Hey everybody. Been a while since I talked, hasn't it? Anyone there? Anyone reading? Please tell me. Please? This is depressing. Well fine, read the fic-----
Joey walked between the high stone walls without immediately coming across anything that put Serenity in danger. He peered around the early corners, trying to brace himself for whatever might lie in his path. After a few empty halls, he started to really get worried.
"What're you up toâ?" he asked quietly, not expecting an answer. One came however, in the form of a quick, painful hit on the back of his head. Joey whirled around, cursing under his breath, and found a die at his feet.
"Oh ha ha, very funny. Me and Devlin worked it out, THANK you very much." He turned back around to try and move on, and a pebble hit him, this time in the shoulder. He gritted his teeth to the pain and turned around.
"Ya coward! Hittin' me with my back turned- that's no way ta fight! C'mon, fight like a man!" Another rock came flying at him, and Joey had to duck quickly to escape a blow to the head.
"But Joey, I'm not a man, am I?" Korimo's mocking voice rang through the room.
Joey growled just a little. "Yeah, guess you're right."
Korimo grinned. "But of course, you're right. It is rather immature of me, isn't it? Very well, you may move on, Joey. But be careful."
Shoving aside the warning in his mind, Joey stopped before the next corner. He closed his eyes to brace himself, and walked toward the next part of his test. But when he opened them again, nothing had changed. He stood in complete and utter darkness, blinking, confused.
"What's wrong, Joey?" came the voice. "Are you confused? Just keep walking."
Attempting to ignore her, Joey kept going. For a little while, nothing happened.
"OW!"
"Joey?" Serenity yelled out. "Joey are you okay?"
"Ughâyeah sis, I'm fine. Just stepped on something" That was an understatement. A sharp something or other had gone clear through Joey's sneaker and sock, digging itself into his foot. In the darkness, he pulled it out in one shot. He winced, but the wound wasn't deep, and he moved on.
"Impressive, Joey. A lesser man would have given up by now. You must know it will only get worse.
"Yeah, but I can take it. I'm not about ta let you get away with this!"
"Careful, Joey. Don't get to worked up- not if you want your sister to live."
"AAAII!"
"SERENITY!" Joey ran forward to where he could see again, tumbling and tripping over several traps on his way. He looked up nervously, and saw Serenity still suspended from the ceiling, pain in her face but nothing else apparently wrong.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?" Joey yelled.
"Nothing fatal. Be careful, Joey." Korimo repeated.
"CAREFUL MY ASS!" Joey braced himself and took a running start. "LET HER GO!" he jumped high into the air, almost clearing the walls. But almost didn't cut it. Joey's leg hit the wall with a huge impact, sending him flying over to the other side.
"JOEY, DON'T!" Serenity cried, but she was too late.
"Oh dear, I believe that counts as a loss of your temper, Joey." Korimo gave him her trademark smirk. "You've lost."
With a wave of her hand, Korimo sent what appeared to be a jet of flame in Serenity's direction. The girl's shriek echoed around the stone room, and she disappeared- sent to the same prison as everyone else. Joey screamed right along with her in anger and fear. Before he could tell Korimo just what he was thinking, the same magic engulfed him. Expecting a torturous heat, Joey was surprised to feel nothing at all, until he landed on the hard floor of the cell.
"Joey!" Serenity ran right into him, knocking him over in her embrace.
"Serenity, you're okay." He hugged her back tightly, but winced as she accidentally kicked his foot.
"Joey, what's wrong?" Tea asked, seeing him in pain. She, Tristan and Duke moved closer to where he sat on the floor.
"It's nothin'"
"It is
not nothing Joey, your foot's bleeding!" Tea wasted no time in
pulling off Joey's left shoe and sock to get to the wound. "I
can't see it well enough- give me that flashlight Tristan." He
handed it to her, without a word. Tea clicked it on and inspected
Joey's foot. "It doesn't look too deepâbut we should get it
bandaged up as soon as possible."
"Bakura's got the
first-aid kit we brought," Tristan said.
"When he gets here, we'll be able to help Joey."
"If he gets here, Devlin." Joey pushed himself up, careful to put his weight on his right foot. "Bakura's smart, he'll get outta this."
"We're smart too- well, Tea and I are at any rate-"Tristan glared at Duke, "And we got captured."
Tea tried to move to a gentler topic. "Besides, if Bakura and Yugi aren't captured, they'll come get us anyway. They wouldn't leave us behind."
"Right, Yugi'll be here any minute!" Joey said.
"And we ARE going to bandage your foot, Joey. You can't run away if you can't run," Serenity added seriously.
"Alright, alright. I won't fight it. Sheesh, you're worse than ma!" Joey smiled at his little sister, and in return she laughed and gave him another hug.
Even as Joey was losing, Ryou was preparing himself for his test. He had predicted from the start that he could not predict what might happen to him, so he knew he had to be ready for anything. He was also the most wary and cautious, having been taken captive already. In fact, Ryou even knew he was going to lose- even if only subconsciously. Resigned to failure yet cautions nonetheless, he wandered the same endless hallways as his friends.
He walked slowly but steadily, only turning from his course where he had to, and staying at all times alert for any sound. He wandered aimlessly, lost in thought, trying to guess what would happen to him, and what had happened to the others already.
Out of nowhere, Korimo appeared in front of him, wearing an expression of satisfaction.
"Well hello, Bakura. Fancy meeting you here."
Bakura didn't say anything, being unable to come up with a good response.
"My, you ARE a quiet one, aren't you? Very well, I've had my fill of banter anyway." She paused, waiting for an answer that wouldn't come. She sighed. "Well if you won't talk, let's just move on." Korimo snapped her fingers and the hall dissolved around them. Another stone room materialized, roughly the size of the gymnasium in Domino High. Three of the walls were smooth rock, while the fourth was akin to a craggy mountain face. Above this wall was what appeared to be the only exit. Ryou gasped slightly- the sight of the hall transforming was incredible.
"Are you impressed, Bakura dear?" Korimo asked sweetly. "I'm surprised, I thought you had an idea of my power by now." She spoke civilly, for once with only a faint trace of sarcasm. From what she had learned, she was able to guess that Ryou wasn't easily provoked, even if he could be intimidated. And while intimidation was fun, it just wasn't what Korimo had in mind.
"What do I have to do?" Ryou asked softly.
"Oh, so you do talk," Korimo said, circling around him like a lioness, ready to strike her prey. "You have a very straightforward challenge. You have to climb up that wall-"she gestured to the mountain-like wall to her left- "Within ten minutes. I shall be waiting for you at the top."
"I can do that."
"Don't be so sure." Korimo grinned and vanished, appearing again at the top of the wall, by the way out. "The only way to leave this room is by this door, or by my magic. And trust me, you want the former."
"I don't trust you," Bakura said. "But I do believe you."
"That makes you a very smart boy." Korimo grinned again. "You have ten minutes. Begin."
Ryou ran to the wall and immediately began to climb, allowing himself a faint hope. Even if he didn't look it, he'd always been okay at physical stunts. He had expected something much harder.
By the time four minutes had passed, Ryou was already half way up the wall. Korimo looked on with her mouth open in surprise, and her eyes glinting in fury.
"Damn, I must have been wrong about you." The sickly sweet tone was gone from her voice; she spoke low, loud, and livid. "Well let's see how well you do NOW!" She pounded the straight wall next to her with her fist, and the chunks of stone Ryou was holding onto fell off the wall. Ryou cried out and began to fall backward. He was able to hang onto a piece of the rock that jutted out, and only lost a few inches of his climb, but now several more rocks were falling down on top of him.
"You still have six minutes, Bakura." Korimo let a sinister laugh spill from her throat, but she wasn't smiling. For the first time, Korimo had found a flaw in her own plan.
Ryou looked up nervously, then pressed on ahead. "It's just a question of timing," he thought. "If I time it right, I'll be fine." He watched carefully, dodging the falling stones and gripping the ones that seemed least likely to fall. Aside from one misjudgment – a rock fell when he didn't expect it to and smashed into his right leg – Ryou was able to continue his challenge with ease.
"NO!" Korimo shouted. "You are NOT supposed to win!"
By now, Ryou was nearly at the top, with 45 seconds to go. He didn't even listen to her, keeping his eyes on the top of the cliff and smiling through his panting breaths.
"I'M THE ONE WHO'S GOING TO WIN!" Korimo shouted. When Ryou ignored her again, she snarled and closed her eyes. She muttered the spell under her breath, and when she opened her eyes, a wave of red light surrounded Ryou – freezing him with his hand just about to touch the top. "There, that's much better." The calm sweetness began to creep back into her voice. "Now all we have to do is wait for time to run out" Korimo laughed shakily, leaving it at a cross between happy and evil.
The triumphant light in Ryou's eyes had vanished in an instant. He tried to move a few times, but finding that it did nothing, he didn't waste his energy in a futile battle.
"Threeâtwoâone. Goodbye, Bakura dear. You played well, but I shall be the victor in the end." And with her smirk, Korimo sent Ryou off to join his friends.
