Chapter 22

After two and half hours of napping, Illidan's eyes opened to discover the bus was still on it's way. Checking the time, he realized soon they were to switch buses so they could continue their journey.

Looking over, he saw Ryou had his eyes closed, but knew he was aware of what was happening around him. He then looked over his shoulder to see Blue and Vash asleep still. Blue had her head on Vash's shoulder, while Vash had placed his head on top of her head. Each was sleeping peacefully, and seemed to be enjoying one another's company.

He lightly smiled at this, knowing possibly Blue and Vash were finding love. His own thoughts reflected back on himself and Marie, mostly about how much he missed her now that her soul was gone. "I miss her so much. This is the first time since the tournament that we've been separated for a long period of time. I… I wish so badly she was here. Her love is what kept me going always. I hope we can find her soul soon. I don't know what I'd do without her by my side for very long."

Without realizing it, a tear slid down his face as he thought about Marie's smiling face. He was quickly snapped out of his daze though by Ryou's voice saying "Don't go getting mushy on me now Illidan. Remember, you must stay focused."

He glared over at the spirit, who had his eyes closed still. Angrily, he quietly said "Why do you even care?"

This caused Ryou to crack his eyes open and to look over at Illidan. With a smirk, he replied "I need you to be at your best if you're going to help me save Bakura's soul. And I know you'll need to be at your best to save Marie's."

Knowing he was right, Illidan only nodded and looked ahead. He saw that the bus was coming into the station where the exchange of buses would take place. Deciding he'd better hurry up and get their other company up, he turned around and lightly tapped Vash on his unoccupied shoulder.

Vash lazily cracked one eye open to see it was Illidan. He also noticed something warm was on his right shoulder, and that his head was resting on something. "That's right, I let Blue sleep on my shoulder." he said in his mind.

"Vash, we're almost to the station where we switch buses. Go ahead and wake Blue." Illidan said.

Sleepily nodding, Vash lightly moved to look down at the sleeping form in his arms. He almost didn't have the heart to wake her, but knew he had to. As he had moved though, she slightly stirred, her face slightly scrunching up as she yawned. Her eyelids fluttered open to reveal her icy blue eyes.

She looked up, smiling at Vash and asked "Are we there yet?"

Vash couldn't help but lightly chuckled and replied "We're at a station where we switch buses."

Nodding, she took her head off his shoulder and slightly stretched out in her seat. She then felt the bus slowing as it was pulling off the road.

The bus finally came to a stop, and everyone stood up. All the people walked off and headed for the small snack store and bathroom area. As the group of four got off, they stayed together, each toting their luggage along with them.

Realizing their bus wasn't to leave for thirty minutes, Illidan said "Guys, we have a half an hour to do whatever we want before the next bus leaves. I'm heading out to get some snacks…"

Before he could finish, he recognized someone on the edge of the station platform. "Tsume…" he lightly muttered.

Looking at Illidan, Ryou asked "Did you just say Tsume?"

Nodding, Illidan then pointed him out to Ryou. Growling, Ryou then ran off towards Tsume, anger flashing in his eyes.

"No, wait Ryou!" Illidan called out after him, but it was too late. Ryou had one thing on his mind, and that was to beat the one who took Bakura's soul.

When Tsume had seen Ryou running towards him, he smirked and ran off into the woods as planned. He lightly jogged, trying hard to not get too far ahead of his prey. He wanted the spirit to follow him so he could finish his job.

Ryou just ran on pure instinct, knowing only one thing. That was to duel. He had to duel and defeat the one who stole his vessel's soul. Nothing else mattered to him, not Illidan, not Vash, not that pesky girl, nothing.

As he ran along, a thought occurred to him. "This is too easy. He wants me to follow him. I bet he wants to take me out to where no one can bother us. Yes, that has to be it."

Ryou lightly smirked at this and ran a little harder, trying to catch up with Tsume. Tsume in the meantime looked over his shoulder, seeing that the youth was now running faster. Deciding he didn't want caught yet, Tsume picked up the pace. He had a battle ground picked out, but needed his prey to follow him to it.

Seeing that Tsume most likely had a reason for running harder, Ryou decided to play along for now. "Most likely he's leading me to a certain place he's picked out. Once I catch him though, he'll pay for what he done."

At last, Tsume made it to a large clearing where Kiba, Hige, and Toboe sat. They were each sitting on tree stumps, and looked up when they saw Tsume had returned with his prey. Each smirked and waited for him to pick apart his opponent.

Ryou came into the clearing and saw that Tsume had stopped at the center of it. He was now facing Ryou, seemingly ready to fight. This only made him smirk, for he was more than ready to tear Tsume apart, piece by piece. He also noticed three others in the background sitting on stumps, seemingly there to watch the show.

"So, you're the spirit of the Millennium Ring?" Tsume called out, forcing Ryou to focus on him.

With a smirk, Ryou replied "Yes, I am. And from what I've heard, you're the one who took my vessel's soul. You are the one known as Tsume, correct?"

Nodding, Tsume said "You got that right. I was so happy to hear that Illidan had freed you from your captivity. Now I'll get to complete my mission."

Ryou only laughed evilly and replied "That's if you survive this duel. Don't underestimate me, for I'll destroy you and take your soul for taking my vessel's soul."

Tsume only laughed in response, saying "He's a funny one, isn't he guys?"

Two of the others lightly chuckled, but Ryou noticed the one with sky blue eyes wasn't laughing at all. He was serious faced, seemingly intent on watching the duel.

About that time, Illidan, Blue, and Vash burst into the clearing to find Ryou preparing to face off with Tsume.

Before any of them could say or do anything, Ryou said "Don't interfere with this match. I want to take him down my way. Get in the way, and you'll be passing into dangerous grounds with me."

Vash lightly growled and prepared to go forward, but Illidan held his hand out, stopping him. "You won't have any interference from us Ryou. Do what you need to do." Illidan calmly said.

This caused Vash to look at Illidan with curious eyes. He noticed that Illidan's were cold looking, as if they were dead set on his decision. Knowing he couldn't argue, Vash backed down and sat down on a stump near by. Blue soon sat down next to him and noted that he looked a bit defeated.

Smirking at the fact Illidan and the others had listened, Ryou said "Well, shall we start?"

Nodding, Tsume grabbed his deck from his Duel Disk and started shuffling it. Ryou threw his duffle bag to the side and pulled his Duel Disk from his backpack, and then strapped it on. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his own deck and began to shuffle it.

As he shuffled, he thought over the deck he had made. He had looked over Bakura's previous deck before they had left, and decided it wasn't strong enough for his taste. He redid it with cards Bakura had and liked it's new look. Of course, he had added a few cards of his vessel's, mostly just to humor himself.

Once each had finished, they stuck their decks into their Duel Disks. Each activated their Duel Disks then. Tsume's black Duel Disk, which looked the same as Kouga's, flipped open as the long blade for the zones shot out. Ryou's own grey and blue Duel Disk then unfolded and powered up itself. Each then drew their first five cards and called out "Let's duel!"

Smirking, Tsume said "Since I won the duel against your vessel, I'll let you take the first turn."

"You'll pay for that comment." Ryou said as he drew. Looking his hand over, he decided to play it safe at first.

"I'll summon Mystic Tomato (1400/1100) in defense mode." A red tomato with yellow eyes, sharp teeth, and a long tongue then appeared on the field.

"Now, I'll make this game more interesting. It's time we play a Shadow Game!" That said, the Millennium Ring glowed with a blinding golden light. A sphere of darkness then encompassed the clearing, taking the eight all within it.

Ryou only laughed evilly, saying "Now when you lose this duel, you'll lose your soul to the Shadow Realm!"

Blue was slightly scared of this place and grabbed onto Vash's arm. Growling lightly, Vash looked to see what Illidan was going to do about this. To his surprise, Illidan only stood there with his arms crossed, as if he didn't care about what just happened.

"Illidan, aren't you going to stop him?" Vash asked.

Illidan only seemed to ignore him. Growling, Vash said "Don't ignore me Illidan! You said if he threatened to hurt anyone, you'd stop him!"

Without even looking back, Illidan calmly said "I don't intend on stopping him Vash. He's not hurting any of us, or an innocent person."

Vash lightly growled, and replied "But he's playing a Shadow Game! That guy will lose his soul!"

Illidan only continued to stare on at the duel, and finally said "Yes, but better a Shadow Game than a game with the seal. At least in this game, Tsume has a chance to return."

Now Vash realized why Illidan was allowing this Shadow Game. It was safer, to a degree. After realizing this, Vash settled down, hoping this wasn't a mistake.

Illidan only watched on with complete calmness. "If this works, it might be our only weapon to fend off the seal. I just hope it does work."

Back on the field, Ryou smirked and said "Tremble before the Shadows, for soon they'll feast on your soul. For now though, I think I'll let you off easy this turn and end my move." (Ryou 8000, Tsume 8000)

Tsume only smirked and drew his card and laughed out loud, saying "That's if you have many more turns. As for your Shadow Game, it's pathetic. It'll be over soon, and then you'll see true power. I'll now make a move that wiped your vessel out! I play the spell card Power Bond! This card allows me to fuse Machine type monsters together, so I'll fuse my three Cyber Dragon's from my hand to form the Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800) in attack mode!" Three snake like metal dragons then appeared on the field. Each then glowed brightly, blinding everyone. When the glow died down, a large three headed snake like dragon with large metallic wings and one tail appeared on the field. Each head roared, showing the power it truly had.

Illidan only said in his mind "So that's how he beat Bakura. He overwhelmed him with the Cyber End Dragon. It's no wonder he lost."

As the dragon only glared at Ryou, Tsume said "Now, Power Bond's effect kicks in. You see, Power Bond don't just allow me to fuse Machine monsters, it allows me to double that fusion monster's attack points (8000/2800)!" The dragon roared loudly as it's strength doubled instantly, causing lightning to form off of it's body.

Ryou only went wide eyed, saying "That bloody thing has 8000 attack points!"

Tsume smirked at this and said "That's not all it has. It's special ability also allows me to do damage to your life points equal to the difference in my monster's attack points and your monster's defense points. In essence, it has trample ability!"

Vash only gasped, realizing that meant Ryou was about to take a huge hit. "He'll be down to nearly nothing if he's hit!" he cried out.

Ryou only lightly growled at the predicament he was in. "Still, I'll survive and win this duel."

"Now to play the card that will seal your fate! I now play the Seal of Orichalcos!" cried out Tsume.

When he opened his field spell card slot and placed the card in, his Duel Disk glowed slightly green. A beam of green light then shot into the air from his Duel Disk. The beam instantly cut through the darkness of the Shadow Realm, instantly dissolving it.

"My Shadow Game!" cried out Ryou as he saw it completely dissipate.

A large green circle then started floating down towards the field. It spun towards the ground and finally landed, which stopped it's spinning. A six pointed star then formed in the field, and a green symbol appeared on Tsume's forehead. His body glowed darkly for a moment till his eyes turned into a mixture of red and gold.

Tsume smiled evilly, saying "Now that the seal is played, your pathetic Shadow Game is no more! And what is worse is when you lose this duel now, the seal shall take your soul! There is no escape!"

Illidan only looked on with crossed arms. "Not too surprising I guess that the seal broke through the Shadow Game. That means there is no way to use our Shadow Magic to stop it."

Back on the field, Tsume only continued to grin. Finally, he said "Now, for the ground rules of the seal. Neither of us can escape. You only escape if you win the duel. The loser, well, they lose their soul. Also, each of my monsters gain 500 attack points (8500/2800)!" The metallic dragon roared loudly as it's strength increased and a green symbol appeared on each of it's heads.

"Now to tear your life points apart! Cyber End Dragon, smash that tomato with Super Strident Blaze!"

The three headed machine dragon roared loudly as the three heads fired a powerful golden stream of energy. The stream tore through the tomato easily, and continued on, slamming hard into Ryou. He was thrown backwards into the barrier of the seal, where he was shocked by the barrier. At long last, the barrier threw him back off of itself, letting him slam into the ground rather hard.

"Ryou!" cried out Vash as he watched. True, he hated the spirit, but he never wanted to see this happen to him either. "Please get up!" he called out, hoping it would encourage him to stand once more.

Illidan only looked on, arms still crossed, but concern was filling his eyes. "I may not like him, but I can't stand by and watch him lose either. No, I know Ryou will win this duel. He has to if he's to save Bakura."

Tsume only laughed at Ryou's smoldering form lying on the ground. "Pathetic! You're not even worth my time to…"

Before Tsume could finish, he saw that Ryou was slowly rising up. Shakily, Ryou stood back up. He was still smoldering, but had determination in his eyes. He finally stood tall again, showing he wasn't ready to quit. His panting slowly returned to normal breaths, and he walked forward to where he started.

With a smirk on his face, he said "It's not over yet. You see, destroying my Mystic Tomato triggered it's special ability. Now I get to special summon one Dark attribute monster from my deck to the field with 1500 or less attack points in attack mode. So, I'll special summon my Broww, Huntsman of Dark World (1400/800)." A monster in silver armor, covered head to toe, with a set of fur shoulder pads, part of a large brown right arm with claws for it's fingers, and armed with a bow and arrow then appeared on the field.

Lightly chuckling, Tsume said "What a pathetic monster. You're not going to win this duel, that's for sure. Now, during my Main Phase 2, I play the spell card Mystik Wok. By sacrificing one of my monsters, I can add that monster's attack points to my life points, so I sacrifice Cyber End Dragon, thus raising my life points by 8500." The large tri-headed dragon roared as it vanished from the field. Tsume's life point counter then took a large boost.

"Of course, there is one thing to do before I end my move. You see, using Power Bond has it's cost. During my End Phase, I lose life points equal to the original attack points of the fusion monster I created, so since Cyber End Dragon had 4000 to start with, I lose 4000 points now. Still, that hardly matters since I took a big boost to my points. Now I'll end my move." (Ryou 600, Tsume 12500)