:Waves: Hey everyone we're back!

I'm hoping to have regular updates from now on, but don't get your hopes up I'm afraid. I haven't forgotten about this story I promise! Mel's been on my back too much for me to do that.

Mel: :Nods: I shall be working her like a pack horse! :grin:

Anyway, here's another chapter!

Yami was in, what one could say, a bit of a tight spot

Yami was in, what one could say, a bit of a tight spot.

'Buggeration.'

Marik was for some reason, looking quite smug about all this. Whenever any of the guest's backs were turned, he would make some obscene gesture or pull tongues at either him, Bakura, Katt or Seto. Yami didn't know if this was because, using his 'Marik-y powers' he could sense how uncomfortable they all felt and wanted to make fun of them, or if he simply just didn't know what the hell was going on. Watching as he pranced up to Malik and flicked him on the ear before running away giggling, he was willing to place his bet on the second option.

Malik turned around, glaring at his look-alike before making a move to run after him. Yugi, noticing the start of a fight, took it upon himself to place a tentative hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly up at him, saying something that Yami couldn't quite hear. Whatever it was it seemed to have worked, as Malik calmed down considerably and both he and the wide-eyed angel (he couldn't possibly be one hundred percent human Yami had decided) watched an interesting argument between Seto and Jou. He hadn't paid too much attention to the duo, as arguing was part of their daily routine, but his ears did perk up at the sound of 'sore ass', 'Back' and 'drunk'.

Then again, perhaps he reaaaally didn't want to know.

However, getting back to the situation at hand: Yugi.

The SS Millennium's crew and her new acquaintances had been sailing on the wide-open ocean for around a month now. Their destination was originally to head back over to England, as they had heard that a certain somebody was currently living there, but had a change of plans half way and had to turn to ship around to sail towards Hanakai Mountains, more commonly known as 'The shadow caves'. Yami had thought that things had settled down quite well, everyone had settled into their new routines and had even had a civilized conversation at least once. But, as well all know, good things don't last long and the ships almost-neutral balance had been tipped.

Perhaps it was because he was a pirate that the big guy upstairs had decided to put just that little bit more extra pressure on him or maybe this was fate's fault. In which case he'd need to have a long, long chat with her.

Anyway, it had all started earlier that morning; Yami had enjoyed a peaceful walk around his ship, watching the sun rise before Yugi had timidly joined him. They exchanged pleasantries before resting against the ships railings and looking up at the sky in comfortable silence. It didn't last long though, as Jou soon scrambled out of the main sleeping area, his top not sitting properly on him and his pants in the process of being pulled up. Both Yami and Yugi's eyes had followed him, simply staring curiously, but never saying a word. Then, Marik ran out cackling like a witch with Malik close behind him, throwing what looked like sea charts and shoes at him. Ryou poked his snowy head out next; a concerned look crossing his face before Bakura happily strolled out onto the deck, taking him with him by the waist. Malik, having given up on stomping out the annoying pest known as Marik, had simply taken to standing with his arms crossed staring out at the sea.

Both Yami and Yugi stayed mute, watching as the day unfolded. Seto came out of the sleeping quarters next, neat and clean as always, barely acknowledging anyone and made his way over to Jou. There was a tension filled silence before they both started to talk to each other in hushed words. There was a collective raise of eyebrows before the attention was drawn away from the pair. Katt's head and arms appeared over the side of the crow's nest, her hair messier than ever, before standing up and stretching. She turned round and looked down at something before pointing and laughing. Mel was the last to appear, laughing in an extremely sarcastic manner with Katt before pushing her over the edge. Usually, something like that wouldn't have affected her, but it was early and she was unprepared for the attack-so down she went. There was barely enough time for her to scream before she hit the deck, flat on her face.

Yugi and Yami exchanged wary glances before bursting out into laughter. The rest of the ship soon followed suit, even Seto cracking a grin. When Mel had made it down from her sleeping place, Katt had threatened her with her fist before slowly getting up. After everyone had calmed down, Malik beckoned Yugi over and the rest of their little gang seemed to understand that something was going on, so they too joined the party. They stood in a circle, discussing something in hushed tones. Yami, Seto, Bakura, Marik and Katt, all unsure about what was happening, formed their own little semi-circle and assumed defensive positions.

It wasn't long before Yugi's group also formed a semi-circle facing them. Both Malik and Mel seemed angry about something and had their arms crossed, whilst Jou looked fairly comfortable standing with his hands in his pockets. Yugi and Ryou exchanged knowing looks before nodding. It was almost like a scene out of west side story.

'Wait a minute…what's west side story? Get a grip of yourself Yami!'

"Um…well, as you know we've been together for a few weeks now and we think it's time that we open up a little more about ourselves…"

Yugi blushed in embarrassment as both Malik and Mel mumbled their disagreements and Yami raised an eyebrow at him. He cleared his throat before carrying on:

"We don't want you to get the wrong idea about us…"

"Because you're all truly wonderful chaps!" Ryou added. Surprisingly, there was no comment from Katt about being a woman. When Ryou apologized, she simply shrugged and told him she was used to it.

"Yeah, what Ryou said…but we think it's only fair that you should know about our background. You see, we didn't really grow up in a 'normal community', but a military base. We're not exactly sure why, but I think it had something to do with my Grandpa being the Navy Captain. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, he sadly died due to-"

Yugi never got to finish what he was going to say, as Mel butted in:

"Dirty rotten pirates. He got a fatal stab wound and died."

"That's why we weren't all that keen on boarding a pirate ship." Malik finished for her.

"Guys!" Yugi said exasperatedly, "I don't want you worrying about the Navy or anything, seeing as Lady Anzu, the armada captains daughter, kicked us all out with no place else to go and they are as much our enemy now as they are yours. Anyway, we may not be able to be much help, but we are willing to try! I'm just really thankful that we're all back together and you've given us something…well…stable I guess." Yugi smiled and Yami felt his heart soar.

"Listen, I'm willing to try an' get along with you all, but I can never forgive the pirate who took out ol' gramps," Jou told them grimly, the rest of his friends nodded in agreement.

His heart now plummeting back down to reality, Yami swallowed hard and looked at his crew. The atmosphere was tense as Yami asked his next question:

"What pirate would that be?"

Each person held his or her breath, suspense lingering in the air taking up oxygen. They all looked thoughtful, even Malik and Mel changing stances in order to try and remember the name of the pirate.

"Yumi Motu I think it was," Yugi finally said, "My Gramps had been obsessed with trying to catch him and his crew. He had finally caught them and they were due to hang but escaped."

And here was were the tight spot begun. Yami knew almost all the pirate captain's that sailed the sea, the exceptions being the ones that had only just recently started out, and he knew that there was nobody called Yumi Motu commanding a ship at the moment. There was an awful feeling of dread as he realized how close that name was to his own: Yami Moto. The icing on the cake was knowing that just two months back, he'd been the one preparing to hang and he had probably killed a fair few men in order to get away. Staring hard at Yugi, he realized he saw some resemblance between the old man that had accompanied Anzu and the sweet boy before him.

"That bitch! Anzu threw you out?"

Katt's voice brought him out of his trance.

'Ah yes. How could I forget about Anzu?'

The urge was there to yell 'THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!' and Yami felt utterly useless. He needed these people in order to complete his journey and he had hoped that he could win little Yugi over and take him as his own. He sighed. Life was complicated at times.

They would have to be careful around Yugi and his friends now. Captain Yumi Motu would have to become a real person. The only thing Yami couldn't guarantee to himself was Anzu. When would the witch show up? He'd have to find a way of keeping her quiet. Even if that meant sacrificing whatever sanity he had left.

An awkward silence settled over the ship and Yugi had started to become restless. Was it a good idea to come clean about all of this? What if they locked them up? What if they were thrown overboard? He couldn't swim! What if…what if…what if…?

"Don't worry about it," Yami heard himself say, half expecting a negative reaction from his crew, but none came.

As a visible wave a relief washed over Yugi's face, Yami realized it was going to be one heck of a long day.

They reached the shadow caves around about midnight. The moon cast an eerie silver glow on the mountains, making the sharpness of them more prominent. They had steered off onto a narrow river some time back, but now it seemed to become even narrower, the mountains trapping them in a dark and dangerous dungeon. Yami peered carefully into the darkness, determined to come out of this alive.

Yugi and Jou had fallen asleep some time back, curled together in a ball. Mel had also fallen asleep, were she had then fallen and snuggled into Katt's lap. Katt had been overly embarrassed at this, but made no motion to move the girl to another spot. Malik had been keeping a sharp eye on Ryou from the crow's nest, but Marik soon took up his attention by poking him. The white-haired boy in question was currently the only one of his friends awake and was watching Bakura go about his business quite happily.

The calmness of the ship, which had been quite hard to restore due to the fact that everyone was on tenterhooks after Yugi's little revelation, was soon disturbed as the Millennium hit something. The whole ship rocked violently, throwing those standing up to the ground and waking those who were sleeping. Yami stood up and looked out towards the end of the cave they were currently in, but found that if anything, the path before them was just becoming darker.

"Yami?" Seto questioned.

As soon as he spoke, Seto felt something grab his wrist and squeeze and sharply turned to look at the offender. Jou was wide-eyed and breathing heavily, as if unsure of where he was. Quickly, he snatched his wrist away from Jou and crossed his arms, scowling down at the blurry image below him.

"Scared of the dark mutt? And here's me thinking you were a big boy now."

Jou felt himself blush and stood up, randomly pushing at air whilst denying Seto's statement:

"N-no of course I'm not you arrogant ass. I was just surprised that's all!"

"Shut up the both of you!" Bakura warned and cautiously made his way over to where he thought his captain might be, "You think you know where he is Yami?"

Yami nodded, although he knew no one could see him, and made his way over to the wooden boats strapped to the side of the ship. There was just enough room for the boat to safely drop into the murky river without being damaged. He untied the rope and threw it into the dinghy before pushing it off the little ledge it was tittering on the edge of. It landed with a loud splash and he turned to address his crew.

"Ok, Bakura, Seto, Katt! You're all coming with me. The rest of you, stay here with Marik. I know you all think he's crazy but he'll protect you I can promise you that."

There was an immediate uproar as questions and statements were fired his way.

"There is no way I'm staying here with him!"

"I want to come!"

"Why can't we come? We're not useless!"

"Who is this 'he' your talking about? I'm sure he's not that bad!"

"…Big brother is a show will one day brainwash an entire society and make them totally addicted to the crap they continue to show."

Everyone turned to where Marik's voice had just come from.

"That must be the biggest load of shit you've ever come out with."

Yami sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Look, I can't leave the Millennium here unmanned. Anybody could come through and raid it or try and pull it back out the caves and steal it. And I don't want to take the risk of endangering you lot ok? Marik is more than capable of holding his own and will protect you if anything goes wrong. C'mon lads and lass, we've got a job to do."

"Well, how about only two people stay here?" Yugi's voice echoed questioningly, "And the rest of us go with you? Surely it's even more dangerous just the four of you carrying on down there on your own."

A murmur of agreement was heard and once again Yami felt…well useless. What sort of crew didn't obey their captain?! Then again, he didn't really want to leave Yugi on his own here.

"Ok we'll play a game to see whose coming and whose staying. Everybody hide and in ten seconds, Marik will come looking for us. Whoever he finds first will have to stay behind with him. Clear?"

Once again a collective murmur of agreement ran through the ship before suddenly it was thrown into chaos. Marik started to count loudly as everyone tried to find his or hers respected hiding place. There were a few more sounds of people bumping into each other and a few angry mumbles before finally the ship was quiet.

"…Nine, ten! Ok here I come!"

Everyone held his or her breath as Marik sniffed the air thoughtfully. He stood for a few moments contemplating something, before cheerfully bouncing over to the wooden craters that stood stacked at the back of the ship. He wriggled behind them before triumphantly pulling out a sniveling Malik.

"It's not fair!"

"Sorry Malik, rules are rules. You've gotta stay behind with Marik."

Malik continued to snivel in self-pity as everyone patted him on the back before jumping down into the little boat. It was a tight fit, but everyone managed to successfully squeeze in. As they rowed away from the Millennium, it took a while for Malik's bawling to stop.

'So much for him being able to protect us.'

Malik thought stubbornly as he watched Marik sleeping soundly in a ball at his feet. Surprisingly, instead of looking peaceful whilst he slept, Marik's face seemed to adopt a more serious look. It interested Malik a great deal, as the only side of his look-alike he'd ever seen was the wacky, annoying one. Marik whimpered a little as the heat Malik's legs had been providing him vanished, but soon snuggled back down into his lap. Malik tentatively played with a few of the older mans bangs before sighing.

"You don't really hate Marik do you?"

Malik jumped a little at hearing Marik's voice. Frowning, he pushed Marik out of his lap.

"When have I ever said I hated you? You just annoy me with your childish antics that's all."

Marik blinked his lilac eyes owlishly up at Malik and grinned. Malik responded by crossing his arms over his chest defensively, unsure what to expect from the pirate next. Marik threw his arms round Malik and dragged him down. They rolled around for a bit giggling before finally, Marik pinned Malik down and snuggled into his chest.

"Marik likes you."

Carefully, Malik returned to gesture and wrapped his arms around Marik.

"I think I kinda like you too," he smiled.

When Malik's bawling could no longer be heard, everyone who had been lucky enough to get away wasn't sure whether to be relieved or scared. The caves suddenly became eerily quiet and Yami noticed the obvious fidgeting and nervousness his little group was in. Perhaps this had been a bad idea? He never had a chance to think it over though as they floated into a big open space, torches illuminating the rocky, gray walls that surrounded them. There was a chance for them to get out of the little boat and explore the caves on foot, but it seemed there was a mutual unwillingness to do so.

"Yami? Who is it we're looking for exactly?" Yugi was the first one to speak, his voice echoing in the large space they were in.

"No one special," Bakura answered for him.

Yugi looked putout and Yami was about to tell him the truth, but then a child's voice interrupted him; it was slow and melodic, singing what sounded like a lullaby in some foreign language. It filled the room like sweet scents; ensnaring the senses and making all that heard it feel heavy and sleepy. It seemed to affect Yugi and Ryou the most as they almost immediately fell asleep, quite content to snuggle up to the nearest thing to them. Confused, Yami turned to look at his crew. Any other day he would have been perfectly happy for Yugi to be this close, but his danger button was flashing faster than Jou could eat and looking around, it seemed everyone else agreed.

"What a lovely voice…" Mel yawned and rubbed her eyes; "I could listen to it forever…"

"Don't you dare go to sleep," Yami and Katt said at the same time, whilst Bakura and Jou tried to wake the two others in their group.

Silver mist settled around them and the voice turned into whispers. Seto pulled his sword out of its sheath and Yami, Katt and Bakura followed suit. Jou and Mel kept Yugi and Ryou close to them as the water started to stir, rocking the boat and pushing it towards the cliffy pathways. All of a sudden, hands shot up out of the water, some of them skeleton like and started to make their way towards the group. They attacked every part of the boat that they possibly could, groping around and snatching at air, trying to pull anyone they could under. Yami and Bakura were trying to deal with hacking the hands off the right side of the boat whilst Katt and Seto were doing their best on the left side, but it was dangerously close to toppling over and the hands seemed to multiply by the second.

Yami did his best to think of a way out and hastily looked around him. Noticing they were near the edge of the paths, he shouted out whilst picking Yugi up:

"Everybody! I want you to jump onto that ledge there! The boat won't hold out much longer!"

As soon as he said that, a hand broke its way through the underside of the boat, causing murky green water to immediately start building up and sinking it. Everyone jumped onto the side as fast as they could whilst Yami stayed behind in order to safely get Yugi and Ryou out. The water had just started to lap over his feet as he was passing Ryou over to Bakura when a skeleton hand grabbed at his left ankle. He cried out in surprise and tumbled forward into the water. It took a while for him to come up to the surface, gasping for air and thrashing about in order to scare away the hands that kept trying to pull his body under. Yugi, who had woken up by now, ran to the edge like everyone else and held out his hand.

"Yami! Yami grab my hand! Quick!"

Yami did as Yugi told him, grasping his creamy hand firmly whilst kicking out fiercely. Bakura and Ryou pulled on Yugi's waist, helping him pull their Captain up to safety. The four of them crouched gasping, Yami taking deep breaths in order to steady himself. Carefully, they stood up and watched their small boat as it sank. The mist lifted as soon as the boat was fully under water and the water was once again calm. Just as the four of them made a move to relax themselves though, Katt's voice tensed them again.

"I wouldn't start to calm down if I were you. It looks to me as if we have visitors."

Almost as if timed, Yami, Bakura, Ryou and Yugi turned round slowly to be met with what looked like hundreds of barbarians. Katt and Seto had their swords out, standing defensively in front of Mel and Jou, whilst the crowd of dirty men had spears and other nasty looking sharp objects pointed threateningly at them all. One of the men, his hair in unruly dreadlocks and his face covered with piercing and tattoos, jumped down and crept towards them. Bakura and Yami raised their swords ready for a fight, but the man made no move to attack. He slowly moved around in a circle around them, looking each individual up and down. Finally, he stood in front of them, smiling and showing perfectly pointed teeth.

"Kais humnai tu?"

Katt and Seto exchanged wary glances, as they were the ones standing closest to this new visitor. Yami came forward, motioning to Yugi to stay were he was, drawing the man's attention solely to him.

"Humnai tu?" He asked, a little more forcefully than last time.

"Me Yami. Bloody good Captain," he pointed to his hat, "We mean no harm. Just need to have a nice little stroll through these caves of yours to find someone. If you want to burn or eat anyone though, I suggest the white haired guy with the permanent pissed off look on his face. "

Katt and Seto turned and gave Bakura a disbelieving look. Bakura simply shrugged and continued to scowl. The man leant closer to Yami, breathing heavily into his face. Yami did his best not to make a look of disgust at the man's putrid breath but failed. The man laughed and turned to his, what looked like, tribe of men.

"Mana no jinku! Salam et geru."

The men also laughed, before the caves were plunged into silence once more. The air tensed as the man, suddenly angry, whizzed round and scowled at Yami.

"Pirate."

Yami, slightly unsure of what to do, stared at his crew. Seto, Katt and Bakura simply tightened the grip on their swords, sensing that the mans change in mood would not lead up to anything good.

"Yeah mate. Pirates."

Just as Yami and his crew had expected, this seemed to rub the man the wrong way and with a battle cry, the man and the men behind him charged at their small group. Yami's reaction wasn't slow as he brought his sword up to defend himself. The clash of metal against metal could be heard all round as four pirates did their best to defend not only themselves, but also their vulnerable look-alikes (or in Seto's case, his almost alike).

The strain was obvious as men came from all sides. Seto stared at Yami as if expecting him to come up with a magical answer to their current problem. Yami slashed at one fat, pig-nosed man and pushed his body into oncoming attackers to throw them off a bit. He looked round helplessly before his gaze finally settled on the water. He looked back at Seto.

"You have got…to be…kidding me?" he managed to get out whilst cutting through the never ending stream of barbarians that seemed to head his way, "The waters almost as dangerous as them staying up here!"

By now, the four pirates had formed a strong circle, the people whom they were trying to protect stood inside of them. They moved as one, doing their best to dodge as many attacks as possible. Katt nodded in agreement whilst ducking and winding her opponent.

"Did you see those hand things? If that doesn't spell trouble for you I don't know what will."

"Well, have you seen the situation we're currently in at the moment lassie?" Bakura snarled.

The pirates continued to bicker amongst themselves whilst fending off attackers. Yugi looked up at Mel with wide, fearful eyes. Jou had his arms wrapped around there small group in a protective manner, willing to risk getting hurt if one of the barbarians swords by chance to make it through the stronghold of the pirates circle. Ryou attempted a reassuring smile and Mel patted her small friend on the head in a motherly way.

"Don't worry Yugi. It'll all be ok," she promised him, although she wasn't all that sure if she herself believed it. It was almost as if she had stood away from her body and was staring at herself with a face that obviously yelled 'LIAR!'

Yugi nodded and watched Yami and his crew keep up their good work, but although they had been doing an excellent job so far, it was obvious that they were tiring as their powerful attacks become slower and they had all gotten a few scratches due to the fact they hadn't been able to defend themselves in time. Yami, although preoccupied with the never-ending flurry of barbarians, stole a few glances back at Yugi to see how he was faring. Once again, he took control of the situation at hand and raised his left hand to signify that they should all stop arguing.

"I think those hand things only appear when that silver mist does," Yami ducked and slashed an oncoming attackers knee's as Seto leant over and plunged his sword through the chest of another, "And by the looks of it, these guys are reluctant to go near the water, otherwise they would have jumped in and gotten up before the hands. I think the safest bet is getting them in the water and perhaps getting them to swim back to the Millennium. We can break up then and make our way back to the Millennium by foot, it'll be much easier defeating this lot in our own individual manner."

Katt sighed in defeat and both Seto and Bakura nodded in agreement at Yami's plan. They backed up to the water, slashing and blocking, battle cries and wailing filling the air and made a line in front of Yugi, Mel, Ryou and Jou. It seemed Yami was correct in his thinking, as many of the barbarians didn't seem too keen on making their way to the edge of the cliffy surface, but there were still more than enough for them to deal with.

"Do you trust me Yugi?" Yami yelled over the clashing of sword and spear.

Yugi whipped his head in the direction of Yami. Yami's face was one of dedication and determination, his crimson eyes flashing dangerously as he blocked attack after attack. He looked up at Mel, who was the nearest person to him, but she was staring at Katt, who was also doing her best to keep the attackers at bay.

"Y-yes Yami. I trust you!" he shouted back.

Yami nodded and pushed forward into the crowd of barbarians, Yugi's answer being what he needed in order to continue. His crew followed suit, breaking their line ever so slightly.

"Jump into the water! Swim back to the Millennium!"

Yugi froze in fear when he heard what Yami had said. Jump into the water? Where all those creepy hands had just been? Oh he didn't think so. No way was he going to do something as stupid as that. Not only that but he couldn't swim! It seemed the rest of his friends agreed with him as Jou marched up to Seto and shouted down his ear:

"Are you crazy?! Just give us weapons we can defend ourselves just fine thank you!"

"The waters as much of a death trap as up here is! I agree with Jou!" Mel said determinedly.

"Just do as your told mutt!" Seto pushed Jou back, "Trust us!" and with that, he pushed Jou firmly over the edge and into the water, were he landed with a loud splash.

Mel gasped in horror and Yugi and Ryou held their breath fearfully, waiting for their friend to come up. A couple of seconds later, Jou floated to the surface, shaking slightly and scowling. Seeing that her friend was all right, Mel glanced back at the pirates before jumping in, pulling a surprised Ryou with her. Yami looked back and freaked out as he saw Yugi was the only one of his friends left on the cliff edge, looking down at the water as if it were going to eat him.

"I thought you said you trusted me Yugi! Just jump!"

"But Yami I-" he didn't get to finish as he was pushed over. As he was falling, he continued to shout, but Yami couldn't hear him. It was then Katt turned around, a look of horror and realization on her face.

"Oh Christ! Yami! Yami he can't swim!"

Yami stared at Katt incredulously before looking back down at Yugi, who was thrashing and kicking to keep himself a float. Mel, Ryou and Jou weren't faring too well either, but Yugi seemed to be the one struggling the most. No one had to worry much further however, because coming somewhere deeper in the caves, a horn sounded. The barbarians stopped mid-attack and suddenly fled back to their hiding place in the shadows. The ground started to shake and the waters current started to become much stronger, washing Yugi back into the arms of his friends before washing the four of them back the way they had come.

The ground continued to shake violently and the ceiling threatened to cave in. Yami stared after Yugi in a vain attempt to seek him out in the darkness, but soon gave up and looked back at his crew who were staring back at him, questioning looks on their faces. A few of the torches that illuminated the room they were in flickered and went out, leaving them in semi darkness as rocks of all different sizes crashed down from above them and blocked the only way out for them. They all lay flat on the floor, arms covering their heads as the rocks continued to fall. Eventually, when the shaking started to die off and there was no apparent threat of anything else falling and crushing them, they picked themselves up off the floor and looked around carefully.

There was no sign of the barbarians; the sound of the horn had appeared to scare them off. The only question now was: what new threat was going to head their way?

"Why didn't you tell me he couldn't fucking swim?" Yami growled at Katt, harshly shoving her into a wall. She winced before scowling back at him, shoving him back with equal force.

"I forgot ok? For fucks sake Yami it's allowed!"

"He could have drowned! It would have been a totally different matter altogether if it was Mel we were talking about wouldn't it?"

"Excuse me? Don't bring her into this! I was a bit pre-occupied with trying to keep us all alive, you can't expect me to remember everything!"

"It's one simple thing Katt! It's easily remembered! And if I want to bring Mel into this I sure as hell will because you know I'm right."

Bakura and Seto made a move to break the argument up, but for a brief moment it seemed their assistance wasn't needed.

"I'm only human Yami!"

Seto tensed and Bakura looked up at him, feeling the suspense build in the air around them. They'd just come out of one battle; they didn't need to be getting into another. Yami chuckled, his deep laughter vibrating off the walls around them. When he spoke, his voice held slight accusation and humor.

"Human, Katt?"

"Oh you bastard!"

Katt flew angrily at Yami, punching him hard in the face. Yami recovered quickly, rewarding Katt with a harsh blow of his own. Seto and Bakura ran forward, pulling them both off each other. They both kicked out, trying as best they could to inflict whatever pain was possible to the other.

"Grow up the pair of you! We need to find a way out of here and we can't do that if you two are beating the bloody crap out of each other!"

"It's not often you'll hear me agree with Seto, but he's right. What the fuck has gotten into you both?"

Yami and Katt both sent their nastiest glare at the other before turning away, neither of them saying a word. Seto sighed and Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Fine, don't tell us what the hell's going on, but you're going to have to put aside your little disagreement so that we can get out of here. Preferably alive."

Still not saying a word, Yami surveyed the room they were in. There was no way they could get out the way Yugi had gone. There was only one way out now.

"Right then. Forward we go."

Malik wasn't as surprised as he probably should have been to wake up in Marik's arms. They were in the exact same position they had been when play-fighting with each other and he'd gotten quite warm in the safety of Marik's arms. From deep with in the caves, he heard a dangerous rumbling sound-and it was getting closer. Pushing Marik off him gently, Malik stood up and leant over the side of the ship, peering into the darkness to try and find out what was causing the sound. He really hoped Yugi and his friends were all right…

Marik was by hid side in an instant, as the rumbling grew louder. Grabbing Malik by the waist, he dragged him back to the middle of the ship before lying back down, one arm covering his head and the other covering Malik's back protectively. He was just about to ask his look-alike what he was doing when he saw that serious look morph onto his face and so, he moved in just a little closer and copied Marik's movements.

Suddenly, a rush of water hit them, rocking the ship and pushing them backwards. They hit the narrow walls continuously like they were in a weird game of ping-pong and something that was hard, but to soft to be rock, hit him on the head and splattered out onto the deck. When the rocking and water had stopped, he opened his eyes, which he had clenched shut when things started to fall around them and stared around them. They were outside the caves once more and the sun had just started to rise. In the pinkish light, he also noticed that Yugi, Ryou, Jou and Mel had joined them once more.

His friends were soaking wet and shaking as they tried to sit up, confused looks on their faces. Malik hurried over, leaving Marik in his wake and crouched down in front of them.

"Guys? Are you all ok? What happened?"

Yugi nodded and looked back towards the entrance of the caves, "Yeah we're ok, just a little shocked I guess."

Malik was about to ask were the pirates had gotten off too when a voice from above caught their attention.

"Either Yami's crew has just grown cuter or they've pissed off another sorcerer and they've been turned into amazingly cute children."

The person who had spoken was a man, probably not much older than themselves, with curly black hair and piercing green eyes. He was dressed lavishly, a red baggy tunic, a black waist coat with the ace of hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds on and a gold belt. He also wore black trousers and a pair of crimson boots, much in the same style of Marik's and Yami's but with the toe being slightly more pointed at the end, Malik noticed. He jumped down from his place on the mast and walked over smiling to their little group.

"Who are you? Why the hell are you here?" Malik asked, slightly peeved at being referred to as children.

"Me? Why I'm here to help."

Dun Dun DUUUUN! Why who is this new person? Can you guess who?

Tune in next time to find out!