Chapter 16

The first thing he became aware of was the heavy, throbbing headache pounding inside his head. Then the hard, cold, uncomfortable ground beneath him and the swollen, bloated feeling of his stomach above made his whole body uncomfortable and stiff. He groaned and shifted his position slightly as his eyes slowly blinked open.

'Dude, are you alright?' Duke's blurry face appeared above him.

'I'm fine,' he groaned again as he rubbed the blur from his eyes, 'what happened?'

'I don't know,' he shrugged and half turned away, 'all I know is that I woke up here.'

'Well that's not all we know,' almost out of nowhere Tristan knelt down beside him with a huge smirk plastered across his face.

'What's that supposed to mean?' He frowned at him.

'Tristan you promised you wouldn't,' Duke shot him a warning glance.

'He wouldn't what?'

'Wouldn't tease you,' Tristan continued to smirk.

'Tease me for what?'

'You know how you were saying you wished you could be closer to your daughter? Well you really should be more careful what you wish for.'

'What?' Joey tried to sit up, but instantly found it a lot more difficult than it should have been. 'Wh… wha…' his eyes widened as he stared down at himself. 'Is… is that what I think it is?'

'Congratulations dude,' Tristan lowered his head and folded his arms in amusement, 'you're pregnant.'

'But... but how...' Joey shook his head in disbelief, 'this... this shouldn't be possible.'

'Shouldn't, but is,' Tristan was clearly enjoying this situation a little too much.

'Do you need a hand getting up?' Duke shot him a wary smile.

'Yeah, thanks,' Joey nodded.

Tristan and Duke both reached a hand down towards him and between the three of them they managed to pull Joey to his feet. Stood up, his stomach felt heavier and more uncomfortable than it did when he was lying down.

'I don't think I like this,' Joey pulled a face. 'It just feels so... unnatural.'

'Oh I don't know, I think pregnancy suits you very well,' again Tristan's amusement was almost overdone, 'you're positively glowing.'

'You're just loving this, aren't you?'

'Consider this payback for not thinking I was capable of taking care of Mai by myself,' Tristan folded his arms.

'Great, you chose now to remember.'

'Right now I remember everything,' he shrugged, 'in some ways it's a little weird, but... I don't know; it's probably something to do with this place.'

'What is this place anyway?' Joey glanced about.

'That's what we've been trying to figure out,' Duke gave a nervous cough. 'Although... I'm also a little... worried about the others,' he shifted his gaze away. 'I mean, if you're like this Joey then it's safe to assume Mai isn't and...'

'Oh god this must be like waking up to her worst nightmare,' a bolt of shock moved through Joey.

'I didn't think of that,' Tristan's arms dropped as a guilty look appeared across his face, 'she must be totally freaking out.'

'We have to find her and quickly.'

'Agreed,' Duke nodded, 'and, with all the power you two are packing between you, that shouldn't take too long.'

'Got that right,' Joey grinned.

'So do you want to do the honours or shall I?' Tristan shot him a look.

'Joey?' A familiar voice suddenly sounded from nearby. 'Tristan? Duke? Is that you?'

'Yugi,' Joey turned towards him, 'you're here too?'

'Yeah, I am,' Yugi winced slightly as he examined the others. 'Joey are you...?'

'Apparently.'

'But how?'

'Do we really look as if we know?' Joey sighed and shook his head.

'Hey where's your puzzle?' Tristan frowned at him.

'I gave it to Téa.'

'Why?'

'I didn't feel like I deserved it anymore,' Yugi lowered his gaze.

'Yuug...' Joey shot him a pitiful look.

'It's alright,' he shook his head, 'so long as I get back to her soon, everything will be alright.' He glanced back up at them. 'You guys still have your powers, right?'

'Are yours down then?'

'Yeah.'

'Well then let Mr Mum take you back to Téa,' Tristan refolded his arms and turned away, 'because there's no way in hell me and my powers are going anywhere near her.'

'How can you hate somebody who's practically in a coma?' Joey stared at him despairingly.

'I have my reasons.'

'Which are?'

'None of your damn business.'

'I know Téa's been a real stick in the mud about the new you Tristan, but honestly her heart was in the right place,' Yugi shifted his gaze away. 'I just think she has a problem accepting the fact you've changed.'

'We've all changed, why does she feel the need to single me out for it?' Tristan gritted his teeth.

'It's not... I mean... I... I don't know.'

'Well I think I do and I can't say I like the reason.'

'What do you mean?' Yugi blinked at him.

'I mean...'

'Err, guys,' Joey cut him off, 'can we not do this right now, I think you're upsetting the baby.'

'How do you know?'

'I'm not sure,' he bit his lip nervously, 'but my stomach feels pretty weird or rather it feels weirder. Can we just jump to Mai already?'

'Go ahead.'

Almost automatically he tried to use his power, but nothing happened. Confused, but not undeterred, he tried again. Still nothing.

'Err, guys,' Joey stared round at them, 'I think we have a problem.'

'Covo? Covo is that you?'

The sound of Mokuba's voice caused Covo to turn round and watch the younger of the two Kaiba brothers race towards him. There was a definite look of complete and utter relief on his face and Covo honestly couldn't say he didn't share it. After all, he'd been on his own now for what felt like forever.'

'Hey,' Covo nodded at him as he arrived next to him, 'you're stuck here too?'

'Yeah,' Mokuba's face pulled into a wary smile, 'I just closed my eyes for like one second, then poof, I woke up here.'

'You weren't in the Mistresses Chamber at the Temple of Set, were you?'

'No,' he shook his head, 'I was at home.'

'That's weird.'

'Why?'

'Well I figured the only way to get here from our Realm was from the Mistresses Chamber.'

'How'd you figure that?'

'Because that's how I got here,' Covo tilted his head in thought, 'and I'm fairly sure Crovell and Ahna got here like that too.'

'So you found Crovell then?'

'No.'

'But you just said…'

'I was making assumptions.'

'I see,' Mokuba frowned for a moment. 'So do you know if anyone else is here or not?'

'Well if they are, they sure as hell are not in this forest.'

'How do you know?'

'Because I've been stuck here for almost a day now and you're the first person I've come across.'

'Wait, you've been here all day?' Mokuba's eyes bulged in alarm. 'I've only been here for like an hour at the most.'

'Then let me be the first to welcome you to hell,' Covo rolled his eyes. 'And just look how much hell loves me,' he held up his right arm, revealing the tattoo.

'Hey, isn't that.'

'Yeah,' his lips pulled into an unimpressed smile, 'the one time I actually need power and I have none.'

'Well you're not the only one.'

'What do you mean?'

'My powers are down too,' Mokuba shifted his gaze away, 'I don't have a tattoo, but they're still not working.'

'Well that makes me feel slightly better,' Covo sighed, 'but it doesn't really help either one of us out. And I'm telling you now I'm really, really sick of walking.'