Chapter 11 - On the Dance Floor

The gang - Yugi, Téa, Tristan, Joey, Bakura, Kaiba, and Crimson - had been walking forward for quite some time. It was very different from walking in the real world. For one thing, everything was pitch black. It felt like they were floating in the middle of space. Another was that there was no road. So walking forward could have been counted as walking up, down, left, or right. There was no way to make sure they were walking straight.

"This is getting really tiring," Téa murmured. Joey and Tristan nodded.

"We coube walkin' in circles for all we know!" Joey complained. Crimson crossed her arms.

"Come on, guys. We just have to keep going until the next challenge comes."

"Maybe we should talk to pass the time," Yugi said.

"About what?"

"Well, Crimson, there have been a few things I wanted to know." Yugi looked up at her. "When did you get your Anklet? I don't think I ever asked."

"Well, I think it was six or seven months ago. It was the worst time of my life."

"Why?"

"Well, the Anklet was too strong for me at first. You know what I did back at Duelist Kingdom. The same thing happened to a larger extent." Crimson took out a small crystal from her pocket and began to twirl it. Royhaun...

"Like what?" Tristan inquired. Crimson realized the others were just as intent on listening as Yugi, even Kaiba.

"Well...I set a street of houses on fire and killed over thirty people... I caused earthquakes..." she stopped and the others turned to give her the Look. "I'm serious. I did kill those people. Plus, I evaporated a lake and made the three children in it disappear." The Looks intensified. "It's nothing I'm proud of."

"I can imagine," Kaiba said. "What kind of person would be proud of murder?"

"I didn't murder anybody!" Crimson protested. She was especially touchy on this matter. "The fire got outta hand, that's all." Kaiba smirked and Crimson felt the urge to cry. She hated when whomever she told about this matter, if they actually believed it like her friends in school, would call her a murderer. Crossing her arms, she walked faster to leave her friends. The gang followed, but only for a while. Soon, the others stopped, but Crimson didn't notice as she kept on walking.

"Crimson!" Yugi called.

"What?"

"You might want to stop." Crimson obeyed, turning around. She realized how far she had gotten from her friends. They were all staring out into space.

"You guys?" she asked, rushing toward them. "What's up?" Téa lifted her hand and pointed in the distance. Crimson squinted to see what they were pointing at. If anything was there, she would be able to see it quite easily, thanks to the fact that everything else would be black.

"I think I see something," Crimson exclaimed. In the distance, she could see small squares of different colors. They seemed to be multiplying.

"Should we run, or should we stay?" Tristan asked. Crimson thought for a moment. The squares got closer and closer. Suddenly, with a huge explosion, the gang was tossed into the air. With a yelling fit, they landed back on a tile floor. Square tiles in every color of the rainbow stretched to either side for as far as the eye could see.

"Maybe we should have gotten away when we had the chance," Bakura stated. The others groaned as they got to their feet.

"This must be another test," Téa said.

"Well, what is it about?" Kaiba asked impatiently. "A tile floor doesn't impose such a threat as is needed for a challenge." Crimson sighed.

"Maybe we already know the rules..." she suggested. "Maybe it's in our instincts."

"Again with your instinct magic stuff," Kaiba scoffed. "As far as I'm concerned, this all a big joke. Do you mind if we just get back Mokuba?" Crimson glared at him.

"Again with your arguing? As far as I'm concerned, this is another test. Do you mind just shutting up and doing what I say?"

"I'm impressed. You managed to memorize part of what I said and twist it into your own words."

"I'm impressed. You managed to ignore what I said again and kept mumbling on."

"Really, now, Crimson. You're pathetic attempt to annoy me is quite amusing."

"Really, now, Kaiba. You're pathetic attempt to annoy me with you're weird professional speech and expect me to reply is quite amusing."

"I'm not expecting you to reply, you just did."

"I'm not expecting you to keep talking, you just did." The gang sweat-dropped.

"Shaddup!" Joey finally got involved. "We'll get nowhere if you two keep on yakkin' all day."

"Joey's right," Yugi said. "This is definitely some sort of a puzzle, and with you two arguing, we'll never solve it." Crimson sighed as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder.

"Whatever." The others in the gang glanced at each other with relieved smiles. Tristan and Joey whispered to each other concerning what the test was about. Kaiba was still amused at Crimson's arguing and just stood watching her with a smirk. Bakura suggested some things to Yugi, who just nodded thinking deeply. Téa studied the floor. Suddenly, it sparked something in her memory.

"Hey! I remember seeing this before!" she exclaimed. The others hurried over to where she was standing. "I knew it looked familiar! This resembles the floor in the dance academy I go to during the summer."

"Dance academy?" Crimson queried. "So this is a dance floor?"

"Exactly. My teacher made the floor in different colored tiles. The steps were coordinated so that they repeated in a pattern. There was one move per color. You knew which move to make by stepping on the color the teacher called out. That was the way we learned. Most songs had a specific color pattern. The last one I learned, the pattern was red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple. I had to step on each square to move in the right direction, and do the steps associated with them." By the time she finished talking, the other were giving her The Look.

"So, we're supposed to dance our way across the test?" Tristan demanded. "How crazy is that?"

"Well," Crimson replied. "I don't think that's necessarily it. It's just that we have to go across the squares in the color pattern. Don't you see... the blue squares only have one connected green square... the orange have only one connected purple square. That means, we have to walk across them in the same exact pattern."

"That's a very challenging test," Kaiba said sarcastically. Crimson glared at him for the umpteenth time. If they had any hopes of becoming friends, it wasn't going to be soon.

"Maybe, Seto Kaiba, half the test might be to see if we could calmly figure out what to do and do it." Her voice had an icy tone to it. The others clearly could tell the grudge between her and Kaiba wasn't going to go soon. Kaiba glared back at her.

"So, let's get started then," Téa said. As soon as the words left her lips, the seven nearest red squares lit up. "I suppose we're supposed to step on them." The gang looked at each other with disbelieving glances before choosing a red square to step on. Of course, seeing the conflict between Kaiba and Crimson, even this couldn't be done easily.

"I was here first, Kaiba!" Crimson growled. Both she and Kaiba had one foot each on the same red square.

"You're being so immature. Who cares which red square we get?"

"Then get off of this one!"

"No...this is the nearest of all the other red squares. If I get going on another, I might lose the rest of you. Besides, the way you talk, you know this place left and right."

"I don't. Besides, you're the one who likes to be alone anyway. What's wrong with being ten paces away from the gang?"

"Twenty."

"Who cares? Get off my square."

"I'm not doing any more walking than I need to."

"Lazy bastard."

"Exactly."

"You know...you're not supposed to agree if someone insults you."

"I've been insulted too many times to care."

"I see."

"So, if you don't mind, get off the square."

"Fat chance." The two glared at each other. The others sighed.

"Come on you two!" Tristan said. "Stop arguing. Do you want to get out of this world or not? Jeez."

"It's his fault," Crimson argued, pointing at Kaiba.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Just one of you go to the other square and get it over with." Kaiba rolled his eyes, but surprisingly he was the one who gave in. As soon as he stepped onto his square, the red ones they were all standing on glowed. Then, the whole scene became darker.

"Oh no!" Téa cried. "It's hard to tell which color was which."

"I knew it would be harder than just walking," Kaiba said.

"Come on guys," Crimson said. "From now on, any false move could be catastrophic." The others nodded and tried to figure out the next color.

"Hm..." Tristan thought aloud. "The next color is blue right? Well, these two squares look blue, even though I know one's purple. Which one?" The others were having the same issue. Except for Kaiba, who seemed to be able to figure out the colors.

"Are you having any trouble, Crimson?" he taunted. Crimson was already half mad.

"Shut up!" Crimson had an urge to walk over and punch him. She was about to take a step forward when Yugi cried out,

"Crimson! Stop! You're about to step on green!" Out of surprise, Crimson stepped back too quickly, losing her balance. Tristan was almost right behind her. Out of instinct he stepped forward to catch her, stepping onto an orange square. He helped Crimson back onto her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Crimson nodded. Before anything else could happen, the orange square underneath Tristan glowed. The area surrounding him vanished and a hole opened up, revealing a lava pit. Tristan shouted out as he fell into it.

"Tristan!" Yugi and Joey cried together. Before Crimson could do anything, the empty space closed up again.

"Oh my gosh! What just happened?"