knocking them all away. The impact caused the Trent monsters to drop Candy. She fell to the ground with a thump. She crawled on all fours back to Cora and gripped her leg, whining like a beaten puppy.

"Get off me!" Cora said, kicking her off. "Now's not the time for this! You've got to be strong!"

"But..."

"SHUT UP!" Cora yelled. "This little act of yours was cute and charming for a while, but now it's just gross! I tried sticking up for you once, unfortunately now my patience is at its end. Stop being such a baby and fight!"

"But they're fighting. Look at them!" Candy pointed at Alexis and Mokuba. They were still trying to battle the evil clown.

Cora thought their battle with him was a waste of time. She focused on the Dragon Zombie that was crawling towards her. She sliced his head off with one powerful swipe. Before she could even boast about her victory, the dragon's head digitized right back into place. His attack points went from 1600 to 2080. "What the!" Cora then cut the creature's head off again and didn't stop until his whole body was gone. She stepped back and grinned when all that was left of the dragon were his lower legs and tail. But the rest of the monster's body grew back in seconds. Now his attack points displayed 2704. "What's happening?" she cried,

As usual, the dark Kaiba clown responded with a laugh. "It will do you no good, my dear daughter! Zombie monsters are immortal beings who cannot be killed with manmade weapons. If you strike them down, they'll just regenerate. And the more they regenerate, the more powerful they become. Oh, and, thanks to me, their power is maxed out as well. One hit from his noxious breath attack, and it will be game over for you, Cora!" The clown cackled hideously as Cora dropped her sword and fell to her knees. "Face it!" the clown said. "You are doomed! Unless, of course, you surrender yourself to me. Swear yourself as MY daughter and give me access to the weak Seto Kaiba's company. We'll rule it together! If you do, I'll release you from the game. And your friends as well. I can make them powerful executives in the company. They won't have to do a thing."

"Don't do it, Cora!" Alexis shouted. "We can find a way out of this!"

"No, we can't!" Kasumi said, collapsing on the ground. "He's rigged the game against us. It's hopeless."

"No!" cried Mokuba. "You can't quit now! Come on! We can do this!"

"You cannot!" said Cora. "Sorry, Uncle Mokuba. It's hopeless. We can't fight them. We'll die if we try fighting them."

"Cora...no." Mokuba didn't know what else to do.

A powerful, majestic roar filled the forest. Something was coming. A glowing arrow then flew out of nowhere and struck the clown's left shoulder, cracking his armor. "NO!" he groaned as the impact knocked him off his feet and onto his back. Just then, a warrior concealed in a hooded brown cloak jumped out of the darkness. The warrior hopped on a tombstone and jumped up, holding up a spell card. Sheild and Sword. With it, she flipped the zombie monster's attack and defense. Since their DEF was 0, it somehow made them mortal. Then, three more glowing arrows flew out of the forest, striking the Dragon Zombie, Clown Zombie, and Armored Zombie. They both melted away like wax until only their browned bones remained.

The ground shook. Everyone turned and Mokuba balled his fists with joy and shouted: "Yes!" as a beautiful, young woman came riding down the path on top of a giant bear with light-green fur. She held a divine-crafted bow and notched three more magic arrows. She fired them into the foreheads of the Trent trees.

"Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess?" Kasumi said.

The warrior cloaked in the ragged brown cloth used their sword to strike down the hands of the Grave Invitation. As the warrior jumped, Cora could make out shapely, long legs. She knew at once that her savior was a woman. Just like that, the clown was alone. All of his undead minions were gone. However, he quickly formed a grin and kicked himself back up. "You'll never stop me!" he shouted as he dashed into the woods, dodging arrows from the girl in the Apollousa card. "Once your reach the Temple of Skulls, your journey will be at an end! Muahahahahahaha!"

And just like that...the forest was still.

"Wow..." Cora whispered, amazed by how fast these two women were able to get rid of the undead horde AND the dark clown himself.

The woman in the brown cloak removed her hood. Long, brown, shiny hair rolled down to her in elegant waves as though someone had rolled out a cozy fleece of silk. Cora recognized her at once. It was Kanan the Swordmistress.

"What are you all doing in the Valley of the Graves?" asked Kanan. "It's dangerous for the likes of you."

The girl wielding Apollousa jumped down from the back of her monstrous bear mount and walked towards them. "Be easy with them, Lady Kanan. They could not have known about the clown and his antics."

"I suppose not. Young Mokuba, I believe you should have brought better companions."

"Uh, they just called you by name, Mokuba," said Alexis. "Do you know them?"

"You bet your ass I do, Alexis!" Mokuba said standing up. "These two are companion characters you can run into in the game. Only high-level epic players can run into them. Before we jumped into the game, I added them to the area so we could run into them."

"And I'm happy," said Cora. She leaned towards Mokuba and whispered. "I'm proud Uncle Mokie. You found us some hot chicks to accompany us."

The girl with Apollousa smiled and placed her hand on her hip before cocking it to one side. "Hmm. I appreciate you calling me hot. But chick I can live without."

"You heard that?" Cora said.

The girl pointed to her head and made two big cat-like ears twitch. Cora swooned. "Oh, wow. A beautiful badass and a cat-girl. I've died on gone to Paradise, haven't I?"

"You're right," Mokuba said. He was puzzled by something. "I knew they strong but...nothing like this." He scanned them. "Whoa! Your power levels are at MAX too. It's just as a feared."

"What do you mean?" Cora asked.

"The clown guy said he raised the zombie monster's levels to the MAX. I had this sneaking suspicion in my guy that he must have done that to every Duel Monster creature in the game. And seeing how strong Kanan and Artemis are, my suspicions are justified. Cora, girls, he must have maxed out every creature in the game to be super strong just to take you guys out."

"Oh no!" Kasumi groaned, falling back to the ground. "What do we do now?"

"Isn't there anything Kara can do?" Cora asked.

"She said sorcery was involved," Alexis replied. "Kara can do a lot of things with computers but when she's dealing with magic, I'm afraid she's just out of her league. So long as that thing has gone his own black magic in the game's code — however-the-fuck that works — she can't do anything with it."

"Looks like we have to go the long way around," said Candy.

"In your dreams!" said Mokuba. "We need to get through this forest now! We'll find a way to get through the temple of the skulls somehow."

"If you wish to go through the Temple of Skulls, you will not do so with that gear," said Artemis, the girl wielding Apollousa. "It is much too strong. And a very foul creature born from the hatred of the Dragon God lurks inside its walls. If you insist on going in there like this, your quest has already ended."

"But we need to find my brother!" yelled Mokuba. "I'm not going to leave this place without him."

"Then you must regroup," said Kanan. "Come. We will take you to the Lady of the Forest. She'll know what to do."

"We'd love to," said Mokuba. "But we really need to get going. Besides, we have you. That's what I programmed you for. To help us."

"That may be true," Artemis said with a nod. One of her feline ears twitched. "But what good are we if you all just die anyway? I know time is of the essence, but the more you stand here arguing with us, the more time wastes. Please, come with us to see the Lady of the Forest. She can help you. Trust us."

"Trust us," Kanan said.

Cora stood up and bowed her head. "I do. Show us to her."

Mokuba protested at once. "Hey, we can't..."

"Shut up, Mokuba!" Cora said at once to keep him from protesting. And they followed the two NPC companions out of the darkness of the Valley of the Graves.

Cora looked over her shoulder at Mokuba. He had his head down and a glum expression soured his face. She felt bad for yelling at him, however, it was going to be suicide to just jump into the dangers that lurked in the game world. Seto meant a great deal to her as well. Not as much as Mokuba that's for sure. His love for Seto outpowered hers by lightyears. But he was still special to him. He brought her out of the darkness and into a new life. Still, they had to take this one step at a time. There were a million steps to take in their current situation and Mokuba just wanted to jump into step 1001 with no plan to get there. If this Lady of the Woods had some way of beating whatever the creature inside the Temple of Skulls, then it was best to listen to what she had to say.

The air smelled sweet again and the sunshine broke through the fog. Birds once again chirped in the treetops and flowers were blooming everywhere. Candy felt so relieved to be back in something nice again. Even though they were in the Valley of the Graves for a short while, it felt like an eternity since she had seen the sun. She laughed in delight and ran ahead to jump into some blue flowers. She could feel everything about them. The cool dew on their stems and leaves, the sweetness of their petals wafted into her little nose, and she could feel their soft touch against her skin.

"She enjoys nature," said Artemis. "Quite a happy little thing, isn't she?"

"Lots of innocence," Kanan agreed. "A heart of gold...however, haloed by a dark aura."

"You know, this place would be paradise if Seto didn't create those awful places."

Mokuba's eyes narrowed. "It wouldn't be much of a fun game if it was nothing but this. Seriously, people come to these games for adventure. If they wanted a hike, they could travel to the national parks outside the city."

"She's an idiot," said Kasumi.

"May I have a word with all of you?" Madeline said through the coms.

"What is it?" Cora said. It seemed like Candy couldn't hear her voice, for she was still playing in the flowers.

"I know she's a handful," Madeline said. "But you need to have patience with her. Candy's got Immature Personality Disorder. She may have the body of a young woman, but she's got the mind of a child. A very, very, small child. When she was fifteen, her parents sold her to the owner of an emerald mine because they couldn't take her antics anymore. After the owner saw that she was useless, he drove her back to Domino and dumped her on the streets. She doesn't have any family or anything, but she was able to find a place to live in the Oceanica Arms thanks to the charity of a priestess from the Temple of Horakhty. She took Candy in after the...incident with those slavers who tried to sell her to the overlords of the Crimson District in Red Diamond City. The temple is paying for her education in Rosenkruz Academy as well. However, their funds are getting limited."

"I can see why they'd send her there," said Cora. "She's a very good Duelist."

"I suppose so," Kasumi said rubbing her chin. "Poor thing. I feel like a rat now. Did she tell you this?"

"Yes. Dueling is all she has. And since no one understands her or likes her, she keeps that teddy bear around. All that loneliness must have driven her mad. We can help her but it's going to take all of us to do it."

Alexis, feeling awful about Candy's life, gave a sad sigh and rubbed her temple. "Still, if you know she's like this, you could have at least volunteered to come in here or let one of the others do it. There's a lot at stake right now, uh, Madeline, was it?"

"Yes. But I didn't think the stakes would be raised this high."

"My father is in danger," said Cora. "Wasn't that reason enough to have someone else come into the game?"

"She just wanted to help," Madeline insisted. "Please. Let her help. If you guys want her to grow up a bit, maybe this could be the chance."

"Kind of a bad time for this little experiment of yours," said Alexis. "If anything happens, she could die. You know that right."

"All the more reason to help her grow stronger in mind and in body. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys about this sooner. I really wanted to but then all this popped up."

"Understandable," said Kasumi. "My apologies, Madaline." She whistled. "Candy! Come on. We can't stand around for too long."

Candy beamed at Kasumi as though she was her own mother. She got up and patted the dirt off her knees before rejoining the group. Kanan ruffled Candy's hair and gave her a piece of cube-shaped chocolate from her pouch. Even though the treat wasn't real, Candy could still chew it and taste it. The machines made by Seto Kaiba's intellect weren't just technological marvels, they were magic.

"Your father's a very great man," said Alexis. "And an incredible brother, Mokuba."

"The temple calls my big bro a gift from the Goddesses," said Mokuba. "There's nothing my brother can't build if he doesn't set his mind to it."

"Too bad he can't build decent firewalls," said Cora. "I'm sorry, Uncle Mokuba but this girl Kara is right. How could the Church of Yeyu hack into the systems so easily?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Mokuba said, smashing his fist against his palm. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. I'm telling you, once my brother gets out of here, he's going to make the Church pay. We've got the evidence to prove of their wrongdoing!"

"I hear that," Alexis agreed. "The Church of Yeyu is done for after this. Add this attempted coup of Kaiba Corp and the incident on Zane's ship, I can see their bureaucrats losing their position pretty soon. They're too dangerous and too radical to be kept in any form of public office."

"We've been saying that from the start!" said Cora. "Knox instigating DESMAGI to start all those riots in the city. Attacking our school and burning our temples. And attacking magic users like they did to Nixie. The Yeyunist politicians abusing their power by telling their followers to destroy our history and culture for the sake of theirs. And if we don't oblige, they point the finger at us and call us fascist and intolerant."

"How ironic when they are the very same thing they claim to be fighting against," said Kasumi. "Now I'm even more stoked about rescuing Mr. Kaiba and finishing this game. The Church of Yeyu is pointing a shotgun at their foot right now. And we're the trigger, guys!"

"Nah," Cora said with a cocky sneer. "I'm the slug that's going to blast their stinking toes off. They're going to pay dearly for messing with my family!"

After a long walk, Kanan and Artemis took them to the base of a cliff that was covered in moss. It looked like a dead-end until Artemis and her bear walked through it like it was nothing. Then Kanan, leading Candy by the hand, did so as well. The moss was a cloak of some sort, keeping a garden sanctuary safe and secret from the rest of the world. There were tall red-barked trees everywhere with a waterfall pouring into a river that ran past a cozy cottage surrounded by colorful flowers. Its white walls were festooned with ivy blooming with little white flowers that had blue cores at the center. Butterflies of all colors fluttered all over them. There was a woman watering her flowers with a red can. She was colored blue hand had long blonde hair. She wore a quilted doublet and a long tan skirt. Around her waist was a belt with a few pouches on the back. Even though her attire was different, the Duelists knew she was the Mystical Elf.

The Mystical Elf turned when she heard their footsteps and smiled. "Artemis, Kanan, you've returned."

"And they've brought strangers," a tall man in cybernetic armor said coming from behind a tree. He was Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax. Mokuba was pleased since he was also a companion he programmed to be around in case of trouble. However, he did not expect him to be so grouchy. "Didn't the lady tell you not to bring outsiders into the sanctuary?"

"Whoa, take it easy," Mokuba said.

"These are heroes we found when we were scouting the Valley of the Graves," said Kanan. "They mean us no harm."

"They could be working for the Dark Clown!" Avramax said.

"They most certainly are not!" said Artemis. "Do you not recognize Mokuba the Great?"

Cora bent forward and whispered next to Mokuba's ear. "Uh...Mokuba the Great?"

Mokuba chuckled to hide his embarrassment and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I recognize him," said Avramax. "But I don't trust the rest. They could be spies!"

"They are not," the Mystical Elf said, holding up her hand to silence him. "I have a keen eye when it comes to evil. I detect none in any of these travelers. Welcome to you all. Mokuba the Great. How I've always dreamt of having you in my house. And I see you have a fine collection of warriors at your whim."

"At his whim!" snapped Alexis.

"Shh! Just play along," whispered Kasumi.

The Mystical Elf examined Mokuba's party, pacing back and forth in awe. "Oh my! A beautiful brave knight, a fierce fighter, a powerful paladin, and oh! What a darling little elf."

"Eesh," Kasumi cringed. That was a little too much.

"Psst," said Mokuba. "Just between us. My brother hates cutsie characters. He programmed her to say that to make fun of them."

"It's not working. Candy's taking that really well."

"Hi," Candy said. "Nice to meet you."

"And she's so polite," the Mystical Elf patted her head. "It's so nice to meet you, too. What were you brave adventurers doing in the Valley of the Graves? It's dangerous there."

"We need to get to the capital city at once," said Mokuba. "It's the shortest way there. We can't go around the mountains cuz that's gonna take forever. We need to get there now."

Avramax crossed his arms. "Hmm. You're Mokuba, I see. The Lady of the Forest speaks highly of you. Your mission in the capital must be very important if you are willing to cross through the Valley of the Graves. It's impossible to cross through there these days. The Dark Clown that arrived recently has increased the power of the undead tenfold."

"We have to cross that valley," Mokuba said. "There are some bad people out there who have my brother."

Avramax nodded his head once. "I heard from other travelers that they've seen a group of shadowy individuals carrying a prisoner toward the city. He must be the one you seek. I'm sorry to say, you have to take the route around the mountains. But that would take days."

"Our hours in our time," Mokuba said to Cora.

"We don't have that amount of time," said Cora. "These two say she can help us. Well?"

The Mystical Elf smiled at her. "I will do what I can. But you all must be so weary from your terrors in the Valley of the Graves. And you must be so famished. Come inside. I will help you all get back up to speed."

"A virtual feast, eh?" Alexis said. "Count me in."

"But we don't have time for this!" Mokuba protested.

The Mystical Elf didn't listen and led her three warriors inside while asking Cora and the others to come in as well.

"Cora..." he said.

"Well it's not like we can just barge into the Valley of the Graves like this," said Cora. "They'll kill us with one hit. If the Mystical Elf can help us, then we have to trust her."

"She's just going to give us some powerups," said Mokuba. "It's in the game's story. It won't help us very much. We need another plan."

"We don't have any, Mokuba," Kasumi said, placing her hand on his shoulder to calm him. "We've got no ideas. We will probably need to give Kara time to find a way to bypass all that dark magic."

"Can she?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm sure she can," said Alexis. "When the city was attacked by the Cyber Dark Dragon a few months ago, we discovered there was a dark presence possessing the beast. Something evil and paranormal not technological. It took a lot of work but Kara and her Cyber Dragon Infinity were able to find a way to relinquish the spirit and help the Cyberknight stop the Cyber Dark Dragon. If there's anyone around here that can help us deal with the evil spirit of Seto Kaiba, it's her."

"I hope you're right," Cora said.

"I'll try and figure something out," Kara said suddenly. "I'm a genius but I'm not a miracle worker. Also, I didn't stop that dark spirit alone. Della used Celtran magic to help me exercise the dark spirit out of that machine. However..." She pulled a glass pendant out of her tank top and held it. "Maybe this charm she gave me can help. Before she vanished, she said if I ever needed it, all I had to do was pray to Horakhty. I was never a religious girl but who am I to argue with a Celtra?"

Alexis felt relief for a second there. "You get to work on that, Kara. If you make any progress, let us know."

"We'll see. I can't make any promises. If the dark spirit is stronger than her magic, there's not a whole lot I can do."

"That's where you're wrong, Kara," said Madeline after she quickly thrust the headset of Nixie's head and put it on hers. "This is not magic. It's Divine Intervention. I know. I grew up in a convent. I know a thing or two about the Divine Spirit of the Goddesses. Put all your faith in them. Believe with all your heart that you can overcome this evil. Believe that they are with you always. And you'll always win against the dark forces of Odiva the Perfect."

"I understand," said Kara. "Okay, you guys rest with the Mystical Elf. I'm going to...pray."

Alexis chuckled. "Well, that's something I thought I'd never hear coming out of her lips."

Once they stepped inside the little cottage, they discovered a big meal already prepared for them. The feast consisted of mostly treats like pancakes, mince pies, jars full of honey and jam, cupcakes, and all other things. As soon as all the food was ready to be served, the sun went down. The fire was snapping in the chimney and stalks of lavender and daffodils hung from the ceiling to freshen up the house. As Mokuba, Cora, Kasumi, and Alexis sat down to eat, the Mystical Elf offered Candy a cup of strawberries with whipped cream, then took her to the washroom to give her a bath, which increased her Charisma and Dexterity by +2 and added a perk that increased her Charisma by another 2 points.

"And then he summoned all these terrible zombies to come after us!" Candy said. She was up to her head in bubbles and held onto the cup with strawberries as the Mystical Elf washed her.

"You must have been so scared," she said, rubbing scented oils in her hair.

"Oh, I was," she said. "I was terrified." She looked to the left sadly.

"What's wrong, my dear? You look sad."

"It's just...my friends...I don't think they like me very much."

"What makes you say that?"

"They're always mad at me. I guess it's because I'm not like them. They're so tough and mean and brave. But not me. I'm still really timid and scared. I guess it is kind of annoying but it's who I am. I can't help it if I see the world differently. I see fun things and laughter and joy. But they always want to find problems. Maybe it's because I'm not 'mature' as Kasumi says."

"Enjoying the fruits of life is not immature, my dear," said the Mystical Elf. "That's what I like the most about you. Your other party members" — she jerked her thumb at the green door of the washroom — "they're so serious."

"I don't blame them. Cora, the knight you met earlier, the prisoner they have is her father. And Mokuba's brother."

"I see," the Mystical Elf said. "The mission is a dire one. But even in our darkest times one always needs a bit of laughter. And you provide that for your friends."

"Not really. They don't like me. They're always yelling at me. I try to be like them but.."

"There is no need to be like them. You don't have to view the world as a giant puzzle that needs to be solved to find strength. Sometimes strength comes in the smallest of packages."

She poked Candy's chest.

Night fell. The moon rose high up in the sky and the stars were twinkling endlessly. Cora was looking at the lake hidden in the sanctuary. The green bear Artemis was riding on was asleep under a tree. Swarms of fireflies flew around him, lighting up the air like a string of tinsel on a tree.

"You should sleep," Artemis said approaching Cora. "Have no fear. This sanctuary is well projected. My friends keep constant watch around its borders. They are powerful."

"I have no doubt about that," Cora answered. "It's just that I really need to find my dad."

"We will find him. Have faith."

"That's all anyone ever tells me to do," said Cora. "But this situation we're in. It's so...so dire."

"All situations seem that way," said Artemis. "But following faith is the best way to find the light. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your friends. Have faith that you'll find your father. You will never go wrong."

"It takes more than faith to make it through life."

"Of course," Artemis agreed. "It might need a little elbow grease to get the gears going but when they do, there's no stopping you. Sleep. We have a big day tomorrow. The Lady of the Forest has a big plan for you all. You'll reach the capital in no time. And your father as well."

Cora agreed and followed Artemis back to the cottage. As soon as her head hit her pillow, she closed her eyes and slept. When she awoke the next morning, she gasped. "No!" she cried. "We couldn't have fallen asleep!" she turned on the menu and connected with her friends. "Guys! I'm so sorry! We slept."

"Yeah, we know," said Nixie.

"You don't sound mad at all. Gosh, I feel so stupid! Did you guys get any sleep in there?"

"Sleep? At a time like this?" M said. "No way."

"How long have you guys been holed up in there?" Cora asked. She paused for a second and changed the question before anyone answered. "Wait, hold on. How long has it been since we came into the game."

"Forty minutes," said Nixie. "You okay?"

"Forty minutes?" Kasumi said sitting up in her bed. "We practically just got there. Has no time at all passed in there?"

"Not at all," replied Nixie. "You guys just went to sleep and then there was a blackout for seven seconds with a cute sleeping jingle. Now it's daytime. No time at all passed, really."

"Wow, that's so weird," said Cora. "But hours have passed here. Incredible."

"Not really," said Nixie. "If hours have passed there, then those guys holding Seto captive are already miles ahead of you. Get your asses out of bed and get moving."