Time for chapter twelve!
Okay, somebody reviewed. But even though that single solitary review kept me from axing this fic here and now, i'll need more than one for the rest of it!
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, i own Slade and the crazed singing bird.
See previous chapters if you need to know who those people are.
Yugi POV this entire chapter.
Forget me, just read it!









I landed on what felt like sand. It was dark - the sky was the same colors as the

Shadow Realm. Wait a second - SKY? "Where are we?" I could hear my friends on the dune

behind me. "That hurt…" "It wasn't so bad." "It is when three people land right on top of

you!" "Joey, we already said we were sorry about that!" "Hey Yugi, you okay?" "Yeah," I

called back. "What happened?" But before they could answer, a giant blast of lighting hit

the ground between us. "AHHHH!" we screamed and ran. I was running blindly when I fell

down another hole. I landed on something that went "Oof!" It turned out to be Layhon.

"Sorry Layhon." "No problem. What's going on?" Outside our shelter, we could see what

looked like a war. Big shapes we couldn't make out clearly were attacking each other with

bolts of lightening. "We should try to find the others." Layhon whispered as we crept out

of hiding. We stayed close to the ground. We didn't want to be blasted, but apparently

they decided to attack us anyway. Layhon and I had to start running at full speed to avoid

being fried. We slid down a ditch just in time to miss being flattened. We took off down

the ditch until it stopped at a sheer rock wall. The monster behind us decided to go for a

final charge. "Where do we go now?!" Layhon was panicking. I would have too - if I hadn't

seen the crack. It was pretty narrow, but it looked big enough to squeeze through. "In

here! Hurry!" I said, and we dived in. From the large impact, we could tell that the

monster didn't fit. But as it didn't give up, we were forced to move deeper into the hole.

It was a shock when we fell into a cave. "Yugi! Layhon! Thank goodness you're alright!"

The others were there too. We were all beat. "Where do you suppose this thing goes?"

Tristan asked. "Who cares, as long as it's out." We made our way down the tunnel, only to

be confronted by - a door? "This is the biggest door I've ever seen!" Taya said. There

was a keyhole, and in a nearby box were four keys. From left to right they were: a gold

key, a rusty key, a silver key, and a key made of something so dark you could easily lose

track of it. "We chose a key, I guess." We all sat around, trying to pick which one.

"Hey, I think I heard this one before," Joey said. "Yeah, it's that riddle! You have to

pick a chest to find a treasure. One's gold, one's silver, and one's rusty. But if you

choose wrong, something bad happens. And…it's the rusty one! Yeah, because when you're

looking for something valuable, you wouldn't think it'd be in something that looks so ugly!"

Joey walked over and picked up the rusty key. It began glowing, and suddenly it was like

we were surrounded by thousands of glowing keys. "Whoa!" Joey yelped as he dropped the

key. The other keys faded. Layhon jumped up, waving the paper he'd been looking at this

entire time. "Wait, everybody! I just figured it out!" It was Clab's poem. "See, right

here! 'Find the fault amidst the stone/you are not alone.' Yugi saw the crack in the rock,

and then we found you guys! And here - 'Thousand keys burn bright/find darkness in right.'

Here are the keys. We all saw what happened. I think we need the key that won't do that!"

"Which is…" Instead of answering Joey, Layhon looked at me. Gulping nervously, I walked

over to the keys. I picked up the dark one - and it didn't glow. The air was filled with

black keys, but none of them glowed. I unlocked the door as Joey and Tristan patted Layhon

on the back so hard he almost fell over. We walked inside. There was a woman, seated on a

golden throne. She held a set of scales in one hand. It looked an awful lot like the

Millennium Scale. "Welcome," she said. "I am the final part of this test." She beckoned

me closer. "I will ask you a question. If your answer is false, you will fail. Do you

understand?" "Yes." I said quietly. She gave me a sympathetic look before showing me what

was in her other hand. It was a lot of little pictures of everyone. Grandpa, my friends,

Yami - even a man and woman I only recognized from the few pictures Grandpa kept. "Child,"

she said, "If all of these people were gone, and you were granted a choice, who would you

bring back?" Her eyes focused on me as I thought. All these people were the most dear to

me, how could I choose? Then the obvious hit me. "I would bring back all of them," I said

firmly. As I spoke, a white mist floated out of my mouth and settled on one side of the

scale. On the other, a tiny silver feather appeared. The scales tipped back and forth for

what seemed like forever before becoming dead even. "Good boy. You pass, and may proceed."

A door none of us had noticed opened next to her. Everyone else walked through, but I

stayed behind for a minute. "Who are you?" I asked. She smiled, and laughed slightly.

"You may think of me as the Judge of Truth." She said. "You'd better hurry, your friends

are waiting." I ran after them. What I didn't see was her still sitting, laughing like she

had heard something she had waited for for a long time at long last.











The door closed behind us and disappeared. We were in a big room. It looked like

it had been gold-covered at some point, but most of it was covered in grime. And on a

platform in the middle of the room was - "YAMI!!!!" I yelled as I ran to him. He was still

in the box, and was out cold. I tried to reach him, but was stopped by the box's

crystalline surface. So I began pounding franticly on it instead. "Yami, wake up! Wake up

Yami!" I was doing this for a while (And looking like a complete fool in the meantime),

before Yami stirred. "…uh…what…Yugi?" He was really out of it. "Yami, are you okay?" The

others were next to me. Tristan and Joey were trying to figure out how the box opened,

while Taya, Bakura, and Layhon just stood by looking worried. Yami nodded wearily. "I'm

fine. But I can't get out." He was pushing on the inside of the box as we beat on the

outside. We were going nowhere fast. Bakura seemed to be looking at something. "Um,

guys…" he said, more nervously than normal. We turned, and right behind us was the Black

Man. He seemed amused at our antics. "Hey, this is very entertaining! Please don't stop

on my account," he said with a grin. "Oh well. Looks like you've made it to the finish

line!" he smirked. "That means you get to challenge me, little boy." I really hate being

called a little boy. "Well, pick something! I haven't got all eternity!" That stumped me.

What did I know I could do so well that even without Yami's help I could definitely win?

Not much came to mind. He was bigger than me, and probably faster and stronger. That left…

"I challenge you to a duel." "A duel?" "Yes. And you're not allowed to use any powers I

can't use. If you cheat, you automatically forfeit." He nodded thoughtfully until I added,

"Whether one of us catches you or not." He looked a bit impressed. "So, you've come to

understand how a Shadow Game really works." He grinned like an idiot. "Those are your

terms?" "Yes." "Then I accept." He snapped his fingers, and everything shifted. The room

rearranged itself. We faced each other across an open space. On a platform to my right

were my friends. On the opposite platform was Yami, still locked in the box. He was

glaring daggers at the Black Man. He produced a deck from somewhere. "This deck only

contains cards that have actually been released in your world, so don't worry," he said.

Not something you needed supernatural powers for - so far so good. At least I didn't have

to worry about Toon World.







see! I told you I was going to make it up to you guys with a duel!
Granted, it took me until almost the end of the fic, and it's not here _yet_, but the next chapter's gonna be all duel, I promise!
In the meantime, don't hesitate to review, dears.