The Queen had a songbird that sang in the dark Chapter 3, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

(looks up and blinks)

Oh. You again?

Disclaimer: Yugioh and Black&White are not owned by me

Claimer: Made-up characters are mine

The first thing Joey thought about when he woke up was that he really wished he hadn't. Being sucked through a crazy tunnel in time and space had left him with a really killer headache!

"…I'd kill for some aspirin," Joey muttered as he forced his way to his feet, wanting to figure out where he was now.

Deep down, he sort of expected to be locked up, or in the middle of some kind of waterless wasteland of doom, or surrounded by monsters hungry for his tired and sore personage…but Joey was in none of those situations.

Heck, this could even be considered the complete opposite of all those situations! Overhead, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and all around him the ground was covered in thick green grass, stretching out until it hit the gray stone of several nearby mountains…there were trees and bushes and birds and it wasn't too hot or too cold…

"I guess we ain't in the Shadow Realm anymore," Joey blinked as he looked around, "Hey, Yug'? What do you…Yug'?"

Joey belatedly realized that wherever he was, he was all alone. No sign of Yugi, or even any of Malik, who Joey thought had been sucked into the whacked-out portal-thingy as well.

"I just hope they're okay," the blonde said to himself, "And that at least one of us'll find Yami…"

Suddenly, Joey heard footsteps. It sounded like a whole lot of somethings were heading his way, with the sound of their feet echoing around the valley he was standing in…not very sure he wanted to run into somebody's army or something, Joey decided to dive into the nearby bushes and watch whoever came by.

The footsteps grew louder as whatever-was-coming got closer. And Joey noticed something else, something very disturbing. The footsteps were being made by only one pair of feet. By something with really, really BIG feet -

Just then, a monster walked by!

A HUGE orange and black monster cat, half the size of Kaiba Corp, walked past the bushes Joey was hiding in. A cat that walked like a person and was at least four stories tall…maybe this place wasn't as nice as it had looked like in the first place!

"Oh damn, oh damn, I'm gonna get eaten," Joey whimpered.

And the monster cat…walked by without a glance.

"Huh? Oh man, that was close!" Joey gulped, staring as the cat headed for the lower part of the valley.

But what could he do now? This whole place might be crawling with more monster kitties! And Joey didn't think he could hide in the bushes forever, though he'd sure try if he had to.

Something was sparkling in the distance, in the direction the monster cat had gone to…and Joey, despite his fears, crawled out of the bushes and started heading that way. Maybe it was a city…a city that could defend itself from monster kitty attacks…and hopefully, when he was back in civilization, Joey could actually start his search for Yami and Yugi and Malik, although honestly, he wasn't that incredibly desperate to find Malik.

But the last thing Joey expected to see on the other side of that last mountain on the left was an enormous-sized patch of ocean! And judging from how the coastline curved in, he was on an island…and stuck with all the monster kitties!

Speaking of the monster kitties, the one he'd followed to the shore was wading out into the water a little ways. As Joey watched from a safe distance away, the cat swiped at the water with its front paws, sort of as if they were hands, and scooped out…

A ton of fish?

'Mmm, look at all those fish,' Joey thought to himself, his stomach rumbling.

Big, juicy fish…and he was so hungry…of course, Joey became slightly less hungry when he saw the cat monster shove the whole catch of fish into its mouth and swallow it whole, with nearly no chewing at all.

That pile of fish had almost been the same exact size as Joey, too…and then, before Joey could jump back into the bushes and hide, the cat monster turned around and saw him.

Joey froze.

The cat monster stared at him.

Then its ears pricked up, and it began heading his way, looking interested.

'Interested in making me the next course!' Joey mentally yelped, 'RUN AWAY!'

And run Joey did. He was pretty fast, too, but not fast enough to escape something over a hundred times his size. A few ground-shaking thuds later, Joey was being scooped off the ground by the cat monster's huge paws, being raised to its mouth, and -

"NO! I DON'T WANNA BE EATEN! I HAVEN'T EVEN KICKED KAIBA'S ASS YET!" Joey screamed, certain that these would end up being his final words.

((Hey, stop screaming! I'm not gonna eat you!)) said a voice.

"WAAH - huh?" Joey blinked.

The cat monster was looking at the human in its paws like Joey had lost his mind. And maybe he had, if he was starting to hear voices inside his head…

((What kind of weird human are you? All normal humans know I don't eat them!)) the voice continued.

It even sounded like the cat monster was the one doing the talking.

"Uh, is, uh…are you the one talkin'?" Joey hesitantly asked the cat monster.

((Of course I am,)) the cat monster sighed, ((Do you see anyone else here?))

"Holy smokes!" Joey exclaimed, "I never met a talkin' monster before!"

((I'm not a monster,)) the cat monster said, ((I'm a Creature. What human doesn't even know about Creatures?))

The cat 'Creature' then blinked and grinned, showing off many very large fangs in the process.

((I know! I'll show you to the Master! He likes checking out weird things, and you're as weird as they get!))

And the Creature turned and headed back in the direction it had originally come from and started heading back at a quick trot, Joey clutched in its front paws.

"Well, actually, maybe we don't need to bug yer, ah, Master," Joey babbled - whoever was in charge of such huge cat Creatures must be the biggest and most ferocious monster of them all, "I mean, I'm nothing special! Don't wanna make a big fuss over nothin'…"

((Don't be silly, weirdo human,)) the cat informed him, ((As a matter of fact, the Master's been real sick lately, and I just know that you're the exact thing to cheer him up!))

'Great…I'm gonna be eaten as a pick-me-up by some monster the size of Domino City!' Joey mentally wailed.

As they got closer to wherever the 'Master' was, Joey was treated to some pretty interesting sights from his current altitude. 'Civilization' in this strange place - and it was a pretty big island, to boot - consisted of little villages, each clustered around some sort of red-glowing pillar-thingy.

The further they went, the bigger each one got, until they hit a wide open space that had no buildings at all.

Except for the tall, pointed building that looked just like the ones in the creepy vision-thingy they'd seen before. Red light pulsed out of the top, and it looked pretty important.

Joey was startled when, instead of heading straight for it, his monster-cat carrier instead ducked to the side and hid behind a huge pile of rocks.

"What are -" Joey started to ask.

((Shush!)) the cat said.

With loud footsteps, an even bigger cat monster/Creature walked by their hiding place. And THIS one was as big if not BIGGER than Kaiba Corp! Joey would have screamed like he had never screamed before if he hadn't been too scared to breathe at the time.

The jumbo-sized version cat Creature walked past without seeing the two in hiding, and to Joey's surprise his cat Creature sighed.

((Good, she didn't smell us…))

"Hey, if yer gonna be giving me to yer boss, why did we have to hide from 'em?" Joey asked.

((What?)) the cat blinked, ((She's not the Master! Weirdo human, the Master's in the Temple over there, and if she saw us going to see him, she'd throw a fit!))

Joey felt very much like he was going to faint, even as the cat Creature bolted for the Temple. He almost did when the monster-sized cat shrank as soon as he entered the front yard of the Temple. Instead of being thirty times Joey's height, the cat was now just three times his height, but had no problems yanking open the huge front doors.

((You won't be able to get into any of the important rooms,)) the cat told him, ((But that's okay, the Master should be on a higher floor. Stairs are on the other side of the lobby, and don't forget to tell him that Jake brought you, okay weirdo human?))

"Uh…" Joey blinked as the doors slammed shut behind him, "…Whoa!"

The inside of the Temple was freakin' amazing! Huge doors on almost every wall - and there were lots of walls - the floor was made of some kind of super-shiny stone, and in the middle was a little diorama - and little meant that it was only a little bit bigger than the Game Shop - that showed a island. Maybe it was even this island…the only things even remotely people-sized were the stairs on the other side of the room, and despite his misgivings Joey headed upstairs.

Upstairs, everything was people-sized. It was all a bunch of hallways and nice rooms. Windows let in sunlight, and it was even nice…maybe the 'Master' wasn't some kind of gi-normous flesh-eating monster after all…and the sight Joey found around the next corner drove the thought of the 'Master' of the Temple from his mind entirely.