The High Priest's Secret Tomb


Disclaimer: I do not own 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' Kazuki Takahashi, Warner Brothers, 4Kids Entertainment, and etc. does.

Chapter: Creepy Corridors


A boy with hair as white as the snow walked through the frigid snowstorm, the hectic air blowing him back with an unrelenting force. "Where is it?" Yami Bakura growled angrily. "I know that fool of a high priest said it was somewhere around here!"

He staggered on, finding nothing of the likes which looked like an entrance. The next second his Millennium Ring trackers activated, pointing behind him.

"Hmmm? Ugh, the Pharaoh and his little girlfriend, Tea!" he sneered. Yami Bakura was not in any mood for a Shadow Game at the moment so instead retreated to the refuge of his Item. Bakura was released as he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

"Bakura!" Yugi and Tea cried in worry, running up to him. "Are you alright?"


"Kaiba! Kaiba, where are you?" Tristan called.

"This isn't funny anymore, rich boy, so come out already!" Joey shouted.

Duke shook his head and sighed, "This is useless, he'll never hear us with all this wind!"

"Hey look, it's the others!" Tristan said as he spotted sight of his friends to their far left.

"What are they doing back here?" they wondered and headed over to them.


The other three turned at the sound of their names being shouted, only to find the rest of their group. The same question crossed their minds, what were they doing here?

But Joey beat them to it. "What do you think you're doing here? Our class is all the way over...um...," the blonde trailed off, not really knowing which direction they were facing.

Tristan gave the teen an irritated glance and said, "It's still the same way from where we had come from!" He was pointing to their left since they were standing sideways now.

"Oh yeah, that's right, hehe!"

Yugi would have been amused under other circumstances, but this was not the time. "The evil spirit is back!" he blurted, at which the bickering duo quieted down.

"So, what are you three doing here...and where's Kaiba?" Tea asked, banishing the gloomy silence.

Duke shrugged, informing, "Your guess is as good as ours! We're kind of...looking for him at the moment!"

Tea sweat-dropped. "So he's lost now? Are you sure he's not playing some trick on you three? Because I think even Kaiba, of all people, knows how to use a compass!" the girl stated.

"Maybe he isn't as smart as he says he is!" Joey laughed.

"Joey!" everyone scolded.

"What?"

Tristan sighed, "Kaiba was behind us and we would have seen him pass us if he were ahead of us, but we didn't! So we're guessing he went in this direction!"

"Well then, let's get going!" Yugi said, automatically offering his help. Bakura also agreed just as quickly. It took some persuading to get Tea to believe Kaiba was really in need of help, but she went along with them in the end. Yet again, they set off to traveling southward.


"Okay, guess this was the wrong way," Kaiba muttered, looking around, yet finding nothing other than white blurry landscape. He subconsciously tightened his jacket around himself.

Kaiba wasn't having much luck either.

'This is hopeless...,' he thought crestfallen as he shivered, his hair now damp and untidy from all the harsh wind. Then he thought, 'How could I have forgotten? The best place to seek refuge would obviously be a cave. Yup, now I'm positive the mutt's idioticy is contagious. Glad Mokuba decided to go camping after all.'

"Alright then, let's see," Seto looked around, but found nothing of the likes which looked like a mountain. A few minutes of walking around in circles also proved to be quite useless. "Well, seeing as I can't make this any worse, I'll just go in a different direction. Then maybe I'll bump into a mountain and find shelter." And with that in mind he turned to his right and walked on for what seemed like hours.

He was beginning to doze off here and there and so his eyes were fixedly staring at the ground, which in turn caused him to bump into something hard. "Ow!"

What do you know, a mountain stopped him dead in his tracks. "When I said, bump into a mountain, I didn't mean literally!" he groaned. "That's going to hurt tomorrow..., okay." Kaiba sighed, now he just had to climb, and so set his backpack down toget the necessary equipment ready.


Meanwhile, Yugi and his friends were huddled together. "Still no sign of Kaiba!" Tristan shouted, equally close to Joey from exploding.

Duke then asked, "Hey Bakura, doesn't that Ring of yours track down other Millennium Items?"

"Uh yeah...I think!" the other replied uncertainly.

"Well, it turns out that Kaiba did bring the Rod with him! So I thought that maybe we could find him that way!"

"Great idea!" Bakura said and touched his neck, only to remember that the Ring wasn't there. "Um...except the thing tends to disappear when I'm not possessed, hehe!"

Everyone face faulted. "I'm hungry!" he cried, clutching his stomach.

"Now that you mention it!" Joey joined in.

Tea couldn't believe the two were more preoccupied with food, they were the ones who had convinced her that Kaiba was in trouble to begin with. "Listen, the sooner we find Mr. Big Shot the sooner we go back to the lodge!" she stated.

Yugi protested against that though. "We're going to need to find shelter!"

Joey looked to their left. "Hey, how about those mountains over there? We might find a cave or something the teachers are always yapping about!" he said matter-of-factly.

Reaching the foot of the mountain they each took a good look up at the high mountain wall.

Taking more than twenty minutes to climb to the top and forcing themselves to walk around to find something, they finally cheered happily, "There!"

Running to the cave, all six heaved their heavy loads off and set to work, quickly covering the entrance with snow so they wouldn't freeze to death at night.


"Done!"

Seto dropped the last chunk of snow onto the cave's entrance then proceeded to heavily drop himself onto the snow.

Having already found a cave of his own and having sealed it off from the outside, Kaiba stayed silent. Taking a moment to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, he suddenly snapped back to reality. Now that he was safe, Kaiba had no idea of what to do next.

"The class won't even notice I'm missing until a week later, if at all. Plus, I only have four days' worth of food, at the least," he mumbled.

Grabbing the cell phone he had brought, he dialed a number only to hear static on the other end.

With a huff, he sat and glared at his backpack full of equipment. Seto then decided to double check through his things as a pass time.

He had: two foldable grappling hooks, three ropes, a flashlight, a bottle of water, a first aid kit, a mini bag full of food, a video camera plus a cell phone, which he secretly stashed away, and his Rod.

'Everything, but the one important thing, a compass,' Kaiba thought bitterly, repacking the things away.


Elsewhere...

"Only four days' food?" Bakura asked, dismayed to say the least.

"Yup," Tea sighed.

All six friends looked miserable and tired. "It's four o' clock," Yugi informed out of habit as he stared at his watch.

"Maybe we should get some rest for now," Joey suggested, for once giving some good advice. Agreeing, everyone made room for each other, although stayed close enough to keep warm.

The wind outside indicated that the storm wouldn't led up for another few days, but somehow finding sleep they slept relatively warm. Yami kept watch during their slumber, just in case the thief tried anything funny. Being asleep for most of the day had its advantages after all.

The Pharaoh frowned, he could sense something foreboding. 'And it amazingly has nothing to do with the Ring, but...who...?'


Maybe Kaiba was less fortunate, he did have no friends to keep him company, nothing to keep him warm. On the other hand, maybe not, because looking closely, some could see there was a strand of white on his face.

For Yami wasn't the only one keeping watch over his charge. Someone else had a duty they assigned themselves to as well.

That strand of white was emitting heat for the cave, keeping the occupant from freezing. The strand traveled up to more strands of white, which were locked to something with glowing vivid blue orbs...


The occupants in both caves were rudely awakened as a strong rumble shook the caves, and to their horror and dismay found the place collapsing.

"What on earth?"

The ground beneath them grew tiny cracks and the snow was caving in on them. Then, just as it looked like the so called earthquake had stopped, they relaxed, slightly, but everyone tensed once more. Bracing themselves for anything.


Joey screeched after nearly being flattened like a pancake by a chunk of falling ice.

"Uh...hehe...I don't suppose that's a good thing...right?" Tea asked, pointing at a corner in the far left side of the cave.

Everyone stopped moving in order to observe the snow tumbling into the black pit. Then hurriedly, they all ran to the opposite corner as to not fall through the expanding hole.

"Yugi! What's happening?" Yami asked in shock. He had been keeping close vigil, how could he have let this pass his senses?

'If I knew, I wouldn't be yelling my head off!' shouted his counterpart.

"Oh boy, we're going to fall!" Tristan warned as the ground began tilting them towards the hole they were desperately trying to avoid, to no avail.

They were heading for the abyss when, "Ladies first!" Joey stated,being the gentleman he is. He pulled Tea in front of him, but the girl swiftly grabbed him by the ear.

"Chickens first!" Tea offered,being the lady she is. And they slipped into the slide like tunnel, traveling to the almost never ending bottom.


"What now?" Kaiba asked no one in particular.

Spotting the Rod, Kaiba made a dive for it and barely managed to grab it as a cube of ice fell.

On the other side of the cave, nearest to the left wall, an expanding hole awaited to swallow Kaiba up as he grabbed his backpack andran to the other side of the cave.

The entrance was blocked by the falling rocks now and the ground began to tilt him towards the abyss. Although he did manage to grab a hold of the edge of the hole, the snow forcibly pushed him in.

Now both caves and holes were buried in the avalanche of snow and ice.


"Ooof!" Kaiba hit a stone ground, covered with melting snow, with a loud echoing thud. "That...will definitely...leave a bruise," he huffed, small debris of snow falling on his head from above. The teen rolled onto his back and dazedly looked up at the ceiling. It was completely sealed in.

"Mmmm...agh!" Kaiba winced as he got up to a sitting position, his right leg had a long gash, not too deep to prove fatal though. He reached over to his backpack and, taking the first aid kit out, bandaged his leg up.

Rummaging through his backpack, the Rod securely in his belt, he found the flashlight.

Looking around for the first time, he found himself in a nearly pitch black corridor. If it weren't for the torches of fire here and there on the stone walls it would have looked like a replica of the Shadow Realm.

He could hear distant echoes of water dripping down the creepy corridors and he shivered, his breath visible as cold white fog.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kaiba calmed himself down and slowly stood. The searing pain shot up his leg, but he ignored it and looked up and down the two different halls. Turning towards his right, he slipped on his backpack, turned the flashlight on, and limped up the corridor he was facing.


Somewhere else in the same place...

"Everyone...get...off!" the blonde yelled and shook his friends off his back.

The boy's four friends quickly shuffled around and stood to let him breathe. As he dusted his hair Yugi looked around, asking, "Where are we?"

"Well," Tea said, studying the three dark corridors in front of her while the guys helped a crippled Joey stand. "...a tomb of some sort?" she supplied.

"I knew it! Another creepy weird adventure back to the Egyptian tombs!" Joey piped in, now magically healed.

"Uh, right, small problem... The Egyptians lived in the desert not the snow," Duke pointed out to the oblivious boy.

"Oh yeah huh, I knew that," he countered lamely.

"Look Yugi, an Egyptian symbol," Yami pointed to the wall next to Yugi.

'Oh, but here? In the Snow Mountain Resort?' Yugi thought.

The lit torches on the stone halls bounced off an eerie orange glow as they each discovered the wall was carved with more than one symbol.

All was still and uncomfortably quiet now.

"How are we supposed to find Kaiba down here, if he's up there?" Tristan questioned, pointing above to the hole that was sealed off as well.

"We'll need to find another exit first," Yugi stated, deciding on which of the three halls to go through first. "...and we have to be careful. Grandpa got his leg sprained because of a tomb's trap in an excavation once."

Silently agreeing that since Yugi had more knowledge of tombs because of his grandpa and the spirit friend of his, Yami, they would not argue with him on the matter.

"Let's go down this one," he pointed down the middle corridor.

Joey grinned broadly. "Yeah Yug, bet you have like a sixth sense for these things or something, huh?"

The spiky headed boy sweat-dropped. "I just guessed actually." All else face faulted, their hopes in Yugi getting them out evaporating quickly.

Tea then asked the inevitable question. "Where's Bakura?"

Silence met her inquiry.

Everyone looked around. "Okay everybody, stay calm. Just because there's an evil psychopath, who has one of our friends hostage, running around in dark unknown territory, doesn't mean we have to panic," Joey said quite helpfully.

"Joey? Shut up," Tristan voiced out in annoyance.


"So this is where that fool hid it." Yami Bakura silently prowled a dark chamber. "Let's see, what was he always jabbering about? A chamber with mirrors? Oh yes, that was what he said. Now...to find it."

Just then his Ring's pointers directed him to a hall to his left and the thief exited the empty dome like room he was in. 'A Millennium Item down here? But the Pharaoh's Puzzle is the only one here. Yet he and his friends are down the other hall,' Yami Bakura thought.

Coming to a narrow hall he noticed that there was an inch of water splashing his feet. Drips of water echoing somewhere in the distance.

The albino then noticed something on a small mount of snow that had yet to melt. "Hmmm, blood...there is someone else down here who decided to join the party as well."

The thief smirked. 'Perfect, another item for my collection,' he thought and stalked after his prey.


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