"Ryou...wait up...you know... I have short legs..."

Within mere minutes, Yugi felt like the life in him was quickly fading away. Sticky wet sweat clung to his forehead, Yugi's arm strained to wipe it off. His heart pounded an unsteady beat, and it wasn't a rhythm he was used to. He didn't know how much longer he could last. About a meter ahead of him Ryou stopped. His groomed white locks were now a knotty frizzy mess, Yugi couldn't imagine what his head of hair looked like.

Up ahead Ryou was also panting, but it was in a more controlled motion. Yugi felt like he was giving up by stopping, even though he just needed to catch his breath.

So many stairs, doors and hallways.

Yugi thought to himself, taking another look around him. He felt his sanity disappearing every second he spent in The Shadow Realm.

His hand barely gripped the black sharpie, any lighter of a grasp and the marker would surely drop toward the ground and Yugi most certainly didn't want to pick it up. He simply didn't have the strength to.

Ryou and himself hadn't even covered half of the corridors. It would take them forever to reach even seventy five percent of them. Yugi ran this fingers through his golden bangs, he hated when they stuck to his forehead. His legs cried "SIT DOWN" well his heart screamed "KEEP GOING", he felt it necessary to listen to his heart but before he could stop himself, Yugi's muscles began to move into the sitting position.

As his gluteus maximise came in contact with the worn ground, his feet tingled with delight, thanking him. Ryou came over and kneeled by Yugi's side.

"Yugi, we don't have time-" Ryou tried, sounding out of breath.

"I know, but my feet are killing me..." Yugi replied, rubbing his soles. He felt the need to take off his white runners, but he resisted. Ryou was looking around, scanning the vast area, unravelling it with his eyes. Perhaps he would find the notebook.

"I see you have not yet given up," A deep echoed voice said (Yugi felt himself jump, he had not expected the interruption). "Please. Don't strain yourselves..."

"Atem!" Yugi cried, looking around, as if Atem would appear right before his eyes. He wished the mighty prince was here. He would know what to do, it would be nice to have someone strong helping them. No offence to his friend Ryou of course, but when it came to 'manliness', Atem or Joey would have been Yugi's pick.

"Yes, Yugi. Listen, I'm here to help you..." Atem said, his voice still bouncing off the golden walls. "The notebook is at the culmination of the pyramid! You must hurry!"

Yugi blinked, having not a single clue what the word 'culmination' meant. He was never good at vocabulary. For as long as he remembered his Grandpa always wanted him to win a spelling bee (that and be the king of games, but as if THAT was ever going to happen, the short teen could barely spell). Every year at regional's, Yugi was always the first one out. That was the end of that dream. Sorry, Gramps. A sudden ache in Yugi's heart came about. Yugi hadn't even thought about his Grandpa when excepting this Shadow Game. What would happen if him and Ryou lost?

No.

They would prevent their - and Atem's- souls being devoured by the hungry shadow beasts that dwelled in the darkest areas of The Shadow Realm.

Yugi would see his grandpa again.

They. Would. Win.

Jumping back into reality, He shared a glance with Ryou who looked confused as well.

"Atem, what does-"

Yugi's eyes widened at the sound of a shrill scream. It was recognized to be the voice of Prince. Never had Yugi or Ryou heard of anything more terrible in there lives.

"HAHA!" A harsher voice cackled.

Bakura.

Yugi's heart pounded against his ribs. How could he be happy one moment and completely angry the next? Bakura said nothing else. Yugi bit his bottom lip, in melancholy.

"Ryou, do you know what culmination means?" Yugi asked, crossing his fingers.

Ryou tapped his index finger against his chin, deep in thought. After about thirty seconds of hard brain power mode, Ryou responded.

"Atem said 'The notebook is at the culmination of the pyramid!' Correct?"

Yugi nodded.

"Currently, I believe we're in the 'middle' of the pyramid, so I don't think that's what the culmination is." Ryou said, sighing. "The reason for that is because he said 'You must hurry!' and I don't think we would need to hurry to much if we were near the notebook. Does that make sense?"

"Yes." Yugi said, his brain making understanding of Ryou's sentences.

"I am cutting the puzzle into three parts. Beginning middle and end." Ryou explained, holding up three fingers and showing them to his friend. "It's not the 'middle' part, we already concluded that. It can't be the beginning, because we already checked there." Two of Ryou's fingers dropped to his palm. "That means..." Ryou said leaving one finger raised.

Yugi gasped, as a sudden realization hit him. "The end,"

"Yes, the point." Ryou nodded.

Yugi shook his head. "That's not right. The puzzle is upside down, so won't it be the base we're trying to get to?"

Ryou laughed. "It's funny how you say that, because that's what I had thought at first too, but Atem didn't say the puzzle...he said pyramid and since you enter through the base, the 'end' of the pyramid would be..."

"The point." Yugi said.

"Exactly."