That night at sunset, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Ryou, Duke and Serenity entered the creepy old mansion in the woods. Staying close together, they found themselves in the huge front hallway, surrounded by dilapidated marble stairs and elaborate designs on the walls.
"Where is she?" Serenity asked timidly.
Joey put his arm around her. "I dunno sis. Probly waitin up there somewhere for us to slip up." Serenity grabbed onto Joey's shirt.
"But we won't slip," Yami said confidently.
"We will if she wants us to," Duke said darkly.
"Duke! Don't say that, of course we won't mess up," Serenity said.
"I know how strong she is! We can't underestimate her!" Duke yelled. His voice echoed coldly over the stone in the hall. Tristan's head cocked instinctively to look at the new bandage on his shoulder, and Serenity's eyes widened slightly. For a moment, no one said anything.
"Well, are we uncomfortable?" the familiar, musical voice rang out from above them. "It's a shame," Korimo appeared several feet over their heads, floating calmly surrounded by a light glitter. "That wasn't supposed to happen until after our game started."
Joey and Tristan stepped up to fight, but Yami put a hand out to stop them, and looked up calmly at his opponent.
"What is it you want from us, Korimo?"
"What do I want? I want to defeat you. And believe me, I will." Korimo smiled smugly. "So let's get this show on the road, shall we? It's a very simple little game we'll be playing. As you've heard, you will each have to face one challenge. I've prepared them special, so do enjoy them," she finished mockingly.
"What kinda challenge?" Joey asked angrily.
"A hard one," was all Korimo answered. She smirked as Joey fought to hold back his rage. "So, we should get started. Should any of you lose my game, you'll be taken as my prisoner. So be careful, we don't want anyone to get hurt," she said dangerously.
"Just what do you plan to do to us if we are captured?" Yami asked.
"What else?" Korimo replied airily. "dispose of you all, of course."
"Not a chance! We're not losing," Tristan said.
Korimo shrugged. "Well obviously you can't lose until you start to play. So split up, and go your separate ways. And don't bother asking why," she added, seeing Yami about to object. "This is my game, and these are my rules. You will follow my rules, if you know what's good for you." She disappeared.
Everything was quiet for a moment.
Ryou broke the silence. "I...I guess we should split up then."
"No way Bakura, we gotta stick together!" Tristan said determinedly.
"No, Bakura's right," Yami said. "As much as I hate to admit it, Korimo is in charge. It wouldn't be a good move to disobey her."
"I dunno Yuge, something's fishy about this..."
"I know Joey, but what choice do we have?"
"Yugi's right," Duke said. "We'll just have to do what she tells us, and hopefully we'll all get out okay."
"We WILL all get out fine!" Serenity said confidently.
"Alright," Yami thought for a second before assigning teams. "I'll go alone. Bakura, you take Serenity with you, and Duke should go with Tristan in case his arm causes him problems. And Joey, that means you should go alone, too."
"What? No way!" Joey tightened his grip on Serenity's shoulder. "Serenity and me are sticking together!"
"That's right!" Serenity agreed.
"That might not be smart," Yami warned. "Joey, if something happened to Serenity, you wouldn't be able to think clearly."
"Well then I guess nothing's gonna happen to my sister then, huh?" Joey said defiantly.
"Yugi, we'll be just fine. Joey needs me," Serenity pleaded.
"Well....alright. Bakura, are you okay by yourself?"
"I'll be fine, Yugi."
"Okay then, it looks like it's time to go." Yami pointed dramatically up one of the staircases. "Whatever sick game Korimo thinks she's playing, we'll beat her at it! There's no way we'll let her get away with kidnapping one of our friends!"
"Way to say it, Yugi!" Tristan shouted.
"Let's go!" and the six friends took four paths, each leading to its own, separate, harsh test.
Korimo sat high in the rafters of the main room, taking a childish delight in the fun of being up high. Fukamito, a sparrow, perched beside her.
"Fukamito, finish preparations for Tristan's test. He'll be our first victim."
"Right away, milady." Fukamito flew away, and Korimo jumped down, landing lightly with the help of her magic. She walked quietly, following the path Duke and Tristan had taken. She stopped when she could hear their bickering voices.
"Look, I think we should go this way! I think I saw someone down the other hall."
"Oh, you're just so smart, aren't you Devlin? Oh, look! I'm Duke Devlin and I'm always right!"
"Listen to me idiot, I'm trying to keep us from getting captured!"
"Yeah well you're doing a great job! No one's tried to capture us!"
"Not yet, anyway," Korimo piped in, stepping into view. Both Duke and Tristan turned and put their fists up, ready to fight. "Oh, I won't fight you. That would be too easy for you."
"Then what the hell do you want?" Duke asked, venom in his voice.
Korimo shook her head. "Duke, Duke. You needn't worry about fighting me." She smirked. "You've already failed your test." She closed her eyes, concentrating hard, and then re-opened them, sending a wave of blue light to where Duke stood. In a second, Duke had disappeared.
Tristan looked dumbly at the spot on the floor where Duke's expensive shoes had been moments before. He then turned his eyes to Korimo, who stood confidently with her arms folded over her chest.
"What do you want me to do?" Tristan asked carefully.
"Your test is the least lethal, Tristan. All you have to do is solve a puzzle for me." Korimo snapped her fingers, and the hall melted away, leaving them in a dark room. There was now a wall in front of Tristan, with a row of jumbled letters in front of him:
NAISNIENLGELTETWEORRSD
"What's all this?" Tristan asked. The letters glowed faintly white against the dark grey stone of the wall.
"A simple word puzzle, nothing more." Korimo smirked yet again. "Cross out nine letters of these 22 to leave a single word behind." A piece of chalk, glowing faintly like the letters, appeared in Tristan's hand. "But be careful. Answer wrong, or do not answer, and you lose the game. Oh, and you've got five minutes. Good luck!" Tristan's eyes widened and Korimo smiled widely, leaning forward slightly and vanishing. Tristan stared dumbly at the chalk, then at the wall. Then, he started to think. Unfortunately for Tristan, he had never had too much experience with word puzzles. He'd never been good at them, and had never bothered to get better. He began to wish Yugi was there with him. He was good at this sort of thing, he'd know the answer.
Korimo's voice rang out all around him. "Be careful Tristan, if you wait much longer it will get much harder."
Tristan clenched his fists, the way he would if he were about to punch someone. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to the puzzle.
NAISNIENLGELTETWEORRSD
It didn't make any sense to him. For a full minute, he just stared at it, willing the wall to give up its secret. What were the rules again? Cross out nine letters to leave a single word. What word could possibly be there? Brows furrowed, he stared. Cautiously, he copied the letters onto the wall in another place with the chalk. They glowed faintly. Tristan began to randomly cross out letters, nine at a time.
ELTETWEORRSD
NAISNIENLGELT
NAISNIWEORRSD
Nothing.
"Time is halfway up. You've had the chance to solve this the easy way, but I'm afraid I can't allow that to you anymore." Korimo's voice seemed to be coming from his own head, it was all around him, irritating, proud, and correct. The original letters untangled themselves from each other, and began floating across the stone wall. They arranged themselves into one combination, then another, and another. Tristan growled softly, becoming more and more frustrated as the letters moved.
Tristan copied the original order of letters again, and continued to randomly cross letters out.
NININLELTWRSD
ASNENLETWRRSD
INNLGETETWEOR
"Only one minute left Tristan, you'd better hurry." Korimo laughed.
NINENGETORRSD
"Wait a second..." Tristan said to himself. He once again recopied the letters, this time circling specific letters; N I N E L E T T E R S
"Thirty seconds left!" the original letters moved around faster and faster, arranging themselves into one order after another. Tristan ignored them for a second.
"nine letters....I got it!" copying the original order one last time, Tristan crossed out the letters he'd circled. There were 11 letters left; A S I N G L E W O R D.
"A single word! I did it! I won!" Tristan pumped a fist into the air, only to hear Korimo's voice yet again, sour and annoyed this time.
"Not quite yet. You may have solved my puzzle, but remember what I said. You have to cross out nine letters of the 22 I gave you. You have 15 seconds."
Tristan's jubilant expression faded quickly, and he turned back to the original letters
EORRISTWENLGNELINATESD
"No..."
"I'm afraid so, Tristan." Korimo laughed again. "Hurry, you still have ten seconds."
Tristan rushed to find the letters he had to cross out, but it was too late.
"Time's up!" Korimo said. Tristan threw the chalk down and punched the wall. EORRISTWGNLAESD was still left. "And you were so close, too. Oh well, you've failed." Korimo appeared in front of him again.
"YOU!" Tristan rushed at Korimo, fists clenched, murder in his eyes. She was taken aback for a second, but quickly stuck her hand out, sending Tristan away in the same flash of blue that had taken Duke.
Korimo sighed, satisfied. "Well. That went well. He almost had me worried for a second." Then she too disappeared, ready to face her next opponent.
"In here," Fukamito hissed to his captives. A tiger, he roughly pushed Tea, Tristan and Duke into a small room. Tea went in quietly, but Duke and Tristan glared at the demon, ready to fight. "None of that now, I can kill you if I need to."
"What's the point of moving us, anyway?" Tristan, still furious at his loss and with his arm newly throbbing, had not wanted to leave the cell he'd been deposited in.
"Tristan, drop it," Tea protested quietly.
Fukamito returned Tristan's glare. "We don't want you rescued. One of your friends was getting dangerously close to your room. Lady Korimo is currently preparing your new accommodations."
"What is all this?" Duke asked, looking around at the room crowded with clothing and books, along with a few other random items.
"You don't need to know. It's all Lady Korimo's."
"Duke, don't bother," Tea said sadly. "Let's just wait it out, Yugi and the others will find us soon."
"You wish." Fukamito closed and locked the door behind him.
"God Tea, what happened to you?" Tristan asked.
"Nothing," she said, a little too quickly. "Really, I'm fine. I'm...I'm just worried." She sat carefully on a small bookshelf, feeling her hand connect with a bundle of loose papers. "Hey, what's this?"
"What's what?" Duke asked, stepping closer to her.
"Devlin! That was my foot!"
"I think there's writing on it...looks hand-written. I-I can't really read it in here though," Tea looked out the small window; it was pitch-black outside. "Not enough light..."
"Hang on, Yugi gave me his flashlight..." Tristan rooted around in his bag, pulling out said flashlight and handing it to Tea.
Tea flipped the light on and read silently for a few minutes. "It looks like a diary...It's Korimo's." she skimmed the papers, flipping through them quickly.
"What are you doing that for?" Duke asked.
"Maybe there's something in here that can help us..." Tea stopped flipping abruptly. "Here! This could be really important." She read:
"...Sensei told me before that dark power comes from the moon, but I've had to find the rest out on my own. She didn't want me to know, I expect. My new powers are strongest under the full moon, even during the daytime, when I'd otherwise be weaker. Likewise, the new moon drains my power, and I'm as weak under the stars as I am under the sun. I'll have to remember this, I wouldn't want to make a stupid mistake and mis-time an attack..." Tea folded the papers up, and stuck them in Tristan's bag.
"...this is huge." Tristan said, wide-eyed.
"The new moon is two nights away though, she planned this out too well," Duke said.
"But we can tell this to Yugi, he'll know what to do," Tea's voice now held just a quiver of hope. "He'll know how to get us out of this."
