Tana: Hi, I'm back again! Sorry about the long wait, but the first week back at school has been hectic, it's getting really difficult to find time to write. But on a brighter note, here is my longest chapter so far! Over 3000 words! Hope you all like it, I'm not sure if the flow of it is that good though.

Thanks to all the people who reviewed. Here's the reivew responses:

Cheeky-Eyes: I'm back at school now, so I can keep updating. Now that Soraya's learning magic, I wanted to introduce it in a funny way, so there you go. Enjoy!

tvfanatic64:thanks for the compliments. here's the 'continue'.

Lunardestiny: here's the update! Glad you like it, enjoy.

And here is Chapter 8!

Chapter 8 Raid of the Castle of Shadow

Kaiyuki looked in disbelief at the empty room before her. No, she can't be gone.

Quickly, Kaiyuki teleported to the Castle of Faith, startling whoever was around as she burst through the castle doors.

"Has anyone seen Soraya?" she yelled.

"No, we haven't seen her," Fire Sorcerer said. "What happened?"

Kaiyuki was panicking. "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED, NOTHING EXCEPT AKIRO KIDNAPPED HER JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO! SORAYA DOESN'T ENEN KNOW MUCH MAGIC YET, AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE SHE IS!" she stopped to take a breath. "AND ON TOP OF THAT, SHE ALSO TOOK YUGI AND ALMOST SMASHED THE PUZZLE!"

Kaiyuki might have continued to shout if Mahou hadn't taken her shoulders and shook her firmly. "Lady Kaiyuki," he said calmly, still gripping her shoulders. "It is going to be alright. We will find Soraya and Yugi, and they will be safe." He let go.

Kaiyuki snapped out of it. "Yes, we'll find them," she said quietly. "Gomen nasai for screaming at you all."

Tejina put her arm around Kaiyuki's shoulder. "Don't worry, we know."

Kaiyuki smiled. "Let's go to the Castle of Light. Maybe Yami and the others know something that might help."

At the Castle of Light…

Yami was pacing. The monsters watched as he made from one end of the room to the other. He might be a bit better at maintaining his composure, but by no means was he less worried about the two missing lights.

"He's going to walk himself a trench if he's not careful," Celtic Guardian muttered. Silver Fang nodded in agreement.

A knock at the door, Kaiyuki and some of her monsters entered.

"Anything?" she asked. Yami shook his head and resumed his pacing.

"Where could she have taken them?" muttered Kaiyuki, more to herself than anyone else. She started pacing in the direction opposite to her brother.

"Some place where it would be convenient for her to check on them easily," Yami said, as he turned around. "What is the name of Akiro's castle?"

"Akiro's castle is the Castle of Shadow," Dark Magician said. "Though it may be unlikely that she would have taken them there."

"Yes, she would have hidden them in the last place we would think to look," Yami sighed, settling down into a chair.

"But then again, she might have expected us not to look there, as it is such a noticeable hiding spot." Kaiyuki said, mulling over the possibilities. "It may be worth a try."

"We won't know until we find out," Yami came to a decision and stood up. "We'll go and see if that is truly the place Akiro has decided to hide them."

Meanwhile…

Soraya struggled against the chains around her arms that bound her to the wall of the small, windowless stone room. She wished she knew the spell to unlock things. She had seen it a few times, but she was yet to learn it, let alone cast it without a staff.

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Soraya looked up as the door opened. Akiro strode in, dragging a struggling…

"Yugi!" Soraya cried. "Leave him alone!"

As Soraya had expected, Akiro acted as if she hadn't heard her. She flourished her staff and Yugi was forced against the wall. Shackles appeared, snaking out of the wall and around Yugi's wrists, holding him there.

"Now what do we have here," Akiro drawled in a falsely sweet voice as Yugi and Soraya glared at her like there was no tomorrow. "Two helpless lights without their darks to protect them. What will we do?"

"We'll kick your sorry ass," Soraya hissed.

"Aww, aren't you a spirited one. But as you must have noticed," Akiro giggled, leaning forward. "You're in no position to kick anything."

Soraya spat in her face.

"You know, you should be more careful with your actions," Akiro said, wiping her face as the black star upon her staff glowed in a not so subtle threat. "You could get yourself in trouble."

As Akiro spoke, the chains around Soraya's arms began to move. They lengthened and pinned Soraya's arms to her sides. More chains appeared, wrapping around her chest. They began to contract, getting tighter, and breathing became hard. Soraya began to gasp, drawing in what air she could. Soon she wouldn't be able to breathe at all. A final chain snaked around her throat and she choked.

"STOP IT!" Yugi yelled angrily, straining against his chains.

And amazingly, it stopped. The chains loosened, the extra ones disappearing. Soraya hung against the wall, gasping at the air, glaring through her hair at the smirking Akiro.

"Now," Akiro said as if nothing had happened. "Have we learned our lesson?"

"Go to hell."

"Clearly not," Akiro pouted in mock-disappointment and turned to leave. "Now you two stay here and be good little children while your darks try vainly to find you."

And she left.

"She makes me sick," Yugi said. He looked over at Soraya, "You okay?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Better shape than you're in," he said pointedly.

Soraya grinned and made a face.

Yugi leaned back against the wall. "We should get out of this alright."

Soraya looked over, smiling wryly. "You say that as if you get kidnapped often."

"Well, no," Yugi laughed. "Yami and I have gotten out of a lot of tough spots in the past. There's no reason we can't get out of this one."

"Well, that's good," Soraya said, relaxing a bit. "But by the way, do you happen to know any unlocking spells by any chance?"

In the Shadow Realm…

The Castle of Shadow was in sight now. Yami and Kaiyuki looked at it anxiously. The thought going through both their minds was the same: they might find Yugi and Soraya in there.

Yami looked around at the six monsters that came with them. They had decided that it would be better if fewer of them went, easier to sneak in and move around until they had found the two lights. Then they would either sneak or fight their way out. From the Castle of Light were Dark Magician, Celtic Guardian and Silver Fang. From the Castle of Faith were Tejina, Magician of Faith and Stealth Bird. Reassured, Yami faced forward again.

They knew that Akiro's deck was composed of mainly beast and warrior type monsters. A Battle Ox could be seen guarding the gate. A nod from Yami and Kaiyuki and they all advanced forward.

Stealth Bird – or Jalen as he was also called – could make himself and others around him invisible if he wished. Which was a very useful ability indeed.

Especially now.

The guard didn't know what hit him. One quick attack and they were in the castle of a matter of moments.

Like the outside, the inside of the Castle of Shadow was made of stone and was dimly lit. The effect was rather hostile, but the shadows added to their advantage. In a deserted corridor, they all became visible again.

Kaiyuki held her hand out, palm upward, and a small, pulsing ball of light appeared in Kaiyuki's hand. A moment later, it had melded into a map of the castle. "Show me magic sources," she whispered.

The others watched as a few small stars of light appeared on it.

"This is us," Kaiyuki said, pointing to the star in the southwest corner of the map. Sure enough, the star glowed and a small image of the group appeared. "We can find them on this."

They all clustered around the map, deciphering what the stars on the map represented.

"This is strange," Yami said a few moments later, pointing at a star in the northeast corner of the map. It glowed, but no image appeared.

"Well, that could a little problematic," Kaiyuki said, her eyes darkening.

In the end, that was the only star that would not show an image.

"To the northeast corner we go," Kaiyuki said, turning around to face the others. She froze, her gaze fixed upon something behind the others.

Everyone turned to look at what Kaiyuki saw. Yami cursed under her breath.

At the end of the corridor was a Skull Red Bird. It looked just as shocked to see Yami and the others as they were to see it.

Then, coming to its senses, Skull Red Bird opened its mouth wide and let out a shattering, ear-piercing shriek.

"SHHRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Hastily, Dark Magician pointed with his staff, and Skull Red Bird was struck dumb.

But not soon enough.

"I think our presence has been discovered," Celtic Guardian muttered dryly as hurried footsteps could be heard coming in their direction.

Feathers rustling menacingly, Skull Red Bird let out a soundless hiss before launching itself into the air.

"RUN!" Yami yelled as knives rained down over them from Skull Red Bird's wings.

They shot down the corridor and into another, fighting their way past the monsters coming in on both sides. Coming upon a fork in their path, Yami paused for a split second before running down the left passageway.

Finally, they lost their pursuers and were once again in a deserted hallway. Letting out a sigh of relief, Yami turned to smile at the other four.

Wait a moment…FOUR?

"Where are the others?" Yami asked, looking around. Kaiyuki, Dark Magician, Silver Fang and Faith were there. However, Tejina, Jalen and Celtic Guardian were nowhere to be seen.

Quickly, Kaiyuki summoned the map again. "Here they are," she said smiling after a few minutes. She lost her smile quickly however, when she saw that they were fighting Akiro's monsters, outnumbered three to one.

"We have to help them," Yami said, looking for the quickest route to where the others were fighting.

"Wait," Faith said. Yami was surprised to see the small smile that was playing across her face. "Look," she said, pointing back at the star's image.

Everyone looked.

Tejina, Celtic Guardian and Jalen had vanished. As Akiro's monsters looked around warily to see where their foes had disappeared to, a Spear Cretin dropped to the ground on its own accord. Another monster fell, and another, and another.

Before long, there was only one monster was seen left standing. Looking around at his fallen comrades sprawled about the floor, the monster lost his head completely and ran for it.

WHAM!

The Big Eye jolted backwards as if he had run headlong into a brick wall, and landed unconscious among his fellow monsters.

Jalen, Celtic Guardian and Tejina materialized out of thin air.

"Interesting way of taking down an opponent, Tejina," Jalen commented.

"Yes, it was rather interesting," Tejina replied, twirling her staff.

In his haste to escape and unable to see what he was running away from, Big Eye had run into Tejina's staff and knocked himself out.

"We should find the others," Celtic Guardian said.

And off they went.

Meanwhile…

It turned out that Yugi did not know any unlocking spells and both he and Soraya were bored out of their wits.

"How many have you got over there?"

"696."

"703."

"Ceiling?"

"934. The floor?"

"928."

They were counting the stones that made up the room.

"I can't take this anymore," Soraya said with a heavy sigh and looked over to see how Yugi was doing. He looked like he was on the verge of going to sleep.

Again, Soraya searched her mind for any magic she knew that could help them. She thought back to one of her earlier lessons on magic that she had forgotten until now.

Kaiyuki and Soraya were at the Castle of Faith. They stood facing each other in the middle of the room, ready to begin the lesson.

Kaiyuki held out their deck in her palm.

"A Shadow Link has a very strong connection to the powers of the cards and the Shadow Realm," she said to Soraya as the cards lifted away from her hand and floated in the air around them.

"To be able to summon monsters and activate spells or traps outside a duel is one of the major abilities of a Shadow Link."

One card drifted in between them. At once, golden swords of light shot out of the ceiling and rained down around them. Soraya recognized the effect as the Swords of Revealing Light.

"You should not feel as if you have to force the cards to do what you want. Act as if you are asking the cards to help you."

Soraya nodded. Kaiyuki smiled. "For now, we will practice with the cards until you get the hang of it. Then we will teach you how to summon without the cards."

The Swords faded away and the cards floated one on top of another into a deck. Soraya held out her hand and the cards fell neatly into it.

"Now you try."

Soraya let out a deep sigh, closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt her cards fall out of its pouch and heard them clatter to the ground.

"What!" Yugi said with a start. "Soraya, what are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here," Soraya said quietly, looking at her cards. Finally, she saw what she needed. Mystical Space Typhoon. She concentrated again.

It didn't move.

Soraya sighed. Relax. Find the connection. Don't force it. She tried again.

Slowly, the card lifted off the floor…

At the Castle of Shadow…

The two groups had found each other again without much trouble. They were now quite close to their goal. Kaiyuki consulted her map again.

"We turn right at the end of this hallway. It'll be the fourth door to the left," Kaiyuki looked up at the others. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, they were at the door of where they wanted to be. Everyone exchanged glances before Yami reached out and opened the door.

And there they were, safe and sound.

"Yugi! Soraya!"

"Hey! You found us!"

They all rushed in to gather around the two lights.

SLAMM!

Everyone whirled around as the sound of the door banging shut reverberated in the air.

A sense of dread and alarm growing inside him, Yami turned see that Yugi and Soraya had disappeared. "This is a trap," he hissed.

A harsh laugh sounded and Akiro appeared where the illusions of the lights had stood. The rest of Akiro's monsters materialized around them a second later. They were surrounded.

"Right you are, Pharaoh," Akiro giggled. "Now you have a choice: either I get the Puzzle and the Pendant or you all die."

And with that, she thrust her staff toward the group. A short burst of light, and Jalen was sent crashing into the wall opposite.

"Your choice," Akiro whispered, an unpleasant smile upon her lips.

"You know the answer," Yami snarled. "Where are they?"

"I'm surprised at you, Pharaoh. What made you think I would hide them here? I hid them in the last place you would expect. Now, my monsters," Akiro said, her staff aimed point-blank at Yami's heart. "Attack."

And the battle began.

Yami leapt to the side, evading the spell and sending one of his one with the Puzzle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaiyuki and Akiro begin to fight it out, their staffs a blur.

FWAPP!

Yami sprang backwards just in time, he could actually feel the air move as the blade of the Sword Hunter slashed past his face.

But he sprang back too far. Tripping over a fallen monster, Yami tumbled to the floor. As the Sword Hunter came in for another attack, he knew he wouldn't be able to summon his own attack in time.

BANG!

Sword Hunter collapsed to the ground as Dark Magician brought his staff crashing down on the warrior's head.

"You'll need to watch your surroundings more, Pharaoh Yami," he said, helping Yami to feet.

"Thank you, I will. And how many times did I tell you to just call me Yami?" Yami asked, picking up the sword of the prone Sword Hunter.

"Many, many times, my pharaoh," Dark Magician chuckled, taking down a Kojikocy.

Kaiyuki was still occupied with her fight against Akiro. Her anger fueled her attacks, but it was clear that they were both tiring. It was only a matter of who ran out of energy first.

Kaiyuki lashed out yet again, and luckily, felt her staff connect with Akiro's wrist, causing her to loosen her grip on her staff. Kaiyuki swung at Akiro's staff, knocking it out of her hand and sending the staff arcing into the air, headed toward…

"WATCH OUT!" Kaiyuki yelled. Yami and Dark Magician looked around and flung themselves out of the way just in time to see a staff shoot past them and stab into the floor between them as easily as a knife into jello.

They looked around to see that one of the battles among many was quickly coming to an end. Staff blazing with energy, Kaiyuki lunged forward into Akiro's side, slamming her into the wall and letting her slide down to the floor, unconscious.

Relieved, Kaiyuki looked around her to see how her friends were. Yami and Dark Magician were slowly making their way across the room toward her, fending off monsters as they went. Celtic Guardian and Tejina were fighting back to back against five other monsters. Silver Fang was locked in combat against a Twin-Headed Wolf, teeth and claws flashing fiercely. Faith was fighting a warrior that, in a real duel, would have destroyed her immediately, and Jalen was still sprawled unconscious on the floor.

"We're not going to hold them off much longer," Yami said as he and Dark Magician came over.

"I know," Kaiyuki said grimly.

"Any ideas?"

"One." And with that, the room became pitch black. The sounds of all the battles that had been going on suddenly ceased as winds began to blow in the windowless room. The winds became a vortex. All the monsters felt a tremendous pull on themselves as the winds roared around them. There was a brilliant flash of light and then it was all over.

When the light had faded away, Yami saw that every one of Akiro's monsters were unconscious. Kaiyuki walked over to where Jalen lay and began to revive him.

"What did you do?" Yami asked Kaiyuki as Jalen began to wake up.

"Dark Hole," Kaiyuki replied. "And White Hole to protect our monsters," she looked around at the many monsters sprawled across the floor. "They won't wake up for awhile. Come on, let's get out of here."

Later…

"Well that was certainly eventful," Kaiyuki said, falling backwards into a chair in the safety of the Castle of Light.

"Yes," Yami agreed, sitting down as well. "But we are no closer than we were before to find Yugi and Soraya."

And so they sat, wondering as they had before, where their missing lights could be.

The last place we would think to look, Kaiyuki thought, running her hands through her hair in frustration. Akiro has told us that much. But where!

The school? No, there were too many people around. Same goes for every other public place in the real world. The Castle of Light? Or the Castle of Faith? No, there was too much of a chance that one of the monsters would find them.

So where could they be? Somewhere quiet where there would be little chance of being discovered accidentally. Somewhere like…

Kaiyuki suddenly bolted up onto her feet as if she had received an electric shock from her chair. Seeing Yami suddenly sit ramrod straight in his seat, she knew that he had come to the same conclusion as she had.

"No way," she said softly. "It can't be there."

Tana: So, does anyone have any guesses on where they might be? Review!