Brood: *is banging her head repeatedly on the desk*

Zutsokaki: *is sitting moodily in a couch about fifteen feet away from Brood*

Brood: *speaking each word as her head hits the desk* Why ......did .......I .........agree ......to ....that ....contest!!!!!

Zutsokaki: *speaking darkly* No, you readers, she does NOT mean the fanfiction contest she is holding... she means the contest to see who could drink more between her and a friend on New Year's Eve. Check it out here. www.geocities.com/cherish_lyneytte/Main.html

Brood: *looking up* WHY DID YOU GIVE THEM A LINK TO THE NEW YEARS PARTY!!!!!

Zutsokaki: So they all can see how bad you get when you consume a bit much. Be warned, there will be a LOT of people you won't recognize. *Brood resumes hitting her head on the desk*

Brood: Here.... is....... chapter.... sixteen..... enjoy.....

Fuu Fuu Choco Taco: Hope you all had a safe New Years!!!

Fuu Fuu Vanilla Taco: Brood doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! *Fuu Fuu Vanilla was a Christmas present from Wingleader Sora Jade and resembles Zutsokaki to an extent....oO;;**





CHAPTER 16





Seto Kaiba was following the path that his Duelist ID was leading him on. He was drawing nearer the small girl every moment, and after finding a useful "refresh" feature, he was able to find that she was moving quickly over some large clearing.

What had happened that had made her want to move so quickly? Was she being chased by anything? Was someone threatening the vunerable little girl? Seto quickened his pace. The sooner he was assured the safety of the young person, the sooner he could search for the fortress.

He ran around trees and shrubs, passing by several bushes with perfectly safe berries growing on them. He took no notice of the good fruit, however, and continued pressing buttons on his ID and following her trail.

Within an hour, he was confronted by a nearly solid wall of trees. He muttered a few choice curses under his breath and tried to find a way through. He refreshed the screen of his trail again, and found that she was probably around one mile from him, in a straight line. But since he couldn't go in a straight line, he had to swerve around this woodland wall as best he could. Which meant a longer walk for him.

Once again, a small string of swear words escaped his lips and he turned left, going around the tree area. He blipped the refresh button once more and found that she had angled around towards him, and he at least was thankful for the fact that he didn't have to walk the whole distance to her.

After around twenty minutes of refreshing and swerving around trees and shrubs that only made his life more difficult (/I am SO going to buy this island from Craword and bulldoze ALL forest life here..../), he found himself at a small stream close to a tiny clearing.

To get where he needed to go, he needed to get across the stream. Darkness was falling swiftly, and he needed to find her before the dark came down completely. There wasn't a bridge nearby, so he had to wade across. Lord, the things he would do.

After his feet got out of the supremely cold mountain runoff water, he stood on the other side of the bank and shook his legs out as best he could. He let down the end of his trench jacket he had been holding up, and continued walking, having to listen to the uncomfortable *squelch* his boots now made.

The pale crescent moon now began to rise, Seto noticed. Since he was in the middle of a clearing, he could see the night sky very clearly. It was funny, but just a couple of days ago, the skies were clouded over and pounding sheets of rain over him and everyone else on this island, while booming thunder and flashing lighting. It really was odd here....

Seto paused for a moment to put his bag on the ground so he could dig for his flashlight. After a moment, he found the compact yet bright light source and used the handy clip to clip it to the ID. He blipped the refresh button again, expecting the girl to be much farther away from him than he saw. Instead he saw that she was about one hundred feet away from him.

His eyes widened at his pure luck, and almost as if on cue, over the sounds of the crickets and other nightlife, the distant and heavy rustling of some shrubs. Seto walked up much closer as silently as he could until he could hear a murmuring.

"Come on Lisa, I told you that we have to keep going........."

"But Miss Mai, that man you saw close to the fortress! Is he REALLY that bad?"

MISS MAI!? And that voice.......Lisa had somehow found and stayed with Mai! Out of pure curiosity, he pressed in the coordinates for Yugi Motou, to see if she were with them all. Nope. Yugi was about three miles from here. Maybe more. That would mean that Mai Kujaku had somehow gotten separated from everyone else.....

"Yes Lisa, that man did very bad things...."

"But Miss Mai, can't we stop now? My feet hurt!"

"......we're far enough for the night, Lisa. We can stop here, I suppose. But just in case he saw us, we have to get moving in the morning. I'm not exactly one of his favorite people...."

Now Seto was curious. Who was this man they had been fleeing from, just at Mai's sighting of him? Maybe himself? No....he was much to far away at the time he first noticed that Lisa was moving very quickly. There were other dangerous people he could think of. Oh well. No matter. Now was the time to make himself known, and he could ask questions of them later.

Seto quickly stepped through the shrubbery separating him from the pair of girls, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from the both of them.

"Who's there! Don't come closer!!!" It was Mai warning him. He almost chuckled. He raised the light clipped to his ID higher up, revealing his face.

"Seto Kaiba?" Mai's face became a mask of confusion and surprise, but became even more surprised when Lisa yelled in happiness.

"KEBBY-KUN!!!!!!" Lisa ran at Seto, hugging him tightly around the waist. Her body shook with her elation and some tears coming down her face. Seto was taken by surprise, frozen in place, much like Mai was. Soon though, he put his free hand on top of Lisa's head.

"Quiet now. You're getting my shirt wet." He had to hide the slight tinge of relief trying to worm it's way into his voice, his eyes betraying him for a split second, showing a small sign of softness. They soon took on their stony palor once again though.

Lisa pulled her head back and looked up at Seto. "Kebby-kun, you found me! I'm glad you did! Miss Mai says that there is a mean guy around and that he might try and hurt us!"

"Kebby-kun....now I get it...." Seto and Lisa's head's shot up and towards Mai who had spoken finally. "Lisa somehow met you earlier on, and it was you, the Kebby-kun that she kept talking about!"

Lisa grinned at Mai. "Yup!" Then she opened up her pack and pulled something out. It was Seto's long jacket that she had won back from Rebecca. Seto looked down at the long garment, musing that she should have it, when he thought he might have actually lost it somewhere. He remembered just then, handing it to her and telling her to keep a hold on it for him.

"Well, now what do we do?" Mai looked at Seto and Lisa.

"Where were the two of you headed?," Seto asked with a bit of curiosity, hidden with the right amount of coldness.

"If it were any of your business, we were going to go and do the usual! Get our diamond chips so we can get into the fortress!" Mai snapped at him unexpectedly, and Lisa looked at her oddly.

"Hey, I just thought of this, you two know each other, don't you?" Lisa smiled up at the two of them.

"We.....are aquantiances...." Seto looked at Mai steadily, who had to look away from his ice cold stare. Yeesh, it gave her the creeps....

"I suppose we should go ahead and pitch camp!" Lisa bounded to the open area of the clearing and dropped her bag down on the ground. For once, Lisa made a good point. Seto walked close to the girl and put his things down as well, then cast a smug glance at Mai.

"Well, are you just going to stand there all night? Come and get settled. Tell me, who is this guy you saw anyway that sent you running so fast?"

Mai glanced at him submissivly and came to sit a short distance away from Seto. "You're not going to like the answer."

"Try me." Seto stared at her evenly.

"Marik."

".............."

"See? I told you that you wouldn't like it."

"I might have guessed he was here." Seto cast a glance over at Lisa, who was currently cuddling a Happy Lover plush toy she had in the depths of her bag. He then looked over at Mai again, lowering his voice to a hush. "He may be the reason I lost track of Lisa in the first place."

Mai's face expressed understanding at their situation. But why would Marik want to separate guys from small lost girls? Which led to the question.....

"How did you meet Lisa in the first place?"

Lisa had heard this and looked up from her plush hugging. "I saw his fire and smelled food! And I was lost, so I followed anything that seemed like a person made it. So when I found Kebby-kun, I asked if I could stay with him!"

Mai glanced sideways at Seto. HE of all people let a little girl stay with him while she was lost, AND even let the little smurf call him "Kebby-kun." Something had definitly changed in him since she first met him.

"Well Mai, now that your question is answered, now I ask mine. Where is Yugi and the other members of your merry band?"

She looked at Seto quietly. "I was separated from them in the storm."

It wasn't far from the truth at all. Like she would tell him anyway. She could see it now.....Oh no Seto, Bakura went on a homicidal spree and tried to kill me and that french girl we're all pretty sure you dig. But then another chick showed up out of nowhere and saved both our asses. Neat, huh? Oh no, put away that knife you are pulling out now, I'm sure that the next time you see Bakura that you'd be more inclined to use your bare hands.

Yeah. That would go over nicely with him.

"That's believable. That storm wasn heavy enough to get me confused for a moment. But I found shelter anyway." Seto concentrated on unfolding a very small type of sheet.

But then she noticed that a small electronic pump was attactched to it. He pressed a button, and it began to inflate the sheet. She realized that he had a very compact air matress, and immediately envied him. Her own air matress was way to big to even consider. Rich guys always got the best toys. She unfurled her sleeping bag, as did Lisa.

Mai pulled out her pack of matches and set about gathering some firewood. She managed, in the dark, to find many dry pieces to keep going throughout the night.

When she got back to the clearing, Lisa had fallen asleep in her bag, and Seto had a book out with that clip light he had. He kept peeking over the top of his book now and again though, peeping over at the sleeping girl. It was as if he expected her to get up and run from him any second.

Mai strode out into the clearing and put down all of the wood she had found. She arranged the wood in a safe pile and lit them up with her matches. After she had a small flame going on one of the branches, sure to spread, she sat back and got inside of her own sleeping bag.

"So, why don't you tell me something, Kaiba." Mai shot her eyes in his direction.

Seto hardly looked up from his reading material. "What do you want?"

"How did you lose Lisa?"

His eyes looked over the top of his book and stared at her. "I have reason to believe that Marik had a hold on her, and made her see images of her older sister. I take it that Lisa DID tell you of her older sister?"

"Yeah, she did actually. So you say she ran because Marik did that to her? Why would he want to do that anyway?"

"Not really sure. Maybe he wanted to throw me off. Well, sending me to find the lost thing didn't work, if it was meant to keep me from earning all of my diamond chips. I am unsure of any other real reasons. I don't think Marik is frightened of me in any way, so I don't know why he'd occupy himself with making little girls see imagery of their older siblings to make them run from temporary caretakers."

Mai nodded. "When I saw him stalking around the area at a distance, I decided it was time to go, and get Lisa and myself far away from that maniac."

"Did he see you?" His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Not that I could tell. If he did, he sure didn't show it."

"No use worrying about it right now. Maybe it's time to turn in for the night." Seto turned off the little clip light and set his book down. He took his sleeping bag and wrapped himself inside, and laying on top of his now filled air matress.

Mai cast one last look over at Seto, and one more at the snoozing Lisa, and she lay down to sleep as well.

Once she was sure nobody was moving, Lisa opened one eye. She then sleepily shuffled closer to Seto, placing her head on his matress. Happy with the new pillow, Lisa drifted off once again.



Back at Pegasus's castle...............

At the sound of the lock clicking on the door, Isis' worried eyes flickered at Otogi, who's look mirrored hers. Otogi shot up out of his seat and took five striding run steps, and was at the door. He jiggled the handle roughly. When the handle didn't give, he pounded on the door.

"PEGASUS!!! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?!?!"

"Why Togi-boy........" Pegasus's lilting deep voice floated through the door, "I'm taking you and Miss Ishtar to Malik of course.... I keep my promises....."

Otogi couldn't help a shudder than ran down his spine, knowing, even through his idolization.....no. FORMER idolization of the man, that this definitly wasn't a good thing for either him or Isis.

Isis. Still behind him. Otogi turned around to face the young woman, who's eyes were alight with worry. She seemed to be keeping her cool for now though.

She looked at him lightly. "I hate to say I told you so, Otogi...."

"Point made, Isis, let's just find a way out of here!" He began to shake harder at the door.

Isis stood up and inspected the windows, checking the corners for any kind of catch or opening. Suddenly, her head darted upwards.

"Otogi....do you hear that?" She craned her head upwards and Otogi kept quiet, listening also.

Soon, he heard the telltale low hiss of gas entering the room through some secret piping. His eyes opened wider, and his arms fell to his sides in a solid disbelief.

"Oh no not this not this not this please......." Otogi's thoughts ran wild with all of the things Pegasus could be forcing them to breathe.

/Lord....don't let it be cyanide or chlorene or......oh God let him want us alive......../

Isis let out a cough as the hiss grew louder, and Otogi rushed over to her. He grabbed her by her sholders and pulled them both down underneath of the couch, hoping it would take longer for the gas to circulate down there. He suddenly felt his lungs tighten up, and he let out a cough like Isis had.

They were both coughing more frequently within the minute, and Otogi took off his red vest, handing it to Isis.

"Here Isis...," He had to suddenly fight off a fit of coughs. "Breathe through this...I'm going to find us a way out of here!" He watched Isis press the red fabric to her face and he got out from under the furniture.

Otogi frantically searched around the room as the gas began to take control of his senses. Had to find a way out, or both of them may be dead. No way of telling what kind of gas he was pumping into the room....

His eyes fell on the windows, and he felt himself sway a little bit. Isis must have seen his feet shuffle to keep his balance, because his slowly muddling mind caught her muffled cry. He heard a short fit of coughs and he tried to think of a way to open them and let in some real air.

He moved to the windows and searched for a lock or latch, but found none. Otogi's eyelids drooped a bit and his clouded head suddenly took in a smaller chair closeby. He walked over as best he could and picked it up with some effort. The gas he felt in his lungs and body were making him less coherent by the second.....he had to hurry.

Otogi raised the chair by the window, preparing to swing with all of the might he had left in him. It might even be too late for him. That thought ran through the last logical part of his brain working.

He began swinging the chair towards the window. Suddenly, though, his knees buckled underneath of him. The chair bounced off of the window frame harmlessly and clattered to the foor next to Otogi. He then slumped over quietly, the gas taking him over completely.

Isis watched in horror. She had to complete what he had tried to do! It might be too late for Otogi if she didn't hurry.....she removed the cloth from her face, and had to fight more coughing fits. But her eyelids drooped too, and she knew she couldn't do what Otogi had failed to do. She didn't even feel as if she could stand....hell, she didn't think that she could hold a coherent thought in her mind.

In less than another fifteen seconds, Isis too fell back to the ground, her eyes closed serenely.





"Master Crawford, the girl has gone down. They look like they have both succumbed to the gas."

Pegasus rolled his eye at the image on the small television screen. "Of course I can see that she's gone down. Now turn on the ventilators and flush out the gas from the room."

The servant bowed his head. "Yes, Master Crawford. Immediatly." The man then pressed the green button on the console, and a high hissing noise could be heard even outside of the sealed doors. After about two minutes, Pegasus's servant deemed it safe to enter the room.

The white haired man strode past his servant and opened the door carefully. He then left the door open, just in case, and walked over to the closest of the two. He stopped in front of Otogi, stepping carefully over the chair he had dropped. Pegasus had seen over his soundless video system that Togi-boy had indeed tried to knock out one of his windows.

The effort, if succeeded, would have not saved him, as he'd inhaled too much of the gas already by that time. Isis might have been spared the gas though. But, niether of them had.

Pegasus cast a look over at Isis's fallen form. "I told you I'd take you to your brother, Miss Ishtar....I just didn't say how, now did I?" Pegasus allowed a malevolent chuckle to escape his lips, and he waved three security men to take the "guests" away.





Shadi's eyes opened effortlessly. Yugi was moving. He craned his head upwards and saw Yugi's tall form walk through some nearby bushes.

Tall form? Yugi was not a tall person. His other side must be in control, Shadi reasoned. He stood quietly and began to tail the boy silently. His skills of creeping unnoticed served him well, as the spirit didn't seem to notice anyone following. Not even a stealthy guardian with a Millennium Item.

Soon, the spirit turned into a thicket of bushes and Shadi stopped once again. He paused for a moment, waiting for the perfect opportunity to peek over. After a moment, and a mumbled word between the two, a light flashed in the thicket, begging Shadi's attention. He had to look over.

He turned his head and raised it above the shrubs, happy that their backs were to him. The person he saw was wearing a simple Egyptian linen shift, with a small circlet on top of her long straight hair. Shadi took in a breath, thinking that he'd seen this girl before. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

/Could it really be....all this time right under my nose......!!!!/





Marik walked down the spiral steps in the hidden alcove of the fortress. As his steps took him closer to the bottom, he began thinking of his course of action. He already knew which Item he was targeting first. It was much more fun to take down his opponents at their strongest, so why not give them a reason to fight, or even a reason to like him first?

At the bottom of the staircase, there was a small store room with supplies for him. Food......water.....extra blankets. The usual stuff he needed to be out on the island more. He picked up some more food and filled his two canteens with water, and then picked up a packet of matches.

His host, Malik, had shown him how to use them earlier that day. As a reward, he let Malik out of their Soul Room for awhile, instead of leaving him imprisoned all afternoon, like he'd originally planned.

Suddenly, his head jerked up as he'd felt a familiar energy signature. How lucky.... his very target was wandering close by with his prize already! Marik let a huge grin cross his sadistic features, and immediatly packed away his supplies and, after shooting a quick glance at the door opposite his exit with the "control panel," he went back up the stairs, thinking all the way how pleased his "partner in crime" would be later on.....

After he reached the top, he realized night was falling. Marik turned his head in the direction he needed to go, and walked quickly along the open field until he found the row of trees. He found his exit from those rather easily, and stepped back out into open forest.

He opened his ID after fishing it out of his pocket.

[Hey you! How did you do that thing with this contraption again?]

{I'm Malik. Not "hey you." And it's a little difficult to explain. Why don't you let me do it.}

[Alright...MALIK. Do you promise not to try and take me off course?]

{I wouldn't think of it. Just let me open the Duelist Finder and search for whoever you need to find....} Malik let out a small mental sigh. It was really frustrating to only be out once in awhile, and he wanted to worm any moments of fresh air out of Marik he could.

[Fine. You get just a minute to do it. Try anything mutunious and I'll skin you alive.....]

{Sure.} The bright tingling feeling overtook them both as they switched places. He looked down at himself, and wondered, not for the first time, how his clothes could always fit the both of them. Marik was taller than him after all....

He shoved the useless thought out of his mind. After hitting a few buttons and referring to the small guide book to the ID Pegasus had given Marik, he accessed the Duelist Locator screen.

{Alright. Who is it you need to find? Yugi Motou, right?}

[Oh no.....this time I need to find Ryou Bakura.....]

Malik's body tensed up. Ryou? Why did he want Ryou? He didn't have anyth.......oh Ra.

[I can sense your displeasure at my choice of first victim......well just suck it up and punch in the information!]

Malik heard his other side's demands. He knew exactly what was happening now. Why he was called here. If not the real reasons behind it, he sure had a good idea now. He solemnly put in the numbers and the name, and his current location blipped up onto the screen. He was surprised to find out that Ryou really wasn't all that far away. Maybe only two hundred metres or so.

{Alright. His location is on the map. There is a button near the bottom that lets you refresh the screen and re-check the location, because he could be moving.}

[Fine. I'll take it from here....] Marik switched the two back around, dumping Malik in his soul room. [And one more thing boy.....I WILL be needing your help later on with this.....as you know, niether Ryou or his friendly other side like me very much......]

Malik once again let out a mental sigh. He knew it would come to this sooner or later. Suddenly, he heard a phone ring, and the mental connection was cut off.





Keith was stirring fretfully in his sleep. His dreams were riddled with odd shapes. These shapes resembled the sort of splotches of light you see after you get a portrait taken, only these were constant and changing shape continually, much like an amoeba. These shapes kept shifting and throbbing, causing that constant headache of his to get worse.

Keith suddenly thrashed around as a pulsating shape shot into a new form, and he hit his head on a nearby rock. His head was suddenly a swimming sea of pain, and his headache doubled. He woke up retching of to the side loudly.

"God...damn...puking....head hurts.....so much...." He gasped the words to himself in between heaves.

You know Keith.....it will all end once they are dead......

"You keep.... hurrrk..... singing the same tune Duke....."

Yes Keith! Doesn't it get tiring! Maybe if you just moved on....there are other things to do with your life than revenge...

"Terrence.... uuuccckk.... .keep out of this..... uurrpp....."

Just trying to help, Keith.....

"Liar........ you just make my head hurt worse...."

Ha ha! Got shot DOWN ya pansy!

"Duke... not helping."

Oh well. Maybe you need to get moving anyway........

"Need more sleep...please...."

Ohhh no.... let's put those bullets of yours to good use. Let's get some more duelists to surrender their chips to you....and when you get enough to get to Pegasus's castle, you will have your opportunity for first revenge.....

"I like the sound of that...........but I need to rest a bit more......."

No. I won't let you. We get up and move now.

"I'm going to sleep now. Can't stop me."

I know the song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, I know the song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes.....I know the song that gets on everybody's ner....

"STOP IT STOP IT!!!!"

....ves......So, you'll get up now?

"....Yes. We'll keep going."

Once again, Keith lost an arguement with his own mind and stood up. He wobbled a bit due to the lack of sleep and proper nourishment, and began moving again. A moment later, Terrence reminded him that he left his pack behind. Keith groaned irritably and turned back to get it. Then he went on again, very slowly. He wanted to be rid of his "companions" badly, even if for one night so he could get some decent rest....





Darkness had fallen for the night and Ryou stood at the edge of a small pool of water, looking into his reflection as Teodora had knelt down to take a few drinks. Ryou was surprised to see that most of the water sources were freshwater and very clean. Maybe it was another reason that Pegasus wanted this island for his tournament.

He glanced down at Teodora and sighed. \Is this really nescessary, Bakura?\

\\I don't know. Maybe she'll prove useful somehow....\\

\Or amusing?\

\\Hehe....that too....\\

\.......can we lose her now?\

Teodora stood up and towered over Ryou once again. She smiled down at him and motioned for them to get moving onwards. He saw Teodora duel earlier on, and she won simply out of some luck with a trap card and a good monster draw. He supposed she was good, but he just hadn't seen her duel enough yet to be so sure.

They walked out of the grove they rested in for awhile, and soon found themselves on a small beaten path.

Teodora looked down at Ryou sideways periodically, smiling and casting her nearly black eyes over him. Ryou could practically feel her eyes on him sometimes, and he wondered if Bakura wanted her around so he could see Ryou squirm.

Suddenly, Bakura stopped him. Ryou screeched to a halt, and Teodora stopped a couple of steps ahead of him. She turned towards him and said his name. "Ryou?"

Ryou's head was darting around, looking between the trees and around bushes. Bakura had told him that he sensed a large energy closeby, and that they could all be in danger. Ryou's mind had been to occupied at the time to notice it, but now that he was focused, he could definitly feel something.

"Ryou?" By her tone and the way Ryou was moving his head around, she wanted to know what was wrong.

"Shh...." was all he said in response. She obeyed him of course.

\\Left.\\

\Behind that row of bushes?\

\\And getting closer.\\

Ryou stopped moving altogether as he faced the direction that his darkeness pointed out. Teodora stood and looked in that direction also, moving her head around to try and see what he was looking at. By this time, she was very confused.

After waiting about thirty seconds, a form stepped out of the bushes, and Teodora gasped. It was a shorter Egyptian boy with blonde hair and a short blue top and long black pants. Malik Ishtar. Ryou's eyes opened widely. He wasn't his darkness, so that was a good sign....

"Ryou....help me......" Malik fell down, stumbling and landing face down. He lifted his head and looked at him. Teodora's eyes popped open at hearing Ryou's name, and guessed correctly that they knew each other.

"Malik. What happened to you?" Ryou remained skeptical, but stepped closer anyway. Bakura was silent for now.

"Marik.....he......he controlled me......and brought me here. I managed to get control anyway......but I don't know where I am." He gasped a little bit and heaved himself up on his hands. Teodora walked forward and grabbed one of his arms, and helped him up onto a rock. "Who is she? Ra, she's tall...."

Ryou's face reddened quickly, knowing why she was following him around. "She's someone I met on the way here. She is tagging along with me now until I can dump her somehow."

"Oh....I see......" Malik sat quietly for a moment, and Ryou offered him a drink of water. Malik took it gratefully, and handed the canteen back to Ryou.

"You said you wanted to know where we are? We are on an island owned by Pegasus J. Crawford for a massive Duel Monster's Tournament."

"You mean like the one I heard about on Duelist Kingdom?" Malik raised questioning eyes at Ryou.

"Yeah. That one. Only this one is MUCH bigger." Ryou still eyed him oddly, and Malik turned away.

"You know, when I managed to get control, I found this in my pocket. I managed to turn it on, but I don't know what else to do with it." Malik pulled the Duelist ID out of his pocket, handing it to Ryou.

"This is your Duelist ID, Malik. Pegasus gave every one of us one of these. Let's take a look around here..... I'm sure you don't know that Marik is working as an Eliminator, do you?"

Malik's eyes opened wider. "So that's why I'm here.....why would he want to be employed by Pegasus anyway?"

Ryou shrugged. "Hmm...I wonder if Marik even knows what to do with this map feature here....see, you press this button and bring up the map.......oh my Lord....."

"What? What is it, Ryou?" Malik tried to look up at his ID from his perch on the rock. Teodora could see that something had excited Ryou, because his eyes had suddenly lit up as he was looking at the map.

"The Fortress is marked on this! Pegasus must have given this information to his Eliminators! Wow!" Ryou looked very happy by this time, and Teodora looked over Ryou's shoulder, seeing a small icon of a fortress on the map. She immediately understood and jumped happily.

"The Fortress?"

"Yeah, this is where all the duelists that can fill their Duelist Gloves with twenty five diamond chips have to go on certain days. In about a week, Pegasus will come to that fortress and wait for all the duelists that can find the place to turn in their chips and make it to the second round of the tournament. Wow! This makes my job so much easier!"

Malik looked up at Ryou. "So this tournament is mainly for the intellegent and the lucky to win....right?"

"Sometimes, a great deal of luck is what it takes....."

Malik stood up, obviously rejuvenated. "What direction is it?"

Ryou took another look at the map. "It's actually very close.....only about 1000 meters from here. Not really all that far....."

"Yeah, I agree."

\\Hey, you stupid mortal, can't you see that this is all too easy?\\

\What? Of course I can.....I don't know what's really going on....\

\\I suspect Marik is actually behind this "good luck" we've stumbled upon.\\

\Maybe you're right.\

\\Of COURSE I'm right you stupid mortal!! Make Ishtar over there get rid of the girl. I'm taking over.\\

\What?!\

\\Do it.\\

"Hey, Malik.......Bakura wants out......"

Malik's eyes widened. "He does?"

"Yeah, but we need to get rid of her...." Ryou cast a quick glance over to Teodora that went unnoticed by her.

"Oh yeah.....I see." Malik reached behind him where he kept the Rod hanging in his belt loop and held it up. Suddenly, Teodora's eyes glazed over and she turned around and walked away. "After I release her, she'll wonder what happened, and come looking for us. The way she'll remember it is that we all started walking, but she got separated from us."

"Clever. Just wait until she's a good distance away from us to release her." Malik nodded, and Ryou closed his eyes.

Bakura opened his eyes. "Alright, Ishtar, take us to the fortress." His voice was harsh and cold, but Malik was used to those sort of voices by now. Malik nodded, even if he was a bit apprehensive, and took the ID from Bakura. Malik held it in front of him and used it to guide their way to the solid wall of trees.

"No wonder it's so hard to find," Bakura growled lowly.

"Wait....there's something else marked on here. It's a small arrow, and it looks like it's along this wall of trees here...." Malik turned right and walked onwards, staying close to the trees. Bakura crossed his arms and followed, keeping his eyes on Malik.

After around ten minutes of following Malik's map, they came upon a large gap in the trees. Malik looked at it for a moment and walked through. Bakura stood outside of it.

"Hey Bakura! I can see the Fortress! It's huge!" Well, that sealed it for him. He stepped through.

What he didn't count on was Marik waiting there to club him over the head with the Millennium Rod. Bakura slumped forwards into the dirt, moaning.

"You asshole.......why did you do that?"

Marik chuckled. "Why else, Bakura? You have something I want, and I intend to get it from you.....now where do you keep it...." Marik knelt down and fumbled around in Bakura's shirt pockets for a moment, while Bakura tried to get up. Marik conked him on the head again, but Bakura still wasn't unconscious. Marik plunged his hand into Bakura's jeans pocket, feeling something hard.

Grinning madly, Marik withdrew his hand, holding the Millennium Eye.







Brood: *now out like a light on the table*

Zutsokaki: *slumped in the couch* She's out of it for now. It's really really late at night right now, she stayed up to get this done. It's way overdue.

Fuu Fuu Choco Taco: Hope you all wiked dis chapter! Oooh! Go here! www.geocities.com/cherish_lyneytte/Brood_Mayran.html

WSJ has a question for all girlies on Broody Mama's message board! And new piccies coming soon!