A/N: Another week, another chapter. And we are nearing completion! I reckon this fic will be 20-21 chapters long, depending on how much padding I shove in. Although, that could change, seeing as the original estimate was 10-11. Oh well. All the more fun, no? This chapter is a bit… chunky. It's a reasonable length, but it seems… rushed. Okay, I know that makes no sense, but… just read, you'll see what I mean. People tell me I'm a perfectionist with my fics, but I do think this chapter isn't very well written. There. You have been fairly warned.

Review Responses:

Erosgirl: Heh. You seem to like everything. One review, and I have you down as an optimist. Lovely!

Dragonlady222: (Sigh of relief) I'm glad you weren't mad at me... I tend to say things and then half an hour later realise I shouldn't have done. Oops. I did have a lot of fun, even though I had to facebothof my worstfears AT ONCE! (Ladders, and small spaces. As in, the best view of the Island was on top of this big observation tower, and I love views from up high. Unfortunatly, the only way up was on a rusted ladder in a small tunnel... (Shudder)) Anyhoo, thanks for saying I'm good at writing! It makes me feel very happy! (And therfore hyper and scaring people) Unfortunatly, this chapter is, I think, below standard...

Disclaimer: See just about any other fic on this site. Duh.

Seventeen: Off to see the Wizard

Light, hiss, clang.

Light, hiss, clang.

Every time it clanged, it disrupted his thinking.

Light…

The walls were obviously soft-

Hiss…

Otherwise they wouldn't have crumbled.

Clang!

Mokuba shook his head. So if they were soft-

Clang!

He growled in frustration, and ran over to the edge of the metal plate, grabbing it to pull it off. As you may have guessed, and as Mokuba may have guessed if he'd been thinking rationally, it was very hot. Cursing, he pulled his hands away- a good thing, because just then an electric charge spread across the metal like ripples in a pond. Ripples that would have surely killed him.

He had got by on luck, again. He couldn't afford to assume it would work for him again. Pushing his instinct just to punch the walls down to one side, he closed his eyes, and shut off the rest of the world, including the slightly worried adults and the annoying clanging.

He had had a plan, but the clangs had pushed it out his brain. He leant back on the machine behind him, the coolness of the metal soothing his sore hands. He knew what he had to do, sorta. And he'd take it one mental step at a time.

First, he had to work out the exact points where the tunnels overlapped, only a thin wall between them. The walls would crumble easily, but with a thick wall, it would take hours. However, down in the depths of darkness, and with not even his roughly scrawled sand-plan to help, it would be incredibly difficult to calculate where they entwined. Impossible.

Clang!

Mokuba screwed his eyes shut tighter. He couldn't lose focus now! He'd also have to be careful- if too much of the walls collapsed, it would be disastrous for both tunnels, if the other two weren't already gone…

Clang!- The metal insisted.

What was he doing, trying to rescue a dead guy anyway? He needed to focus on them, and how they could escape. But again, he needed to work out the precise spot-

Clang!

Mokuba growled. What was with that Metal plate! It's not like the wall needed protecting! Unless…

Clang!

That part of the wall couldn't crumble.

Clang!

Maybe the whole hole would collapse if it did.

Clang!

But in a building like this? Everything else was industrialised. The hole would either had additional support, or wasn't important.

Clang!

But then why protect the wall?

Clang!

Because someone didn't want him to get through it.

Light-

Which meant that that was the 'sweet spot'!

Hiss-

And if he wasn't supposed to get through it… It was either an exit or…

His brother and Anna were still supposed to be alive!

Clang.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They had done as Mokuba had said. A small pile of shiny objects lay next to their feet. Mokuba had Ryou's screwdriver, and was now standing motionless, eyes closed, next to the beast of wires and electronics that was firing the laser-blobs.

He was either deep in thought or upset- either way it was probably best not to disturb him. They were all quite worried, especially given the bizarre little interlude with the metal plate bolted to the wall.

"Poor kid…" Jenna sighed. "On top of the day he's just had, his brother's dead and now he's stuck in a hole. It must be hell, and there's no way we can even try to understand…"

Ryou remained silent. If anyone understood what it was like to lose a sibling, it was him.

"Alright!" Mokuba yelled suddenly, clapping his hands and scaring them all. "I'm ready! Let's go!"

"Go where?" Yugi blinked.

"Not literally!" Mokuba laughed, surprisingly cheerful for someone who had just lost the two people that passed for his family. "But since you asked- to save Seto!"

Yugi and Jenna exchanged worried glances. Mokuba's brother was dead, no matter what they'd said to reassure him earlier. Ryou stared at the floor.

"All we have to do is take that metal panel off and…" Mokuba trailed off, seeing by the looks on their faces that they did not exactly share his enthusiasm. "You don't believe me that he's alive, do you? Well, he is, and, if I'm right, he's right through this wall!" They continued to look doubtful, but, shrugging in disappointment, Mokuba turned back to the Metal panel. "Whatever. I already turned the machine off, and the charge will have gone by now." Indeed, there had been no laser-blobs for quite a while, and now the only buzzing came from the tampered with machine. "So I'll unscrew this panel, and this time I'll save my brother…" He caught hold of one of the bolts in determination. They were large, and rusted shut. Grunting slightly, he pulled and twisted and struggled, as the others looked on.

Suddenly, a large creaking, scraping sound issued from the metal which Mokuba was sure didn't come from him. He turned and saw Ryou on the left hand side of the plate, struggling with a bolt himself. He glanced up, and met Mokuba's eye briefly before turning back to his work.

"I never saved my sister." He said gruffly. "And, so help me, I will help someone's sibling today!"

Mokuba nodded, and, with new determination, quickly pulled his bolt out, moving upwards to the next. By now Ryou's task had been taken over by Jenna, as he went to the final screw higher up.

"I would help…" Yugi laughed sheepishly. "But you already did the bottom ones and I'd never reach the top!"

"Can you go over to that machine?" Mokuba asked. Yugi did so.

"What am I looking for?" He asked.

"Well, you see the part that used to spit out lasers?"

"Yes…" Yugi said, suddenly becoming concerned with his safety.

"See how it's clogged with dirt?"

Yugi swallowed. "Yes…"
"Well, if it's about to explode, a head's up would be nice…" Mokuba laughed a little. No high technology just yet- good ole dirt would be fine for now. Then the laugh was stilled by a grunt of frustration. They had nearly got the metal off- just his screw was remaining stubbornly in place, no matter how much he scratched and peeled his previously burnt hands.

"This is the head's up!" Yugi yelled. "Get out the way!"

Mokuba bit his lip. This blast would be huge. And if they didn't get this plate off in time, they'd have to wait for the charge to dissipate, for the heat to fade, and for the laser to build up behind the soil. It could take ages, and the mechanism would most likely malfunction if they tried it again. It was one-shot only.

"Mokuba!" Yugi insisted. Ryou and Jenna had already got out of the way, just Mokuba was left.

"Just a second! I just need a little more time!"

"There is no time!" Yugi said in frustration, doing the only thing he could think of- shoving more dirt in.

By now the white-haired Brit was pulling on the bolt to, and there was only a few more degrees to go…

"Get out of there!" Jenna screamed, just as the metal fell away.

"Hit the deck!" Ryou yelled, dragging Mokuba down with him, the metal plate beneath them.

The light was blinding, the heat colossal.

But it sure got rid of the wall.

"Never, ever, do that again!" Ryou shouted, as he stood up, giving up on brushing off the debris that was still falling all around. Most of it seemed to have blown inwards though, into what was revealed to be another tunnel.

"I agree whole heartedly…" Yugi groaned, scrambling up from his own trip to the floor. He made a mental note of not to stand in front of things that were about to explode again.

Mokuba, however, was not listening. He peered into the hole that he had created, and, to his relief and delight, Seto and Anna were sitting on a net less then a metre below, a pit stretching endlessly below them.

"Told ya!" He grinned, as the two travellers joined Yugi in helping Anna out of the hole.

Are you coming or what?" He asked Seto cheerily, extending an arm. Seto seemed to be watching the most recent developments in surprise. But maybe that was just because the wall above his head had just imploded for no real reason.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

To his credit, Seto recovered quickly once he was out of the hole, but he still seemed a little miffed for some unknown reason. He glanced around, and then ducked, as what appeared to be a blob made out of blue lasers made a beeline for his head.

"Heh, sorry." Mokuba shrugged, pulling him out of the line of fire. "Should've warned you about that one… I didn't think it would still work…"

Seto took a proper look around the hole. The machine spewing out the strange blue things was crackling, and sending out sparks. It's firing was irrational, and, it seemed to be, oddly, half melted. Dust was swirling all around, still settling. Smoke was issuing from the edges of the jagged hole in the wall that they'd just climbed through.

"You blew up the wall." Seto shook his head. "You never were one for tact…"

Mokuba shrugged. "It worked! Plus the tunnel didn't collapse, which-" he smiled proudly. "Means I hit the 'Sweet Spot'. Not to high or low. Dude, I rock! I can't believe that actually worked! But it did! It worked!"

"So did the A-bomb. Something working isn't always a good thing…" Azreal pointed out, glancing at Seto with a shine of amusement in her eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Great. Well, we've been rescued from one hole into another one." Anna said, turning to Mokuba. "So, how now, Mr oh-so-tactless Wolf?"

"Well, the general plan was to turn it round…" Mokuba said.

"In other words…" Jenna said indcredously. "Now you want to go for the other side?"

"In a nutshell." Mokuba said, sorting through the two or three shiny items the others had scrounged out of pockets. It was mainly coins and keys, even a pair of metal sunglasses and…

A mobile phone, with a metallic cover clipped on.

"Okay!" Mokuba demanded, picking it up. "Who had a mobile phone all this time!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You turn left!"

"No, you turn right!"

"I'm certain it's left!"

"You were certain last time and we ended up lost!"

"It doesn't matter anyway- you're both wrong. It's straight on!"

"No way, man! It's right!"

"Tristan, take a left!"

"Look, I had to drive down here to find you! I know where I'm going!"

"If you did, you would've turned left…"

"Téa, he has to turn right…"

"No, Joey, it's left…!"

"Straight ahead, I tell you!"

Serenity sank lower in her seat. Next time they stopped at traffic lights, she was jumping out the window. Except…

"Aww, man!"

"Road works!"

"That queue goes on for miles…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Eheheh…" Jenna laughed nervously as everyone glared daggers at her. "See, the thing is, the battery's flat…"

There was a collective sigh and sweatdrop.

"Besides!" Jenna added hurriedly. "It's on BT- British Telecom- there's no service over here!"

"Why," Seto asked dryly. "Did you have a phone on a British company when you were travelling the planet?"

"Because it services in the Commonwealth, Europe, and America! How was I supposed to know it didn't do Asia?"

"Well, you should find out that kind of thing, really, Jenn…" Ryou groaned.

"I don't know…" Mokuba tried, wondering if Jenna could be spared from his brother's wrath. "It might help now…"

"Too small." Seto dismissed instantly. He knew what Mokuba was planning already, and so was in action-mode. "So is all this other stuff. We need something bigger…"

Mokuba glanced at the metal plate, still discarded on the floor. Seto followed his gaze.

"It would have to be reflective…" He said, making it sound almost like a question, wondering if Mokuba had realised something he hadn't.

Mokuba shook his head, hair whipping his face as he did so. "I know. Pity. It would've been perfect."

"For heaven's sake." Azreal rolled her eyes, grabbing the panel. "Just flip it over! Geez."

Sure enough, on the underside, the metal still retained it's original shine. Pressed up to the wall, it had become damp, but oxygen had not been able to get to it- no rust had formed anywhere but around the very edges. Okay, so there was a bit of dirt and grime, but between the six of them, it was easy to get off.

"Alright, this bit's going to take precision. Hey, you were right, Ann, it is shiny beneath all that dirt." Mokuba commented, as they leant back to admire their work. "Anyway, no offence to anyone, but it'll only take two people and I think Seto and I are our best bet…"

The others hastily said that if Seto and Mokuba wanted to save them then… full steam ahead.

Between them, the brothers hefted the piece of metal up slightly, holding it on a tilt. They talked briefly, saying things that the others could not hear, occasionally altering the angle of the metal or the tilt of the slope. Finally, they nodded and manovered carefully into place, dropping the metal at an angle on the ground, diving out the way before they were hit by lasers. Then, they moved over to the machine, and began work.

It must have been worrying to the other four as the brothers worked silently, pulling various wires and equipment out, and generally tinkering. The seconds trickled away, and just as Azreal and Jenna began the finals of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament, (A/N: If I'm correct, you may know it as Paper, Scissors, Stone. Oh well. Same difference.) Mokuba announced that they were done, hurrying over to the metal. There was no danger now, the lasers were off. For the time being.

Carefully, he and Seto lifted the metal to create a slope.

"Here?" He asked. "Down a bit."

"Just a little." Seto agreed, guiding the metal down a tiny fraction. "It's on a time release… Five…Four…"

The others wondered vaguely weather a countdown was worth worrying about.

"Three…Two…"

Mokuba tensed. He could not drop this sheet of metal.

"One…Now!"

They moved in perfect sync, lifting the metal off the ground whilst keeping it at the same angle- far easier said then done. This time, the clang was deafening and the laser-blob spewed out even larger as it reflected off the metal, nearly causing the Kaiba's to drop it and ruin everything.

But they didn't.

And it sure got rid of the wall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was another hole, but this one had metal walls and sides. There was no way they could blow their way out of this one.

Besides, the machine was totalled now.

Seto sat down calmly on the floor.

"What," Azreal asked "Exactly, are you doing?"

"Sitting down." Seto said, matter-of-factly.

"Ah. Why?"

"Because there's nothing else to do." Seto sighed. "Look around. This floor is on pistons. It'll move either up or down. So I'm not going to do anything else. If this was a test, we've passed. And so, if he's going to have a house that's seems to be from an Ikea Flat-pack, then he can bring us to him."

Suddenly, there was a hiss of static, and then, an unseen voice, as though from the heavens, echoed around the hole.

"Yes, yes, I'm impressed…" It said, sounding almost happy. "You're perfectly right, Seto, now I'm convinced that it wasn't just fluke before!"

"Before…?" Azreal whispered to him. Seto glanced at her, shrugged, and turned away.

"And you seem to really know my game!" The voice completed cheerily, then suddenly became much more menacing. "So, perhaps it's time we decided the victor!"

Suddenly, there was a clunk and a wobble from below the floor as it whirred into action, moving quickly up the sink hole, the wall lights flashing past the only indication of how fast they were moving. Seto was glad of his position as the others toppled over around him.

"Where are we going?" Mokuba asked, shielding his eyes against the speed induced wind.

"Isn't it obvious?" Azreal laughed. "We're off to see the Wizard!"

"That's it…" Seto muttered. "I'm cancelling our subscription to Film Four, sorry, Mokuba…"

The group of six continued up and up. Ready or not, they were going.

Or, perhaps, they were coming.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: See? The end is near! Yes, cheer if you want to…