Over the Hill and Through the Woods

x.x.x

Shiroi huffed in exasperation, glowering at the mirror of the Shadow Realm, portraying the underground cavern in which Yami and the others stood in the dark, waiting to face whatever nemesis awaited them there. "That's it. I'm done; I quit."

"What do you mean, you quit?" Midori said, poking him in the side with her claw. "They haven't even started the duel yet. And Yami's doing fine at the moment, all things considering. Should be a few hours at least before he needs more energy from the Millennium Ring."

"What's the point?" Shiroi said. "They're all running on empty here. They haven't had food, and if all these distractions keep turning up, there's no way they'll make it to the castle before they all starve."

"They'll make it," Hansha said quietly. "Relax; you know they'll make it."

"Even if they do," Shiroi muttered, "no matter how much energy Bakura gives Yami, even if that little pipsqueak Malik gives all the power from the Millennium Rod, Yami still won't be in any condition to duel. He's barely hanging on as it is. Face it; we might as well end it now."

"How can you even think that?" Midori yelled at him. "If we give up now, they win! Yami and Yugi will 'die,' Seto will spend the rest of his existence as Bakura's bitch, and Pegasus gets… well, whatever it is he's after."

"Unless that boy Malik wins," Hansha put in. He frowned at Shiroi. "Pipsqueak though he may be, he has a darker force driving him. That darker side wants the Egyptian God Cards. If we give up now, likely he'll get them. Do you really want to explain to all the other Guardians why it is you let that 'pipsqueak' destroy the known world?"

"This is pointless," Shiroi growled, but he sat back down in front of the mirror once more. "We're letting them waste too much time with all these inconsequential challenges."

"We're letting them build up their strength," Midori said.

"They're losing strength, and they're running out of time," Shiroi muttered.

"Don't be so negative. They'll make it in time," Hansha said. He looked back to the mirror, whispering to himself, "I hope…"

x.x.x

"This will be a double duel," the Paradox brothers were saying as the lights came on, revealing the ornate chamber with the dueling platform in the center. It had a somewhat different shape than Seto remembered designing. "Two against two; that's the rule."

"Great, rhyming," Bakura muttered. "Everywhere you go, you find new and inventive forms of idiocy."

The Paradox brothers shot a glare at Bakura, but continued. "If the two win, you'll go on ahead; if they lose, you'll all be dead."

"I dunno," Mokuba commented. "It sounds pretty rehearsed to me. Do you think they sit here in the dark writing these little speeches?"

"Definitely taking the twin thing a little too far," Joey said. "Dressing identically is one thing, but rhyming? Give it up, guys."

"You shut up!" one of the brothers, probably Para, snapped, giving up the rhyming bit. "Nobody's gotten this far yet, so it's not like we had anything better to do! You could at least attempt to be impressed."

"Or we could quit wasting time and just have this duel," Duke said. "Since I'm assuming your job is to keep us from continuing to the castle."

"That's right," said Dox. He looked at his brother, shrugging. "I guess the rhymes are a bit lame, anyway."

"Fine, fine," Para huffed. "It's still a double duel. Two of you will duel the both of us, each side taking a turn. A little different than normal duels, but that's what makes it interesting, don't you think?"

"And to make it a little more interesting, if you win, you have to pick a door." Dox gestured to the two doors behind him and his brother. "One leads to the castle, and one is an unending labyrinth that winds down through the island, which you will wander through forever. Or at least, until you're driven mad or starve. Whichever comes first."

"I can just imagine which door you'd prefer us to pick…" Mai grumbled.

"Well, we don't get paid if you make it to the castle, you know," Para said. "Having you get lost in an endless maze of corridors seems like a pretty good way to keep that from happening, don't you think? Unless of course you lose, in which case it's irrelevant anyway. So choose your duelists already."

"I'll duel," Malik offered. "All stakes aside, it seems like it'll be fun." He smiled shyly at Yugi. "Want to be my partner?"

Yugi opened his mouth to reply, but Mokuba interrupted him. "He can't. He's sick. Dueling will make it worse."

"How could dueling make anybody sick?" Noa wanted to know.

Yugi sighed, looking apologetically to Malik. "He's right. I probably shouldn't. I'd like to, but…"

"I'll duel," Bakura said. "Maybe these two will prove to be better opponents than that Bones kid." Bakura wasn't terribly interested in the challenge the Paradox brothers might be; he was a lot more interested in seeing if Malik had any tricks to pull with the Millennium Rod. The more he knew about the item, the easier he'd be able to steal it.

Mokuba glared at Bakura. "You can't duel either. You'll hurt Seto again! If you want to duel, you'll have to hand over that Blue Eyes White Dragon card to somebody else."

"Yeah, nice try," Bakura muttered. He shuffled through his deck for the Blue Eyes card. Seto felt a now familiar ache of want whenever he saw that card. His card, his soul… he wanted it back so much it was a physical hurt. "I just won't play it in the duel," Bakura continued, slipping it into his back pocket. "That should take care of that problem. Right Seto?"

Seto was a little uneasy about the card containing his soul being in such close proximity to Bakura's rear end, but he shrugged it off. "Do whatever you like; you will anyway."

"If you're done over there, we'd like to start this duel," Dox called from across the duel platform.

Bakura looked at the others. "Anybody else have a problem with me dueling?" The others said nothing, not willing to risk Bakura taking out his anger on Seto. "Alright then," Bakura muttered, then smiled at Seto. "Wish me luck?"

"Is that a command?" Seto asked.

"Nope."

Seto paused, frowning, then looked away. "Yeah. Good luck. Don't lose."

As Bakura grinned and headed for his place at one corner of the dueling platform, Yugi smiled at Malik. "Good luck to you too. I'm sure you'll do great."

Malik smiled and headed for his own corner of the platform, feeling inexplicably pleased by Yugi's confidence in him. Marik seemed disgusted that so much cuteness could be embodied in one boy, but Malik had these odd feelings that Marik was quietly studying Yugi when he thought Malik wouldn't notice. It seemed Malik's darker side wasn't as immune to Yugi's charms as he thought.

This is silly, Marik said within Malik's mind. Why did you volunteer to duel? This whole tournament is a stupid waste of time.

Well maybe, but it's also kind of fun, Malik said. Besides, we have to win the tournament if we want the God Cards, right? That means we'll have to duel at least once while we're here, you know.

Malik could feel the mental equivalent of Marik rolling his eyes. You just wanted to duel so you could impress Yugi or some garbage like that. You've practically been drooling over him from the moment you saw him.

I just like him is all, Malik said. And so what if I do? You think Seto has a cute ass.

I'm the one in charge here; I can admire his ass if I want to. You on the other hand have a job to do. So don't screw it up.

When all the players were in place and ready, the duel began. As the Paradox brothers began to play, Seto found out why the dueling platform had a different shape; it had apparently been built to accommodate the brothers' Labyrinth card, covering the field with a maze of holographic stone walls. It was an interesting tactic, but didn't really impress Seto much. Seemed a lot like a stalling tactic on their part.

The duel was… somewhat frustrating, Marik found. Malik's deck did not compliment Bakura's very well, and Bakura didn't seem terribly interested in playing like a team. Both partners managed to get in a couple of lucky shots, but the Paradox brothers were used to playing together, and their attacks were coordinated and swift. Malik and Bakura were going to lose this duel, Marik was sure of it.

Unless he helped them out a little.

The Pharaoh was too weakened to pick up on the subtler magics of the Millennium Rod. Marik was confident with his abilities with the Rod, and it was a simple thing to make a few gentle changes, influencing the minds of the Paradox brothers. As the duel went on, the Paradox brothers' moves seemed to get sloppier, more careless. Bakura and Malik made better attacks, their monsters crossing through the labyrinth and taking advantage of an overlooked flaw in the Paradox brothers' strategy. When the duel ended, Marik caught Bakura looking at him almost smugly. He got a distinct impression he'd just fallen into some sort of trap.

"So you won the duel, big deal," Para muttered.

"You still have to choose which door to go through," said Dox.

"We can give you hints, if you ask," said Para. "But one of us will tell the truth, and one of us will lie."

"We don't need any hints," Bakura muttered. He pointed to the door on the left. "It's that one."

The two brothers blinked at Bakura's abrupt answer. "You're… certain?"

"Yes." Bakura held up the Millennium Ring, giving it a light tap. The hanging pointers twirled lazily for a moment, then lazily pointed unerringly to the left door. "Nice try, but you can't fool a Millennium Item. We'll be taking our leave now."

The Paradox brothers just gawked at the group as they walked around the duel platform and out the chosen door. The tunnel beyond it led to another maze, though this one was simpler than the one they'd been wandering in before. Bakura just let the Millennium Ring guide the way through the maze, until they came across a large door at the end.

"So what do you think?" Joey asked, frowning at the door. "More weirdoes on the other side?"

"Probably triplets this time," Duke said.

"There's one way to find out," Seto said. He gave the door a push, and it swung outward. Everyone stepped out into the sunlight, finding themselves facing the bottom of a staircase. A very long staircase, winding its way up a slope. At the top of the hill sat Pegasus' castle.