It seemed like an eternity before the shaking beneath them stopped.
Kaiba, Malik, and Yami Yugi were still on their backs, swords thrashing in front of them. The black spores continued to swarm around them, keeping them exactly where they were. But their numbers were quickly depleting. Perhaps the three knights were able to make at least some progress.
"I think it stopped…" Malik breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, at least, the attack seemed to have dissipated.
"Let's not give it time to happen again." Kaiba announced, running quickly for the lower tunnel again.
Malik and Yami Yugi followed without argument. The tunnel was smaller than the cavern, but they could all easily stand up inside it. The farther they moved, the fewer spores there were. For a moment, at least, they found an area not so heavily infected.
Kaiba kept his sword drawn, slashing at any stray spore that happened to slide through the wall of the pink tunnel.
It didn't take long for the tunnel itself to notice they were there, however, and to start pushing them along of its own accord.
"Another earthquake?" Malik asked fearfully, feeling the ground move underneath him.
"No… I think it's something else." Kaiba answered, as the ground beneath his feet rolled. "It's moving us further inside."
"But is that a good thing?" Yami Yugi asked.
"I don't think we really have a choice." The CEO responded, keeping his sword ready for whatever might come next.
The tunnel opened up to reveal a great black expanse, the soft ground literally hanging in thick folds. Kaiba tried to step back as he saw the opening. The tunnel was high above the ground, and said ground looked to be covered in a thick black sludge.
But the tunnel itself forced him forward, and he landed face first into the disgusting mixture below.
"Kaiba!" Malik and Yami Yugi shouted, again in unison, jumping out of the tunnel. They landed on the squishy ground, scattering thousands of angry spores.
"Here we go again." Malik groaned, slashing at them, while Yami Yugi attempted to pull Kaiba free from the tar-like substance.
"This has got to be the worst day of my life." He grumbled, peeling the disgusting mixture from his armor. He couldn't tell what it was, but he knew part of it contained blood from the iron-rich smell.
"There has got to be an easier way to do this." Malik shouted, hacking and slashing despite being overpowered.
Yami Yugi thought for a second.
"I have an idea!" he announced. "Kaiba, hold out your sword."
The other knight shrugged, and pointed his blade at the massive swarm of spores that was surrounding Malik. The pharaoh touched his blade against Kaiba's, watching as a larger beam of light shot out of the combined weapons. It's discharge increasing exponentially, it took out at least a hundred spores. The blast caused the others to scatter for a moment and regroup.
"Malik, are you all right?" Yami Yugi asked, helping the tomb keeper stand up.
"I think so." He replied quickly. "What was that?"
"Two swords are better than one." Kaiba answered with a grin. "And I suppose three are even better."
Malik nodded, and pointed his at the retreating group of spores. Kaiba and the pharaoh placed theirs on top of his, and a powerful beam burst out of the blades. It disintegrated not only the spores they were aiming for, but also those covering the cavern's walls.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Malik exclaimed. "That did some real damage."
"Even so, we'd be better off locating the source of the illness than fighting spores. There will likely be more coming to take their place." Yami Yugi replied, to which Malik nodded.
"And the sooner we get out of this place, the better. It gives me the creeps." Kaiba added, kicking at the tar he landed in. The ground rolled a little underneath him, but not enough to make him lose his footing.
The pharaoh studied the area around him. The soft pink ground, the shaking, the moving tunnel… Suddenly, something made sense.
"Kaiba… do you know where we are?"
"How the hell should I know where we are? One minute we're in a stone room, and the next, we're fighting for our lives."
"… We're inside Ryou Bakura."
Kaiba's expression blanked, and his face blanched. Did Yugi just say what he thought he heard?
"Inside Ryou?" Malik repeated, still not believing it, although it made strange sense. "Then we're… in…"
He looked around. They were in Ryou's stomach. It was completely empty, as though Ryou hadn't eaten anything in a long time. He recalled how drastically thin the white haired boy had gotten since he had seen him at the Battle City semi-finals, and shivered. From the amount of spores clinging to the walls, he wondered if the organ was still functioning.
Yami Yugi nodded, seeing Malik's expression grow all the more concerned.
"It appears as though we went through his esophagus, and ended up here."
"Are you trying to tell me that we're inside Ryou's digestive tract? I find that extremely hard to believe." Kaiba stuttered, attempting to remain in denial of the whole prospect.
Again, Yami Yugi nodded.
"Then the only way out is…" he struggled with his words. "No way, Yugi. Not even for an Egyptian god card."
He sheathed his sword, crossed his arms at his waist, and blatantly refused to continue.
"Kaiba, forget about the card. We're doing this for Ryou." Yami Yugi replied sternly. "He's dying. And this is his only chance."
Malik gulped. He knew what Kaiba was thinking. It was the same thing any sane human being would think about such a prospect.
"This has got to be some kind of trick. A virtual projection. A hologram of some sort." He reasoned.
"No, it is very, very real." The pharaoh interrupted. "Whether you believe it or not does not concern me. But if you stop now, Ryou Bakura will die. It is as simple as that."
His face remained stern, but even the gruff CEO did not want Ryou's death on his conscience. He saw the boy in the hospital bed, how weak and frail he had become in the course of a few weeks. As much as he wanted to deny it, it did tug on his heartstrings, even if it was just a little.
"Fine." He answered, still keeping his stoic expression. "Then let's get moving. The sooner I am out of here, the happier I'll be."
The other two nodded in unison, and quickly followed him out a small opening in the back of the cavern, one at a time.
…
"They've been in there too long…" Joey shouted, pacing back and forth in the hospital room. The beeping monitors echoed his rhythmic footsteps with an unnerving precision.
"I agree." Tristan answered softly, rubbing his hands together nervously as he sat forward in a chair. Every few minutes, he glanced down at Ryou, looking for some sign that the three inside had done some substantial damage to the illness. But he still looked just as sick as before.
Tea didn't answer. Though, from her face, it was easy to see that she was distraught.
"Something must have happened to them."
"I know you are worried." Isis attempted to console them. "But there is nothing you or I can do for them right now."
It was little consolation.
"They are in the hands of the gods. Ra, Osiris, and Obelisk would not allow harm to befall our friends, not when their hearts and intentions are pure."
Tea nodded, hoping that her friends were all right.
At least his coughing fit had subsided. With the narcotic coursing through his bloodstream, he had drifted into an uneasy sleep.
That too was of little consolation to the friends surrounding him. His life still depended completely on the machine breathing for him. And from the uneven spaces on the monitor, the rest of his body could fail him at any moment.