By Hikaru Hayashi

I don't know why I discontinued this. Going back and re-reading the chapter one, I thought "why did I stop writing that?" No time because of school and crap. My bad. Anyhow, here's chapter two. Remember, no likey, no reviewey, no flamey. Likey, reveiwey, pleasy! Reviews always welcome.

Disclaimer note: I don't own anybody from Yu-Gi-Oh! I don't own Jou, I don't own Raphael, and I don't own Varon! So there!

Chapter 2: Enchanted Forest

Jounouchi opened his eyes. He had no idea how long he had been out. It could have been minutes, or even hours; it was almost dark now. The sun was barely visible from behind the trees. "Uggh…my head…" he moaned. "Wha…what happened?" he asked himself as he sat up. Then he remembered…

Being chased by mobs of thugs, he and Varon ran for their lives, when they had run smack into Raphael.

"Hi." He said simply.

Varon, who was terribly ill, shouted between coughs, "Raphael! It's me Varon! Why are you doing this, Raphael?"

Raphael snickered.

"Uh, Varon," Jou began. "I don't think he's gonna answer you."

Raphael chuckled. "Die." He said as he knocked the two boys off of the cliff.

"Yeah!" Jou said as his memory came back to him. "I remember now! Agh! That joik! Speaking of…" Jou began looking around. "Varon! Where are you? Say somethin', man! Holler if you can hear me!" Then he remembered how ill Varon was. "Scratch that…cough if you can hear me!"

Jou stood still and listened. For a while, all he heard was the rushing of the nearby waterfall. The scenery was so peaceful. He thought that if he ever got out of this mess, he would build himself a summer retreat in the mountains for his kids, or something like that. He was so lost in his daydream that he was startled by a raspy weak-sounding cough.

"Oh, yeah! That's right!" he said as he followed the sound of the coughing. He found Varon lying by the riverbank farther downstream. There you are… he thought, relieved, as he walked over to him.

Varon looked worse than he did a while ago. He was very pale and seemed to have great difficulty breathing.

"Hey, Varon, you awright, buddy?" Jou asked as he knelt down beside him and felt his forehead. Almost instantaneously, he jerked his hand back. "Ow! My god, he's burning up!" he shouted. That ain't good…! Jou thought as he stood up and walked over to the nearby steam. If I don't get him back soon, he could be in serious trouble…he might even die! Well, even though he was a mega joik, that's all in the past. I'm not lettin' that happen!

He took a lace handkerchief out of his pocket and dipped it in the stream. His good friend Mai Kujaku had given the handkerchief to him. (A/N: Think back to the Duelist Kingdom semi-finals) Mai would want him to get better, too, he thought as he wrung out the excess water. He walked back over to Varon and wiped the cold sweat from his face.

Varon moaned. He sounded as though he was in a lot of pain. Between labored breaths, he managed a single word: "Mai…"

Jou flinched. Crud… he thought as a shocking realization came to him: Varon was still in love with Mai Kujaku. This disturbed him; Jou also had feelings for Mai, but, of course, he was too macho to come straight out and tell her. This meant that he and Varon were still rivals in love.

Jounouchi knew that sooner or later, a time would come where Mai would have to choose one of them, and Jou would rather it be him, and without any competition. Of course, he also knew darn well that he couldn't just let Varon die, either.

I don' have time to be thinkin' about this… Jou decided as he wrapped Varon's arm around his shoulder, pulling him off of the ground. I'd love to rest, but we don't have time for that! I know it's almost dark, but we have to cover as much ground as possible. We have to get home quickly!

He made a reckless decision and ran through the dark woods, carrying Varon on his back. He knew it was dangerous to go scampering through the woods at night, but this was a race against time. Every second was crucial.

Of course, in his hurry, he didn't see the tree…

By the time Jounouchi regained consciousness it was daylight. It was the crack of dawn, but daylight nonetheless. Whaa…! I slept for THAT long! He thought, jolting up. Nnn! Stupid tree…!…Oh, crap! I forgot about Varon!

He stood up and looked around. The forest looked even scarier in the daylight than it did at night. The golden sunlight crept over the tops of the trees and illuminated the yellow and blue morning sky. He could still hear the trickling of the stream they were by just last night. He could even smell the water.

Jou chuckled. It would take a crazy scenario like this for him to actually appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature. Here he was, running for his life, and he was enjoying the scenery. He felt as though he and Varon were playing the roles of characters in a fairytale, lost in an enchanted forest.

Then again, he thought, he didn't see much of the world outside his bedroom, and the only adventures he really had were through his video games, that is, of course, when he's not helping Yugi save the world. (A/N: Or getting in his way, depending upon your point of view)

After standing in that spot for a good ten minutes and taking in the surroundings, he picked Varon back up and started to move on (walking this time so as not to run into anything, but quickly). He walked for a while, and while he was walking, he ran across a bush with a kind of flower growing on it that he had never seen before.

"This is beautiful…" he said as he picked one of the violet and white flowers from the bush. It reminded him of the color of Mai's eyes. He sniffed the flower's entrancing aroma. It even smelled like Mai's perfume. As though struck by lightning, he shook his head. Aah…what am I doin'? I don't have time to stop and smell the flowers!

Even so, he pocketed the violet flower before he went on. Every aspect of that flower reminded him of Mai, and gave him an incentive to carry on.

Jou was surprised and relieved to run into another stream. He was just thinking about how thirsty he was just as he came across it. Oh boy, is this my lucky day! he thought as he fell to his knees and began to greedily slurp up the clear water. It tasted like no other kind of water; it was the cleanest, freshest-tasting water he ever drank.

He scooped up some water in the palm of his hand and put it to Varon's mouth. Heh…poor Varon…Jou thought. He's missin' out on the wonderful scenery! He immediately felt like an idiot. Varon's life was in danger, and all he could think about was the scenery. He knocked himself on the head. Ack! C'mon, Jono! Get a grip on yehself! Geh!

He dipped the handkerchief from before into the stream. I think we'll rest here for now…he thought as he placed the damp handkerchief on Varon's forehead.

As he was filling up his water bottle, which he remembered was conveniently settled in his back pocket, it hit him. He had solved their water problem, but what was he going to do about food? He was starting to get hungry.

He had decided not to worry about it…surprisingly, he wasn't worried about anything because of the effects of the peaceful scenery…he didn't even notice the shadow of a large muscular figure looming over them…

End Chapter Two

Heh, heh…I just had to end it there, huh? Guess what now? That's right! You must review! Ja ne!