Gotc: Ok, so I didn't have the heart to keep you all waiting after being M.I.A. for nearly a month.

Ace: You have a heart? I guess you learn something new every day….

Gotc: Sure, like how long you can survive in a locked closet without air. Anyway, I don't do the make you wait a week thing too well, and had the urge to finish my thought process on this chappie anyway. Buuuuuuuuuuut…I shall once again be those of you who read this (and I know you all do because you're favoriting this and I can see the reader traffic) PUHLEAAASSSSSE REVIEW! But for those of you loyal people out there who are giving me the feedback, both the good , the bad and the threatening…, I must say I do appreciate it, and this chappie is for you!

Squeak: Squeak! (Then let's get rolling, shall we? Neither Harry Potter or Yu-gi-oh belong to the above authoress. Ace is currently hiding on the second floor in the old refrigerator box from said authoress, and I'm going to go make a plate of tacos.)

Gotc: Make mine spicy! As for you readers, go enjoy your dedicated chappie. Shoo now and read!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Rising Dragon

CHAPTER 6: Flight from Domino: Part 2

"Pharaoh! Dammit Wake up!" Marik growled as loud as he dared, while Bakura kept watch around the alley corner.

They had only just managed to duck into the dark alley, when reinforcements arrived, and began tearing the game shop apart looking for the three missing teens. A plume of black smoke was beginning to rise in the air, and they could just make out the faint orange glow of flames against the might sky. Yami was still slumped against the alley wall, despite Marik's best efforts to rouse him.

"Forget it!" Bakura hissed, pulling Yami to his feet and starting to drag him along again, "We need to keep moving. Those freaks are still out there, and if they can do this to the Pharaoh in one shot, I'd rather not find out what else they have in their arsenal."

"Almost sounds like you care," Marik snickered.

"I do not give a damn about His Royal Higness!" Bakura snapped back, "And I also don't want to be hauling your dead weight around either when they find us! Now help me and let's go!"

Marik nodded and draped Yami's other arm around his own neck, as they started off through the dark maze of Domino's back alleys. Barkua would have felt better using the ring to pinpoint exactly where their pursuers were, but he couldn't risk even the faint glow that came from it giving away their position. So instead, every shadow took on a different shape, looking like a menacing cloaked figure lurking just around every corner. What made things worse, was Kaiba Corp. was still over a mile away. Every step, Bakura was reminded why he liked to work alone.

"Couldn't you just have taken over their minds?!" Bakura snarled, finally breaking the eerie silence of the alley.

"I tried Thief!" Marik defended, "But half of them were already being controlled by someone else and the others were able to resist me!"

"So the guy who brain-washed an entire army of Rare Hunters with a Millenium Item, wasn't able to get past a few mental defenses and make them think they were chickens or something for a few minutes?"

"It's not like picking a lock, or getting around a trap!" Marik said in a barely controlled voice, "Yes, I could have got around them, but it's exhausting, especially when there's that many working against you. I'd be no better off than Yami right now if I had."

Almost on cue, a soft glow came from the eye of the puzzle. Life came back into the limp body's arms, and his eyes slowly opened, revealing not crimson, but amethyst irises. Yugi looked exhausted, and worry was etched deep into lines on his face. He wobbled for a brief moment, when Bakura and Marik set him down on his own too feet, and he put a hand on a nearby dumpster to support himself, while the other buried itself in his tri-colored hair.

"H-he won't wake up…" Yugi said shakily, "I.. couldn't get him to…He's still there…but when the Celtic Guardian…That pain.. .Wasn't like it was destroyed, obliterated more like it."

"We can talk about this later Yugi," Bakura said , hearing approaching footsteps, "You think you could walk on your own?"

"Yeah" Came the reply after a moment, "What if that witch did something to him? What if he won't wake up?"

"Please," Marik said, "How many times has someone, including myself and the Thief tried to kill your infernal yami? You should know better than anyone how stubborn he is. But right now, those guys are still on our trail, but we'll find someone who can help him as soon as we're out of the fire. And we still have to get to Kaiba, remember?"

"Right..."Yugi agreed half-heartedly, feeling a little better.

"Can we please keep moving?" Bakura growled, "Not that I wouldn't enjoy sending a few hapless souls to the shadows, but I'd rather not be joining them if it's all the same to you two."

Yugi said nothing, but silently followed behind the other yamis though the dark streets. His normally bright amethyst eyes were downcast and clouded over. Half of his attention was directed solely on keeping his feet moving one in front of the other, while the rest had retreated to his darker half's soul room. Yami still wasn't responding, and no matter how hard he pried, the link between them remained solidly shut.

/Come on Yami…./ Yugi pleaded, /Please wake up…/

The three had two more close calls before the towering outline of the Kaiba Corp could bee seen silhouetted against the moonless sky. Once they'd nearly been on top of each other before they'd realized their mistake. The skirmish lasted only seconds, with out a scream and the Shadows being a few souls heavier. Even Yugi came alive for a moment, as he summoned one of his monsters to join the fray. Marik muttered something under his breath about a Pharaoh clone, but let the subject drop as the sound of angry voices reached their ears. A blast from behind them nearly scalped Bakura, instead smashed into the wall next to him and blew several bricks loose. Yugi spun on his heel and pulled a single card from his deck, the Puzzle glowing as he reached for the magic it contained.

"Mirror Force!"

Another blast rushed towards them, as the shimmering barrier erupted from the card between the two groups. The two forces clashed in a sparking of energy, thin waves of it rippling over the translucent surface as it lit up the entire alley for a brief moment. There were at least five hooded wizards behind them, each with a wand dawn and either adding to the attack on the shield, or preparing to. Yugi's face was set in a line of determination, as he focused on maintaining the barrier, ignoring the beads of sweat that started to run into his eyes as more hexes slammed into the shield.

"Yugi!" Bakura yelled, "What are you waiting for?!"

"Not…yet!"

The shield almost started to quiver as another spell hit it head on, the waves of magic thrashing wildly over its surface. Yugi dropped to on knee, as the last wizard took aim at the shield and fired. The magic had reached its breaking point, and he couldn't hold it any longer. A thin smile curved across his lips, and two amethyst eyes flashed in a moment of success, as Yugi released his hold on the magic.

The great shield bowed inward in a single heave, before rebounding the whole of the collected magic that it had absorbed. The blast rebounded on its scrabbling owners, striking them with unwavering ferocity and sending shockwaves through the alley. Yugi was thrown backwards into Bakura and Marik, exhausted, but with a look of grim satisfaction.

"Where did you learn that?!" Marik asked, thoroughly impressed with the display.

"Yami's been teaching me," Yugi said, a little embarrassed, "I didn't mean to throw it back quite so hard though."

"Remind me to stay off your bad side," Marik said, as they resumed their pace through the alley.

"No kidding," Bakura admitted, "At least you know the Pharaoh can use Shadow Magic, but you? I'm just glad it wasn't me on the other end back there…."

"I think that was almost a compliment," Yugi said in mock surprise, with a smile in his voice.

"Don't get used to it." The Thief King grumbled back, and pointed ahead of them, "We may not live long enough for it to happen again."

Kaiba Corp Tower loomed in front of them like an ominous beacon. Light posts illuminated the entire area surrounding the building in sharp detail, despite the absence of the moon, and several hooded figures were gliding over the stretch of pavement that separated them from the main doors, no doubt searching for a way inside.

"Well," Yugi asked, "What now? We can't go back, someone will have figured out which way we're headed after that thing back in the alley, and we can't go forward, or we'll be seen."

"This is your area Thief," Marik said, "Getting in and out undetected is your specialty. Any ideas?"

"First, don't make it sound like tomb robbing is easy," Bakura said, still absorbing the task ahead of him, "You get good at it, but once you get cocky, you wind up dead in a spike trap, or sealed in a certain ring. Second, yes I do have a plan. I'd prefer not to actually enter the Shadow Realm if we could help it, but we could wrap a veil of shadow around us. It wouldn't be total invisibility, and truthfully, it works better when you aren't in direct light, but it'll be better than charging the place without any cover at all."

"And what about getting in once we're there?" Marik asked.

"We have to make it that far first."

Yugi sighed, and rubbed his temples. A powerful headache had formed after his last stunt, and it was pounding violently at the sides of his skull. His arms and legs felt heavy, and coupled with the empty feeling that still gnawing at him from Yami's unconciousness, along with the stress of the rest of the night, he was nearly ready to come apart. But Kaiba was still on his own, and they couldn't just leave him to whatever fate may befall him.

"It's the only option we have," Yugi said, "I'll help where I can, but that Mirror Force took more out of me than I thought it would."

Bakure grumbled something in Egyptian, but nodded, as the Ring around his neck came to life. Tendrils of Shadow seeped from its center, and started to wrap around the three. Marik followed suit, clutching the Rod, and added to the Shadows swirling about them. The night around them seemed to take on an oil-on-water effect, with hazy colors that shouldn't be there occasionally drifting past. There was an odd sensation pulling at them, and Yugi had the feeling of a rat beneath a rug. Standing between realms, not quite in either one, but still in both at the same time had a disorienting effect, but there was no time to get used to it before they started to move.

"If you get too far away, they'll be able to see you," Bakura whispered, "Stay close, and move fast,"

That was easier said than done. The wrap was hardly big enough for the three of them, and so they had to adopt a half skip, half shuffle to make any kind of progress at all. A few times, one of the hooded figures looked right at them, trying to work out if anything was really there or not. When that happened, the three stood perfectly still, not even wanting to breathe, for fear the sound could give them away. There was a chilling feeling that crept down their spines as it gazed in their direction, and while none could say it, there was defiantly something not human about it. Only once it reluctantly looked away, did they resume their shuffle to the door. They were making their way up the three flights of stone steps that separated them from their goal, when Yugi's heavy feet caught the edge of one of the stairs, and he fell forward into the others.

The spell broke instantly, their only protection vanishing in thin smoke-like whips around them. Every one of the hooded figures snapped their heads in the direction of their suddenly visible prey. With an unnatural screech, they came swooping in on the three, scrambling to get up the steps. Bakura was already at the door, working to break the lock, but Yugi's body refused to move, no matter how hard he tried. Those things were almost on him, when Marik spun around and let loose a blast of Shadow to slam into the nearest one.

The Egyptian bounded back down the stairs, and scooped Yugi under one arm, thankful the teen didn't weigh more, and tore back up the steps to a waiting Bakura who had managed to pry the doors open. One of the things took a swipe at him, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as a sheer cloth swept over his skin. Another blast of Shadow crashed into another hooded creature, courtesy of Bakura, as Marik nearly bowled him over getting through the door. It took both of them to hold the doors shut against the screeching figures, while Bakura used a stream of Shadow to seal them shut again.

"That's not going to hold them for long," Bakura panted, backing away from the doors, "If we're going to find Kaiba, we need to do it now and get out of here. Grab the Pharaoh's mini-me and lets go!"

Marik hauled Yugi up again, and ran after Bakura through the deserted halls of the Kaiba Corp headquarters. Yugi was mumbling incoherently, his eyes fluttering open and closed, trying to keep himself within the borders of consciousness. Sweat dripped off of his face, and every now and again, there would be a brief flicker of life through his like to the Pharaoh, before a sharp stab of pain ripped through and sealed it again.

"What's the matter with him!?" Marik called to Bakura.

"Must have something to do with the Pharaoh," He snapped, "or it could be the strain from using more Shadow Magic than he should have, or the dark, hooded reapers in training behind us! Take your pick!"

There was a resonating blast from somewhere below them, that threw the two to the steps beneath them. Angry voices carried up through the stairwell they were in and helped them take the steps two at a time to the top floor. A wave of cold air seemed to boil up through the stairwell, hugging them and making it harder to breathe. They could almost feel the ragged breaths of whatever those things were at the back of their necks, even as they burst through the doors to Kaiba's office.

Two black robed men were laying unconscious on the floor of the CEO's office, and a panting Kaiba was bent over his desk, clutching his side. Mokuba was the first to notice their apperance, as he peeked out from under his brother's desk, and ran to help the yami's barricade what was left of the office.

"How did you guys get here?!" He asked, throwing whatever he could get his hands on against the door.

"Took a leisuerly stroll through the park!" Marik shot back, "Those things attacked us at Yugi's!"

"What happened to him?!"

"The same thing that's going to happen to us if we don't get out of here!" Bakura yelled, "Priest! Is there any other way out of this death trap of a headquarters?"

Kaiba looked up with a dangerous mix of anger and irritation in his steely blue eyes. He nodded once and wiped away a thin trail of blood that was running over his chin, before pressing a panal on one of the side walls.

"Get..to the roof," He managed hoarsely, steadying himself against the door frame.

The group abandoned their barricade attempt, and rushed up the hidden stairwell, as the panel slid closed behind them. Kaiba threw open the steel door onto the roof, and led the group across the gravely surface, to the hangar stationed at the other end. But this time, their pursuers had had enough, and were already waiting for them. A dozen of the hooded creatures descended upon the five, surrounding them and cutting them off from any route of escape. The two conscious item holders assumed a defensive stance, ready for a last stand, while Kaiba drew his brother in close to his side. There was a tense moment between the two parties, almost as if the creatures were letting them accept their defeat, before they lunged at them.

A sudden crack ripped through the air, and several new voices joined the fray as ghostly figures of different animals attacked the creatures. Several more cracks echoed behind them, and secure arms wrapped around each of the five and all of them disappeared just as quickly as they had come.

Miles away, a boy with black hair woke with a start, as a lightning shaped scar on his head began to burn…

Gotc: Ok, sorry. This took longer than I thought, and I got grounded, so I had to write it in secret. Anyway, hope you all liked, I'll post more soon, blah blah blah, REVIEW AND MAKE MY RISK WORTHWHILE! Thank ou and have a nice day.