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I edited chapter 9 a little. I didn't like how it came out so I fixed it.
Again, if you want exact details you can read the manga.

Disclaimers ~ I own some DVD's, manga, and a Bakura coat. But I don't own the story.

Chapter 10

While Ryou and Kim had gone the opposite direction of the scream, Honda and Jounouchi had run into the woods, to discover Mai and Anzu around a duel box. Yugi and a strange man were inside dueling.

Mai's tent intruder turned out to be a duelist hired by Pegasus to eliminate duelists, and unfortunately the duelist had stumbled upon Mai and challenged her to a duel. The duelist used darkness as his strategy, able to hide his monsters and attack without his opponent being able to know.
So, he had easily defeated Mai, and taken away all of her star chips, disqualifying her from Duelist Kingdom.

Yugi and Anzu had also heard her scream and come to investigate. Upon realizing that Mai had all her star chips taken away, he challenged the man to a duel, to win back her star chips.

He had managed to find a strategy to beat him, and won back all of Mai's star chips. Mai at first had been hesitant to accept them back, but after some convincing from Jounouchi, she gave in, but promised to pay Yugi back.

Once Mai had her star chips back, Kim and Ryou had found their group.

"Where did you two go?" Honda asked once he spotted them.

"Ryou and I thought we saw something in the woods." Kim said easily, "Just wanted to check it out because of that scream."

"Well, Yugi took care of that problem" Jounouchi said.

"Oh, that's good to know." Kim smiled a little weakly. Beside her, Ryou shifted slightly uncomfortable with her lying on his behalf.

"well, I'm going back to sleep." Jounouchi yawned, Honda gave a yawn as well, so everybody but Mai and Anzu followed them back to their camp, the two girls went to the tent they were sharing.

At the camp, the boys and Kim proceeded to lay down on the ground, making their bags into pillows.
Kim and Ryou settled together and Kim had closed her eyes when she suddenly heard Honda give a loud yelp.

"Snake!" he shrieked, before leaping from his spot on the ground.

Yugi, who was next to him, leaned over to inspect, and gave a small sigh. "It's not a snake Honda, it's just a vine from the trees." he assured him.

"you wuss." Jounouchi taunted "Screaming about a vine."

"Hey! I hate slippery and slimy things like snakes!" he protested, before moving back to his spot.

"now shut up, I want to sleep." Jounouchi whined, ignoring Honda's protest. He rolled over to his side to go to sleep, however, a rustle in the bushes made him jump up and he leaped back. "Oh no! It's one of the eliminators again!" he cried.

Everybody else sat up straight, staring at the bush in apprehension. Yugi's hand immediately going towards his deck. However, a moment later, a bunny darted out. "Stay calm." Kim said, "It can probably smell fear."

Jounouchi clenched his fist. "You stupid rabbit." he said angrily. The noise made the rabbit scamper away from them, and Kim grinned before shaking her head. Ryou thought he heard her mumble "Idiot."

With the conflict resolved, the five laid back down. Making themselves comfortable on the soft grass.
Kim laid on her back, her glasses laid to the side so she wouldn't break them in her sleep, and she had her jacket draped over her as a makeshift blanket. Ryou had offered her his woolen sweater as a pillow, saying he didn't want to wear it in his sleep, and he was using his bag as a pillow, so she gladly accepted it.

She stared up at the stars. Wondering, what the next day would bring.

Kim smiled to herself, it hadn't been a bad day. But tomorrow, the real challenges would come. Thoughts flitted about her mind, as she wondered what kinds of opponents Yugi and Jounouchi would go up against, and hoped that by tomorrow, she'd be asleep on a warm bed and not on the grass.

Cheered by this thought, she rolled over and began to close her eyes. As she did so, a memory of Ryou's hard narrowed eyes flitted about her closed ones. And she wondered, if there was another threat on this island, other than Pegasus?

It didn't take long, for the gang's sleep to be interrupted again. Only a few hours later, they had heard a helicopter in the distance. The roar of the engine began to get louder, and soon, they saw it land near them. However, this random helicopter wasn't as much of a surprise, as to see who came out.

Tall, slim, and draped in a blue trench coat; their former friend, Seto Kaiba walked out of the machine. The group had been very surprised to say the least. Yugi had given Kaiba his stolen deck back, asking why he was at the island. Kaiba replied that he was on his way to get his brother back as well as reclaim his company. Initially, Yugi had invited him to join their group, saying they were going to be at the castle soon, but Kaiba declined, and set off on his own.

With Kaiba's departure, Yugi decided there was nothing else they could do, and so they went back to bed. Ready to take on a new day.

The night air was cool, and much more refreshing than the harsh rays of the sun. But yet, with this barren wasteland, the lack of the sun made it much colder than was comfortable.

Kim struggled to keep walking among the sand, where her feet sunk with every step. Her right hand gripped Ryou's ring tightly. She was exhausted, as she had been walking for a very long time without a break. water had run out long ago, and she dared not touch the food, as that would make her thirstier.

"I have to find him, soon." Kim thought wearily. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't been paying attention, and finally, her feet tripped over the sand, and she fell to the ground. Though, she didn't bother to get up. choosing to lay on the ground, breathing heavily and attempting to form a wetness to at least ease the burning dryness.

Kim laid on the cold sand, shivering just a little, and closing her itchy eyes.

"I need to wake up." she whispered to herself, "Come on, wake up, wake up,"

"Wake up!"

Kim's eyes flew open, and she jumped up from the soft grass. The sun was beginning to shine down upon her, warming her cold skin.

"Kim...?" Ryou yawned, sitting up. Kim sat still and breathed deeply.

"Ugh, what woke me up?" she grumbled.

"Come on everybody, wake up. We have more star chips to win." Jounouchi was stomping around the makeshift camp, waking up the sleeping tenants.

"Of course," Kim sighed, and began to stand, rubbing her neck a little. She must've slept on it wrong. after spending a few moments massaging her neck, she went over to where they had a pot of water, for the fire last night, and began to wash her face.

Everybody began to pack up their bags. And even Anzu came back, carrying what seemed to be Mai's back from yesterday.
"Hey, where's Mai?" Yugi asked, seeing her alone.

"I don't know," Anzu said in response "She was gone when I woke up, but she left everything with us, as well as a note." Anzu handed him a piece of paper. From her glance over his shoulder, Kim could see that it was Mai telling Yugi she owed him 8 star chips. It was signed with a heart and lipstick on it. She shook her head, and tied back her brown hair into its usual pony tail.

"Well, today we need to finish collecting all the star chips we need." Yugi said "I just need four more, but Jounouchi, you need six more."

"Right." Jounouchi sighed, he only had four, but hopefully within the next twelve or so hours, he could get six more, he was sure he could.

"Well, we better not waste any more time." Kim said, picking up her bag. "we don't want to be beaten to the punch"

"Kim's right." Yugi agreed, nodding in agreement, the group began to walk into the woods, looking for more duelists.

About an hour had passed. They hadn't come across a single person. Ryou commented it was probably because a lot of duelists had been eliminated from the island, so finding opponents would be harder.

Little did they know, a few others were skulking about the island, watching for any weak prey.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Jounouchi said, "I'll be right back."

"Way to announce to the whole world." Kim sighed as he went into the wood. She went to the knapsack Anzu had and dug around til she found a granola bar. While they were waiting, it couldn't hurt to have a little bit to eat.

"So, Kim," Ryou smiled a bit at her "Sleep ok?"

"I suppose." Kim shrugged. She was a very fitful sleeper. Always having problems staying asleep for a little more than an hour. Not to mention, the endless wandering in the desert dreams she had been having for the past 3 weeks.

"I heard you mumbling, "Just a little farther"' Ryou said quietly,

"It's just a stupid dream." Kim sighed, "I don't remember half of them anyway."

"I remember mine a lot." the teenager said. "I'm always dreaming about playing football."

"Football?" Kim asked blinking "No offense, but you don't seem the guy to tackle another to the ground for a ball."

"I didn't know you could tackle one to the ground for it..." Ryou said blinking, confused.

"Well, I guess if you wanted to be linebacker, or something, I dunno, I don't particularly like playing football. Guys are too rough."

"Well, maybe goalie would be safer, I doubt one would tackle you for the ball..."

"What football are you talking about?" now Kim was really confused about where this conversation was going. First of all, she had no idea Ryou liked to play sports, much less one where multiple guys would pile themselves on a person for a stupid ball. But football didn't have a goalie did they?

Ryou looked at her for a long moment, and then it dawned on him. And suddenly, the british teenager gave a laugh.
"I think we're having a culture difference." he said in between his laughter. "Football, you know, you kick a ball around a field with your feet."

"You mean soccer?"

"I guess that's what you might call it." Ryou said, still laughing. As it dawned on her, Kim began to laugh as well. She should've figured, most British people would call her version of football "American football" if they really were referring to that sport.

"Wow, for a second there, I thought you were all about having numerous guys tackle and pile on top of you for a ball." She said "But I suppose it makes a little more sense now."
The two friends laughed together about their confusion, for a few moments more.

"So, you like to play soccer?" Kim asked smiling a bit more. "I just always assumed you preferred to sit inside with other games."

"I do." Ryou smiled a little sadly. "But when I was younger, football-er...soccer, was a bigger deal in school. All of my classmates were on teams, but my parents..." suddenly he stopped in mid sentence, "Er...I-I decided there were other things out there." he finished quickly.

"Oh, I see..." Kim said "So, why do you think you dream about it?"

Ryou looked down at his feet, remembering how last night he and Kim were playing across a field of sand. He recalled the night before, how he thought of playing a sport with her.
But, many years ago, he had pitched a fit about his mother and father not letting him join a team sport. That memory haunted him to this very day.

"I don't know." he smiled at her, to try and cover up the sad feelings creeping up on him. "Who knows why we dream what we dream?"

Kim recalled her dream, carrying Ryou's ring through a desert. Why was she carrying it? And who was she looking for?

"Huh, Jounouchi's been gone a long time." Honda said, breaking her thoughts. "It really can't take that long to take a piss."

"Jee, thanks for that lovely language." Anzu said, reprimanding him.

"Well come on, Jounouchi can't take that long, and he wouldn't have gone TOO far." he protested.

"Why don't you go look for him." Kim suggested. "Just to be sure."

Honda sighed, before setting down his bag and went into the woods, calling for Jounouchi's name. The group listened to him for a few moments. Soon, the calling stopped, and Honda came back to them.

"I can't find him anywhere." He said, looking a little panicked. "I mean, I'm sure he really wouldn't have gone that far."

"Do you think maybe he accepted a duel without telling us?" Ryou asked.

"It kind of seems possible, I mean, Jounouchi doesn't really think things through." Kim said

"Well, let's split into pairs and look for him." Yugi said. With that, Kim and Ryou soon found themselves looking for duel boxes in the nearby area, pretty sure that their friend wouldn't go so far.

However, as they passed by empty duel boxes, they began to broaden their search. Occasionally checking back with everybody else.
As the search went on, Kim began to feel nervous about what happened to Jounouchi.
"I wonder, if maybe he was challenged to a duel and went off without really thinking about us."

"But why wouldn't they go to a nearby duel station?" Ryou asked.

"maybe he was taken somewhere where his opponent would have the upper hand?" Kim asked. "I mean, at this point, I'd think that even Jounouchi would be smart enough to at least tell us. Then again, he's been pretty desperate to prove himself."

"Well in any case, we can tell Yugi that we're going to check an area a little further away." Ryou suggested. "We can meet with them later."

"Sounds good." Kim agreed, nodding her head. So, they began to head back to the agreed meeting spot. Yugi, Anzu, and Honda weren't around. So they decided to wait.

However, as they continued to make small talk, they noticed the time passing by, and neither of the three were showing up.
"I wonder where they are now." Kim grumbled. "If they lost or left us, I'm going to be super peeved."

Ryou frowned slightly, looking around. Suddenly, the warm morning air seemed to turn cold. "Look in your bag." a voice whispered into his ear.
Slowly, as if his hands had a mind of his own, Ryou pulled the bag down from his shoulders, and he looked inside, seeing a glow from the handful of clothes that covered his ring.
Swallowing, Ryou reached inside, and pulled it out. The glow around the ring began to fade to a single pointer, and it lifted up, pointing in a direction.

"Kim...I might be able to find Yugi." he said slowly.

It had taken a few moments, but Ryou was able to persuade Kim to follow the rings directions. Kim was nervous about doing it, because she didn't want to be led astray by the evil of the ring. But Ryou pointed out that the Ring had the capability of sensing other items.

Rather than see if Yugi would come back for them, Kim agreed to follow its guidance. So, the two friends set off into the woods. Following the pointer.
After about fifteen minutes, maybe a little more, the two spotted a cave, and the ring seemed insistent that there was a millennium item in there.

"why would they be in a cave though?" Kim asked. Ryou didn't say anything, and instead proceeded forth. Sighing, Kim followed him. Upon entering, she was shocked to see a few human skulls lying around casually, and she vaguely wondered if they were real.

She stepped towards Ryou, holding onto the sleeve of his shirt. Since it was dark, she didn't want to suddenly lose the only friend she had on this island, and be lost all together.

Ryou didn't seem to mind her holding onto him. And together, they continued to walk through the dark. Kim was looking around the cave in awe. A part of her couldn't help but wonder what all the human remains were doing here. Maybe just decoration, or something Pegasus didn't bother to clean up. This might've even been a spot where soldiers fought in the war.

Suddenly, she tripped over an object, and felt her foot sink beneath the floor.

"Kim!" Ryou whirled around, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." Kim said, her heart beating rather fast from the sudden movement. "My foot slipped into the ground, it was odd."

Ryou looked around, "Well, this place is really old,maybe it was just a small hole. But you didn't twist or break anything did you?"

"No." Kim stood up properly, "I guess it was just a slip and it shocked me was all." she smiled weakly.

Ryou smiled back "Alright, well if you're sure-"

"Shh." Kim hissed, Ryou fell silent. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I dunno, it's a rumbling noise, but it's getting louder." Kim said frowning into the darkness "I wonder if I stepped on a trap-" she paused and gasped as she saw what was coming near them.

"Oh good go-" Ryou began to whisper, but before he could finish, both he and Kim jumped to their feet and ran for the nearest exit, not bothering to follow Ryou's ring.

"Why is a boulder chasing us?" Kim cried as they ran through the cave. "I feel like Indiana Jones."

"Just keep running, it can't keep following us, there must be another passage." Ryou said, looking around wildly. However, much to their dismay, they couldn't find anything. Just a dead end.

"Oh man! I can't believe this is the end!" Kim said in dismay."I didn't think I'd die by being crushed to death looking for my friends! Jounouchi this is all your fault."

Ryou and Kim stopped at the end, and Kim turned around, only for Ryou to grab hold of her. Pressing her against the cave wall and bracing himself for a hard impact.

"Ryou!" she cried in shock, but, before she could protest, the boulder smashed into them. Making a "boing" sound and bouncing off of Ryou's back.

"what?" The two teens cried, turning around. Hesitantly, Ryou pushed at it, to see it rolled away from him with ease.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Kim grumbled and kicked at the "boulder." A loud "pop" echoed around the cave walls, blowing her back. "A frigging balloon?"

Ryou continued to stare at the remains of the balloon in shock. Not only was he still in shock about the fact that he was pretty sure he was going to die. But Kim just kicked it...and popped it! Now he was more determined not to let her kick him! It never crossed his mind, since she was so small and petite looking, but he made a goal to not make her mad, and have her resort to kicking him.

Kim sighed

"Wow, what a good joke. Thanks a lot Pegasus!" she grumbled, kicking at the ground.

"Come on." Ryou sighed, and looked at his ring, "We need to find the others, we can laugh about this on the way."

"I don't see what's so funny." Kim grumbled, following him up the cave. Ryou didn't say anything in return. Now he suddenly felt like an idiot, for jumping in front of Kim like that! He began to blush a bit, his ears burning as he recalled pushing her against the wall and bracing his body for impact.

"What a gallant hero you are." the same voice said into his ear

Behind him, Kim was blushing as well, also thinking of how her friend had without question, jumped in front of her, potentially protecting her from danger.

Now she was more than glad that the boulder had been but just a balloon.

Ryou and Kim had walked around the cave for a very long time. Kim noticed that it seemed darker than she remembered, and so had clung to Ryou's sleeve again, so as to not lose him. She was almost glad for the glowing around the ring, as it gave them some light.
But finally, the ring led them to a door, where they saw two bald men in traditional oriental clothing. And the rest of their group, looking about the room.

"Bakura, Kim!"Anzu noticed them coming in, "You made it!"

"yeah, thanks for telling us where you were going." Kim grumbled.

"We were, but when we realized we had to get you, we had just found Jounouchi, and the cave was sealed off by some jerks!"

"Uh huh." Kim said, "so what's going on now?"

"These two brothers, won't let us out of the cave, unless Jounouchi and Yugi beat them in a duel. Which they did! but now we have to guess which door is the right one to get out of here!"

"Great." Kim sighed a bit. Beside her, Ryou had turned his back to her, so she couldn't see his conflicted expressions

"Put me on." The voice said "Seems your friends need help in knowing which door to choose. And I know which one is right."

"No...I know your tricks! You wouldn't help me!"

"I helped you find your little friends did I not? I just want to help. Now put on the ring, and I'll help Yugi get you all out of here."

Closing his eyes, Ryou sighed, but consented, and put the ring on.

"Times up, which door do you choose Yugi?"
Yugi surprised them with two coins, each coin had the words "mei" and "kyu" written on it.

"I'm going to put these on the table, and the coin I leave in my hand, will be the one I choose." he explained, setting the coins on the table and covering them. After a moment, he removed his hand, the "Kyu" side up.

"So the coin in your other hand is "Mei." One of the labrynth brothers said.

"Wrong, it's Kyu." Ryou said behind him. Yugi turned, surprised to see him and also more surprised to hear him offer advice.

"Your friend is right, the door is Kyu."

"Hm, I knew you'd say that." Yugi said "I knew by your expressions, that no matter which door I chose, I would get the wrong one. Because you would say that either choice was wrong."

"Right, so they decide which one is right, making it impossible for you to win." Ryou said, his lips curling up into a wicked grin. "What a low move."

"Uh...Ryou..."Kim was about to question him, but the look on his face made her hesitate. She suddenly felt cold around him, and the grin that was on his face, was just not an expression her friend could make in a situation like this.

"But still, you answered wrong. So you'll never leave the labrynth." One of the brothers said with a cruel smile.

"Heh, I guess I should've told you, one of my hands does not play fair." He smirked darkly. "Since I knew that you would cheat, I took a precaution." he lifted his hand to show the other coin, the "kyu" side up. "So I chose correctly. You said the door was Kyu, and that's the coin that remains in my hand.

The two brothers looked on in shock, but, with them announcing which door was right, they knew, they couldn't back out now. So, reluctantly, they handed over the key to let the friends out.

"those stupid Meikyu brothers." Jounouchi grumbled, "Holding us up like that."

Kim sighed, lingering behind her friends with Ryou
"Ryou..." she said quietly, reaching for his hand, her finger tips grazing his. "Thank you, you know, from earlier."

"Don't worry about it." Ryou was blushing now. "I just did what any friend would do."

"But still..."

"I'm just glad we're both ok, you especially." He smiled down a bit at her. Kim smiled a little at him too, and opened her mouth to say some more to him. Wanting to tell him that no other person had really helped her out in a sticky situation. Well, except when Jounouchi willingly handcuffed himself to her with Barry the Chopper in Kaiba's amusement park. But still, the act of him attempting to protect her was a notion she wouldn't forget for a while.

But before she could say any more on the subject, she heard Jounouchi cheer as he saw sunlight.

"Pegasus's castle here we come!" He said happily

"Did they get ten star chips then?" Kim asked, suddenly realizing that she was still out of the loop on the duels.

"Yeah!" ANzu said excitedly. "Jounouchi got two more in his duel with this creepy guy named Bones. And then he and Yugi won four star chips from those brothers."

"That's great." Ryou said cheerfully, "We'll be spending the night in the castle tonight!"

"How exciting." Kim exclaimed, grinning ear to ear. the idea of a warm bed, plus in a castle of all places, really was exciting.

The group, finally reached the top of the caves, and much to their excitement, found they were right outside the castle. They found a stair case and began to run up it, excitedly to present their ten star chips and gain access to the castle.

However, as they neared the top, they found someone blocking their path.

Seto Kaiba stood in the way of the door, holding a brief case.

"Yugi, I was wondering when you would show up." he said.

"Kaiba. Let us enter the castle." Yugi said calmly. However, Kaiba seemed to have no intention in granting his request.

Kaiba had reached the castle in the late hours of the night prior. Pegasus's employees had offered him a room, but he declined, instead, taking one of the closest employees hostage. And demanded that Pegasus surrender his brother and company back to him. But Pegasus said that if Kaiba really wanted them back, he would have to beat Yugi in a duel, in order for them to have a duel over the company rights, and Mokuba's freedom.

Kaiba was then given five star chips from Pegasus, and sent out to duel Yugi. He needed five more chips to be granted access into the castle.

"Yugi, I knew you'd beat the other opponents and earn your ten star chips." Kaiba began. "But, you and I will duel for the rights to enter Pegasus's castle."

"You jerk, get out of our way." Jounouchi demanded.

"Kaiba, Yugi promised your brother that he will duel on your company's behalf." Kim stepped forward "You can come with us and..."

"I can duel Pegasus myself!" Kaiba snapped at her,

"You said he was impossible to beat last night!" she cried, stepping closer.

Kaiba's colbat blue eyes stared at her, before he closed them, looking away from her.

"You know nothing about me." he said to her coldly "you don't have any right to tell me what I can and can't do." He side stepped past her, and looked at Yugi. "Yugi, I've been playing DEATH-T over and over in my mind, wondering why I didn't win. And I might have an answer. Duel me Yugi. Let me know if I'm right."

Yugi stared at Kaiba for a long moment before nodding. "Alright, I accept your challenge."

"Yugi don't!" Anzu cried "You don't owe him anything-"

Yugi ignored her, and instead, followed Kaiba to a part of the castle, for the right to duel against Pegasus.

So if you read this before the fix, I apologize. I thought I selected the right document and I didn't. So, I fixed it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Review and all that good stuff please.

(these chapters are getting longer and longer ugh)

DSSM