Disclaimer: I don't own the Yugi-Oh characters and I never will now that that is done let the ninth chapter begin!
Chapter Nine – All Together Again
Kaiba and Selene walked quickly through the woods and whenever they came across a cave they would run inside and call out for Tristan and Serenity. They went into about ten caves so far and were about to give up hope when they saw a fire glowing inside the eleventh cave.
"Serenity! Tristan are you in there!?" Selene asked as she ran closer to the opening of the cave. Tristan who had been trying to keep Serenity warm with his body jumped up at the sound of his name and ran outside.
"Selene thank goodness you're here Serenity was bitten by a snake and now she's in serious trouble." Tristan exclaimed as he saw Selene running towards him. Selene however, just ran right past Tristan and into the cave. She kneeled down beside Serenity and felt her pulse.
"She's still alive but just barley. Tristan what did the snake look like?" She asked without letting go of Serenity. Tristan thought about it for a bit and then answered her.
"The snake was black with a tiny yellow stripe riding up its back." He replied. Selene let out a sigh of relief and stood up.
"That snake isn't as dangerous as you may think. All we need is a certain plant and then we can help Serenity." She turned towards Kaiba. "Come on I need you to help me look for the plant." She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside.
"How do you know so much about snakes and plants?" Kaiba asked. "And what plant are we looking for exactly?"
"When I was little I got bitten by the same kind of snake and my mom used a special kind of herb to place over my wound to heal it and the plant was... that!" She yelled as she pointed at a green flower that had tiny little yellow dots on it.
"What kind of flower is that?" Kaiba questioned as Selene began to pick as many of the flowers as possible.
"This flower is called Moons Wart and it helps to heal most snake bites." She finished picking the plants and quickly went back to the cave. She kneeled beside Serenity again and placed the Moons Wart over Serenity's bite and waited for about four minutes before taking it off. Tristan leaned in closer to Serenity and gave out a sigh of relief as he saw the color return to her face and she began to breathe normally.
"Whoa that stuff sure works fast for a plant!" Kaiba said with amazement. Selene smiled at him and got off the ground again.
"I'm glad that I could help Serenity get better but we have to go like right now." She declared and began to head toward the entrance. Kaiba followed her as Tristan picked Serenity up.
"Why do we have to leave so quickly?" Tristan asked as he caught up with them.
"Because Tristan Mai, Joey, Yugi, and Téa are still in trouble so we need to find them and then we're going to find those Dark Claws and make them pay for putting us through hell on our vacation." Selene replied. Tristan and Kaiba could hear the anger in her voice and decided to be quiet for the rest of the way.
"Joey will you hurry up the dirt is getting in my hair!" Mai yelled up at Joey as he was climbing up the pit.
"Listen Mai if you don't stop complaining I'll throw so much dirt down on you that you won't be able to breathe." Joey warned and continued climbing. Mai sighed and leaned against the wall and waited impatiently for Joey to get further up so she could begin to climb to.
"When we get out of this pit I am going to make those girls pay for ruining my hair." Mai complained. Joey just sighed and decided to ignore her when he heard her scream. He looked down and saw that the floor was beginning to fill with snakes.
"Where did they come from?" He asked.
"I don't care where they came from I'm getting out of here!" Mai exclaimed as she began to climb the wall as well. "What are you waiting for hurry up!"
"I'm going as fast as I can Mai so just be patient!" Joey screamed. Mai quickly kept her mouth shut and tried to ignore the snakes that were still on the ground below them. After awhile Joey finally made it to the top of the pit and pulled himself out and then looked down to see how Mai was doing. "You okay Mai!?"
"I'm fine considering my hair is ruined, snakes are waiting for me down there and now my nails are filled with dirt!" Mai retorted as she too began to reach the top. She was just about to pull herself up when the dirt under her hands crumbled and she began to fall.
"MAI!" Joey yelled as he quickly grabbed her arm and tried to pull her up. "Man Mai have you gained a few pounds because you're really heavy."
"Wheeler if you let go of me I am so going to kill you!" Mai warned. "And I am not FAT!" Joey smirked at her and then pulled with all his might. Once he had finished pulling Mai up to safety he let go of her and fell on his back.
"That was really close huh Mai?" Joey asked. When he didn't hear any reply he lifter his head and was shocked to see that a few tears were falling from Mai's violet eyes. "Mai, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Mai wiped some of the tears from here eyes and looked at Joey.
"I've never told anyone this Joey but I've always been deathly afraid of snakes and when those snakes were slithering around me I was so frightened." She began to cry again when she felt someone wrap their arms around her and when she saw it was Joey that just made her eyes open really wide.
"It's okay Mai I would never let anything happen to you as long as I'm around." He whispered and continued to hug her (I love it when people hug each other am I the biggest sap ever or what?).
"Thanks Joey you're the best." She wrapped her arms around him to and they shared that special moment for five minutes when they remembered the others. They let go of each other and stood up.
"Oh my gosh I can't believe we forgot about the others we have to find them." Joey said as he began to go find the others when Mai stopped him. "Mai what are you doing!? We have to go."
"I know I just wanted to do this before we start looking for them." She replied. Joey gave her a confused look when Mai's lips met his and for a brief second Joey was in heaven until Mai broke it. Joey just stared at her.
"Why did you do that? Not that I'm complaining or anything." Joey said quickly. Mai smiled at him.
"I've been meaning to do that for a long time now." She replied. "Okay we better go look for the others now." She grabbed his hand and they both began to search for their friends as well.
"Téa I don't think that's going to work." Yugi informed Téa as he watched her try and bite a hole in the net that held them captive.
"Well at least I'm trying to get us out of here unlike you." She retorted and gave up on what she was doing.
"Laticia said that we could only open the net by taking out that tack." Yugi said and pointed to the tack that Laticia had told them.
"That's great Yugi but how are we supposed to take out the tack when we're stuck up her in this tree!?" She exclaimed.
"Hey don't yell at me Téa I was just telling you that so you wouldn't hurt yourself trying to get us out!" Yugi retorted. Téa leaned back against the net and sighed.
"I'm sorry Yugi I'm just worried about Selene." Téa said and closed her eyes.
"Why are you worried about someone like Selene?" Yugi asked.
"Even though Selene is a good fighter she sometimes let's her emotions get in the way and I don't mean her angry emotions." Téa added.
"Then what emotions do you mean?"
"It's the emotions she feels towards Kaiba." She replied with a smile.
"But that would be her angry emotions wouldn't it?" Yugi asked with a slightly confused expression on his face.
"Actually it's her love for Kaiba that I'm talking about." She answered.
"What how do you know that Selene loves Kaiba?"
"You ask way too many questions Yugi. Anyway I've known ever since that duel monsters match she had with him that she had some romantic feelings. In fact that's why I put everyone in those pairings for finding the car."
"So you're telling me that you put Selene with Kaiba because Selene likes him? But how do you know that Kaiba likes Selene?"
"Yugi can we talk about this once we have gotten out of this net?" Téa asked. Yugi was about to reply when the heard some rustling in the bushes. "Do you think it's Laticia and Assera?"
"Let's hope not." Yugi replied as two figures came out of the bushes. Yugi and Téa sighed with relief when they saw Duke but then gasped when they saw who was in his arms.
"Duke what are you doing with one of the Dark Claw members in your arms!?" Téa exclaimed. Duke looked up at them and smiled.
"Well I guess this proves that I can trust you Laticia." Duke said to Laticia as he put her on the ground and then went over to his friends.
"Duke what's going on? Why are you talking to her she's the one who did this to us." Téa said as Duke pulled out the tack. The net fell right on top of Duke (with Téa and Yugi still inside just imagine how much that must have hurt).
"Sorry Duke." Yugi apologized as he and Téa got off of him while Laticia couldn't help but laugh. Duke got off the ground and wiped the dirt off.
"It's okay and by the way Laticia here is the one who told me where to find you so she's not part of the Dark Claws anymore." Duke said.
"But Duke she could have lured you out here because she has another trap set for you." Téa whispered but unfortunately Laticia had really good hearing so she heard every word Téa had just spoke.
"If I wanted to trap Duke I would have done at back at the campsite now do you want to find your other friends or not?" She asked.
"Fine but if you try anything you're going to be the one hanging from a tree." Téa warned.
"Um Téa she can't really do anything because she sprained her ankle and that's kind of the reason I was carrying her." Duke told her as she was about to say more to Laticia.
"Oh well in that case then I guess we better get going now hehe." She laughed nervously and then quickly ran into the forest leaving Yugi, Duke and Laticia completely confused.
"Okay so I was bitten by a snake and almost died from the poison?" Serenity repeated as Tristan told her the whole story.
Serenity had awakened minutes ago and now she, Selene, Kaiba, and Tristan were looking for the others.
"Yep that's pretty much it Serenity." Tristan said.
"Now all we need to do is find Téa, Yugi, Mai, and Joey and then we can get the car and then go." Selene said happily. Kaiba was about to say something that had been on his mind recently when they heard a voice coming from up ahead of them.
"SERENITY!" The voice echoed throughout the forest.
"Hey that sounds like Joey." Serenity exclaimed and ran ahead to see if she was right. "JOEY WHERE ARE YOU!?"
"I'm over here sis." Joey came running from around a corner and embraced his little sister with a heart warming hug.
"I'm so glad your okay Joey." Serenity said as she let go of him and as Selene, Kaiba, Mai, and Tristan caught up with them. And wouldn't you know it at that very moment Téa and her group came into the same clearing.
"Téa I'm so glad you're okay!" Selene jumped on top of Téa and hugged her.
"Okay enough with the hugging 'cause if you keep doing that I'm going to puke." Laticia said with disgust in her voice. Selene took one look at Laticia and got off of Téa.
"What is she doing here!?" She yelled. However before Duke could answer she lunged at Laticia and pinned her to the ground and was about to punch her when she felt someone's hand stop her. She looked up and saw Duke was holding her back. "What are you doing!?"
"Laticia isn't going to hurt anyone so calm down Selene." Duke answered calmly. Selene whacked Duke's hand away from her and stood up.
"Do you know what kind of hell she and her friends put us through!? DO YOU!?" She asked no more like screamed in his face.
"All I know is that she tied Téa and Yugi up in a tree and that isn't that bad." He replied.
"Well your little girlfriend there sent a snake to bite Serenity almost killing her and her and her other buddies threw Kaiba in a river and he almost drowned!" Duke looked at Laticia.
"Is this true?" He asked.
"I admit that me and Assera put Téa and Yugi up in the net and we did gang up on Kaiba and throw him in the river but I did not send a snake to poison Serenity I'm mean but not that mean it must have been Melene and Chine who did that." Laticia answered. Duke looked into her eyes and knew she had to be telling the truth.
"I believe you." He told her.
"How can you just believe her like that?" Kaiba asked this time.
"Because I trust her and if anyone tries to hurt her they'll have to answer to me." He warned.
"Looks like someone has a crush on her." Selene teased as Duke blushed. Laticia blushed as well but she hid it better then Duke.
"He's blushing that proves he likes her oh this is good this is really good." Selene began to tease him some more when Téa put her hand over her mouth.
"Okay I think that's enough Selene." Téa said and let go of her.
"How about we go and get your car now?" Laticia suggested and that got Mai's attention right away.
"You know where my car is?" She asked hopefully.
"Obviously since I am the one who took it in the first place I should know where it is." She replied. Duke came over to her to pick her up but she held up her hand. "It's okay Duke I think my ankle is feeling much better." She got up and took a few steps to prove it.
"Well if you're sure then how about you start to show us the way to the car?"
"Follow me guys." She started to lead the way into the forest. But one thing was on her mind. 'What will Melene and the others do when they see me bring these guys back?'
Okay there's the ninth chapter for you now all I have to do is post the last chapter then this story is finished YAY! (Throws confetti in the air and starts to do a little dance) But until then you are just going to have to wait. P.S I would have to say that out of all the chapters I've written for this story this one is my absolute favourite so I hope you all appreciate this chapter.