Twilightknight1594: Ok, it's going up at 2:10 AM, or around there. Granted, it isn't exactly Saturday but it is a lot quicker than the other updates. And, depending on what time zone you live in, it might actually still be Saturday.

Bakura: That's pushing it.

Atem: Please enjoy everyone.

Bakura: Yes, please, do take pleasure in our misery.

"Well, hello kids. Having fun?" The man slowly walked into the room from the shadows into the dim lighting of the center of the room, reminding everyone in the room of stories of evil spirits and demons. What brought that thought to mind especially was the wide, clown-like smile that was on his face, making him appear to be even more psychopathic than Bakura or the Pharaoh had first thought.

"No, we are not having fun now that you mention it. We want to leave, now!" Bakura yelled. He was now standing, attempting to look as intimidating as he used to before the spell but…he was failing miserably.

"Looks like we have a little upstart amongst us. Do you have anything else to say pipsqueak?"

"Don't say anything else Bakura. We don't know what this guy will do." Atem said from the ground. He didn't want to do anything to provoke the maniac in front of them and standing seemed like it would achieve just that so he stayed where he was. Bakura turned and looked down at him.

"Be quiet Pharaoh, I will do what I want. I am not afraid of some pathetic excuse of a criminal who has nothing to do but commit sorry crimes and leave tons of evidence around." Bakura was about to turn back to the kidnapper at the door, but noticed that the room had gotten a little darker. He slowly looked to the side and up to the face of the kidnapper himself, who was no longer smiling.

"I believe, you have said too much."

"What do you mean by…" Bakura was cut off as the man grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the wall, which created a loud thud sound that echoed through the room.

"BAKURA!" Atem yelled, trying to get up. But he was soon stopped as the man then picked him up, only this time he did so by the back of his shirt much like a cat does to her kittens.

"You're the one who got away. You caused a lot of trouble getting the police involved. I guess I'll have to make sure you end up somewhere…special." He gave Atem a menacing smirk and dropped him on the hard concrete floor and walked toward the center of the room and turned to everyone. "Now, listen up. I have some good news for everyone. You will not be spending very much more time here. We will be taking a little trip tonight and you shall be picked up into the loving care of some of my…associates. That is, if they pay the right price." Yuki, Blake, and James were sitting in a group now and looked terrified. Yuki was whimpering, Blake was actually tearing up, and James looked like he was about to burst out into tears. Atem looked back at Bakura who was now glaring at the man, and Atem knew he was coming up with all kinds of terrible things to do to their captor whenever the next time was that he could. The kidnapper just looked over the group and saw Bakura. "Well, someone certainly has some spunk. There aren't many kids who could come up with a look like that, especially after being thrown at a wall. I'd expect you to be crying."

/That's what you'll be doing when I get a hold of you./ Bakura thought, but he said nothing. He really didn't want to be thrown again.

"I'll make sure you go somewhere special too." The man went to the door and as he was leaving looked over his shoulder. "We'll be leaving in two hours. Better make the best of it." He laughed to himself and then closed the door. Atem listened as he left and soon heard Bakura moving.

"Bakura, are you alright?"

"Would you be if you had just gotten through against a concrete wall?"

/No./ Atem thought. He didn't say anything though because Bakura was already standing and walking over the door. Clearly his wounds were more towards his ego than his body. Atem watched at Bakura tapped, hit, and eventually kicked the door. Bakura also checked the lock and the door's hinges. Shaking his head he walked back over and sat down near the oil lamp.

"That has got to be one of the most solid doors I have ever seen."

"Does that mean that we can't get out of here?" Atem asked, getting worried.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that…but… it's going to be difficult. Those hinges are new. There's not a sign of rust or use on them, and it's the same with the door knob, which happens to be missing an internal lock to pick. It doesn't matter though because I've noticed that I am missing my lock-picks. He must have taken them. To add to it all, that door is thick. I can even kick it and I can't hear anything behind it. It's like I kicked a wall. It's probably made of oak or something. It's also probably very thick."

"So…are we not going to escape?" Both Atem and Bakura turned to see Yuki, Blake, and James now looking at them. James and Yuki were now crying.

"Well…" Atem said, trying to figure out a nice way to tell the kids that the situation was essentially hopeless unless some miracle happened, but the girl ran over there and started to panic.

"But you both promised! You promised!" She said, almost as if she was begging Atem and Bakura, and in effect, she was.

"Look, no one said it was hopeless, just difficult." Everyone looked at Bakura. "We have a shot when he comes for us. We can all rush him and possibly slip by and out the door. He wouldn't suspect it."

"Uh…Bakura. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think that plan will work."

/If you don't mean to be then don't say anything./ "Really? Do tell Pharaoh. Enlighten us."

/Wow he's angry./ "Well, for one I think the door's a bit too small for us all to just run by him at once, and even if we go in a line or one-by-one he will eventually stop us and not everyone will get out."

"Who said anything about us going around him?" Atem sat there for a minute and then what Bakura meant struck him.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Not at all. Why not Pharaoh?"

"Why not?! I don't know, maybe because he is about three times our height, who knows how much heavier, and we are dealing with some people who might not be as willing to do this as your plan assumes they are." Bakura looked over at the kids who were still shaken, but for the most part had stopped crying.

"How badly do you want to leave?" Bakura asked, almost staring the kids down in an attempt to get the answer he wanted.

"Um…bad." Yuki said.

"Yea, really bad." James said. Blake nodded in agreement.

"Would you be willing to tackle that guy in an attempt to escape?" The kids didn't do much as they thought about it. Clearly they were afraid. "If you don't do something chances are you will be sold like a slave into some form of torturous environment and never see your family ever again so you might want to make a decision."

"Bakura!" Atem said, shocked at the fact that Bakura would be that straight even with young children.

"Well it's the truth Pharaoh, there's no reason to sugarcoat it. The world's full of people like this fool and they have to learn that sooner or later. What better time than when you've been captured by one?"

"I'm hoping this isn't the voice of experience…" Atem said, almost wishing he hadn't. Bakura sounded like he knew too much about that to just be talking from this one experience.

"Of course not! If you can't hold me in a dungeon made of stone then what makes you think that some fool could hold me in a hut in the desert, or wherever it is that people did this kind of thing did it then. I just want them to understand the severity of the situation so that they will make a decision. I refuse to be sold like a slave to some potential pedophile!" Atem sat there for a second and looked like a door had been slammed in his face.

"You…actually think that's what he meant…?" Bakura looked at Atem like he was the biggest idiot in the world.

"You really are sheltered aren't you? OF COURSE THAT IS WHAT HE MEANT! "LOVINGHOME"! SELLING CHILDREN! HOW DO YOU NOT COME UP WITH THAT?!"

"Sorry but it's just not the first thing that I think about!" Atem took a breath and tried to calm down. "Look, let's not argue now. I get it, this is bad. Worse than I thought." He looked over to the kids. "Bakura's right. We need your help if everyone is going to get out of here. What do you say? Will you help us?" The kids all looked at one another and then slowly nodded.

"See what happens when you're nice and use words they understand?" Bakura just scowled and looked at the oil in the lamp.

"I think that oil is measured to light this room only as long as we're here. In other words, but the looks of things, we can tell time by how much is left. It looks like we've already killed at least fifteen minutes. We need to finalize things."

"Like what?" Yuki asked.

"Like who is going to be in front, who will go where, that sort of thing. I think the two of you, I think you said your names were Blake and James, should aim for his arms while the three of us go for his legs. You're heavier than we are so if you go high and we take out his legs he will definitely fall. Especially if we kick him behind the knee."

"I heard that hurt."

"For some it does. It is just a weak point that can cause you to lose balance. Pharaoh, why don't you stand and I'll demonstrate."

"How about I don't and we save the demonstration for when he gets back?" Atem said in a "that's-not-going-to-happen tone.

"Suit yourself." Bakura said with a shrug.

"You guys must be really good friends." Yuki said, looking at them inquisitively.

"I assure you we are not." Bakura said, getting irritated.

"Then why do you two get along so well?"

"Because we have to. I hate him, but I dislike the other guy even more."

"It's true. We can get along, if necessary, but it is a preference that we don't have to deal with each other. He was really going to kick me you know." Atem said trying to hide exactly how much someone thinking he and the Thief King were close friends bothered him.

"But why do you hate each other?" James asked as the other two gathered around in a semi-circle-like formation that just screamed "story time."

"That's… a very long story."

"That's what he said." Blake said, pointing at Bakura.

"You guys are even littler than us. It can't be that long." Atem sat there for a minute, trying to think of a way to answer that but Bakura broke in.

"I lost something important, so I got revenge, and that's all you need to know." Bakura then got up and stalked off to one of the darkest parts of the room and stayed there.

"Wow. What'd you take from him?" Blake asked Atem, who just turned and looked at the boy like he was nuts.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he said he lost something. So if you're the one he's mad at then you had to be the one to do it, right?"

"Well, no. Actually, it was someone else. Someone close to me who did it."

"Then why is he mad at you?"

"Because, while I didn't do the initial action that caused this, I have done some things to him that would make him fairly angry with me.

"Then why did you do those?"

"Because he did something to make me angry."

"But why did he?"

"Because he thought I had… as he phrased it, "taken something" from him."

"But does he know you didn't?"

"Yes but…"

"Then you shouldn't fight anymore." Atem looked back into the Shadows and could tell that Bakura could hear every word, and he could tell that there was no way that they could just bury the hatchet. That would just be impossible for both of them.

"It's just not that simple. I wish it were, but it's not." The kids looked at him in a confused way, but Atem didn't say anymore. Instead, he walked closer to the oil lamp and sat down. He saw how much time they had and couldn't help but think about what would happen if they didn't get out, and how he didn't want that to happen to the children. True, he didn't want that to happen to himself either, but his main concern was the kids. Them and, oddly enough, Bakura. The more he thought about it, the more he realized just how much he needed to get out of there. After all, his sister still needed him to be there. Atem wasn't sure as to how much money their family had and while he didn't necessarily condone Bakura's methods, he actually almost understood them. It isn't like he wouldn't do that if his family needed it. Despite his dislike of the man, he definitely didn't wish anything on his family. /I hope this works./

Downtown Domino 6:30 pm:

"Yug, we've been walking for hours and we haven't seen any sign of either of them." Joey was sitting on the stoop of a run-down apartment building. Yugi and Ryou were standing on the sidewalk, thinking of places to look next.

"We can't just give-up Joey. I know it's been a while but we have to keep looking. We know that they are not in the main part of town and we know that people in the main part of the downtown area haven't seen them either. All that's left is this part of town."

"It makes sense. It is the most run-down. If I were a criminal I would definitely hide here." Ryou added.

"Look guys, I really don't want you to go down here." Joey said as he stood up. "I know what this area is like, trust me. I used to hang out with some pretty shady characters back when I was younger and while I got out of it, some of them weren't so lucky."

"Are you saying they have a bounty on your head Joey? How much would that be worth?"

"ARE YOU THINKING OF TURNING ME IN?!" Joey said as he spun around to get in Ryou's face. Ryou just chuckled.

"I'm kidding. That is what you made it sound like so I just went with it. You don't have to be so dramatic you know."

"Yeah, we know what's down here." Yugi said. "We don't live under rocks you know."

"But Yug, Ryou, no offense or nothin' but you guys are pretty puny. I mean, you don't even look like you know how to fight, and I know you don't unless there's somethin' you've been hiding from me, so if we get attacked by a bunch of guys and.."

"Sorry to interrupt Joey, but I think that looks are going to save us the trouble of a fight."

"Whatdya mean?"

"Well, you know how much I look like the Thief King. I know he's been down here and we all know how he can be if he wants to threaten someone so I think that that means that there's a lot of people down here who would be afraid of him and therefore, only mistakenly so, me." Joey thought for a minute and looked like he liked the plan a little.

"This has to be one of; if not the only time looking like him is a good thing."

"Come on Joey, he's actually mellowed out some. I mean, he doesn't pick as many fights." Yugi said, as always, he was the one to stick up for someone.

"Yeah, well, he still has a bad attitude. And I can't forget what he put us through in Egypt..."

"Uh…Joey…you can't base your opinion of him just on that. I mean, I am the one who knows him best. I think you should at least learn a little more about him before you go insulting him. Either that or let us have free insults at you for your misdeeds." Yugi and Joey looked at Ryou for a minute and Yugi nodded.

"He's right you know."

"Oh fine. Maybe I will. Let's just go. And you had better be right Ryou."

"Oh, don't worry. I am." Ryou said in a way that reminded both Yugi and Joey of Bakura when he knows something no one else did.

"Hey, Yug, he was out for most of Bakura's crimes and stuff right? I mean, he didn't know. And he certainly didn't help right?" Joey whispered to Yugi.

"Uh..yeah…that's what I thought."

"Then why is it that he acts like he knows more than he should?"

"Maybe it's not intentional."

"But he is pretty comfortable here."

"Hey guys, let's go! We don't want to be down here after sunset!" Ryou said. Yugi and Joey looked to see that somehow Ryou had gotten way ahead of them when at first he was just behind them.

"Wow. That's creepy."

"Come on Joey. Like he said, we don't want to be down here after dark." Yugi ran ahead to catch up with Ryou while Joey walked slowly, still thinking about how Ryou had always creeped him out some.

/Well.. I guess that's the past now./ "Wait up guys! We have friends to save." Joey ran to catch up, not noticing a doughnut shop on the other side of the street that had only a few customers in it, video cameras rolling, still with film in them from the other night, and scuff marks on the ground outside the window where small feet had been struggling.

Bakura: Let me get this straight. We are children, kidnapped, are about to be sold, and now our fates are in the hands of Joey the Wonder Mutt!

Atem: Care to explain?

Twilightknight1594: Oh come now. It's not that bad.

Bakura: Did you miss the Wonder Mutt part?!

Twilightknight1594: There's nothing wrong with Joey.

Bakura: Where's Kaiba? He'd beg to differ.

Twilightknight1594: He's not invited. I hope you enjoyed it and the next update should be coming quickly. And will you both stop complaining?

Both: NO!

Twilightknight1594: Can't blame me for trying.

Bakura: Yes we can!

Twilightknight1594: Bye.