Joy: Hey readers! Boy, did I leave you all hanging last time, or what!?

kurama'sdarkangel1: YEAH! Arigato!! Yami plushie! --huggles Yami plushie tightly-- o) I love it! Dark Angel, you're the best! Hope you like this chappie!

The Castle of Night

Joy opened her eyes to find herself in a very strange place. It looked almost like a medieval castle of some sort. Oh, shit. I hope I didn't get transported through time or anything. She looked around some more. Where am I? Katilli? Where are we do you think?

No answer. Joy tried again, but she found she couldn't even feel Katilli's thoughts in her mind anymore. Just fucking great…here I am in the middle of God knows where, and my dark has disappeared. "What else could go wrong?" Suddenly she heard the sound of laughter. "Vargon!"

"Precisely, my dear, but we aren't alone in this castle. You see, we are in a place called the Shadow Realm, where the magic and monsters you call Duel Monsters are quite real."

"What? No way!" Joy yelled. She had never been to the Shadow Realm before, and Katilli had only briefly described it to her. She said it was a place of darkness and sorrow, and it had a strong connection to the Shadow Games of old. Joy had found it fascinating at the time, but now Joy found herself leaning more about it than she wanted to know.

"Heh, why explain what I can show. I have the ability to call forth a beast of immense power. Allow me to show you the power of the Shadow Realm, child."

Joy's eyes grew wide as she saw what Vargon had summoned…

"Oh my God…"

It was the Black Skull Dragon.

The huge dragon roared angrily and took one giant step toward Joy. She felt her breath get caught in her throat as she backed as far away from the beast as possible.

This is not my idea of fun. Katilli, if there was ever a time that I needed you, now is the time. I need a lot of help here. No, I have to do this on my own. Katilli isn't here, and I have to beat this thing. If only I had a monster of my own…wait! Vargon said the monsters from the game are real. Somehow I have to be able to call forth a monster of my own.

She pulled out her deck and quickly ran through it, looking for something that could stop this monster. She glanced up and paled. It was about to launch an attack! Come on…where are you? She asked desperately. Wait! That monster's not in my deck! At first she panicked, but then she remembered. She reached into her back pocket to pull out the monster she was looking for, but not before the Black Skull Dragon launched its fiery attack!

Joy let out a scream as she leaped out of the way of the attack. She tried to get up and move again, but she found that doing that only sent a shock of pain to her ankle. Shit! I messed up my ankle. But at least I can get rid of this monster… She pulled the cards out of her back pocket and held them high – yes, I said cards, people.

"Exodia, annihilate that dragon!" The gigantic form of Exodia appeared in the room and in seconds the Black Skull Dragon was no more.

Vargon appeared in the room, a look of disbelief and shock on his face. "How can you have Exodia? You have never used him! Those cards aren't even in your deck!"

Joy struggled into a semi-standing position. "That's right. I don't keep Exodia in my deck. I keep him apart from my other cards. I don't like to use him in a duel, and the reasons are my own business, Vargon, not yours. Now," she said, looking at him with a smirk. "I'm leaving, and if you try and stop me, Exodia will show you the REAL power of the Shadow Realm." She started to limp away, but stopped at the door. "You underestimated me, Vargon. You thought that by separating me from my dark side, I was nothing more than a defenseless girl. You couldn't be further from the truth. The next time we meet will be the last."

She left Vargon to glare at her back. She knew he wouldn't try anything with Exodia standing there, reading to blast his ass to hell, and she needed to find Katilli. This castle was vast, and she soon got lost within its corridors. How in the hell can I find Katilli where I don't even know where I am? "Katilli!" she called out her dark's name. "Katilli, where are you?"

But she received no answer. She finally leaned on the wall, exhausted from limping around dark corridors for hours on end. Her ankle was swollen, she could tell without even looking. It's a really bad sprain, and I'm making it worse by walking on it. But I have to find Katilli and get the hell out of here. Vargon is going to catch up to me, and I –

She didn't bother finishing her thought. She sank to the ground, leaning on the wall with a sigh. She was really tired. Maybe I'll just rest my eyes for a second. Then I can keep looking. She closed her eyes…

…And opened them at the sound of footsteps. She gasped. Vargon's found me! She pulled out her deck, readying herself to summon another monster. Until she saw who it was. "Katilli!"

The sorceress looked like she had been through quite a fight. Her robes were torn in several places, and she had cuts and bruises all over her body. She looked like she was also incredibly exhausted.

"Oh, Joy! Thank Ra you are all right! I was so worried about you!" Her face let up as she went over to her light. Joy got up and made to meet her half way, but stopped when she stepped down on her injured leg. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground, her face pale.

Katilli gasped and knelt down beside Joy. "What is wrong, Joy? You are injured!" She noticed Joy's injured ankle and winced at the sight. Joy looked down and for the first time saw that she had not sprained her ankle as she had earlier suspected, but that it was badly burned. I've been walking on that all this time? No wonder it hurts so badly.

"What did this?" Katilli demanded. Joy sighed.

"The Black Skull Dragon. Vargon summoned it and attacked me, but I pulled out Exodia and got rid of it."

Katilli's eyes grew wide and she paled. "You summoned the Forbidden One? Did it –"

"No, Katilli. I am fine except that the dragon managed to burn me before I summoned Exodia. I didn't even know that's what happened. I didn't look at the ankle till just now. But I'll be all right once we get out of here."

"Here, lean on my staff for awhile. I cannot heal you until we get to the Castle of Rebirth."

"Castle of Rebirth?" Joy questioned curiously, tilting her head at her dark side.

"You shall see soon enough. Come. We must move quickly."

As they moved toward the exit together, both of them had the same thought and worry.

I hope that Yami and Kaiba are all right…

Joy: Well, there you have it. Chapter 7. I thank my readers for reading, and hope you all tune in next time.

The next chapter is gonna focus on Yami and Seto and what they are up to. Will they find Katilli and Joy? Find out in…um…got it! 'Working Together' Not a bad title if I do say so myself. ;o) Till then, I shall be hugging my Yami plushie. XD