"Alyz?" Niya asked, prodding her friend with a pencil. "Wake up, you stupid shit!"

Alyz groaned. She was resting her head on her folded arms, half-asleep in socials class. "What do you want?" she mumbled unintelligibly. She was sprawled uncomfortably over her desk, but didn't care.

Niya poked her again. "We're supposed to be working, Alyz." She said, continuing to poke her friend absently. "You haven't even picked up your pencil. You /always/ do your work in class. What's up?"

"I'm tired...." Alyz groaned, not even slightly changing position.

Niya raised one eyebrow, looking her over doubtfully. "How can you possibly be tired? You go to bed at like, 8:30," she said. Alyz gave a loud "pshh!"

"Well I stayed up a little later last night, is that all right with you?" Alyz replied snottily, raising her head to glare at her friend. She shifted to face the wall and rested her head upon her arms once more. "Jeez... All I did was sleep through one socials class and you're ready to bite my head off!"

Niya snorted. "Yeah, one Socials class, one English class, one Biology class... How late /did/ you stay up last night?"

Alyz frowned. What did Niya care about it? Her personal life was not any of Niya's business. She spat out a sarcastic answer. "Past your bedtime." She turned away from her friend to face the wall. "It's none of your business, anyways. Just shut up and leave me alone" Niya sighed.

"Well fine, then! I was hoping you'd tell me yourself, but I know where you were last night."

"-What?!" Alyz demanded, sitting up. "No, you don't," she said with alarm.

"I know you went over to Ray's house yesterday," Niya said suspiciously. "Don't tell me you've finally stopped thinking boys are 'icky'."

"I've never been to Ray's house!" Alyz replied angrily. "Where the hell did you get a load of shit like that? I don't need you telling me where I spend my spare time. I think I would know where I was last night a little more than you, no matter how much you enjoy thinking you know everything that goes on in my life!"

Niya folded her arms. "There's no need to get pissy about it, Alyz. I wasn't spying on you, either, Ray told me that you came over last night. Why didn't you tell me that you like me?" Niya asked accusingly. Alyz blinked.

"Uh... because I don't?" she asked, her voice rude and sarcastic. Niya smiled.

"Oh, come on, Alyz... I can see the symptoms. I saw you two talking yesterday in Math. You guys would make such a cute couple... I know! How about I ask him if he'll go with you to the dance on Friday?" Alyz shook her head.

"I can't." she said simply. Dances had never been her thing, and besides, she had better things to do than stand around while her friends were having fun. Alyz was rarely asked to dance, and if she was, it was either because someone had dared him to, or because he had no one else to dance with.

"Why not?"

Alyz stared at her desk for a moment, searching for an excuse other than the truth. "I can't go with him because, er... because... uh... I'm... going with someone else, that's why," she said, still staring blankly at the desk. Alyz regretted the words the minute she said them. Shit, what had she gotten herself into, now?

"What?!" Niya asked, astounded. Alyz sat up straight. Was it that strange for Alyz to have a date for the dance? Why did her friend sound so suprised? She looked at Niya as coolly as she could.

"I said I'm going with someone else. Is that so hard to believe?" Alyz asked, attempting to sound confident. Niya stared at her for a few seconds before laughing half-heartedly.

"Haha, funny, Alyz. You almost had me there," she said, elbowing her friend in jest. Alyz felt a swelling of pride within her and sat up even straighter in her desk, staring at Niya with a gaze of steel.

She snorted. "I'm not joking, Niya. I know I'm not be the prettiest girl in the school, or the funniest, or the most popular, but is it really so hard for you to believe that a guy might actually be interested in me instead of you for once? Don't think you're the only one allowed to have a boyfriend."

Niya gave her a questioning look, then shook her head and began piling her books into her pack. "I didn't mean it that way, Alyz. You've just never really hit it off with any guys before."

The bell rang before Alyz could answer. She threw her books into her pack and zipped it up angrily. What did Niya know about it? Just because Alyz had never said anything, didn't mean she had never liked guys before. She was shy, that's all. She liked to keep things to herself. She wasn't like Niya. Niya was always flirty and pretty and... perfect. /Niya/ was never embarassed or awkward around boys... /Niya/ never had a problem with asking guys out. "Stupid whore," Alyz muttered under her breath.

/Come on, Alyz... All she did was ask you if everything was okay. Don't be such an extremist!/ Rinn said. Alyz threw her bag over one shoulder and stormed out of the classroom.

"You think /I'm/ an extremist?!" she hissed angrily. "I'm not the one who opened a can of ravioli with a fucking hand saw!" Heads turned at Alyz's angry outburst.

/Why are you mad, Alyz?/ Rinn asked gently. Alyz opened her lock with a vengance, throwing the locker door open so that it slammed into the locker next to it. She shoved her backpack inside and closed it with an equal amount of force. She felt her hands clench into fists and stomped off to the girl's washroom. The second bell rang, but Alyz didn't turn back. She knew that she was skipping math-- the first time she had ever skipped a class-- but couldn't bring herself to leave.

She strode into the bathroom and hopped up on the sinks, drawing up her legs to sit cross-legged. She cocked her head to one side, staring blankly at the far wall. Alyz felt her eyes become unfocused as her mind began to wander. She brought her hands up and rested her elbows on her knees, her chin cradled gently in her hands. She said nothing for several minutes, simply allowing herself to do nothing. Finally, she realized where she wanted to be at that moment. "Take us through, Rinn," she said quietly.

/Excuse me?/ Rinn inquired. /What do you mean?/

Alyz sighed. "Take me to see Bakura."

Rinn hesitated, unsure. /What are you talking about? I have no control over the portal./

"Yes, you do," Alyz interjected. The palms of her hands pressed against her throat, and she felt her pulse throbbing gently with her heartbeat. "I know you can take us through, now do it," she said, more loudly. She felt the spirit hesitate again.

"Do it!" Alyz yelled.

/All right,/ Rinn said slowly. /I'll try./



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*



"Alyz?"

Alyz turned around to face Joey. To her surprise, there was no one else around. "Where is everyone else?" she inquired. Joey shook his head.

"I went out to get some water, and when I came back, everyone was gone." he said with a shrug. "I've been trying to find them for nearly an hour now."

Alyz looked around, but there was no sign of anyone else. /There's no one here,/ she said to Rinn. /You might as well take me back./

/What?!/ Rinn demanded. /Don't think you can just order me around like some kind of slave, Alyz. Why are you acting so mean all of a sudden?/ Alyz shrugged.

/I only wanted to visit Ryou. He's not here, so I might as well leave./

/And what about Joey? You're just going to leave him here?/

Alyz sighed internally. /You are such a pain in the ass!/ Bringing herself back to reality, she looked at Joey.

"I'll help you find them," she said, almost reluctantly.

Joey's face lit up. "Really?" he asked, before his face returned to its former look of uncaring. "Cool."

Alyz smiled. "Okay, now where would they have gone?" she asked. "Have you checked inside that cave over there?"

Joey frowned. "Uh, no..." he said. "But only because it's so far away from our camp, not because I'm afraid or anything," he added quickly. Alyz laughed.

"Of course not! Not big, strong, fearless Joey," she said with a wink. Joey flushed, before heading towards the cave. Alyz followed.

They walked up to the entrance unsurely. Alyz could only see about ten feet inside, but knew that the cave must have extended for miles, judging by the total, pitch darkness that enveloped it. She took a few careful steps inside, examining the floor, walls, and ceiling, which extended a good fifteen feet above her head. "Wow," she said. In that one moment, all of her newlyfound courage and pride evaporated from her body. "This is really big," she said quietly. Joey crept up beside her, then walked inside.

"Don't worry," he said, turning back and smiling at her warmly. "Big, strong, fearless Joey is here to protect you." Alyz smiled back, rather weakly, and gulped. What had she gotten herself into? She scurried up to walk in beside Joey, as the light beaming in from outside quickly faded, then vanished altogether.

"So," Joey began, attempting to make idle conversation, "What have you been doing in... uh... your world lately?" Alyz smiled to herself.

"So you're finally starting to believe me?" she asked accusingly.

"Uh, well..." he said. "I've just decided that it's not worth it for me to argue with you about it. I'd rather be friends than adversaries, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, Joey," Alyz said softly. They walked on for a few more minutes in silence. Alyz shivered. The cave was dank and smelly, and totally black. She looked back once at the entrance. It was a tiny pinpoint of light, so far away that it seemed too small to be anything more than a flashlight. It was cold now, and the air was stale. The floor was uneven and rocky, and Alyz tripped over it numerous times. They began to round a corner, and the entrance became completely out of sight.

"This is so creepy," Alyz whispered.

"And that's exactly why I know they're in here. Yugi always ends up in the weirdest, darkest, freakiest place he can find," Joey said with a chuckle.

Alyz's foot hit a large rock, and she found herself cascading forwards with a shriek. She hit the ground hard, and a few pebbles fell off the wall beside her. "Are you all right?" Joey asked, offering his hand. Alyz took it and pulled herself to her feet.

"I- I think so," she replied. Suddenly, her ears caught a strange sound. It was millions of squeaking voices, from within the wall. Alyz screamed again as the air of the cave was filled with the high-pitched squealing of millions of bats, flitting and darting around insanely. Alyz was pelted from all directions with tiny furry bodies. She shut her eyes tight and felt Joey embrace her securely against their unseen assailants. It was several minutes later before the bats had finally begun to calm down. One by one, they flitted over the the wall and crawled inside the tiny crevice to go back to sleep. Alyz didn't open her eyes until the squeaking had stopped completely. She was breathing hard, and her heart was pumping at an insanely fast pace.

"Are they gone?" she whispered. Joey stepped back quickly, embarassed by his rush to protect Alyz.

"I think so," he said back just as softly. They stood for a few more minutes, until they were completely certain that the bats were gone. Alyz's breathing had calmed down, though her heart was still racing.

"We should keep going," she said, though every part of her body was screaming at her to turn around and go back.

"Yeah," Joey replied. Alyz guessed that he was as scared as she was. She took a few unsure steps and shivered once more. She had no idea if she was about to walk into a wall or if she was facing backwards. She had become completely disorientated during the onslaught.

"Joey?" she asked, fearfully. Did he go on without her? "Where are you?" she asked, beginning to panic.

Tears sprang in her eyes when there was no immediate reply. She was shaking fiercely, and only stopped when she felt his fingers gently entwine with hers. He squeezed her hand gently and pulled her in the right direction. "I'm right here," he whispered softly.