Hello everybody, I hope you all haven't been to impatient with my inconsistent writing… I try my hardest. Oh well… anyways here is the 13th chapter. Enjoy and don't forget to review.

Disclaimer: I don't own it…

Chapter 13: Chaos and the Sad Goodbye

It was another bright morning in the alternate realm out heroes had fallen into. Sadly one can't say that the gang was as sunny and bright as the weather was surrounding them; dark and cloudy suited them better. It all started when Duke thought it would be a good idea if he navigated the group around with his, "Unique navigating abilities". Well these "abilities" is what got them lost in the first place. So Duke decided that it would be better if he stayed in the back away from his angry companions; except Joey who has been asleep since that morning was being carried, once again, by our favorite CEO.

"Unique navigating abilities my ass…" Tristan mumbled under his breathe while giving Duke the evil eye. Duke just sighed to himself already used to being glared at since that's all most of the gang had been doing since they realized they were lost. The one thing they realized about problems was that once something goes wrong, if anything else can go wrong, it will. Shortly after seeing that they were no longer on the correct trail, they decided to go find a village where they could ask for directions. However, it seemed that they had walked themselves into a large forest where it seemed like no one was around.

They did run into an old man but he told them that no one else lives there except him and barely few even traveled through here. With a sigh of exasperation (and a few glares in Duke's direction) the gang continued on. Then they all began to tire and many were hungry; but they had come to realize that they had no food. Yami had accidentally left it in all the excitement when Joey had that "connection" with the Great Shadow now known as Hatsuharu. "Baka Pharaoh…." Bakura mumbled to himself. Yami just glared at him as they continued walking to who knows where. Yugi stopped in his tracks with a sigh and leaned up against a tree. "Look guys, we need to come up with some sort of plan on what we should do. It might help…" Yugi suggested. "Yugi's right. Let's use our sharpest minds to come up with a plan on how we're gonna get out of this mess Ryou said trying to lighten up the mood.

Yugi and Ryou exchanged looks when nobody said anything; Joey's soft snoring being the only sound. Seto sighed as he shifted the human weight on his back. "Alright we do need to figure something out." Duke nodded alongside him.

"Yeah we can't keep walking around in circles." Bakura growled at the boy currently ignoring the reprehensive look on his hikari's face. "Yeah? And who's fault it that? If anyone should do some brain busting it should be the one who GOT us into this mess… but then again I can't trust you to help as far as I could piss." He hissed to a now stunned Duke. Ryou hit Bakura on the arm; whom only grumbled to himself. "Look, I said I was sorry a million times already. It's not like you did anything to help either. At least I tried unlike some people." He hissed back giving Bakura an accusing glare. Bakura cracked his knuckles as he walked up to the other boy. "You must not know who you're talking to. I may not have helped as much but at least I'm smart enough to know my directions Dice Boy…" Duke scowled at the white haired Yami; his hand on the handle of his sword. "You wanna settle this now? " Bakura just laughed mockingly. "Please, like a simple mortal like you can harm me. Stay in your place or I'll put you in it." He said as he stepped forward. Yugi and Ryou looked on forlornly as the two stood toe to toe.

"We don't need this right now. You can do your ridiculous fighting another time." Yugi sighed in relief that someone had stopped them before something bad happened but it was short lived as Bakura turned to face Yami. "Don't start with me." Bakura warned. "Besides, I'm not the only one at fault here… Mr. I accidentally left our only food supply. When you go and find our food than you can tell me what to do." Yami released an angry breathe trying to keep his cool. Yugi frowned, not used to seeing his Yami cool and composed. Seto just smirked enjoying the little show while Joey continued to sleep the whole day away. "Well, we could have gotten food from a nearby town… if we weren't stuck in the middle off nowhere thanks to you. All I'm saying is that we need to stop this fighting so that we can plan out what to do." Tristan who had been watching all of this had came to the decision that maybe they needed to take a break to cool off. "Why don't we all try to relax…?" But was ignored. Tristan sighed in defeat and sat down by a tree.

"You guys come one…guys?" Yugi tried to get their attention but the three continued to argue; their loud voices waking the previously sleeping Joey. "The hell?" He mumbled still not completely awake. Sensing the movements from Joey Seto gently put him down on the grass. "Good afternoon Sleepy head." Seto said with a chuckle. Joey ran a hand through his silky tresses sighing. "How long have I been asleep?" Seto kissed Joey's forehead as a sign of affection. "All day. You've been missing the action." Seto said with a roll of the eyes. Joey blinked in confusion. "Action? What's wrong?" Seto sighed and sat next to his golden puppy. "Everything's wrong. Genius Duke over there got us lost, idiot Yami left our food, and the three of them won't stop arguing so that we can decide what we need to do. If they're going to kill each other, at least do it quietly." Joey frowned at Seto's bluntness. "Well I guess it's up to me to do something…"

Joey stood up and turned to the still arguing trio. "Can you three do this later?" He said with a tint of hopefulness in his voice. Duke glared at the golden haired teen. "Why don't you mind your own business Mutt." Joey's right eye noticeably twitched and Joey's face remained indifferent but the warning was clearly given. Duke chuckled nervously and backed down; ignoring Bakura's chuckles. "Look you three can battle it out later. First off, we need to see how to get out of this forest and back on the road. Seto, you're a dragon tamer. You can have your dragon's scope out the area. Than we can see where we need to go." Seeing that no one was going to interrupt; he continued. "And as for food; Bakura and ryou are werewolves. Surely, you two can hunt some animals or something. And if we can find a source of water, we can go fishing. Of course, that is just a suggestion." Joey sat down and picked at his metal leg; waiting for their answer. Bakura smirked. "Catching some puny animals is no problem for me." Ryou nodded and the two switched into wolf form and stalked away. Joey and Seto exchanged a smile as everyone dispersed again; being careful not to have a replay of what happened last time. A good hour later everyone had eaten and was ready to go again. Seto had summoned his blue eyes; his eyes and body glowing a blue light. Joey had never seen his lover so beautiful. "The blue eyes tell me that if we go either east or west, we'll end up out of the forest. Now, it all depends on where we want to go. If we go east we'll end up at a village but we'll be far away from our original path. If we go west, we will be back on our original path on our way to an ice cavern. There could be danger… but there is no way around it so…" Seto trailed off.

Everyone talked at once until Ryou shushed them loudly. "Do you guys hear something?" He said alertly. Bakura nodded also listening. "Something's here…" Joey gasped and pointed to a large mutated looking creature. "It's over there!" He shouted.

"We're surrounded. "Yugi shouted and they indeed were surrounded. "We'll… on the bright side. I've been itching to fight." Bakura said as he shape shifted into his wolf form; bearing his sharp fangs. Everyone did their necessary adjustments; Seto even summoned some dragons; and the battle began. Minutes into the fight Joey realized something. One, Yugi didn't see the creature behind him and two; Tristan was standing their watching not doing anything to help. "Tristan, get the one behind yugi. Hurry!" He shouted but Tristan still stood in place looking shocked. Joey sighed angrily as he used his telekinesis to make a crater in the ground; 2 of the beasts falling in it and he ran towards yugi. Yugi was so busy fighting off one of the creatures he didn't see the one approaching. Joey pushed him away and closed his eyes as he felt his powers exploding sending the beast heavenward. Yugi only suffered a minor scratch and Joey was very lucky to not have gotten hit. Seto's dragon leashed a final blast, obliterating the last monster, and the battle was complete. Yami ran over to check on Yugi. Everyone gathered silently behind Joey who was glaring at a sad looking Tristan.

"Tristan… what the hell was that?" He asked clearly pissed off. "Joey… I'm sorry… I froze." Tristan said not wanting to make Joey mad at him. "Sorry? Sorry? Tristan, Yugi could have been severely injured or even worse killed. Look, I'm not mad… but I don't want to lose anyone here. We're a team, and we need to look out for one another. Ok buddy?" Joey asked with a smile, not angry anymore. Tristan shook his head. "Joey… I can't do this whole team thing." Joey looked at Tristan like he grew a third head. "Man stop playin'… you're doing just fine." Tristan shook his head in denial feeling depressed. "No… everyone here had proved that they belong here. I haven't… I don't think I belong here Joey." Everyone looked at Tristan is shock. "You can't just leave this world… we can't leave until our job is finished…you can't just walk away from this." Yugi said trying to get some sense into is friend. "I know… I'm not leaving for good. We're all on the same path… I'm just taking a detour I guess. Just to clear my head." Joey's face turned red as he grabbed Tristan by the collar giving him a few good shakes. "Can't you clear your head AFTER we save the world!" Joey exclaimed but stopped when his lover put a hand on his shoulder; signaling him to stop. "B...But Seto." Seto put a finger on his lips silencing him.

" No one can fight when they don't believe that they can… and if that means staying behind to get their heads straight so that they can get back with the team and give 100 percent, than that's ok. " He said with a respectful nod towards Tristan. Joey shook his head in denial. "No… Tristan I need you here with me. We've always fought side by side… what do I do now?" Tristan chuckled. "What you've been doing all along. And besides, you have Kaiba." Joey bit his lip trying to fight back tears as he nodded. "Ok. I understand. Just don't get yourself killed… or I'll never forgive you." Joey's voice wavered as he sniffed. After saying his good-byes he turned and disappeared into the forest. Seto pulled Joey into an embrace when he saw tears falling down Joey's face. Joey buried his head in the crook of Seto's neck. "I hope it's not something I did… what if he hates me now?" Seto rubbed his back soothingly. "He doesn't hate you… he's doing this for himself. And all we can do is accept it and wait for his return. Joey wiped his tears and smiled. " Right…" Duke sighed. " We'll I guess we can go no ahead towards the ice cavern… and with my unique navigating skills we'll get there in no time" " NO!" Everyone shouted at the dice lover. Duke withered. " Fine, I was only trying to help." The group finally set off towards the ice mountain not knowing the dangers ahead.

TBC

YAY! I'm done. /happy dance/ I hope its to you liking. I know it wasn't a lot of romance, but there will be A LOT of seto/joey moments in the next chapter when tings get a little… cold. Hehe… REVIEW!