Guess what people! I got a replacement laptop for a while and that means, FULL ACCESS TO INTERNET! For you this of course means that I can update as planned and I believe I left you at a rather annoying point in the last chap (A). Ghehe, well here's the next chap! Enjoy and R&R!

--: 12 :--
Arise, Slifer, Ra and Obelisk

"I can't believe we actually made it here alive." Jou said as the group stepped further into the room. Seth's face grimaced at seeing what was at the bottom of the large gap.

"That could still change if we fall in there." he added to his pup's words.

Atemu nodded in agreement; he really didn't feel like coming into contact with those deadly spikes, "Well let's go."

Everybody – except for one - stepped closer to the narrow bridge. Atemu – noticing that one of them hadn't moved - glanced back to see Teana standing there with a smirk on her face; a smirk that reminded him an awful lot of Dakuso's.

"Teana?" Yuugi asked. He too had noticed that his childhood friend hadn't moved and was looking at them in a weird way.

"It's time." was all Teana said, her smirk widening.

Atemu's danger alarm went haywire. Teana's aura was suddenly filled with Shadow Magic. He could sense Dakuso's influence practically beaming off her now, and he mentally slapped himself for not noticing this before. He glanced at Seth to see if his cousin had drawn the same conclusions as he had.

Seth was glaring at the female brunette. He could also feel Dakuso's presence with their female companion, and had a pretty good idea about what had happened to her. He also knew, that if his suspicions were correct, and Teana's mind had indeed been altered by the Millennium Key, Dakuso could use her to create a shadow portal. A portal that would lead him to any slave he wanted to go to. A portal that could lead him straight to them.

He glanced to Atemu and icy blue met molten crimson. They nodded simultaneously before looking back at Teana.

"So how long have you been spying for Dakuso?" Atemu asked in a deadly calm tone that didn't seem to match the raging anger in his eyes.

Yuugi and Jou's eyes widened, and they looked in shock at their female friend. Had she betrayed them? No… that just couldn't be!

"Since we left Sovok." Teana said, just as calm as Atemu had sounded. No emotions were showing in her usually bright blue eyes as she stood there, arms crossed over her chest.

Seth and Atemu both mentally slapped their foreheads. They had both been suspicious of Teana, but had merely pushed it aside. They made a mental note to never ignore a feeling like that again, ever.

Teana's eyes glazed over shortly before coming back into focus. She smirked evilly at her old friends. Her master had given her a small portion of Shadow Magic – as well as knowledge on how to use it – and had told her to get rid of the others. She let a blue shadow aura flare ou around her, loving the shocked and surprised look on her old friends' faces. She quickly made a ball of Shadow Magic, and fired it at Yuugi and Jou, as they were standing closest to the edge of the gap.

Jou managed to drop to the gournd just before the ball would've hit him, but Yuugi wasn't as lucky. He was hit in the side of his chest and thrown back, right into the gap.

"Yuugi! NO!" Atemu's shocked expression turned into an enraged one. Even the amount of anger he had felt towards Sovok didn't come close to this. Yuugi was gone; if not killed by the fall, then surely send to the Shadow Realm. Atemu didn't care that Teana was being controlled and couldn't do anything against the strong magic. He didn't care that she was actually a friend. He only saw flashes of his test combined with the image of Yuugi being thrown backwards into the gap by the Shadow ball Teana had created. That was the only thing he cared about at that moment.

His aura flared out wildly, sparks of black electricity showing his extreme anger. Next to him, he felt another aura flare out, although less angered than his own. Seth was obviously also ready to kill the girl who had killed their younger companion.

"You…" Atemu hissed, too angry to actually finish the sentence he had started. He created a Shadowball of his own - one much stronger than Teana's had been – and threw it at the brunette. Teana barely managed to dodge it, but was then hit by another Shadowball fired by Seth, and thrown against the wall behind her.

She could feel blood flowing from a wound on the back of her head, but ignored it as she had more important things to deal with. She quickly managed to fire a Shadowball at the two cousins – through it was easily dodged by both of them – and got up. She would not disappoint her Master; she would not let Atemu kill her Master like he had done in the illusion world of her test.

She seemed to gain power for no apparent reason – as she knew her Master wouldn't give her anymore than he had already given her – but just pushed the thought aside and used the shadows in the room to grab Atemu and Seth, and hold them so they couldn't move.

Seth – had it not been for his control of his emotions for the greater part – would've yelped as the shadows in the room wrapped around his body, making it near impossible to move. He glanced at his cousin to see shadows also attacking the tri-colour haired boy, but not being able to penetrate the thick protecting aura. He could see the glare in Atemu's eyes only growing, and actually for a bit sorry for the brunette on the receiving end of this glare.

"These shadows won't hold me back!" Atemu hissed, his aura only flaring out more to prove his point, and a powerful Shadowball already forming in his hand.

Without any emotion but anger in his eyes, the former Prince threw the ball at Teana, hitting her square in the chest and throwing her back against the wall again.

Jou was scared out of his mind in the mean time. Not only was his buddy probably dead and was the glare Atemu had on his face enough to want you to die on the spot, but Seth was seemingly being trapped by nothing but shadows and there was freaking nothing he could do about it.

"Se-Seth? A-are you o-okay?" Jou stuttered to the blue-eyed ex-High Priest. His fear filled honey brown eyes met – though seemingly calm – angered icy blue ones.

"Been better." Seth muttered. He looked back at his cousin as the other threw a Shadowball to the female brunette, and hit her dead on. He felt the grip of the shadows loosen, and he quickly let his aura flare out again, freeing himself completely.

Seth quickly used the shadows still trying to grab him, to grab Teana and hold her down against the ground where she had fallen. Glancing at Atemu, he quickly grabbed the other, so his cousin wouldn't kill the brunette on the spot.

"Let Me Go." Atemu growled, emphasising every word very clearly, "If she lives, Dakuso could track us! And SHE KILLED YUUGI!"

"You're not thinking straight! You can't kill her! She's only under control of the Millennium Key!" Seth hissed back, keeping the shadows firmly in place as Teana tried to resist the strong hold.

Atemu's eyes blazed with untamed fury as he glared at the one who had killed his angel, his little one, his Yuugi, "If it weren't for Seth, you'd have been dead." he hissed and Teana visibly flinched at his tone.

Teana tried once more to free herself from the shadows keeping her down, but her own Shadow Magic had been exhausted and she didn't have any more power. There was only one thing to do… she had to ask for help from her Master.

Teana's eyes glazed over but Atemu, Seth and Jou didn't seem to notice. Atemu and Seth were still hissing at each other, and Jou was still on the ground, just staring at the two cousins with a crestfallen look on his face.

It wasn't until a Shadow Portal appeared on the wall behind Teana, did the small group notice that something was amiss. They all turned to the portal to see a male person emerging from it. Their eyes widened as everybody recognized the man, and what he was carrying with him.

Dakuso had all six of the Millennium Item on him, and a cruel look set on his face. He glanced at Teana – who was still lying on the ground, bound in shadows – and with a mere flick of his arm, freed her.

Teana stood up and bowed for her Master with a grateful look on her face. She was surprised and shocked however, when Dakuso lifted her up by the collar of her robes and pulled her up to his eyelevel, since Dakuso was taller than Teana.

"You failed me." the man hissed. Teana whimpered in his grip but did nothing to get away. Dakuso glared at her with loathing, and with another flick of his arm, threw her to the ground near the edge of the gap. Before anyone could do or say anything, Dakuso had fired a powerful Shadowball, which send Teana flying backwards, screaming in pain. She flew over the edge of the with spikes filled pit, and a soft 'thump' could be heard not even a second later as Teana's screams died down.

Atemu, Seth, and Jou had been too shocked at seeing Dakuso to react in time. They watched as Teana was thrown into the gap, and instantly died. Atemu immediately felt a pang of guilt shooting through his heart. Seth had been right; Teana had only been brainwashed and couldn't help herself. He pushed the thoughts away for now, as he had to deal with a bigger problem right now.

Dakuso smirked like the madman he was at the thinning group, "Two down, three more to go. And since I lost my slave in your group, I'll just have to replace her." He grasped the Millennium Rod at his side and a bright flash blinded everybody momentarily. When the flash died down, Atemu quickly glanced at his friends.

Seth seemed to be fine; his icy blue eyes were still showing life and emotion. But Jou's expression had changed completely; his eyes were completely void of life.

"There, slave! Attack your precious High Priest now!" Dakuso laughed as Jou's form got up and turned to Seth, trying to hit the blue-eyed brunette. Seth could barely dodge the hit and sprang back.

'Fuck, I can't kill him! I… I… I CAN'T!' Seth glanced desperately at Atemu but it seemed his cousin had his hands full already.

Dakuso had summoned his Cosmo Queen, and Atemu was trying his best to dodge the attacks of the said monster, while trying to focus enough to summon a monster himself. Needless to say, this wasn't going all to well for him.

Atemu knew that even if he managed to summon his Dark Magician, his faithful monster wouldn't hold up against Dakuso's Queen for too long. The only way to beat the High Mage turned Pharaoh, was to get to the God Tablets and summon the three egyptian gods.

What he hadn't expected, was Seth's Blue-Eyes White Dragon suddenly attacking Dakuso's Queen. Atemu glanced aside to see Seth dodging blows from Jou. This obviously cost him less energy than Atemu's dodging had cost him, and Atemu was very grateful for the blue-eyed dragon's help. He quickly summoned his own Dark Magician to help his cousin's monster, and ran for the narrow bridge in the middle of the room.

Dakuso's eyes twitched as he saw the Blue-Eyes and the Dark Magician fighting his monster. With another flick of his arm, a new monster appeared to help his Queen. A Black Meteor Dragon appeared next to him and quickly started to help his fellow monster.

Dakuso looked around to see Atemu making his way across the narrow bridge leading to the three God Tablets, obviously trying to obtain the said tablets before Dakuso could get to them, or kill their monsters.

Dakuso smirked cruelly as he formed a Shadowball in his hand, and threw it at the former Prince, only barely missing the said teen.

Atemu lost his balance for a second as the Shadowball fired by Dakuso flew passed him. He cursed under his breath as he knew he couldn't do anything in the position he was in right now. Dakuso kept throwing Shadowballs, missing the Prince on purpose so to mock the crimson-eyed teen.

In the mean time, Seth was having a hard time keeping his monster under control, and dodging all of Jou's blows. The blonde was obviously a very good fighter, and Seth knew he couldn't keep avoiding all the blows for too long. Eventually, one of Jou's fists hit Seth in the arm, and Seth was thrown off balance slightly. This, however, was exactly what Jou had needed to start hitting Seth constantly. Seth blocked most of the punches now, but was thrown to the ground by a good aimed one he hadn't seen coming.

He glared up at Jou, who was actually smirking down at him right now. Seth knew he had to do something fast, or he'd be thrown into the gap with lethal spikes as well.

Acting on impulse, he grabbed Jou's leg and pulled on it, making Jou fall to the ground as well. Even in his hypnotized state the blonde looked surprised and shocked. Seth quickly pinned his pup to the ground, making sure that the other's hands couldn't move. Jou struggled against the firm hold, but Seth was practically lying on top of him, so it was no use. Seth just had one little problem: he couldn't let go of Jou, but he had to go help Atemu. The only way to do both was if he could get through to Jou, and snap him out of his trance. Of course, Seth had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to do this.

Desperately racking his mind for an answer, he did the first thing that came to mind. He leaned down completely on Jou's body so the blonde really couldn't move an inch anymore, and kissed his pup full on the lips.

Jou eyes at first widened as he – even in a hypnotized state – recognised what was going on. The real Jou immediately fought harder to get control over his body again, and with all the force he could gather, broke the spell of the Millennium Rod.

Seth pulled back just as Jou's eyes came back to life – though there was a very dazed look the blonde's face. He was actually surprised to see what his kiss had done, as he had acted only on impulse and hadn't even thought about what it would matter.

"Seth…" Jou looked up the brunette questioningly. Seth had… kissed him? But… why? The blue-eyed ex-High Priest couldn't share the same feelings as Jou had for the other… could he?

The moment was ruined as they heard a scream coming from further up in the room. They both looked at the bridge, to see Atemu losing his balance as a Shadowball lightly grazed his side.

Atemu managed to grab the edge of the bridge just in time and desperately clung to it for his dear life. If Dakuso would hit him one more time, he was sure he'd lose his grip and fall down. Atemu closed his eyes, silently praying to Ra for a miracle to save him. When no Shadowballs were thrown at him after a moment, he opened his eyes to see Seth and Jou trying to fight Dakuso. They weren't fairing all toO well, and Atemu knew he had to hurry.

He pulled himself up to the bridge with all his might, and managed to climb back on top. His muscles were aching like there was no tomorrow, and his side wasn't any better. Atemu pushed the pain away, focussing on crossing the bridge he was currently on so he could get those blasted God Tablets.

A large beam of energy nearly hit him and Atemu looked up to see the four monsters fighting directly above him. He stepped back as another blast almost hit him, and almost threw him off the bridge again. He then clenched his fists and walked forward again, trying to avoid the blast as good as possible as the Blue-eyes and his Dark Magician tried to get Dakuso's monsters away from their Master.

As soon as Atemu set foot on the other side of the room, he fell to his knees, thanking whatever god was up there protecting him. He looked up to see the God Tablets glowing slightly in response to the Puzzle around his neck. Atemu just hoped that he would have enough energy to control the three legendary beasts. He closed his eyes, focused all his Shadow Magic, and used it all to summon the three beasts before him. He heard Dakuso's panicked cry somewhere behind him as the man saw what had happened.

When Atemu opened his eyes again, he stared above him at the forms of Slifer the Sky Dragon, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Obelisk the Tormentor. He immediately felt drained of most of his energy and fell to the ground. He groaned as he felt even more energy being taken from him, though he immediately decided that these three beasts could have all the energy from him as they wanted; Slifer, with a large ball of electricity, shot the Cosmo Queen out of the sky and nearly killed it. Dakuso's pained cry could be heard as the Cosmo Queen was obviously his Ka. Ra fired a flaming spiral attack at the Black Meteor Dragon, and the said monster shattered into thousands of pieces.

"NO! I won't let this happen!" Dakuso yelled and an aura, unmatched in size by any seen before, blazed around his body. His Cosmo Queen immediately got up and fired an attack at the three gods. Obelisk was the one to take the hit, and he was thrown back slightly, but was still standing up straight. It was obvious that Dakuso was putting all the power of the Millennium Items in his Queen, if the attack of a normal monster could do such a thing to a God Monster.

Ra let out an angry roar and was consumed by flames, before it attacked the Cosmo Queen and slammed it into the ground. Slifer then fired another ball of electricity and slammed the Queen into the wall behind her master.

Atemu watched in awe as he slipped into unconsciousness more and more. The three gods were extremely strong, but it cost him a lot of energy to keep them fuelled with this strength.

His gaze flickered to the other side of the room where the Cosmo Queen had crashed, but stopped before it actually landed on Dakuso's monster. His eyes widened as he saw what was hanging on the side of the wall, right above a few Shadow Magic coated spikes. Panic rose in his body and he cried out to the person hanging just above a painful death.

"Yuugi!"

Hmm… and again I manage to put down a cliffhanger. I really do wonder how I do it all the time since I was really had at cliffies first. Oh well, that was the chap for this week but don't worry, since I have a laptop again, I can surely update next Saterday/Sunday.
Btw, I have a request for one of my annonmous reviews, S2Teennovelist. You've beens sending me really long and praising reviews and I'm really happy when I get them, but you never leave you e-mail, so I can't respond to it. Can you please leave your e-mail?
Well that's about it people, cya all next week and R&R!