Chapter 9:
The side of Cake Mountain was steep. It was hard for anyone to climb it. Meaning professional mountain climbers and such. There have been many who've tried and failed. But, three young adventurers have dared to do what no other has for ten years.
And with dental floss no less. They were truly remarkable young men. Willing to face the dangers of the mountain, all while maintaining their peaceful and cheerful demeanor.
"Aw, hell, Marik! This was the stupidest idea ever! My hands are slipping!"
Yes, indeed.
Marik was climbing right behind Yami and Bakura, all three griping the floss as if it were the string of life. Using their feet to climb even faster, though, was getting them kicked in the face by the person in front.
"Floss… Marik, if we ever stop climbing, I'm gonna ring your neck!" Bakura called down to him.
"Well, at least I'm getting us up the mountain! I didn't see you or Yami coming up with any bright ideas!"
"Stop talking about me!" Yami whined. He coughed then, "Ack! Jeez, Bakura, that skunk smell is still on you. You really stink."
"Well, sorry! There seems to be no shower around for me to bathe! I'm sorry, my Pharaoh, that you have the unpleasant duty of smelling my foul, tainted body!" Bakura's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"That's quite alright." Yami said, with his head held high.
Marik glared up at the whining prince, "Oh, and don't think I've forgotten about my world domination blankie, Pharaoh! I want it back, just like you promised!"
"I know, already, I know!"
The floss was getting thinner and thinner as the three climbed higher on Cake Mountain. They'd been going at it for not even ten whole minutes, but already, there was a problem. Yami noticed this first.
"What the…?" He stopped and looked at the floss in his hands. It had only one strand to go before it broke and they went tumbling down another mountain. "Hey, hey!"
"What is it, now?" Bakura and Marik looked at him.
Yami squealed and fidgeted, "T-The floss is breaking! We need to get off or else we'll go down again!"
"Oh no!" Bakura looked around frantically, "C'mon, let's jump on that cliff!" He pointed to a jagged edge off the side of the mountain.
Marik nodded and, as the floss was about to break, he swung from it onto the rocks. Bakura was next and Yami almost didn't make it, but he grabbed onto Bakura's hair and was thrown to safety.
They sighed. Now all that was left was to just walk up the mountain. So, they looked around for the trail.
About eight miles away, was a young Forest Ranger out in the woods. He had his uniform green shirt and khaki pants on, along with his shot gun in his right hand and his Body Heat Tracker in his left.
"Hi-ho hi-ho… it's off to hunt, we go! La la la la la la la la la… Hi-ho hi-ho!" Ranger Sweet stopped his singing and looked around. He'd thought he had heard something.
"Hmm? What this…?" He sniffed the air and raised an eyebrow, "Could this odd scent be a skunk?"
A branch broke above him and he looked up, startled. "Enemy!" He began to fire off one, two, three rounds from his shotgun. All the little animals ran away and Sweet continued on his journey through the woods.
At the foot of Mt. Cake, an old man wrapped in a dead and heavy animal was having a rather large nosebleed. It began when he was kicked in the face by a teenager with silver, spiky hair.
He was now determined to catch up with the three young teens that he'd lost a day ago. 'Poor things!' He thought, while clawing his way up the trail, 'They must be so sad and alone! Yugi will never forgive me if they stay lost.'
Three buzzards were flying over head. They circled around the old man who wasn't even aware of their presence. He was getting very tired in fact. So many things had happened to him in the course of only one day, and for one as old as himself, this wasn't the sort of thing he was used to.
"I-I've gotta get this animal off of me…" He panted as he used his shoulders to try and get it off. But no luck. It's claws and fur were tightly wrapped around the straps of his overalls. "They'll never recognize me with this on… Poor things aren't too terribly bright either, so that doesn't help…"
The sun beat down on him as he struggled under the vigilant eyes of the bloodthirsty buzzards, high in the sky.
The hikaris had made it to the airport and onto the plane with moments to spare. As they buckled their seatbelts, the captain prepared them for the shaky lift-off and they were soon in the air.
Though the plane wasn't too crowded, Ryou felt slightly… uncomfortable.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh…!" He was hyperventilating in his seat with his right hand gripping Yugi's small arm and practically ripping it off. "Get me off this damn aircraft!"
"Please…! Ryou, calm down!" Yugi pleaded for his own safety, as Ryou got this crazed look in his eye.
Malik had just come back from the bathroom and was sitting in the window seat. He was starting to worry about Yugi, because he had turned pale about ten minutes ago and was now a bluish-green. Malik kept his own arms well out of Ryou's reach.
"Ryou, listen to me!" Yugi called again, "Please, you're hurting me! Hold on to something else!"
Ryou slowly let go of Yugi's arm, yet still he had a madman's expression on his face. Yugi let out a sigh of relief, "T-Thank you… Now, what's wrong? Do you not like to fly or something?"
He rigidly shook his head, "…"
Malik sat back in his seat, properly and cracked a smile, "It's okay, Ryou. Not everyone likes to fly. It used to make me a little queasy too. Eh heh… that was, until me and Marik jumped out of a crashing plane together. Then I got over it."
Ryou didn't move or say anything.
Since the color and blood had returned to Yugi's face, he decided to try and call Yami. He thought maybe if he knew more about their situation, he could tell Ranger Sweet where to find them.
He picked up the cell and dialed Yami's number. Ring-Ring-Ring! "Cell phone, yes, you want Yugi?"
"Yami, hi." He sighed.
"Oh! Y-Yugi, um, I… Your grandfather, he… I-I didn't mean for… you see, there was this waterfall and then he-"
"I-It's alright Yami, I forgive you…" Truth is, Yugi didn't really forgive him. But he didn't want Yami to feel bad, "Just tell me where you are, I have a ranger around there and he-"
"Stop it!" Yami was yelling. He was obviously fighting with Marik or Bakura. "I said cut it out, you pitiful excuse for camel spit!"
Yugi quirked an eyebrow at the phone, "Yami…?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Yugi. This stupid tomb keeper is getting us lost. This is not the right way! We lost the trail about ten minutes ago! Will you listen to me, dammit!"
"Um… I can hear that you're busy, Yami. I'll call back later." Bleep-Bleep-Bleep.
Back on Cake Mountain, the yamis were well into another argument. This time, Yami and Marik were pointing to different trails. They'd gotten off the original one when they let go of the floss and now were lost… again.
"I'm telling you, you're going the wrong way!" Marik yelled at Yami. "You have no sense of direction!"
"You were the one that got lost just coming to the Game Shop on Friday! And now we're out in the wilderness and you think I'm going to listen to you? As if!"
Bakura sighed and looked at the two trails. One was leading into a thick, green area. And the other was leading to more of a rocky terrain. There was no sign in sight and they really had to get going.
"Look," Bakura growled at them both, "We can't stand here doing nothing for hours, we've gotta get gone! So, let's just choose already!"
"Well, I choose this way!" Marik pointed to the trail he'd been wanting to go down and Yami pointed at his own. They weren't getting anywhere fast.
The cliff they were standing on was parted into two ways, and those were the two paths. From the forest came a low growl. It was so low, actually, that at first, the yamis didn't really hear it.
"What?" Marik turned to Bakura, "Did you say something?"
"Uh, no. I didn't."
"Oh…"
Grrrr.
Marik whipped his head around, "Okay, now I know you said something! Just spit it out, no need for mind games!"
"That's your specialty! And I didn't say anything! Blame the Pharaoh, over there!"
"What? Don't blame me, I didn't-"
Grrrr! The sound came again and the three arguing stopped and quickly looked around, now convinced that there was something else around them.
"H-Hurry, l-let's jet…" Yami and Bakura walked quickly into the first, green path. Marik followed catiously. And none of them new that was where the growl had come from.
