Welcome back to the cheese! And to ShadowTier, thank you for liking the cheese! It made my day! This chapter is a long one so buckle in! I do cut out one of the trials as most of it - as many of you might know - is mostly in a volcano... And Christine in volcanoes... You can see why that one is a pain so I decided to skip it but mention what happened.
*I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own Christine, my OC. If you recognize anything, I don't own that either!*
There was no smooth transition from the Fortress to where we appeared next. All we were given was a bright light and then we were in a desert. At least it was a pretty mild heat; I don't think my fever would have approved of a hot, dry heat.
"Looks like that passageway dropped us off in the middle of nowhere!" Jounouchi of course states the obvious. "So now what do we do?"
"Well standing around here isn't going to help." Anzu huffed at him.
"Yeah but where do we go?" I said before an argument could break out.
Before anyone could say anything further, Grandpa fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. Oh boy! I dropped beside him, helping to hold him up.
"Are you ok, Grandpa?" Yugi asked, worry leaking its way into his voice.
"I'll be fine." Grandpa was obviously in pain by the way his voice shook. "It's just this old ticker, that's all."
I have a hum of annoyance. Why did this place have to actually hurt us? And Grandpa for that matter! In response to his pain, Anzu summoned Happy Lover to try and heal his wounds. "Takes the edge off, but this old man doesn't heal like he used to." Happy Lover gave a sad noise at that, unhappy that its healing couldn't help.
"We've gotta find a spot where Mr. Motou can rest." Anzu breathed. "As well as get Christine out of the heat."
"I'm alright, Anzu." I told her. "I can last a bit longer."
Anzu gave a glare that I immediately equated with 'Don't even try me'. It was enough to make me flinch. Curse this fever! I was now the one being mothered!
Seeking some sort of shade or oasis, Jounouchi dashed off over the nearest dune, immediately falling over the other side. Nice job, Jounouchi. I didn't say as much, only running along to see if he was ok. The only injury he got was the one to his pride and maybe his throat as he was spitting out sand. He then noticed something.
"Look, guys!" He called as he jumped to his feet, pointing out into the distance.
We all looked up to follow his finger. "Either that's a mirage or we're not alone!" Sure enough, there was what looked like white tents out in the distance. They flickered a bit like a mirage but, after getting closer, they didn't vanish.
At first, the village appeared desolate but when Yugi said to look closer, I noticed the people peeking out from behind the flaps leading inside. They didn't appear to want to talk to anyone, disappearing if one of us tried to engage. "This town could use a welcoming committee." A little girl then stepped towards us. Her face was completely blank, devoid of expression. Around her neck was a five pieced pendant of some kind. She walked straight up to us like… was she the welcoming committee?
"We've been waiting for you." The girl said, voice just as devoid of emotion as her face.
"What do you mean by… waiting?"
"Follow me and you'll find out."
The girl turned to walk away, not a single word more to explain herself. My kind of gal. We only wasted a second before making chase after her.
She led us to a larger tent where the flaps inside were pulled away for easy access. It was dark inside, the only lights being the entrance way and the small torches lit inside. Sitting at the far end was an old man, his eyes lowered into the darkness This wasn't creepy at all. The little girl approached the old man and whispered something into his ear. In response, the man lifted his hands. Blue balls of fire lifted from his hands but I was too far away for an immediate flinch. It also helped that the they vanished seconds later and were replaced by a thin scroll that fell innocently into the old man's hands. The girl took it from him and came back over to us. "The elder wants you to have this. It will guide you on your journey." Yugi gave her a strange look before he took the scroll and unraveled it, revealing more hieroglyphics.
"Trial number one!" Grandpa chirped. "Silence the Whisper that rides the desert winds."
"This must be the first test!" Yugi breathed.
I wanted to be a smartass and ask how they knew that but I kept my mouth shut. This was stressful enough as it was.
"Is this one of the five trials that tablet was talking about?" Anzu asked the old man to no response.
"Something tells me that the old guy's not talking." Jounouchi stated the obvious.
"Gee whiz, Captain Obvious!" Honda huffed. "What gave that away?!"
The tent gave a wild shake then. The wind rustled everything from the fabric to the flames inside.
'Turn Back!' A voice cried, sending shivers down my spine.
It sounded exactly like nails on a chalkboard. What the heck was that?!
"Is that…" Anzu breathed.
"The Whisper that rides the desert winds." The girl acknowledged, her head nodding slightly.
"Guess we should find out where it's coming from." Yugi said.
"I was afraid you'd say that." Honda huffed.
"It can't be any worse than anything else we've faced!" Jounouchi tried to reason.
The return of the Whisper, now cackling loudly now, was starting to prove him wrong. I gave another shiver before looking back to the little girl.
"Any words of advice?" I asked the girl before we all probably walked to our dooms.
The girl looked up at me, face still blank.
"Yes." The girl replied. "As we have learned from our last visitor, the answer lies in the Eye of the Storm."
"Hold on a sec!" Anzu jumped in. "What do you mean your 'last visitor'?"
"Are you saying that there were people before us that had to face these five challenges?" Yugi asked, stepping over.
The girl got a pensive look on her face then. It wasn't much but it was a shift.
"Only one other person has ever come through here." The girl said. "But that was a long time ago."
I didn't think I wanted to know what happened to them. I was then caught on the girl taking off the pendant and stepping over to Anzu. "Please, take this." Anzu had to bend down for the girl to get the necklace around her neck. "You'll need it."
"What does it do?" Anzu asked.
"It'll become clear when the time is right."
Of course. It always does.
The cackle returned again, making me jump at the suddenness. Following after Jounouchi, we all dashed after him. We ran for a ways before Jounouchi stopped.
"How the heck are we supposed to find some wandering voice that travels with the wind?!" Jounouchi growled.
'Leave this place!' The voice called again before laughing.
It was getting closer. Yeesh, it was creepy. Yugi deciphered that it was coming from below but Grandpa called out to stop.
Jounouchi was just able to jump away before the sand gave way to reveal a large worm.
"It's a Medusa worm!" Grandpa simply said.
"We'll take care of this thing, Grandpa." Yugi told his grandfather in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Be careful, Yugi."
"We will!"
Yami came out at the thought of a foray into danger but, before he left, he stepped over to me.
"It's not that I don't trust you, Mereret…." Yami began a request but I stopped him, already knowing what he was asking for.
"I understand." I nodded to his unsaid request. "I'll stay with Grandpa just in case."
There was a moment of relief on his face – both with me understanding his request and with me staying back where it was safe – before he pressed a quick kiss to my cheek and raced off to the others. I shook off my girlish scream before turning to Grandpa. Even with the wind picking up, I could hear Grandpa's teasing question.
"Now what was that, Christine?" Grandpa asked, voice lifting with the tease.
"Nothing you need to be concerned about!"
We were only able to watch Yami and the others for a short while before the sandstorm really started to pick up. The gritty material was getting into my eyes, making them water painfully. How did I deal with this before?
"Oy! The storm is too strong! They'll never defeat that sandworm army now!"
"They have to! As for us…"
I snapped my head back and forth until I finally saw an egg-shaped capsule sticking out of the nearby dune. "We need help getting out of the storm before we're blown away! Stay here!" Grandpa went to argue but I was already jumping over the dune. The sandworms were all focused on Yami and the others so I was able to run through the blasting winds – somehow not getting blasted away – and hit the capsule with a loud smack. The light was blinding but it was quick and a set of arms gathered me up and flew off. I was barely able to make a squeak before the wind stopped. I managed to open my eyes and saw Grandpa and I were floating out of the storm. Holding us up was Magician's Valkyria, a monster I had seen in Yugi's deck at one point. "Heck yeah!" The monster gave a laugh at my enthusiasm. Her appearance also gave me a thought. "Umm… is your effect still the same? Protecting all spellcasters in play?"
"Yes!" Magician's Valkyria chirped. "But… if the Duel Armor is active and they choose the spellcaster to merge with, then no."
I stared at her for a second.
"Wait… What Duel Armor?"
I didn't get my answer until the sandstorm finally cleared and Magician's Valkyria set us back on the ground. She returned to her capsule, which I put in my belt along with Getsu Fuhma, and we set off towards the others.
"It's good to see the storm's blown over." Grandpa mused.
"Now all I need is the feeling back in my legs." Honda mused.
What happened to him? I raised an eyebrow but got no response. I decided to look for Yami, hoping he would reply to me, but didn't see him anywhere.
"Uh… Where's Yugi?" I asked.
That set off a moment of panic for all of us as we looked every which way for where our friend could have gone. I snapped my head over to the nearest dune when the sand gave a noise.
I immediately understood what Magician's Valkyria said about merging with the monster. Yami was completely decked out in Dark Magician style armor! Umm… What?
"How'd you get those threads?" Honda asked, taking all of our confusion.
"I merged with Dark Magician." Yami replied with simply.
"How'd you figure out how to do that?" Jounouchi asked then.
"I was guided by a man wearing a mask. At least I'm… almost sure he was in there with me."
A man in a mask? Great, more questions than answers. I stepped over to see if he was ok – seeing as Magician's Valkyria's effect couldn't touch him like this. The armor then vanished but Yami then collapsed and, since I was closest, I had to be the one to catch him.
"Yikes!" I shrieked. "Hey!"
The armor made Yami a bit heavier so it took all I had to get him to the ground gently. I settled him against my legs, hoping I wasn't harming him anymore. His face was a sheet of discomfort no matter what I did.
"He's exhausted." Honda breathed and I fully agreed.
Yami and Yugi must have as well as the spirit fled back into the puzzle to rest while Yugi was given back control again. It took a long time for him to wake up again but he did so with a groan.
"I didn't realize it at the time but, I guess, that battle really took its toll on me." Yugi said in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Yes, and if I had to guess, I'd say that activating that armor may have drained some of your energy as well." Grandpa almost certainly was rebuking Yugi for not being careful.
Yugi only gave a shrug before trying to get up. Jounouchi and I worked to keep him on his feet as we walked back to tell the village that we'd succeeded. Except… it was gone?
"Hey…" Honda mused just as I noticed the village was gone. "Is it just me or did that village somehow evaporate into thin air?!"
"Maybe that sandstorm blew it away!" Jounouchi reasoned.
"Not a bad thought." I mused and was somehow elbowed by Yugi.
Anzu then pointed out the large stone shrine with oddly familiar statues. I could easily see the little girl with the elder. Had they been statues this whole time?
"If this whole thing is a game," Anzu mused aloud, "maybe those two were just here to help us win or something."
They were NPCs? I suddenly was reminded of Yami Bakura's game of Monster World. Hopefully these weren't people trapped here. Then one of the pendant's five triangles lit up. I stared intently at it. The girl said that it's use would become clear when it was right… Was it some kind of tracker? Each time we completed a trial, one would light up? There were no other options than that so I took it to be true.
A plume of sand then erupted out of the ground.
"Not another worm!" Jounouchi whined.
Instead of a worm, it was a large sand made door. It only made sense that this was to take us to the next trial as we passed the first one.
Hopefully it wouldn't be a terrible one.
Yet again, there was no transition. It was just more bright lights. I flinched back from the light right as it hit me in the eye. This sucks! "Gah! Someone wanna tell me why the sun is burning a hole in my retinas?"
"It is a bit bright." Grandpa pointed out.
"Are we really close to it or something?" I asked.
"I guess it's part of our next challenge." Honda theorized.
The wind was strong where we were. One gust was nearly able to knock me over. Where ever we were, it was high up. That was proven quickly when we all turned to see clouds underneath the ground below us.
"Aren't clouds supposed to be in the sky?!" Jounouchi gasped.
"Not in this world, I guess."
"Looks like we've been transported to some sort of floating island!" Yugi said as he marveled around him.
"Any clue how we might go about getting the heck off of this thing?!" Jounouchi gasped now.
"I assume by passing the test." Anzu replied just as Yugi fell to his knees again.
"Yugi!" I gasped, dashing over to him.
The rest of the gang dashed over as well, crowding around him.
"He needs a doctor!" Honda huffed. "And one that's not me since Nurse Christine is down!"
I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. It didn't work as Anzu settled a hand on my head then, nodding.
"We have something better than a doctor!" Grandpa cheered.
Happy Lover was the best thing we could ask for right now. After settling Yugi down in a cave, the monster set to work. While it did, Anzu stuck the thermometer back into my mouth. It took a couple of minutes before Yugi opened his eyes again.
"You had to have felt something, pal!" Jounouchi huffed down at his friend.
Yugi's smile fooled no one.
"As a matter of fact, I feel like a new man…!" Yugi tried to say cheerfully. "Thanks, Anzu. Aside from the throbbing muscles and migraine headache, I think I'm cured…"
When Yugi tried to get up, I actually tried to stomp my foot to freeze the ground and get someone's attention. I just looked petulant when nothing happened and the thermometer bounced in my mouth. Anzu understood what I meant to say.
"I don't care what you say!" Anzu said in a motherly tone that rivaled mine. "You're resting! Both of you!"
Yugi still kept trying though.
"I appreciate the concern but believe, I know when I need to take it easy and this is not one of those times! Now…"
Yugi tried once more to get up before his strength gave out. The thermometer had already beeped so I was able to rush over as well. Yugi thankfully wasn't running a fever but he was sweating like he was. Grandpa had a hold on him so I was able to stand up. We needed more help, another healer at least for larger injuries. I looked over to the gang; they would take care of Yugi better than I could at the moment. I needed to get help. I stuck the thermometer, which was reading a 98.9 now, back into my bag and started to walk along the wall into the cavern. The gang's voices faded into the background as I got further away.
At the end of the cavern, I saw a capsule at last. Awesome! I leaned over as carefully as I could to tap on it. Please be a healer! I poked the capsule and the bright light appeared again. The hands of the monster touched my head this time instead of picking me up. When I could finally see, it was the face of Guardian Angel Joan that greeted me. She looked worried beyond compare, eyes flicking over my face like a worried mother. I gave a shrug, unsure how to even explain it. That made the expression even sadder. There was then a soft pulse of light. With it, I could actually feel the fever begin to recede again. It was just like Isis had touched me again.
I had found help.
Joan helped me back to the cavern mouth. Anzu was the only one left there, holding onto Yugi's hand gently. She looked up and smiled when she saw I had the Guardian Angel.
"You found help."
She quickly got to her feet to help me as well. With a glance, I asked if Joan would look at Yugi and she did so without argument. I watched while Anzu settled me onto the ground as she checked pulse and temperature. She looked up once she was done.
"Just tired." She said. "He will need lots of rest."
"Jounouchi and the others went ahead to see if they could complete the trial without him."
I nodded my head. "You need rest too."
"Will that make it any better though?" I quipped.
"It cannot make it worse." My angel retorted, standing and flying over to me.
Anzu stepped back over to Yugi while my monster fussed over me. Mothered even by a duel monster…. I wasn't arguing though. I was actually cooling off slightly and that was better than being delirious from the heat. It wasn't long before I began a deep dozing session.
I was woken by Yugi shouting. Immediately thinking something was wrong, I tried to jump to my feet. I wobbled a bit before falling back down. Joan immediately gave a sigh, like she was used to my antics.
"Yugi?!"
I looked over to see that Yugi was sitting up now, gasping for air. He snapped his head over to me before working to catch his breath. "Are you ok?" Yugi gave an embarrassed smile.
"Yeah…" He tried to comfort me. "Perfectly fine."
I gave a huff, crossing my arms. "Really! I'm fine!" I looked to Joan.
"You believe him?"
"Not in the slightest." Joan answered in the same tone I asked the question.
I looked back to Yugi, seeing he was still gathering his breath but he didn't argue with me. He looked frazzled, just like he was when he'd wake up from one of the dreams back at home.
"Alright…" Yugi admitted. "It was another bad dream."
Joan helped me to my feet so that I could walk over and settle next to him. Once I was there, she disappeared back into her capsule.
"You still won't tell me what they're of." I stated.
Yugi actually looked angry when he looked back up at me.
"You won't tell me what's going on with you."
We were at an impasse. Both of us hadn't told the other something and now it was coming back to bite us. I didn't want to worry him with what was already going on… Yugi's eyes said he didn't care about all of that; he just wanted to know. I cared about Yugi; if he wanted to know, I would tell him. I gave a deep breath.
"My powers are sealed uptight. I can't get them loose."
The anger faded from his face immediately. "Remember how I told you about the crone keeping me away from my parents? My powers have been with me for so long that my body has acclimated to the cold as the normal temperature. When it gets hot, I can actively cool myself off. When it gets really hot, that's when I feel like I'm melting." My eyes turned away from him. "That first time my powers sealed themselves away, I remember feeling just miserable, both emotionally and physically. While there were fevers, they were minuscule compared to these; only a degree or two, not four or five."
"What's sealing them away?"
I gave a sad shake of my head, lifting my shoulders ever so slightly.
"I don't know. Grandpa theorized that it was because of that fire and ice stint we had earlier. But I feel like the longer we're here, the worse it's going to get. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you. You already have so much on your plate. I didn't want to add more to it."
I felt tears prick at my eyes. What was he going to say? Was this the final straw? I had kept so much from him this past year; would this be the instance that ruined everything?
Yugi wrapping me up in a hug stopped those thoughts in their tracks. The armor was, of course, uncomfortable but he did his best to comfort me.
"You don't have to hide anything from me. I can take it."
That set off the waterworks. Unlike at Battle City, where I held back my tears at him forgiving me, I let go of my fear and shame in a sob. I wished the armor gone so that I could hug him completely but that wasn't going to be the case right now. I would accept any comfort, especially if it came from Yugi.
When my tears dried up, Yugi admitted to his nightmares. He and Yami are being chased by some shadowy monster that, even after merging with Dark Magician, could still wipe them out with ease. I gave a hum, unsure as to what it meant. Perhaps something has been feeding Yugi a message about the future. But what? Since neither of us had an answer, we spent one last moment apologizing for not telling the truth before climbing to our rested feet and out of the cave.
"Those guys left in such a rush they forgot the instructions!" Anzu huffed, seemingly to herself.
"What instructions?" Yugi asked loudly enough for her to hear him.
She turned back to see the both of us standing at the mouth of the cave.
"You two are awake!"
She dashed over. "Guess Joan was right, all you needed was some rest."
"Yeah! I'm telling you; a few z's and I'm feeling like a new man!"
"He said that last time, should we believe him?" I asked teasingly, fully expecting, and receiving, the annoyed elbow.
"Glad to hear it!" Anzu chirped.
Yugi then looked around. He looked back to Anzu before he spoke.
"Where is everyone?" He asked.
"They went to try and solve the next challenge." Anzu explained.
Oops I had forgotten to tell him. Yugi didn't say anything, only taking the scroll from Anzu. "Any idea what it says? I bet this one's too dizzy to read it anyway." I huffed at her.
"I'm getting back into the swing of it!" I argued. "It took years for me to learn it in the first place!"
"I know someone who does remember it though!" Yugi exclaimed.
Yami was given control and he looked over the hieroglyphics like Rebecca looked at code.
"The Trial of Light and Shadows…" He breathed, reading the first line of glyphs. "Once a day, the Unbreakable Stone appears in the Valley of Light. To achieve the impossible, fight with a power that's greater than physical might…"
I huffed at the symbols. Even with my shot memories, I knew that some of those symbols were missing something. Did the person writing this have terrible grammar or something? "The second half must be hidden on this page." Ah… that would explain it.
"Let's think about this in the shade before I pass out." Anzu said, lifting her hand to her forehead.
That rang a bell in my head. Shadows. Yami caught it as well, dashing into the shade of the cave.
"Nice job, Anzu!" I complimented.
"What did I do?"
Anzu reluctantly followed after Yami and I as we dashed into the cave. "All I really did was complain about the heat!"
"That's not all you did." Yami opened the scroll again and the symbols immediately switched into different ones, all glow in the dark to be read easier. "You suggested we read this in the shade which revealed the missing piece! Out there, only the message of Light could be seen but blocking the sun revealed the message of the shadows."
"So, what does it say?"
The only glyph I could read in my state was 'Wings' and that was at the way end so it wasn't very helpful. Yami didn't read the scroll aloud and his sudden grip on my hand didn't help my concern.
"We have to find them, now!"
We grabbed our remaining belongings and dashed out of the cave. We then found a small trail that led into the Valley below and carefully made out way down. "According to the second part of the riddle, once the creature of Light is defeated, a new, more dangerous monster is born."
"We should get to them before they do that." I replied.
Yami's grip suddenly tightening on my hand as well as the large explosion nearby said we were already too late for that. We then bolted down the trail. It took us a few minutes but we reached the Valley where Jounouchi, Honda and Grandpa were under attack by a large black warrior. Oh boy…
Yami quickly got a hold of the situation by combining with Dark Magician and defeating the monster. What was strange though is that he stopped Flame Swordsman from destroying the monster.
"Don't we have to defeat that thing in order to clear this level?" Jounouchi asked.
"No." Yami replied. "See for yourselves."
Out from a bunch of rubble, probably from the Unbreakable stone, came a large chest. The duel armor deactivated and Yami began to explain where the others went wrong. "The second part of that riddle explains it all. We've already passed."
"There was more?" Grandpa asked.
"The part you read described the first half of the challenge but when exposed to the darkness, the rest of the message appeared and this final piece of the puzzle was necessary in order to solve it."
Yami started towards the chest and we all followed behind. "The riddle continues as follows: When light is extinguished, the true test begins for a creature of darkness it brings but only the righteous and peaceful shall pass and receive the endowment of wings." I felt so proud, I had remembered that glyph! Yami leaned down to open the chest. Inside was a large collected of wings; I suddenly felt like Icarus from that old Greek Myth. I didn't know if I would be comfortable flying in those. "Once this chest appeared, the monster was no longer a threat so I stopped Jounouchi's attack, thus proving we were righteous and peaceful."
"Well played, my young friends." A new voice appeared from behind us.
We all turned around to see… a man in a mask? Was this the man Yami was talking about?
"Who's there?"
"This trial was a test of your character." He was avoiding the question. "Had you gone on to attack the creature of darkness, you would have failed. But by choosing the higher path, you have proven your worth once again."
Yami stepped forward.
"Who are you? And why do you know so much about this place?"
"My name is of no consequence, Pharaoh. But I assure you, I am here as a friend."
I was immediately distrusting. How did he know Yami was a Pharaoh? He needed to explain himself. "I oversee these trials. Congratulations. You have completed level two." Sure enough, the second triangle lit up on Anzu's new pendant. "Three trials now remain, and the most difficult tests are yet to come." He turned to leave after that.
"Wait!"
The man stopped and turned back.
"You have a question?"
Lots, I wanted to shout but let Yami do the talking.
"Yes, what will happen to us if we fail?"
"You will be trapped here until the next warrior comes."
No pressure then. The pyramid was in the middle of nowhere; who would have found it after us?
"And if we pass these trials? What will happen then?"
The man looked back silently for a long moment before turning back around and speaking as he left.
"You will have proven yourself a true king and the power you deserve shall be yours."
Power? What power?
"Wait! But I don't want any power!"
"There are those that do and you must claim this power before they do."
Just as silently as the man appeared, he was gone. I gave a huff. Whoever that guy was, he was a real creep.
Carefully, we carried the sets of wings out of the valley and over to the edge we had appeared on. I was actively muttering to myself as I strapped them on.
"It was don't fly too high nor too low, right?" I muttered trying to remember the myth. "I can't remember anymore."
"At least we don't have to go far!" Anzu chirped, pointing over to the giant square of light that had appeared when the clouds shifted.
She then turned to Yugi. "Are you sure you have the energy to do this?" Yugi gave a confident smile back.
"I've never felt better!" He replied.
Honda then apologized for not being able to complete the trial without Yugi's help but Jounouchi was quick to berate him, saying his ideas were important to solving the first half. With Yugi's approval, we shot into the sky and into the next trial.
The fresh air, clear from any soot or ash, was a welcome feel to me. That third trial sucked!
"Ok…" I huffed, brushing a hand through my sweaty hair. "Can we make a deal with the powers that be that we never have to go to a volcano again?!"
"I'm inclined to agree." Honda huffed. "I'm quite sick of volcanic activity."
"I think we're safe from any more volcanos." Yugi soothed, tapping me gently on the arm. "You finally clear headed?"
"Yeah." I nodded my head. "Cooled off now. This place seems nice enough."
We just finished the third trial but I didn't want to focus on it. I could barely focus at all in that volcanic pit because the heat was so overwhelming. All I wanted to retain was that Jounouchi now had Red Eyes Black Dragon as a capsule monster, we were out of the volcanic pit and we were on the fourth trial. We were so close to getting out of here!
Where we were now… was a giant orchard? Bananas, oranges, apples and far more fruits hung on tree after tree. While my eyes were flicking from tree to tree, everyone else's eyes had moved to Jounouchi.
"I've never watched someone eat twice their own body weight in fruit!" Grandpa marveled.
"Well…" Yugi tried to make an excuse for his friend. "He is a self-proclaimed food freak!"
I rolled my eyes. Jounouchi might as well have three stomachs based on how much he ate. I reached up to grab a fruit from one of the trees. When I got a few of them down, I saw that they were dates. Seeing the fruit now as well as in old memories was slightly comforting so I popped one into my mouth. There was a slight tingle throughout my body that I equated with the fact that I was getting something into my stomach after so long and I reached up for a few more before walking back to the others.
"He's definitely got the 'freak' part right." Honda huffed. "The good news is that, when he's eating, he can't talk!"
"Yeah?!" Jounouchi growled back. "Well I can still hear, Honda! So watch it!"
Just as he bit down on his newest victim, the banana exploded into a pink mist and became a papyrus scroll.
"What was that?" Yugi gasped at the loud sound the explosion made.
"A… A banana split?" Anzu deadpanned, leaving me choking on my swallowed dates.
"You can't say funny things like that when I'm eating, Anzu!" I said through coughs. "I could die!"
My friend only gave a shrug before turning back to Jounouchi. I gathered my breath, turning as well to listen to Grandpa read the scroll.
"Choose the apple that gives you a raise then offer it up in the secret maze." Grandpa read.
Apples… Really? I glanced around, chewing on another date. There were enough things dealing with apples in this world, why here as well? Beside that, there were millions of apples here. Which one were we supposed to pick? And a raise? Was it going to offer us a lot of money or something? It seemed dumb but… This place didn't seem above word play.
We did a bit of searching and realized our map was a lot smaller than we realized. At specified corners, the world suddenly cut off into a pit of blackness. There was a bit of concern that we'd accidentally fall out of bounds but it bounced you if you stepped too far so that was a relief. If anything, that made our hunt for this one apple a heck of a lot easier.
"I just hit the motherload!" Honda suddenly exclaimed.
We followed his voice and were greeted with… a giant melon? "Isn't it beautiful?"
"A melon?" Yugi asked.
"It's always been a dream of mine to eat a ginormous cantaloupe!"
Anzu and I glanced to each other. I simply gave a shrug while she spoke.
"Oooook…" Anzu drawled. "That's the most disturbing thing I've ever heard."
Honda immediately tried to drag the melon like object off but Jounouchi and Anzu stopped him, saying that nobody was going to walk off with it. To make sure, Honda drew a stylized version of his face on it. I simply gave a small laugh before tossing my last date into my mouth.
"Can we go now?" Yugi asked in the calmest voice he knew.
The melon then began to shake and sink into the earth. Ok. I don't think Melons can do that! Honda quickly dashed after it.
"He's nuts…" Jounouchi sighed.
We did follow him into the hole left behind and found that it was a large tunnel. We definitely weren't following any normal cantaloupe. After a few minutes, we emerged in a large stone – maybe brick – room. "Where are we supposed to find an apple in this place?" I looked around and saw it.
"Up there!" I called, pointing to the top of three long pillars.
Three golden apples were almost floating at the top of those pillars, illuminating the room. There was the immediate problem of that there were three apples and that we only needed one as well as they were over a hundred feet in the air, far beyond standing on tip toes to reach. We were then greeted by Honda's melon, which was actually a giant caterpillar. Honda, only slightly annoyed that the bug had impersonated a fruit he loved, summoned Thunder Kid and everything began to shake. Walls shot out from the ground, siphoning us off into different areas. I tried to reach for Grandpa, since he was the closest, but it was like a grip to my shirt yanked me back and to the ground. By the time I got my eyes open again, I was alone.
"Yugi!" I called to no response. "Grandpa! Jounouchi!"
There was still no response so I gave a sigh. "Great. I'm getting kinda sick of this." I peeked behind me but nothing was there. Whatever had pulled me back, they were going to be real sorry for doing that. I got to my feet with a sigh. At least my raging fever was kept at bay; collapsing here would not be the best idea. "Well… off to find my friends, yet again."
I was quick to realize that I was walking in circles; I was seeing the same cracked floor tile at least twice every few minutes. I wished I had a ball of string so that I could avoid doing that but I didn't have anything in my bag except for my book, my charm and the thermometer. I gave another sigh before I realized I wasn't alone. I quickly pulled out Ghetsu Fuhma's capsule; she'd helped me track Yugi before, maybe she could help me get out! The red-haired Samurai gave a wry look when I asked what I wanted before she also sighed.
"Very well…" The monster sighed. "Come on."
"Yes!"
We walked along, turning new turns each time. I didn't see any monsters but… There was this suspicious banging that was now hitting my ears. "What is that?" My monster didn't have a chance to answer as the wall behind me exploded. "Huh?"
"Hi, you!" A familiar voice called out and I was yanked by the back of my shirt.
"Ack!"
I was pulled and, at Mach-nine speed, I was yanked onto something and sped along whatever route the thing was going. "What the—"
"Hi!"
I blinked and Jounouchi's smiling face was there. "How're ya doing?!"
"What?!"
"Honda found a monster!"
That was the only explanation I needed. I quickly called back my monster, fumbling with her capsule so that I didn't drop it, and held on for dear life. Did this thing know anything about the speed limit?! After crashing through a few more walls, Anzu, Yugi and Grandpa all caught up with us.
"Nice job, you guys!" Yugi complimented. "Thanks to the new capsule monsters you found, the old gang is back together and better than ever!"
"And with these two powerhouses in our corner," Grandpa added on, "there isn't a creature we can't clobber!"
"Yeah!" Honda cheered. "There's not a brick wall we can't clobber either!"
He's got that right! "I just hope we're barreling through this maze in the right direction."
"Speaking of that." Jounouchi jumped in. "Don't you sorta think that we're cheating our way through this maze?"
"Oh, fiddlesticks!" Grandpa brushed off the concern. "That riddle didn't say we take a short cut, right? For all we know, this was the only solution!"
We bashed through a few more walls before the glow of the apples hit me again. I didn't see them long as, just after Yugi, Jounouchi and Anzu all managed to jump off, Honda's new monster took a swift turn and started its new train of destruction.
"Anyone know how to stop this thing?" Honda gasped as we started to bash through walls again.
"I'm getting too old for this!"
"How about you, Christine?!"
"Nope!" I replied. "But! I think I can figure it out!"
I reached past him to get a grip on the monster's red mane. I had faint memories of riding a horse with no bridle – arriving suddenly when I got distracted by the Merry Go Round at Kaiba Land - so this couldn't have been all that different! I gave a hard yank to the right and the monster made a quick turn! "Ah ha!"
"Nice thinking!"
With some quick turns, we got the monster back onto the direction of the apples. A few walls before the exit, it dropped to the ground and faded back to its capsule. "Behemoth got tired, huh?"
"I'd be tired too if I went careening through a couple tons of rock!"
Adrenaline was coursing through my veins from the experience. Yowzah! That was just as exhilarating as a rollercoaster! Sadly, I could feel the echoes of my fever coming back. Oh well…
The three of us dashed out of the maze and over to the three that had gotten off. Yami had taken over and, instead of the Dark Magician armor, it looked like Magician of Black Chaos now. What the heck had happened?!
"You kids figured out the meaning behind those apples!" Grandpa gasped.
"Well, can someone share it with me?" Anzu asked. "I'm still confused."
"When we first arrived here, there were three apples resting upon three pillars." Yami explained. "But when we returned, there were only two."
"It wasn't me!" Jounouchi defended himself.
I openly rolled my eyes for Yami, who gave a chuckle before continuing to explain.
"I knew all three apples had to have been put there for a reason but the riddle only mentioned one. We were asked to choose the apple that gives you a raise."
"Yes, but how?" Grandpa asked. "All three of those apples looked exactly the same to me."
"They were. Each one had the ability to raise a monster's strength but each had its own job. The first apple was consumed by that caterpillar, causing it to evolve into a Great Moth."
"Oh… A raise as in a raise in strength… not a word play..." I murmured quietly.
My boyfriend only gave a quiet chuckle but he didn't out my sentence in front of the entire gang. Thankfully, Jounouchi took all the attention that may have gone to me.
"The fruit around these parts does pack a bit of a punch!" Jounouchi breathed.
"That's right." Yami nodded his head. "And I knew that if I ate the second apple, my strength would grow. So that leaves one left."
"That must be the apple you have to offer up to complete the challenge!" Anzu chirped.
"There's only one thing left to do."
"Offer that golden delicious back!" Jounouchi answered.
"Nice job, you guys!" Honda complimented.
"How did you guys miss all the action?" Anzu then asked. "And where's your monster?"
"He's sleeping. I guess careening around like a lunatic and busting through everything in sight finally took its toll on the big brute."
We all leaned in and heard the gentle snores of the monster inside. I gave a giggle at the sound. "The only reason we got back here was because Christine took control of the big guy like he was some bucking bronco!"
"Nice work!" Jounouchi cheered.
I gave a playful bow at the compliments before skipping back over to Yami. I was pleasantly surprised when he was the one to bonk my hip with his, my smile only growing at it.
When Yugi was given control again, we walked up the large set of stairs which led to a stone altar. Ah, 'offering' the apple. That checks out. Once it was settled down, the golden fruit began to glow brightly before it faded into nothing. Replacing it, a set of white stairs then appeared, leading up to a door that opened.
"Well done!" Grandpa cheered.
"Guess it's on to level five!" Anzu added.
"One more left!" Honda sighed in relief, myself joining in.
"Well, what are we waiting for!" Yugi chirped. "Let's finish this thing and get home!"
There was no argument so we all took the steps to the final trial. Thank goodness we were almost done.
2020 is almost done! Thank goodness! This year has been such a trial for all of us! I hope you all are staying safe.
Yami Bakura: Did you get me anything for Christmas?
Depends...
Yami Bakura: On?
Are you going to buy me some donuts to make up for the ones you ate?
Yami Bakura: *suspicious silence*
As I thought.