I would like to begin this part by saying: I AM NOT ANTI-KAIBA!!! I love Kaiba! In fact, I am a raving Seto fangirl on a permanent sugar high! (bad combo) Anyway, HE LIVES!!! Just read it, you'll get it. I hope you like it! Don't forget to read and review!!
Part Thirteen
Seto's eyes fluttered open slowly. "Uuunnnggghhh..." was all he managed to groan. He awoke to find himself surrounded by a shallow puddle of water less than an inch deep.
"Huh? The fire... What happened?" he murmured. I must have passed out. But then why am I still in the cave?
A drop of water fell from above and splashed down on his cheek. He wiped his face with his hand, and when he opened his eyes, he was gazing at the ceiling.
Those stalactites...they look smaller than before...
"Icicles," he said softly. They hadn't been stalactites at all; they were giant icicles!
The fire melted them. The dripping water must have put out the flames.
He sighed in relief and remained on the ground for a few long moments, extremely grateful for this chance to rest. His thoughts drifted off again, to silky black hair and a pair of emerald eyes...
I've made it this far, and I'm not giving up now. Not after she did so much... It had been the simplest things; like how cute she was when she got mad at him, or how she hit him and expected it to hurt. Those seemed to be the things that had melted his heart the most. There were other things, too. She hadn't been afraid to tell him off when he'd deserved it, and for that she had gained his great respect. It was strange how he would have not even given her another thought had she not been able to make him so fierce with anger. Then, even after he had shown off the jerk he really was, she still tried to be nice to him. No one had ever put forth that much effort on his behalf; not even Mokuba.
So now he was prepared to do just as much, maybe more, to be with her again.
He picked himself up out of the puddle and stood up, fresh sources of strength flowing through him. Then he noticed a few stray twinkles fall in front of his eyes and land softly on his nose. He looked up, and sure enough, the charming little Key Mace flitted a foot or so above his head.
"You know, this is really getting annoying," Seto said.
The Key Mace feigned a look of wounded pride, and then shot off through a tunnel at the other end of the cavern. Seto followed, kicking up sprays of water as he ran.
He stopped at the entrance to the tunnel. He could feel a strong breeze flowing through it, and the end wisps of wind pushed the damp hair out of his face. A sense of nervousness crept over him. Who knew what would be at the other end of that tunnel? Well, normally he would, but he was still on kind of an adrenaline rush at the moment.
He wandered into the passageway, which had become a small river in the process of those dripping icicles. As he pushed forward, the wind started to kick up and push back. His coat flailed behind him, and he had to shield his eyes against the gale's force. Finally, he found himself at the other end of the tunnel. The wind almost knocked him over, but he grasped the edges of rock to keep his balance. He fell down on one knee anyway, after an earsplitting roar shook the entire cave. A few stray rocks fell on top of his head.
What the hell was that?! In the distance, the roar was followed by sounds of giggling.
Seto stood back up, still being pushed back by heavy winds, which were gradually starting to secede. He looked around the newest chamber to see what he would be up against. There, in one corner of the cave, stood his newest nemesis.
A Harpie Lady? I thought this was the D-R-A-G-O-N lair...
Another deafening roar rang out through the cavern. Seto ducked and covered his ears against the painfully loud call.
Ok, THAT was NOT a Harpie Lady. Then what...? Now he noticed the chain that hung from the hand of the Harpie.
"Ooohhh, this is not good," he muttered. Once again, a strong gust sailed by, almost knocking him over. From a high shelf of rock in the chamber, two more Harpies swooped down and took their places next to the first. Each one now had a chain hanging from its hand.
That means... Seto looked hard into the deep shadow behind the three creatures, trying to confirm his suspicions. The Harpie Ladies all let out a loud, shrill call at once, and out of the blackness marched exactly what Seto had thought it would be:
Harpie's Pet Dragon.
Seto took a step back and looked up at the massive pink dragon.
Pink dragon? I always thought Pegasus was a nutjob...
The presence of the three Harpie Ladies raised the dragon's attack to 2900, that he knew. Unfortunately, there was only one creature in his deck that could beat that. Well, technically there were three.
The dragon opened its jaws, and produced a more intense blast of air than any he had encountered yet. He planted his feet firmly into the ground beneath him and clung almost desperately to the edge of the tunnel's exit.
When the monsters saw that he was determined not to be defeated, the Harpies released the chain and started soaring around in strange patterns, back and forth above his head. The dragon stood at its place, waiting for Seto to fight back.
I have the feeling I'm going to regret this...
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he called. The card shimmered and shot out brilliant beams of pure white light, which burst forth and created the silhouette of the massive dragon. The light faded, but the image of the terrifying beast remained.
"White lightning attack!!!"
The creature opened it own huge jaws and released a beam of pure energy at the lesser dragon, which screeched loudly and vanished.
He looked up at the Harpies, who had frozen in awe in their places. He gave a sinister grin as he ordered his own creature to attack again.
As the Harpies disappeared, he turned back around to see something else emerge from the shadows. A spike-tipped chain shot forward and pierced through the heart of Seto's Blue-Eyes. It passed out through the other side and then aimed into his deck.
"Aaahh! A Chain Destruction card?!?!"
That automatically destroys the other two Blue-Eyes in my deck!! He looked up at the dragon he had already summoned. Since he had completed the level, the monster disappeared from view.
"NO!" he cried. There's still one last level to go through, and my best card's been destroyed!!
Seto looked around and was suddenly aware that the cave walls had started to vanish as well. They were replaced by huge, straight stone walls covered with intricate carvings. The chamber the new surroundings created was huge. The ceiling was well over twenty feet high, and he couldn't even begin to measure the general size of the room. In the center was a large depression in the floor, about twenty-five by thirty feet or so. At one end of the chamber, a massive table rose up from the ground and became surrounded by figures in red robes. At the other end rose up a big chair, which was quickly surrounded by figures dressed in similar, but white, robes.
Seto found himself standing near the edge of the square pit in the floor, and across from him, another person seemed to materialize from nowhere.
"Huh?" His eyes widened as he got his first good look at the guy. He was about Seto's height and build. Seto was struck with the sudden sense of looking into a mirror. Underneath priestly looking robes and headdress, a lock of brown hair hung between the guy's eyes, which were also a very familiar shade of blue...
"You think you can defeat the great sorcerer?" Seto's opponent bellowed. "We'll see just how mighty you are."
Seto took a step back. Normally, he would have leapt at the challenge to duel, but right now he was also aware that his supply of useable monsters was running dangerously low. He wouldn't even have his Blue-Eyes to help him.
I've got to try, he thought. If I give up now, there's no hope of saving Delaney.
He took a moment to survey the room again. Looking at the red-robed figures, he realized that they were guarding not a table, but some kind of altar. Their quiet chanting now reached his ears. He looked at the opposite end of the room, where there was now seated a shadowy figure on a throne. The white robes surrounded the throne and its occupant, and their chanting floated on the air as well.
He looked back at his newest adversary. "I accept your challenge."
Oh, by the way, I regret to inform you all that I must leave you hanging here. I won't be able to update this for at least two days, which is why I'm posting this now. But keep R&Ring!