Past Repeating - Book 1

Unbearable Darkness

Star Chips: Yugi: 6/Joey: 4/Sarah: 5

I looked up at the darkening sky, as the sun began to set, and saw birds fly back to their nests. The sky's haze left purple and orange in its wake during the duel, before darkness took its place. Dusk always intrigued me: it would be colourful one moment before changing into a completely different scene in another. Tree shadows grew tall and merged together to form a dark blanket beneath our feet. Trunks seemed to weld together with nothing but dark spaces between them. The sky overhead was now a dark blue, and we could barely see each other. Our talking about the duel made us forget what time actually was; a consistently changing thing.

From my duffel bag I pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, lighting up the ground.

"Whoa!" Joey jumped at the sudden sight of the light, and then glared when Téa and Tristan started snickering at him. "I wasn't expecting that!"

I blinked. "Oops."

"You have a big, strong dragon to protect you now," said Tristan, swinging his arm around his friend's neck. "You've got nothing to be afraid of."

Joey pulled out the Red-Eyes Black Dragon card that Rex had reluctantly given up, even after setting the rules himself. "I can't believe I actually won this thing," he said.

"It's a great addition to your deck, Joey," said Yugi. "You're getting stronger with each duel."

"We're so proud of you," said Téa with a smile.

Joey grinned proudly as his accomplishments were being recognized, and he was being praised for it. "Yeah! I'm getting close to the next level!" he said.

I handed Yugi and Joey each a miniature flashlight that I had packed for them, just in case we ever got stuck in a dark hole, but there wasn't enough for everyone since Téa and Tristan surprised us with their appearance on the boat. "You won't make it to the next level by running into a tree in the dark, so please keep these close," I said.

Tristan burst out laughing as Joey blushed from my sneaky comment. "R-Right..." he said, turning the flashlight on and jumping at the sight of a tree two inches from his nose.

"Thanks, Sarah..."

"You've come prepared," noted Téa.

"Er... yes," I said sheepishly. "I did not know what to bring so I brought anything that I thought would help. I apologize there aren't enough for everyone." I held out the flashlight I was holding for Téa to take, but she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it! We'll follow your lead," she said with a smile. "Thank you for thinking this far ahead."

"Yeah, I never thought we would need a flashlight," said Yugi, turning Joey's flashlight so that it lit up his face in an eery way. Joey jumped again.

"Guuuuys..." groaned Joey as both Tristan and Yugi started to laugh. I was finding Yugi to be quite the joker himself, and at just the right moments too.

"Okay, now let's use these to find a place to set up camp," said Téa. "It's too dark to duel now, so we might as well rest somewhere around here."

Then she shivered. "Even though... it's in the woods..."

We were surrounded by tall, dark trees. Without the help of light, we wouldn't have been able to see two feet in front of us. It was most likely that all the other duelists on the island have also set up camp for the night thinking the same thing.

I never thought we would go camping in the middle of a tournament.

"Téa's right," said Yugi. "It's too dark to move around carelessly."