Chapter 6

'Yes but we're ALIVE!!!'

A/N: Hugs all round!!!! I love you guys!. Iv just found out that iv got 2 ppl that put me on their fav stories!!!!! And I have the most awesome awesome reviewer. Again thanx soooooo much to Magic Defenestration!!!!! Btw I have like 235 hits and only 7 reviews, not like it's a bad thing that I have 7 reviews. Im really happy that I 7 reviews but more reviews would make me feel sooo much better. Don't u want me to feel happy:P specially since exams r coming up soon. Oh I nearly 4got about that. I might not be able to update fast cause of exams so bear wid me k? Um quick note. Im changing the summary so the best thing to do would be to 1) read the chapter. 2) move your little arrow thing to the bottom left of the screen and click the little button that says review. 3) once you type in your much appreciated review into the box move your arrow down into the little checkbox section and click 'add to story alert list'. 4) wait for a few days until you see a 'botfanfictionfanfic….. email in your inbox which says that I have a new chap up. 5) read that chap. Lol kk iv kept u 4 too long. Enjoy 

"Good work you guys. You were really close." Yugi called out, stepping over the debris of the battle.

"Yeah. You nearly got us." Mina followed.

"Hmph. I always thought that the Stealth Goon could take you. We studied your moves for ages trying to figure out how to beat you and finally we had a chance to duel you and we lost." Duke mumbled.

"I'm touched that you studied how we dueled just to beat us but its not something that stays the same the whole way through. You know?" Yugi replied.

"Huh?" Steve grunted inarticulately.

Mina giggled. "If you're up against someone like Rex Raptor or Weevil Underwood you could probably study their techniques and win I guess. That's because they have a specific deck like a dinosaur deck or a bug deck but if you went against Yugi or I or even Seto Kaiba, you couldn't study us. We have a mixed deck, full of different monsters ready for different occasions. Your deck was sorta like that and sorta not. You had a well balanced deck but all of them had to do with soldiers and stealth. Its no biggie just maybe you should have your own style."

"Yeah may - "

A piercing screech filled the air and everybody looked up to see a huge winged shape fly over them. The gang started to panic and Mina looked at her cards. She swiped one of them in front of her dragon's eyes and a bright light appeared.

"What the hell?! Come on! All I'm asking for is a little shut eye. Oh right. Hold on, I'll go see what's up." Fallen Angel flew of after noticing the shape in the sky.

"Dark Magician? Could you go help her?" Yugi called out his favourite card who nodded and flew of.

"God, she going to have a field day with him up there with her. Apparently, she likes him." Mina giggled.

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After what seemed like forever, Fallen Angel and Dark Magician came gliding back down, grinning, followed by the winged shape and two others, smaller than it. It was a Winged Garuda and two Firebirds. They landed and the Garuda walked forward towering over the people on the ground.

"Greetings. I am one of Credo's lead messengers. I am here to tell the losers of this duel-" bowing his head towards the two brothers who were somewhat scared. "-that they have lost and have to now come with me back to the airport where an airplane is waiting for the losers to board."

"What!? We were never told about that." The brothers protested.

"I am telling you now. I well tell you the rules of what happens when you win or lose a duel. If you lose a duel, you will come back to the airport. But if you win a duel you are one step closer to Credo's castle and the prize. I will tell you more but first let me arrange these people their ride back." The Garuda gave a piercing shriek and the two Firebirds darted forward and picked each brother up and placed them on their backs.

The two brothers gave each other a scared look and the gang waved them a goodbye before they took off.

"Now to continue on. I am here to give you some warnings and congratulations. First, when you win a duel, you each get a piece of a map which will guide you through the deathly maze that Credo has put up surrounding his castle." The Garuda reached out with his claw and gave Yugi and Mina a small sheet of paper, each with a different part of the map with it. "You may have this pendant to keep the map pieces in. The more duels you win, the more map pieces you will receive and the better your chances of getting through the maze. I am also to give you warnings about the maze. It is a large expanse of green labyrinth and it can be the death of you if you are not careful. Not only are there dangerous monsters lurking around corners, there is also a deadly catch. If you come across a dead end a trap will open and you will be sent down beneath the maze to a dungeon where you will be kept until the time comes for you to go back to your home. So get as many map pieces as you can to brig you through the maze."

The gang nodded and the Winged Garuda prepared to take of.

"One last word of advise. Many would kill for the map pieces. Literally. So look out for thieves in the night and the day." He called out before stretching his huge grey wings and swooping over them.

"Well that was interesting, to say the least." Mai grinned.

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Three days had passed and it was late afternoon. The gang was lying next to a bunch of trees eating their food. It was too hot to walk and none of the wanted to do anything else. Mina was wearing her white tank top with her short shorts that had a army design on them. She had kicked of her shoes and was lying under some shade, oblivious to what was going round, concentrating on only how to get rid of the heat that was circulating the island and her body. The rest of the gang were in the same position struggling to stay cool in the hot sun. Yugi was sitting in his three quarter jeans and a light t-shirt looking at his map. He and Mina had three pieces of the map each and Joey and Mai both had two pieces. Mina looked at him and smiled. 'He's always so focused on what he has to do.' Suddenly a rustling was heard behind her and she jumped up.

"What?"

"I heard something."

The rest of the gang jumped up with her and they stood in a circle, ready for action. Suddenly a loud howl was heard almost directly behind them and Mina spun around just in time to see a pack of Silver Fangs creeping towards them. Maybe pack isn't the right word. The numbers just seemed too big to be called pack. There was about 40 of them and they were all growling, hackles raised.

"I think their hungry." Joey murmured.

"How 'bout we don't give them a chance to taste us then." Mina replied.

The gang nodded and the people with ankhs called up their respective partners. Fallen Magician, Flame Swordsman and Harpy Lady #1 all appeared ready to take them on. The alpha male of the Sliver Fangs bared his teeth and Fallen Angel hissed in reply. The Silver Fangs lunged at the gang and the battle begun.

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"There's way too many. Its 5 against 40!" Tea called out.

"Use your weapons!" Mai screamed before dodging an attacking Silver Fang.

Mina drew her three pronged knives and spun them around in her hands. She felt so much at home with them. A Silver Fang dived at her and she slashed it. It fell at her feet howling in pain. The others saw it and came at her for revenge. 'oh .' Was the voice that rang in Mina's head. She whipped this way and that using her knives as well as her feet to repel the Silver Fangs. Again and again she slashed and pierced but they just kept coming. She spun around at one and gave it a back kick, sending it flying. Another dived at her and she ran one of her knives through it using the other knife to repel the other that was dive-bombing her. She looked wildly around for Fallen Angel and saw that she had her own problems. Í can't even summon another monster. This stupid things wont let me!' She thought roughly to herself and slashing a monster with each word.

Mina drove her two knives through an attacking Silver Fang and got distracted trying to pull them out from its body. She finally got them free and heard the wind move behind her. She whipped around to see a Silver Fang right in front of her, its mouth wide open, ready to bite down. She opened her mouth to scream when suddenly she realised that the Silver Fang was sort of stuck in mid-air and blood was spurting out from its mouth. Mina looked down and saw the tip of a sword protruding from its hairy body, covered in blood.

"Thanks Fal- Kaiba? What the hell?" She looked behind the monster expecting to see Fallen Angel but instead saw a tall shape with piercing blue eyes staring at her. Her jaw fell open.

"Stop being an idiot and help me fight." He growled.

Mina turned her head and saw a white dragon with blue eyes in the mist of the battle with Mokuba on its back. She turned back to Kaiba who was slashing at a particularly large Silver Fang. She stared at him. 'WTF? Stop staring you stupid girl. Go and fight. He must think you're completely incapable of fighting for yourself. This is the second time he's saved you.' She told herself. 'Shut up and help me fight instead of gabbing on about nothing. Oh great, not only am I reprimanding myself, I'm actually having a conversation with me too. God.' She stopped her little conversation in her head to slash the last few unhurt Silver Fangs. The rest of them ran back away into the forest. Out of the 40 that attacked only 7 were killed. The rest were allowed to run away, hurt and scared.

The gang then turned to stare at Mokuba, Blue Eyes and Kaiba. Mina returned Fallen Angel to her card and the Kaiba and the rest followed suite still not taking their eyes of each other. Mokuba broke the silence by running over to them.

"Hey you guys! I can't believe we met you here in all places. We were just walking down the path over there and we saw this pack of Silver Fangs pass by. We heard a howl and a scream and so we came to help. And guess what? It was you guys." Mokuba looked unhurt as he babbled on. A bit hot maybe but unscathed.

Kaiba stared the gang down. He wasn't wearing his usual getup. It was way too hot for it. Instead, he had on a pair of light jeans and a t-shirt. His t-shirt was black and it had it had a circle cut at the top. The best thing about it, in Mina's opinion, was the fact that it had no sleeves. It was just a normal t-shirt complete with the shoulder parts of a normal t-shirt until you got to the sleeves. It looked like someone had ripped them off. Mina eyes his forearm muscles. They were sweaty with the heat and the fight they jut had and they rippled every time he moved his sword. Mina shivered. 'What the hell? I am soo not supposed to be thinking about this. He is Seto Kaiba for crying out loud.' 'So what?' another part of her brain rebelled. 'Just because he's your sworn enemy doesn't mean you cant perve on him. I mean, look at him. Every girl has the right to look at a hot body.' Kaiba noticed her stare and thought it for something different. 'This is why I didn't want to travel with them. I would have had to wear this in front of them. Not many people have seen me where stuff like this. Its damn right uncomfortable. Hello… check out those legs. Damn, a good pair of legs always kill me and these belong to the girl who wishes she could kill me anyway. Wait, wait shut up.'

"Thanks" Yugi nodded curtly.

Kaiba nodded. He and Yugi didn't really hate each other. They just thought of each other as rivals as such. Not like Wheeler and him.

"Hey Seto? Can we travel with them for a while please? Please?" Mokuba begged. "Its really lonely out there."

Joey snorted and Kaiba gave him a glare.

"I don't think so Mokuba. They wouldn't want us with them."

"You got that right Kaiba" Joey snapped.

"Joey! No, we'd be fine if you joined us. Don't worry about it." Mina jabbed Joey in the ribs before looking at Kaiba and then at Mokuba.

"All right!" Mokuba yelled running around.

Mina looked at Yugi and shrugged.

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"That was so not funny Joseph Wheeler!" Mina yelled.

"What are you talking about? That was the funniest thing I had seen in my life!" Joey and Tristan were on the ground laughing hysterically and Mina was looking at them with an annoyed look on her face.

"NO IT WAS NOT!!! Dropping a spider into my blankets while I was sleeping is NOT my idea of funny! And don't you start as well. I know you had a part in this as well!" She growled at Mokuba giving him the evil eye.

"Yeah but you should have seen your face. And you're scream? Priceless!" Mokuba added cheekily before ducking behind Kaiba for protection from the roaring girl.

It was the next day and the gang was walking underneath the rooftops of the forest. It was a lot cooler than the day before so everybody was back to their normal getups they had worn the day they left the safe house. Sleeping arrangements the night before was a bit uncomfortable. Kaiba insisted that he would sleep about 10 metres away from the rest of the gang and so Mokuba had to keep coming back and forth from each camp set up. In the end, he decided to sleep with the gang and Kaiba was left by himself for the night. Not that it was a bad thing for him. He welcomed the solitude.

"Anyway, Kaiba. I know you want to be hostile and unsociable but I have a question." Mina continued ignoring the three boys. Everybody snapped to attention when they heard Mina say Kaiba's name. Usually when they talked, it ended up in some sort of argument or row where one of them usually ends up spitting out horribly vulgar words.

"Whatever." Came the monosyllabic reply.

"How many pieces of the map do you have?"

"3."

"Ah, so the same amount as us."

"Yes."

"Do you like to talk in monosyllables or is there something wring in saying more than 3 syllables? Maybe one of your many – ARGH!!!!!!" A blood-curling scream emitted from Mina's mouth in mid sentence as a black hole suddenly appeared in the middle of the path.

Yugi rushed forward to try and get her but to no avail. Suddenly she stopped falling. Her eyes followed a large hand, up a silver cuff, up past a white sleeve and into the face of Seto Kaiba. He was holding her hand tight and sweat was poring out of both their hands making it slippery for her to hold on. 'Dammit! This is the 3rd time he's saved me!'

"What is that!!!???" Serenity screamed.

Everybody shook their heads and Kaiba calmly turned his head around. "It's a black hole."

"No shit Sherlock!" Mina yelled from inside what seemed like a never ending hole, holding onto a certain man's hand for dear life. Literally.

"It popped up on us in the middle of the forest a little while ago. Mokuba got quite a scare. I think it might be one of the many traps that have been set around the island." Kaiba continued ignoring the girl's comments.

"Ah, that great but… CAN YOU GET ME OUT OF HERE?!!!" said girl yelled.

"Yeah Seto, We'd better pull her out before it starts sucking things in." Mokuba warned his big brother.

"SUCKING!!! WHAT?!!!" Mina called out.

"Its sort of a Black Hole effect." Kaiba explained calmly, humour dancing in his eyes.

"YOU SEEM PRETTY CALM SEEING THAT THIS STUPID THING IS GOING TO SUCK ME IN!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! First the spider and now this. I hate today." She muttered under her breath.

"Mina, grab my hand with your other hand." Yugi's voice travelled down to her before a hand stuck out next to Kaiba's

"I can't. Its so short."

Suddenly a sucking noise was heard and the hole was beginning to move round and round.

"Crap." Mina whispered softly to herself before screaming her lungs out.

Yugi and the rest were scrambling to help Kaiba and Kaiba himself was busy trying to pull her out of the vortex.

"Wheeler, grab onto my coat and pull backwards. The thing is sucking her in and its dragging me in as well." Kaiba commanded panicking.

Joey grabbed onto Kaiba's coat, Tristan grabbed onto Joey's jacket, Tea grabbed onto Tristan's jacket, Yugi grabbed onto Tea's t-shirt, Serenity grabbed onto Yugi's jacket and Mai grabbed onto Serenity's t-shirt. Mokuba stood to the side yelling out instructions. Putting all their strength into it, the whole gang tried to pull Mina out of the now giant sucking vortex of death. Without warning, Joey's hand slipped from Kaiba's coat and Kaiba lurched forward into the whole. Mokuba scrambled to grab Kaiba but was too late as Kaiba and Mina were hurled into the vortex, bags and all.

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Mina groaned and turned her body slightly. To the side of her she could see Kaiba lying with a large bruise on his forehead and moaning. 'I feel exactly the same. Being hurtled down from a 50 billion feet or however long it was vortex does not help you AT ALL. I feel like I've been kicked by a donkey. Ow my ribs, ow my feet, ow my head – and those stupid birds are not helping at all. Wait birds?' Mina sat up abruptly and groaned as she grabbed her side. She stood up slowly and evaluated her situation. 'I'm in a forest, I'm alive I think, there are birds singing, my bag is still here, the sun is shining and I'M ALIVE! I'm not in a freaky dungeon or dead in some sack but here somewhere on the island ALIVE!'

"I'm alive! I'm Alive! I'M ALIVE!!!" She screamed joyfully running around.

"Yeah we all know you're alive but could you SHUT UP! I have a headache and I'm about to kill." Kaiba growled.

"Yes but don't you get it? We're ALIVE!"

"I think you've hit you're head to hard on the ground."

"Yes but we're - "

"Alive, alive I get it. But here another thing for you to think about. We're on the other side of the island away from your brother and my brother and we're by ourselves."

"Yes but – oh."

"Yes oh."