Chapter 38
'A maze,' Joey rolled his eyes, 'of all things, it would have to be a maze, wouldn't it? This makes it, what, four consecutive game show games in a row.'
'Quit your whining Wheeler and just keep moving,' Tristan glared at him. 'The way you're carrying on anyone would think you wanted to lose this thing.'
'Not lose exactly,' he folded his arms and shifted his gaze away, 'just actually feel challenged.'
'Yeah, well I'd like you to stop ranting over and over about the same damn thing, but it seems like neither of us are going to get what we want.'
'Shut up Kaiba.'
Joey gritted his teeth as he continued walking through the narrow passageway the group found themselves in. They'd been walking for at least half an hour now and were obviously completely lost. He wouldn't admit it to the others, but Joey was starting to worry they wouldn't complete the challenge in time. A part of him knew he was repeating the same rant over and over as a way of masking his own fears about it. Because no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't imagine having to pick the card and player they'd have to sacrifice in order to pass through the gate.
Unfortunately for him his mind just wouldn't shut up about it. He knew he was safe; after all, it was the fate of his children that were at stake here. That also ruled Ahna and Mai out and, whereas he'd be only too please to get rid of Duke, he knew Duke was Crovell's Daiosen, which meant it was probably best if he stuck around too. So that left them with Kaiba, Tristan, Mokuba, Yugi and Catilin as the only expendable players.
'Well Kaiba gets my vote,' he muttered quietly to himself.
'What was that?' Mai frowned at him.
'Nothing,' he shook his head, 'I was just contemplating who we could afford to get rid of when we fail this challenge.'
'Don't you mean if we fail this challenge Wheeler?' Tristan shot him a look.
'No,' he folded his arms, 'I mean when.' He gave a heavy and exasperated sigh. 'Look, I hate to tell you this guys, but I've got this strong feeling we've probably run out of time by now. My guess is that by the time we find the gate, they'll be a box or something waiting for us to drop a card into it in order to pass.'
'Well if you'd pick up your pace a little Wheeler, we might be able to get there before that happens.'
'What does it matter how fast I'm walking, if we're completely and utterly lost?'
'Stop exaggerating.'
'I'm not,' Joey was surprised by how calm his own voice sounded, 'I'm just being honest here.'
'He's got a point,' Yugi came to a stop, 'I mean, all these passageways look the same; I can't tell if we're getting somewhere or just walking around in circles.'
'Well it's not like we can just give up,' Tristan folded his arms.
'And no one's saying we should,' Joey shook his head, 'I'm just saying we should be prepared to lose this one.'
'I don't wanna have to pick someone,' Catilin bit her lip, 'I mean, I'd just feel so horrid about it. If we have to chose, we have to find a fair way of doing it.'
'Like what?'
'I dunno, maybe we could shuffle everyone's cards together and then pick one out. That's fair, right?'
'She's got a point,' Mai pressed her lips together, 'if we have to pick someone to sacrifice, I'd rather it be like that. At least then the rest of us won't feel so guilty for staying.'
'Okay,' Tristan rolled his eyes, 'so now we've agreed on that, can we please get going again? If we're going to fail this challenge, I'd rather it not be from a lack of trying.'
'And that's exactly why I hope we pick your card,' Joey glared at him. 'Maybe spending a little time trapped in a box will take you down a peg or two.'
'I'm sorry Wheeler, what was that?'
Joey was just about to repeat his insult when a loud slamming noise echoed down the passageway towards them. A fearful silence crept across the group and they moved on mass in the direction of the sound. It didn't take long for the door to loom its way into view, causing an uncomfortable feeling to squirm through Joey's stomach. The small chest sat neatly in front of the door could only mean one thing. Time was up and they were going to have to choose.
Catilin took a deep breath in and began shuffling everyone's cards together. She'd had a bad feeling in her tummy ever since they'd first entered the maze area and got lost. It was as if this whole section was just set up so they'd have to lose somebody; why else would the door appear right after they agreed on what they would do if they had to give somebody up?
'Okay,' she fanned the cards out, 'I shuffled so someone else has to pick.'
They others exchanged reluctant looks and nobody stepped forward. It didn't surprise her much that none of them wanted to do this, she didn't want to do this, but it wasn't as though they had a choice.
'Come on, we agreed, I shuffle, someone else picks.'
'Fine, I'll do it,' Tristan gave a heavy sigh before reluctantly plucking one of the cards out of her hand, 'clearly no one else here has the guts to.'
As agreed Tristan moved the card straight from Catilin's hand and into the chest without looking at it. In theory the thought of knowing who was about to disappear before they disappeared was more than any of them could bear. In practice Catilin would have argued the seconds which followed the chest disappearing were the most agonising in her life. Taking a deep breath in she mentally began counting towards ten, waiting to see what would happen next. It didn't take long, by the time she'd reached five Kaiba had vanished. For an instant Catilin thought she saw a crushed look flicker across Tristan's face, but no sooner than it had, he'd turned back towards the gate and waited for it to open.
'If this next challenge resembles a game show in anyway, I swear I'm going to scream,' Joey rolled his eyes as the gate opened and the group of them made their way through.
The second they entered the room beyond Catilin found herself laughing in surprise. In the middle of the room stood a familiar looking red headed girl, with a look somewhere between amusement and expectation strewn across her face.
'Weren't you in my challenge?' Catilin took several steps towards her. 'For the first part of the game I mean.'
'I was in everybody's,' the girl's voice was strangely calm.
'Who are you exactly?' Tristan narrowed his gaze on her.
'I am the Master's creation,' she focused her gaze on him. 'I do only as he requires of me and as such you are to be my opponent.'
'Huh?' Joey stared at her.
Without saying anything the girl lifted her left arm causing the light around it to shimmer and a dark blue dueldisk to appear.
'So you want to duel me?' Tristan smirked. 'You sure about that?'
'Yeah,' she nodded as a table holding a Battle City dueldisk and three decks rose up out of the ground. 'As the only one thinking clearly, the Master decided you were the only one capable of giving me the challenge I deserve; but, as I'm sure you're probably already starting to figure out, that's not the only reason. See I get to pick my deck first and then you may pick any other deck that is in this room, including the two remaining on the table. We will duel and if you beat me then your whole group will be able to pass onto the next chamber unhindered. But if you lose then you personally will have to pay the toll.'
'Fine,' Tristan met and held her gaze.
'Then this is my deck,' the redhead held her hand up causing one of the three decks from the table to vanish from where it was and appear in her hand.
'And I chose to play with Piper's deck,' his voice was strangely calm as he picked the dueldisk up from the table and flicked a look in Duke's direction.
'Wait, you what?' Joey stared at him in confusion.
'She said I could use any deck, so long as it was already in the room,' Tristan's voice remained calm, 'so I pick that one.'
'But... why?'
'According to Duke she was on the same level as Yugi and myself, that means her deck has to be better than anything else on offer right now.'
'But…'
'Look, no arguments Wheeler; I'm the one who's going to be duelling here, so I'm the one who gets to choose what deck I use,' Tristan's expression was deadly serious, 'and I choose hers.'