R Amythest: Wow, this chapter's fun. . .

*~*~*

Ryou, Tea, Malik, Bakura, and Ishtar stared into the endless pit of hell. The dark orb swirled and crashed within itself, engulfing the darkness inside. The only sound in the night sky was the occasional roar of creatures inside the Realm. "Well," Malik finally said, breaking the silence, "Tea's goin' in, right?"

Ryou nodded, closed his eyes, and focused on the ring. Tea held her breath as she began to drift off, approaching the realm. . .

Owch.

The barrier between the world and the realm shocked her a bit, yet let her pass. She landed harshly on her back. Slowly, she rose, gathering the courage to walk further. Dark violet beams criss-crossed around in infinity. "Tea?" a voice called. "Is it you?"

Tea, startled, jumped in the air (and landed. . . you know) and quickly turned her head around. A flickering, ghastly form of Yami was suspended in the air. "Yami? But the puzzle. . .?"

Yami sighed. "Yes, this is the last bit of the power I gathered. I know I'm draining from Yugi himself. . . even if it is only a little bit of energy. . . but I had to see what you're doing here! You're mortal!"

Tea glared at him. "Well, you're the basic reason I'm here!"

"Wha. . .?"

Tea's eyes watered. "You love Yugi, he loves you, and not me anymore. So now. . . I'm going after Ryouji."

Yami's expression softened and he approached Tea. "I see." A soft, glowy barrier enveloped them. She looked around, surprised by the new environment. "This will keep the shadow realm from draining your energy." She smiled.

"Thank you."

"Good. Now journey on. . ."

*~*~*

"What's this?" Tea gasped. Yami and she had been traveling for some time now. At this time, they had been getting bored and tired until Tea caught sight of this: a large arena with tile on the floor and a single card tossed carelessly on one side. "Ryouji?" The image on the card was definitely of him, shielding his face with his left arm.

"Soul trapped in a card, I see," Yami replied, coming up behind her. "Evidently, he lost in a Shadow Game. . ." He looked across the field. "But it definitely isn't Duel Monsters."

"Duh. He INVENTED Dungeon Dice. I'll just about bet that's it," Tea muttered, fingering Otogi's card.

"Wow. What made you draw that conclusion?" a sarcastic, cunning voice drawled from across the field. The Exodia came from the dark hole-like area from the other side of the arena.

"You!" Yami growled. "Disturbing the cosmic balance! Stealing a piece of the puzzle! Do you know what will- oh no. . ." Yami paled.

"Yes, weaken the pull of the realm on the monsters!" Exodia said with a demonic grin. "So. . . shall we duel or not?"

"But this isn't a dueling arena!" protested Tea.

The grin grew larger. "That's right so I guess you'll have to play me in. . . Dungeon Dice Monsters!"

Yami glanced down at Tea. "Are you sure you want to play it?"

Boldness shone in her eyes. "Yes, Yami. Keep out of it."

*~*~*

Tea seriously was a newbie at it. 'Maybe I should've told Yami to duel for me.' She gave a helpless look at Yami, who gave her a thumbs-up. She hesitantly chose 15 dice from the hovering mass of dice.

"Hah. Newbie?" Exodia smirked.

"I know the rules," she said, tossing a die into the air and missing it. It clattered to the floor. The Exodia laughed, and Tea blushed to retrieve it. "So are we gonna play or not?"

"Hmph. Play," the Exodia grumbled, throwing the first three dice that materialized in front of him. There was a pair of stars with three sticks in them, and one movement crest. He tossed one of the star dice and a box appeared, revealing Thunderball.

"Hey! Who said you get to go first?!" Yami demanded in the background. Tea just stared, amazed at all that was happening.

"Hey kid," the Exodia shouted, ignoring the spirit, "I've foreseen your deck. These are your cards, go ahead and believe in the dopey heart of us."

'My cards are in here?' Tea thought, scrunching the three stone dice in her hand. 'C'mon, heart of the dice. . .' She closed her eyes, deep in thought. 'No. . . not just the mask. Answer me, the true heart of the dice. The true heart of Ryouji, too.' She opened her eyes and sent a glare at Thunderball. "Yes. . . Go, dice roll!"

*~*~*

The score was 3-1, Exodia's favor. He currently had a Ryu-Ran, Dark Witch, and Orion the Relentless on the field. Tea had a mere Petite Angel. Exodia had dominated more than half of the dungeon, and his dungeon path curved around Tea's. The Ryu-Ran was positioned closely to the heart point, and both the dark witch and Orion were halfway to her path. "Now, what about those hearts of dice, eh? I think you'd oughta try out heart points." He smirked, rolling three more movement crests and advancing Ryu-Ran one space away from the final heart point.

"Put your heart in the game, and there's nothing you can't do!" Yami reminded her from the sidelines. Tea nodded briskly, before breathing and tossing the dice. And to her luck, she rolled two level four monster summoning. In her deck, that would mean. . . a WingWeaver![1]

"Destroy Ryu-Ran!"

*~*~*

The score was 1 to 1. They were even, Exodia with only Orion, and Tea only had the WingWeaver left. They were squaring off, their monsters face-to-face, staring at each other from separate ends of the field. Tea snatched the dice from the air. "Dice, go!" she shouted. The roll resulted in two magic and one movement. "I'll use WingWeaver's special effect, faerie dust![2] The WingWeaver let out a golden puff of powder billow around her. "Faerie dust allows the WingWeaver move to a symmetrical position on the board!" It reappeared on Exodia's side, five steps away from the heart points and five away from Orion. And. . . Exodia had two movement crests in his crest pool.

It was down to this. . . If Exodia rolled two or more movements, then Tea would probably lose. But if he didn't. . . "Dice roll!" Exodia roared. The first die rolled to a trap. The second was a movement. . . the last one swirled in the air before landing on a magic. "Believe," whispered Yami.

Tea smiled, before rolling, and attacking the last heart point, that glowed a dark red before turning dim, into the black stone it is. . .

"MIND CRUSH!"

The Exodia glowed a brilliant gold, before shattering into pieces. Tea turned around, and watched the card in her hand go blank. "Hey, Yami, where is he?"

Yami gave a nod to the other side. "Over there, where the soul is heading." Tea hopped across the arena.

"Ryouji!" she happily squealed. Ryouji gave a moan and rubbed his head, quickly getting embraced by Tea. "I was so worried! I thought you were never getting out or. . ." Tea babbled on sweetly for a while Ryouji blinked and tightened his grip on her. Yami smiled.

"It's all good," Yami murmured before disappearing. "I bet I'm zapping Yugi. . ."

Ryouji finally shut Tea up by pushing her down and placing his lips on hers. Her eyes widened, but she returned it all the same. Finally, with a need for air, he let go and got off of her. "Now, what was that for?" Tea asked, grinning. "You really need to work on that."

"It was my first," he replied. "Now, what about getting those pieces of puzzle?"

"Right over there," she answered, pointing to the place where the Exodia once stood. "Get 'em and come on! Mai told me of a party!"

*~*~*

[1] In duel monsters, it's 2750/2400. So it's pretty strong. And it's a fairy.

[2] I KNOW it doesn't exist. . . but it sounds like something Tea would squeal over, huh? Anyway, I needed to wrap it up. . .

*~*~*

R Amythest: *groan* I got sick and now, TOMORROW is judgment day. . .

Yami Amythest: ahh. . .

R Amythest: *sighs* after this, check out my one-shots. Now, I had SOMETHING I needed to say. . . what was it, damnit! *sits down and thinks* oh yeah! Just curious, I don't know if anyone cares, guess what Joey'll do to please Mai! Check out the previous chapter for a bit of a clue. It'll be funny, believe me. But cute and romantic, in a way.

Yami Amythest: Yuh huh.

R Amythest: last chapter tomorrow, judgment day! *dun, dun!*