"The time to take a stand, or sit…"

AN:This is my expedition into humour. My kind of humour, that is. So either you get it, or you just don't!

WARNING: Some abuse will be directed at many characters.

…but rest assured I'm an equal-opportunity offender…

Also, the car is huge; so yes, they can all fit!

((Talking to the reader - others can't hear this!))

Day 1-night

Yugi's P.O.V.

"Remind me again why I agreed to this." "What, the car contest?" "Yeah, that and not killing you…

((Ok, I guess this doesn't make any sense to you… or maybe it does… if you happen to have a mind-link, like me and Yami. If you aren't so fortunate, lemme bring you up to speed. About a week ago, Joey asked me to help him win a car. Now at first, I thought he needed actual assistance. However this contest is to see which group can stay in a car longer than the other. Each contestant can take ONE item with them into the car, and anything to go along with it, like if you choose a CD player, you can also bring batteries and your whole collection, to help deal with boredom. If any member from the team leaves the car, then that team is immediately disqualified. The exception is that each team member can leave the car for a few minutes per day just for... personal hygiene. The winning team gets to drive it away. So as you see, he didn't need me, so much as just another sitter… Anyone would do. But, I thought 'sure'. I've always tried to help him, and now it just comes down to sitting, and waiting, and staying calm, and makes painful expression with face desperately trying to fight back the boredom. What I hadn't known is that it would be this week, the week of spring break! Joey's going to owe me big time for this! So for the last 9 hours or so, I've been sitting here with the following people: Joey Wheeler, Serenity Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Ryou, Bakura, Malik Ishtar, Marik Ishtar, Arugi Edalin(Hikari) and Sekarth Edalin(Yami).

Now you people out there are all unfamiliar with the last set. Imagine two teen-age guys, both slightly taller than myself, both with light-to-medium brown hair (both wavy), blue eyes, with a passion for writing, and Duel Monsters. Arugi wears a deep blue cardigan, with a light blue buttoned shirt underneath it. He even wears a tie all the time, not just at formal occasions. So, imagine another Ryou, but with blue clothes, and brown hair. Sekarth, on the other hand, never changes from his black shirt that reads "DO NOT PLACE IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT". Sekarth tries to act all dark and creepy, but it just ends up cheesy. Arugi, and his darker side, Sekarth, have an obsession with most of the people I know. As such, they jumped at the chance to spend their time with us. Now that I think about it, that's really dark and creepy on its own…

When I look at the other team, they seem to be picked at random. There were some people that thought I saw in the crowd scene at the start of Duelist Kingdom, but I can't be sure.))

"Well, I never really wanted to spend any more time with you guys either, but, not all of my first-picks could take this much time and waste it." I finally gave in and joined the bickering. "What did you say?" Marik's attention was grabbed. "You just have a lot of time of your hands." He seemed none too thrilled by this observation. "Silence you insolent child, or I'll have blood on my hands too, yours!" "One of the conditions is that all the people have to leave; alive." Serenity pointed out, but, she seemed to be instructing the audience more than anyone else. "Don't make me make 'Kura dig two graves this day mortal!"

((I don't really feel safe going to sleep here, especially since every time I begin to nod off, I can see Bakura smiling more and more sinisterly. Each time he does, Yami pokes me awake, and I am phenomenally glad for that… I hope that twisted spirit sleeps soon. My arm is getting really sore from being poked…))

Day 2-morning

Arugi's P.O.V.

'… and of course it would pick this day to start having warm weather…' I scribbled furiously on the surface of the notepad that I had brought with me. I have this habit of reading everything I write out loud, perhaps, too loudly. "Hey Rug, whatcha writing?" Sekarth pestered. "First, my name is Arugi, not Rug! Secondly, notes for my autobiography…" My Yami smirked. "Who'd waste their time reading about you? No one even likes you!" I said that had to be an exaggeration. Bakura picked up where Sekarth left off. "I don't even know you and I already hate you." "Sko-arch!" Marik finished the burning. "Well, that's not really fair, because you hate many, many, m-a-n-y people. You started to hate me about 30 seconds after you meet me." Ryou pointed out. "Yes, but that's a special kind of hate. It is the kind reserved only for the good!" The taller white-haired one corrected. Bakura, Marik and Malik then gave a collective shudder. Sekarth ended the conversation with the following, "I like you three more all the time" pointing to Marik and his hikari and Bakura. I decided not to respond and I began writing again. 'Actually the weather has gone past warm, past hot and all the way to boiling. In fact, as I am putting this down, I feel my brain being slow roasted. I fear there will be nothing left soon.' Sekarth failed to resist the urge. "…and you would know the difference, how?" With that, I crammed the notepad back into my pocket, closed my eyes and pretended he didn't exist. The illusion never took.

Day 2-afternoon

Bakura's P.O.V.

((The others in the car are growing restless; I don't mind this waiting at all. Marik's here and I have the chocolate that I had brought. When that ceased to occupy my interest, I shrouded myself and Marik in the shadow realm. Once we were safe from prying eyes, we began to work on a miniature time bomb that I shall plant in this car. Ha! Even if that "brainiac" wins this vehicle, it shall cease to exist two days after we leave!))

When I was done with that, I began to scrape to back windshield with Sekarth's pocket knife. I wrote 'Die Pharaoh! 'Kura wuz here! Class of 2005!' I'm not exactly sure what that last part means, but, I've heard it so many times I thought 'why not'?

Day 2-evening

Ryou's P.O.V.

By my watch it was about 7:30 when it started to go downhill. Tristan thought it was a good idea to put some music on; we all agreed. We took a vote for which CD to play from Yugi's collection. The winner was Billy Talent. Of course now they began the argument as to which song to play first. It truly NEVER ends with these people. Marik and Bakura suggested "River Below". Yugi preferred "Try Honesty". Joey seemed intent on "The Ex". Arugi and Sekarth (surprisingly) shouted "Voices of Violence" simultaneously, upon which Arugi immediately changed his selection to "This is how it Goes". I sheepishly piped up with "Nothing to Lose". This was particularly poorly received by Joey, who left the driver's seat, and his sister in the passenger seat, to go back and whisper forcefully in my ear. "Listen up now Ryou. I dunno if you think that depression makes for a good song. However' my sis hasn't been her usual self lately. That said; I would really prefer if you could refrain from suggesting songs of that nature. That's all she needs is one more bad experience, to push her over the edge. Please, now that you know, be more sensitive." I nodded knowingly, and he went back to his seat. At the end of it, they decided to just put on some Phil Collins, "Another day in Paradise" specifically. I desperately hope they were going for irony! They soon found out that the CD began skipping, severely. Tristan, at this time had a breakthrough. It was 'maybe if I push as many buttons as possible, as fast as possible, the problem will resolve itself'. This idea may not have had quite as much merit as he thought. For about half a minute, the CD played normally. Then, it kept playing, roughly the same 5 seconds, over and over and over again… I saw Yugi ask Yami why he hadn't talked at all yet, he had just sort of made frustrated noises though his gritted teeth.

His response didn't come in words, but instead yanked the notepad from Arugi and spent a minute carving his words into the page. When Yugi was done reading it he looked worried. I motioned for him to pass me the note, and so he did. It said, 'Hikari, if I open my mouth for even a second I will scream! You have made a horrifyingly bad error in judgment. Why would you choose to spend time with some creep and his Tomb-Robber accomplice? Then there's the Ishtars! Could you be any more naive? I don't even know that Arugi kid, but that kind of obsession can't be healthy! Not to mention that wannabe punk he's got hanging around with him…' I felt a little sad, that he thought of me as a creep. However, Yugi seemed to be trying to convince his Yami that I (alone) was quite benign. It was of little use, old habits die hard and the Pharaoh holds on to grudges like it's going out of style. There was more, but it probably wasn't important…

The CD skipped on and Malik was the first one to crack, as I knew all too well his was the thinnest patience. "That's it! Marik, destroy it! Put it out of my misery! Marik complied with him, raising the Millennium Rod, and the CD simply stopped. When Joey tried to get the disk out, he looked into the drive, and saw a thick purple fog billowing inside. "You sent the CD player to the shadow realm?" Yugi said, with hints of worry and frenzy in his voice. I added an important point. "Between the CD player and what Bakura was doing, by the time Joey wins this car it won't be worth keeping!" I was met with a swift punch connecting to my shoulder. "Shut up, you're going to give me away!" My evil side snapped.

"…and he's subtle too!" Marik interjected quickly; oddly it seemed to draw attention away from Bakura's antics. On the other hand, that could be explained by hypnosis… After a while, I felt that familiar cold/numb sensation from his touch. It was perhaps, of some mild relief that I had brought my own CD player. The one that was built into the car was never heard from again…

Day 3-early morning

Serenity's P.O.V.

((I just I'm a little bored of this, but the competition is breaking down. They're all fighting over there. I mean, not that we aren't fighting, but, I dunno… There is one thing we all agree that we won't allow ourselves to be beaten by a bunch of nobodies like them.

Oh yeah, and that creepy white-haired guy has stopped smirking so often. Joey says that I'm right on the money not to trust him though. Then again, at least with him you can get a definite answer; I'm not so sure about that Arugi kid. A while ago I thought I heard a ticking noise… That's got to be more of his work. Whatever it is, it seems that I'm the only one who noticed it. I've got to do something. I'm going back there…))

Day 3-noon

Arugi's P.O.V.

Ryou doesn't start a lot of conversions, with others. However he has talked for about the last 15 to 16 minutes nearly non-stop at a level that was barely audible. From what I could tell, it was caused by his listening to a motivational CD. He had been repeating positive phrases over and over again. To Bakura this was akin to when the CD player was repeating itself. He noticed that Ryou paused a bit before each repetition. "Yes I am…" Ryou would whisper. Before he started again, Bakura would question him with something like, "Are you an insolent moron?" Ryou unfortunately never heard him and would continue. "Yes I am…" "Are you a pathetic loser?" "Yes I am…" "Are you a person who has no friends?" "Yes I am…" "Areyoutheworstsmellingpersoninthiscar?" "Yes I am…" Marik joined in. "AreyouthekindofpersonthatIwouldliketothrowtothe

scarabs?" "Yes I am…" Bakura had to congratulate him on being able to fit all that in, in time. Tristan tried feebly with, "Do you eat crap?" "Yes I am." They all stared fiercely at the person who had single-handedly destroyed all the fun in that game. "Ok, so maybe that one didn't work out so well." ((He has his moments, which slowly seem to be turning into hours, perhaps days as we continue…))

Day 3-evening

Sekarth's P.O.V.

I decided to fill the void of boredom with a combination of Ryou's CD player, Joey's Green day presents American Idiot ((does that count as irony?)), and occasional duels in the shadow realm with Bakura. Sure, my victories were few and far between, and he would send me there "permanently", but eventually he'd get bored to tears and bring me back… or maybe he just wanted to beat me again.

I always wanted to see the shadow realm first-hand. It's a thick purple fog that covers you in lost souls and vengeful spirits, you know, same old same old. That and every facet of your mortal soul is being bombarded by a cross between fire and lighting at the same time every second. I quite enjoyed it….

I leaned closer to my Hikari and whispered, "Hey 'Wanna-Be-You-Ryou' whatcha doing now? Still writing at that god-forsaken story of yours?" "Yes, not that you care" he replied, without so much as looking me in the face. I wasn't surprised by this though and went on. "Oh, I don't care do I? Well your dead wrong!" He finally was ripped from his page and stared at me with the intent of delivering earth-shattering info. "First, don't say dead wrong, with them around." He pointed at Marik and 'Kura who were grinning, until they noticed that someone was talking about them, at which point they pretended to be looking around like something else had caught their attention. "Secondly, what DO you care about then?" "I care about not caring." He groaned and said, "That never e-v-e-r gets old for you does it?" "No, it doesn't!" I exclaimed. "You're the same way, huh Ryou?" "Yes I am…" They had grown tired of that apparently.

Day 4-morning

Cameraman's P.O.V.

"This has been a very long contest indeed, but that doesn't mean that our competitors show any signs of letting up. At this point, I'd like to get an idea of what everyone is thinking. First, I'll talk with the tall guy with the three coloured hair." I moved the camera into focus about six inches away from his face. The shorter version of him seemed to make it his business to talk for the larger one. "He's got a real name! You can call him Yami." "Ok then. Mister Yami, what are you thinking right now?" These were the first sounds he made all contest. "I'm thinking you would do well to move that camera back, this 'game' has broken my usually composed look." A white haired man snickered loudly in the background. "Thank you, now on to the very lovely young lady." I said kissing the back of her hand. "Hey, watch it buddy, I got enough trouble keeping my sista' away from the sleaze." "Settle down, I'll get to you eventually." He grunted slightly.

"Well," she began in a soft and delicate voice. "…mostly I'm trying to stay focused on this challenge. Also I'm trying to foil the evil plotting of those people back there." The sentence ended with her sticking her thumb over her shoulder. "She's on to us!" The same white snickering guy said, in unison with the giant blonde haired guy, and some wannabe punk kid… The first two turned to face the third and said in a harsh tone, "What do you mean US? You're not one of us!" The third guy looked disappointed asking why not. The following response was too graphic and thus was edited out. A series of maniacal and otherwise boring replies followed. The last one questioned was Joey, just to spite him, for speaking up against my admiring his sister. I remember his name because he made it very public several times, referring to himself in third person. "I'm thinking that if I could make a pizza/burger-flavoured donut, then I'd be rich!" The man has either lost it, or had none to start with…

Day 4-afternoon

Yami's P.O.V.

mind link open 'I wonder how the other team is doing.' Yugi nodded as if to repeat me. 'Sure, maybe they've gone quiet now. However, their silence speaks volumes.' Yugi looked up at me with a puzzled look about his face and questioned the meaning of my comment. 'I really have no clue, little one. But, the readers have come to expect remarks like that from me.'

'What readers?' He had noticed the apparent flaw in my reply. He appeared worried. 'I… mean… the… (Awkward pause) viewers of this broadcast.' 'Real smooth there, Yami.' With that I cancelled the mind link.

Day 4-night

Ryou's P.O.V.

I had requested a duel with Arugi, and he was glad to oblige. The game proceeded quickly, since we weren't worried about the outcome. For once there wasn't a soul at stake. I had made my own deck, since the very thought of Bakura's cards gave me the chills, not that he'd let me use them. My new deck was all about special summoning. Giant Rat, Marauding Captain, Gigantes and United We Stand were some of my favourites. I thought that it was a clever idea to keep replacing the destroyed cards with new ones. Bakura took one look at my United We Stand card and said, "More of your teamwork crap. Ughh… I'm so glad that I'm not on your side." Yes, that's Bakura, eloquence personified. Near the end of the duel, Joey started asking around if anyone wanted to bet on the winner. No takers… I ended up being beaten by his combination of water and wind monsters. It was such an unlikely combination, I never saw it coming… Malik perhaps made the most memorable sentence of the whole day at that point. "Well, with a game like this, even the winner is a loser!"

Day 5-evening

Arugi's P.O.V.

I had perhaps 30 pages of information for my autobiography, but, that was before I fell asleep briefly today. This was where Sekarth stepped in and snatched it… I awoke to smell of burning paper. He and Bakura were sitting there, having a grand old time, lighter in hand, and disintegrating my story. "What the crap are you doing?" Was my first reaction. "Oh, I hadn't intended to wake you. It seemed like you'd never get up." Bakura answer sharply. "How could we resist?" "I told you not to put your dirty hands on my notes!" Sekarth joined the argument. "Hikari, you really have to learn that you are the weaker half, I've no reason to take orders from you." Bakura was cheering him on, saying "Amen, Brother! You tell 'em!" I gritted my teeth and my fists were clenched. I went to punch Sekarth with as much speed as you could attain, inside the confines of a car. He nearly let me too. My fist couldn't have stopped more than two inches from his face. I glowed purple and was placed back in my seat.

"Phht! You're like joke with the same old punch line! So predictable!" Sekarth thought he was being witty. Bakura was somewhat impressed. "How are you able to implement that without a millennium item?" "Simple, it doesn't work against anyone else. It's just that Arugi is sooooo weak!" The laughs that followed were sickening. I wanted to try to hit him again, but didn't bother, on the advice of Sekarth and his newly found friend, Bakura. "I'm going to kill you one of these days!" I tried my best to stay serious, but my voice still trembled slightly. "Not with those attacks you aren't." Sekarth countered. "Let's go ahead and face it! You're the weakest one among us. Well other than this guy…" he said pointing at the other non-evil hikari. "Isn't that right, Ryou? You're really weak, aren't you?" "Yes I am…" It seems that they still have some form of amusement from this unknown torture.

My patience with this cruel game had run out. I reached over to Ryou and pulled the earphones off of his ears. Then, I grabbed the personal CD player, opened it up and took the CD out. In one swift move, I leaned up and threw the CD into the shadow realm portal that had settled into the car's CD player. Do put it delicately Ryou seemed more than a little distraught. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing Arugi?" "Trust me; you'll be better off without it." I defended myself, hopefully. Ryou jumped from his seat, stared at the gapping hole in the console. "I'll never see it again!" "Well… I could help you out with that problem." Marik snickered viciously.

Day 6-morning

Tristan's P.O.V.

((Everyone has been so quiet today. It's creepy! The other team just the same way, so they've got to be ready to crack soon. Then I look back at this team and I want to say something, but I don't. Bet Marik's at his games again! He's not letting anyone speak! Or maybe I'm just not coming up with anything worth saying...))

Day 6-noon

Serenity's P.O.V.

((I've done it! The time-bomb is gone! It was really easy to dismantle. He's probably just too lazy to build a good one! It's kind of bizarre how deeply Bakura and his friends can sleep during the day. If I find anything else wrong, then I'll be sure to get to work sooner. Uh-oh! What do I do if he figures out something happened to it; he might attack me or my brother! Well, probably not my brother. That is, if Bakura realizes Joey isn't smart enough to do anything about a bomb...))

Day 6-afternoon

Joey's P.O.V.

From my pocket, I could hear the beeping of my cell phone. I had gotten a text message. It read, "Joey! Ur math mark is 85!" At this news I stood up straight, and slammed my head into the roof. "Urgh! I'm gettin' sick of dis car!" From the back seat the wannabe punk said, "You'd really think he'd learn by now…" "Who asked you, Sekarth?"

The answer came from the shorter and fancier dressed version, Arugi. "No one did. However if he waited around for that, he'd never get to say anything!" The guy lived to regret this. He found himself being slowly consumed by the shadow realm before Yami Yugi piped up with, "Stop that now, Sekarth. Or else I'll be forced to show you how unpleasant a place the shadow realm truly is!" Sekarth stopped his torture and stared stupidly at Yami Yugi. When he regained his voice, he said only this, "He can talk?" Yugi jumped in at this point and spoke. "Yami's right. Arugi doesn't deserve that… Joey?" He caught my full attention. "Why did you jump anyway?" My mind snapped back to the message. "Well just see for yourself!" I proudly passed the phone to Yugi and his eyes widened. "Pretty impressive, huh?" Yugi was questioning this success. "Joey, who sent you this message?" "Uhh… insert idiot name here… yeah, that's it!" Yugi giggled slightly. "Whaddya laughing 'bout?" "He sent another message! You're friend's is dyslexic! He meant your mark was 58!" I fell down. In an instant, I was up and being hit by insults and, in Ryou's case another round of giggles. In Bakura's case, I was hit by something that seemed a lot like roadkill… (S-t-r-a-n-g-e…) "But, still… it's better than usual!" I stated trying to defend my less the great score. They all began laughing harder than ever. "I hate you people…"

Day 6-evening

Arugi's P.O.V.

"Maybe somewhere else I'll find a new day... Find a solution or some other way...

Until then I guess I'll stay... Lay? Play? Betray? How should I finish this?"

I'm thinking out loud as I write my new song. "Can you just stop?" A sudden snap is noticed in the multi-haired, short one. "What's wrong now?" I try reasoning with him. "You are!" Reasoning has failed. His Yami answers, "He's just recovering from the sugar-high." One eyebrow went up on every one in the car. "Where did he get the sugar?" About a half-dozen voices questioned in unison. Yami replied again, as by this time the little one had found more sugar and was consuming it at an alarming rate. "That was his item. (Angry glares) Yes, in hindsight, I should not have let him take a giant bag of sugar here. However, when he doesn't have his sugar, he gets a little... antisocial." "Ya' mean like Ryou?" puzzled Marik, face laden with more than a slight grin. "Seriously, what do you mean by 'antisocial'?" Yami took a deep breath, sighed and said "Antisocial as in he bites people." All of the glares go to wide eyes, except Bakura who spoke up, simply saying "Cool". "He wouldn't really bite, would he?" Serenity asked nervously. "I'm not honestly sure. He's gotten worse lately--"

Suddenly, a loud crash interrupted them all. The faces in the car turned over to the one opposing them. There laid a rather short boy crumpled in a heap on the ground, the rear-door wide open. In a bright green flash, he was on his feet. "It's Weave-wil!" Yugi shouted, through the sugar in his mouth. True as anything, Weevil Underwood stood making angry faces at the remaining nine members of his 'team'. "I knew it, I so called that!" Espa Roba had rolled down his window, and was shouting back at the turquoise-haired youth. "Please, that bug-freak loses everything first." Rex had poked his head out as well.

The Cameraman raced over to the boy and said in a commanding voice, "You, my friend, are disqualified! And so is your team!" Weevil stood there, stunned for a moment or two as the camera captured every angle of his dumbfounded expression. From the inside of the car came a voice, "What a total loser. If he were a life-savers flavour, he'd be 'bewilder-mint'!" Then, he cracked up. "Yay!" Weevil screeched, "He called me a friend!" If it were possible to do a face-fault inside a car, his 'team' would have. "Come on everyone. Gotta' leave now, ya' didn't win. Get outta' the car!" A succession of whines came then eight people left the interior, wearing varying expressions of disappointment and exasperation. One had not left the car. The Cameraman looked in again and saw Mai, clutching the steering wheel like a person clutches on the edge of a cliff when they fear that they'll fall. "Ok, miss! You have to leave. Let go of the wheel." Without missing a beat, she responds. "Not until you pry it from my cold, dead hands!" She floored the gas and the car rocketed out of the parking lot.

"Uh... er... I... didn't... What the hell just happened here?" The Cameraman stuttered out.

He turns to the other car and said worried, "Well, I guess she won. You people lost the car challenge. Now go home, please, all of you! Just go home! I can't stand you any longer!" He collapsed to the ground. The people standing around him try to distract attention from themselves and walk wordlessly away.

"Okay then," Bakura is the one to break the silence, "I say we take the car anyway..." The rest of the car seemed to be in agreement. "So, where do we want to go?" asked Ryou. "It's still spring break right? I say we gotta' go to tha' beach!" Joey decided for the group, since he was in the driver's seat. "Yeah!" the all chimed in, as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Voices blended together as they sped out of sight. "Hey, anyone want to play Spin the Bottle when we get to the beach?" "Not again, Tristan." "If you try to kiss her one more time, Joey is going to destroy you." I join in "Not you too, Arugi! Man, no one's on my side..." "There's one girl and like nine guys... I don't think he was going after her... hehehe..." "Shut up, Sekarth!" "Why..?" "'Cause I'll kill you!" "Yeah right..."

Day 6-night

Yugi's P.O.V.

Yami looked down at me, mind link open 'Why do you have that look on your face again?' 'Ohh... well Pharaoh, I'm kind of sorry it's over now.' 'Don't worry, Yugi, I'm quite sure that we'll be in another story soon.' His eyes go closed, trying to comfort me. 'Story? What story..?' He pauses and looks down at me. 'Did I say that? I meant...' I silence him, placing a finger to his mouth, and rest my head against his shoulder, trying to go to sleep. 'You're so weird Yami!' mind link closed