Alright... considering I got A FEW reviews... I'm happy and decided to start this next chapter XD... but I would have liked more... -- -sighs at readers- oh well. Hopefully this chapter will be a good one. That last one was a bit... well... -shrugs- I can't describe it... maybe... dry? Yeah, that's an okay description of it. It's because of the huuuge wave of writer's block I'm having at the moment... I think XD oh well. Anyway, sorry for rambling. I'm gonna update my disclaimer.
Disclaimer- dun own yugioh. Again. Do I look like Kazuki Takahashi? No? Then I DON'T OWN YUGIOH! But! If I did! MAI WOULD BE DEAD!
Now, on with the chapter.
Joey turned slightly in the corner he was now in, trying to get comfortable so he could sleep. But how could he sleep when it was possible they were never getting out of here? He sighed softly, opening his eyes.
Ahead of him Tea lay, on her side, asleep. Well, good for her. But how could she sleep? Next to her was Yugi, who seemed to be asleep as well. But, it was possible he was just pretending, or maybe he was in his mind, sitting next to Yami in hopes he'd wake up soon. Tristen was in another corner. Joey could see Tristen was processing thoughts, like he was. Wondering if they might ever get out of here. Or maybe he was thinking about home. Or... well, it was possible he was thinking about anything, knowing Tristen.
Joey closed his eyes, imagining the arcade, Burger World, even the school. He imagined the places he loved to be. Anything other than here. Anywhere was better than here. He'd rather be in any situation other than this. That's how bad this was.
Well... then again... being with Kaiba in a bed and-------
"GUH!" he suddenly exclaimed, making Tristen and Yugi both look up at him. He blinked, and sweatdropped. "Erm... sorry 'bout that..." he said. He dispatched the thought. Okay, maybe there were some situations that could be worse. Well, then that got his mind to thinking:
'At least things can't get any worse.' Oh yeah. He did. He thought it. And you know. When someone thinks or says it, it's bound to happen.
The doors to the sanctuary started banging loudly. This awoke Tea, and forced the other three males to look up at the door.
The door slowly started to look as if it was being dented, and the banging didn't cease.
Before any of them knew it, the door had fallen, and Komodo Dragons were racing towards them.
"Shit," was Joey's only reaction. Tea screamed, getting up against the wall. Tristen and Yugi got up, and stood in front of Tea to defend her. Joey ran forward, ahead of them all.
"I'LL HOLD THEM OFF! YOU RUN!" He shouted at the other three.
"But Joey–!" Yugi protested.
"GO!" Joey shouted. The three nodded, and attempted making their way around the Komodo Dragons. And... they did it!
The Komodo Dragons ran at Joey, who stood his ground and awaited their attack. Just when one was up to him, he shielded his body with his hand. The whole stampede stopped, as the dragons nearest Joey took a smell of him. He blinked, lowering his arms. Wait! They weren't smelling him... they were smelling his hand!
The massive lizards started back, and walked away from Joey, and back out into the sanctuary. Joey was left with this thought in his mind:
'What the hell just happened!'
Joey then remembered that Tristen, Tea, and Yugi had run out that way. He ran out, and as he got out into the sanctuary, he realized just how dark it was. He could barely see the Komodo Dragons ahead of him! He turned and ran to the right of the building they were just in.
"Yugi! Tea! Tristen!" He shouted into the darkness, hoping for an answer. He could feel his heart wrench with terror at the thought that his friends might be hurt... or killed. As Joey stumbled into the darkness, he put out his hands, and could feel the bark from trees. He continued stumbling forward, when he ran face-first into a tree. He fell backwards, and rubbed his face, feeling blood running down from his nose. He wiped it away and stood up, looking around, even though he could barely see.
"Yugi! Tea! Tristen!" he called again. He strained to hear something, anything. Any sign that his friends were okay. But, his wishes were not met. He stumbled onward, shouting his friends names over and over. Wishing, praying, that they were alright.
As night turned to day, Joey could barely notice the sun starting to peek through the leaves, but realized it was getting lighter, and that he could see much better than he could before. He realized that he was in a jungle area of the sanctuary, and panicked slightly. As I mentioned before, usually jungles are the most dangerous snake-ridden areas.
As Joey walked, he felt a vine on his shoulder. He reached up and pushed it away, only to get a loud hiss in his ear. He swallowed hard, as his head turned slowly to the side.
In proof to what I said earlier, and Joey's good reason to panick, an Anaconda sat on the branch above him, the head near his shoulder, and on the other side, what he thought was a vine, the Anaconda's tail. Joey didn't move for a moment, frozen with fear. When the Anaconda snapped at him, however, was when he jumped backwards, and held up his hands, closing his eyes tightly. The Anaconda's tongue flickered out rapidly, and it climbed up into the tree, and higher, disappearing. Joey watched, and blinked with amazement. What had just happened?
Although slightly shaken, Joey wandered on, calling his friends names. As he got deeper and deeper into where he was going, he started to lose hope. If his friends hadn't already answered him... then they were probably gone. After all, they most likely would have stopped for the night... right?
He made himself shake the grim thoughts from his head. He thought maybe finding a pond somewhere to wash his face might be a nice idea. He continued forward, wishing he might have a map of some sort. As he walked, something to his left drew his attention.
He walked towards it. He could see something standing, like a tree, but not nearly as tall. It was up at about his waist, and overgrown with moss and other shrub-like substances. He brushed it all aside, and stared at it.
A sign. It was a sign! Was it possible... that this was part of the road? That if they had kept going in the cart, it would have brought them here to an overgrown path that they would have been forced to either walk through or go back?
He shook the thoughts away so he could read the sign. It read, 'Anaconda: one of the most dangerous snakes. Do not feed.'
Joey could feel a surge of common sense pour over him suddenly.
"OF COURSE YOU SHOULDN'T FEED THE DAMN THING!" He shouted in frustration. "God, that's like... a hit against common sense if you were to do something like that!" he shouted. He shook his head, and continued walking. He looked around, and realized that what he was walking on was a bit like a trail.
"Yug... Tris... Tea..." he mumbled, quietly. "I hope they're okay..." he looked up. "They're probably worried about me too... they probably think I was killed..."
Joey made himself shake the thoughts from his head. If he was going to find them, he had no time to think about how worried they might be, or how worried he was about them. He just needed to focus on finding them.
Once again, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He wandered toward it, slowly at first, but then went a bit faster. As he wandered deeper into the forest, his sight became a bit blurry. He rubbed his eyes, and bent down next to the thing that had caught his eye.
A skeleton. He jumped up backwards and could see the red dye of blood on the bones. This skeleton was fresh. No... did that mean...?
Tears welled in Joey's eyes.
"TEA! TRISTEN! YUGI!" He screamed.
He then suddenly remembered. There were other people that could have gotten this far... but... true enough... how could they get this far? No, he wouldn't let himself think it. He had to look on the bright side... besides, there was only one. The others wouldn't have left one of them left behind - they would never leave a friend... unless... they told them to leave... no! He had to stop thinking of the worst!
His head bowed, he stumbled forward, and could feel his body grieving in pain at the thought that his friends might now be gone. He kept attempting to push the feeling away, but it never seemed to leave.
His vision soon got blurry, and he tried dozens of times to wipe them, but it just seemed to make things worse. As he stumbled along, he started to feel the realization that his friends and him were most likely not destined to come together again... that Joey would most likely die here... along with the others.
Joey suddenly tripped, face planting in some dirt. He started crying silently into the ground, thinking of his friends, thinking of how he was going to miss them. He suddenly felt his hand pulsing again, and quickly clenched it to his chest, crying out in pain. He winced, squeezing it.
"No... go away... these thoughts... this pain... go away... I need to get out of here... I... I need to find the others... I need... to..." the world around him suddenly surged into darkness.
Joey awoke, startled. He picked his head up, opening his eyes. At first his vision was blurry, but as he rubbed his eyes, sitting up, it started to go away. Although, he soon realized that his hand was no longer pulsing. He blinked a couple of times, looking at his hand. Not only was it no longer pulsing, but it was also bandaged quite well. He could only stare at it. He then looked around himself. What he saw surprised him. Surprised him a lot. He sat on the floor of a tree house, and could see the light of stars coming through a window. He looked down by his legs, and there was a blanket. He stood up, stretching his aching muscles. He looked around again.
It seemed that there had been another occupant in this tree house, for there was another blanket nearby, a first aid kit, and a large pot of soup. He stared at it, licking his lips. He could feel his stomach growling, but then he could hear it. Then he heard the sound of someone coming towards the door. He turned his head in that direction, and could see through his locks of golden hair that someone dressed in a tattered white jacket came walking in. He had glasses, and upon seeing Joey, a smile came over his face.
"Well, good morning," he said. Joey stared at the man. He blinked at Joey, but then smiled again. "Aha, I'm guessing you're probably wondering who I am. My name is Professor Greenbloom. I was one of the professors on the tour, and one of the few who got away. I've noticed that my colleagues have all been devoured... and I'm surprised to see that one of the people who wasn't an expert on snakes survived. Yet you have suffered a mighty horrible snake bite. Would you mind me asking how you possibly got this far?" he pushed his glasses up slightly, for they had fallen slightly. Joey just stared at Professor Greenbloom for a moment.
The professor laughed. "I'm sorry all of this so suddenly. I'll give you a minute to find your voice," he smiled. Joey nodded slightly, and held his forehead. All this sudden talking made him a bit dizzy, and what was worse, he was just starting to remember what he was doing before he had passed out so long ago.
"M-my friends," he finally said. The professor frowned at the blonde.
Oh no.
"I'm afraid there was no one with you when I found you, young one. And it was strange, all the snakes seemed to be keeping away from you."
Joey let out a sigh of relief. He knew the others hadn't been with him.
"Oh, I know they weren't with me..." he mumbled. "But I was looking for them, and I... Well, I didn't end up finding them, and... I'm really worried." the professor nodded.
"Ah, now I see what you mean. Yes, by all means, how is it that you were all separated?" he asked.
"The Komodo Dragons..." that was all he had to say. The professor seemed to understand right after Joey had uttered the creature's names.
"Yes, those horrible things. Did they harm any of your friends?" Joey shook his head.
"They just chased us." he left out the part about the building they had stayed in for the short period of time, as well as the Komodo Dragon's strange reaction to smelling his hand.
"Another question," the professor said, "What kind of snake is it that gave you that bite?" he asked. Joey shrugged his shoulders.
"All I know was that I was in a pond much like a swamp when it bit me. I have no idea what color it was, or exactly how big it is. But I can tell you, it's much longer than the span of this tree house," he looked from one wall of the tree house to the other.
"How about where it bit you?" the professor asked. Joey held out his hand, starting to unwrap the bandage. Once it was off, he realized the mark had spread.
The black was now covering most of his wrist, and all of his fingers except for the very tips. His eyes swam with horror as he stared at it.
"U-um..." he stammered. After a moment of staring at his hand, he shook his head, and pointed at his palm. "Here. This blackness is spreading from it..."
"Hmm, I can see. Well, so far, I can unfortunately say that... I haven't been able to find a cure for that bite of yours." Joey, alarmed, looked up at the professor. "I've tried almost all anti-toxins, or at least the ones I have, and I have been unable to cure it." Joey reluctantly looked back down at his hand. He wrapped the bandage back over it, and started to get up.
"I need to find my friends. I don't care how long it takes, and even if I find there skeletons..." he got a hurt expression. "I still want to find them. I need to bury them - or... or... do something... no matter what it is, I need to do something to show my respect." the scientist stared at Joey. He smiled slightly, nodding.
"Well then, take this," he said, holding him a bag. "It's got food and water in it, for you to eat and drink, and some of the water is for your hand." Joey took the bag and slung it over his shoulder.
"Thank you. Thanks a lot, really." Professor Greenbloom nodded, and Joey started down the ladder of the tree house.
He planted his feet in the soil and looked around him. He had to remember the surroundings if he ever wanted to come back here. After a moment of memorizing every leaf and every stone, he started back into the forest, or in this case, the jungle, because he was in a jungle area of the sanctuary. As he walked straight, he soon ran into the small trail he had been walking on before, and surprised, looked up and down the trail.
This was it.
He had to find them
And if he didn't, he wouldn't go on.
sighs, relieved- finished, finally! Finally, finally, finally! Man I can't wait until the next chapter, can you? -grins evilly- please, review!