Chapter: 12

It was late at night when Seto crawled out of bed, left his bedroom, walked down the hall, and headed down stairs. Yugi, his friends, Ash, Misty, Sabrina, and Kali all slept in the living room but there was no Shika. He wandered around the whole mansion and then headed outside to search the backyard.

Sure enough, Shika was outside, sitting on a bench, in the backyard. She was staring up at the night sky. She then looked over her shoulder and quickly looked away. "What do you want?" She hissed.

Seto just strolled over to her and sat down next to her on the bench. He stared at the stars and said, "They really are beautiful, aren't they?"

Shika looked at him with surprise. She looked up at the stars and nodded. "Yeah." She muttered. She let the long silence between them sink in.

They just stared up at the stars, neither saying a word. It was a peaceful moment and they didn't want to ruin it, even if their eyes ached.

Shika sniffed and Seto looked at her. "You're crying." He told her.

Shika looked at him as tears streamed down her cheeks. "So are you." She pointed out.

Seto smiled as he wiped away a tear. "Apparently." He murmured.

Suddenly—and out of nowhere—a thick blanket of smoke came and surrounded them. They pinched their eyes shut and covered their mouths as they coughed and choked.

"Looks like you're in trouble." Jessie's voice called.

"I guess we'll have to make it double!" James's voice added.

"Team…Rocket!" Shika shouted between coughs.

"That's right twerp!" Jessie mocked.

"We didn't even finish our motto!" Complained James.

Seto opened one eye to see a little. He shot to his feet as he grabbed Shika's hand and they ran to get out of the smoke.

Shika opened her eyes to see where they were going. Once they were out of the smoke they were stopped by a Victreebel, owned by James.

Next to the Bell Pokémon, stood Meowth. "Would you believe we're not after your Pokémon?" He said.

Seto and Shika moved their hands away from their mouths. "What do you want?" Seto snapped.

"You two." Meowth hissed and Victreebel shot out a strange blue powder at the black haired beauty and the brunet CEO.

Shika clasped her hand over her mouth. "Don't breathe it in!" She cried. "It's Sleep Powder!"

Seto covered his mouth but he had already breathed in some of the powder. He felt sleepy and his knees buckled, dragging Shika down with him—since he never let go of her hand.

Shika had to move her hand away to stop her from hitting her head against the ground. She accidentally breathed in the blue powder. She began to feel sleepy. "No." She muttered. "Kaiba!" She and Seto passed out. Kali. She thought.

Mokuba. Thought Seto.

- - - - - - - -

It was morning and Mokuba went to check up on his brother—only to find that Seto wasn't there. He searched the whole mansion and had Yugi help him. As it turned out, Shika was missing too and Kali and Atem were searching for her. "This isn't good." Said Sabrina with her arms folded over her chest.

"I did find this stuck on the thorn bush." Mokuba announced as he held a piece of white fabric in his hand. "Something tells me it was Team Rocket."

Sabrina took it and suddenly got a vision.

Vision…It was in a dark room. Seto and Shika were chained to the middle of the floor. They looked battered and beaten. For whatever reason, Seto was holding Shika in his arms as if to comfort her.

A door opened and the silhouette of a man stood in the light, but it was hard to see whom he was. However, his voice was familiar when he said, "I thought I taught you better than that. Never show weakness."…End of vision

Sabrina snapped back to reality and found everyone staring at her. "Giovanni." She breathed.

"Great." Joey moaned. "Where is he?"

Sabrina shook her head. "I don't know." She answered. "I saw a dark room with Kaiba and Shika chained to the floor."

"Are they ok?" Demanded Kali and Mokuba.

Sabrina shook her head again. "They didn't look so good." She replied.

"If we don't find them soon," announced Atem.

"Who knows what could happen." Yugi added.

Kali's eyes grew wide in realization. "Askari!" She cried. "He can track them down by sensing them with his aura!" She took out her Lucario's pokéball and sent him out. "We'll also use Horus and Tatsu to search through the air. We'll also cover more ground if we split up."

The others nodded. "We're gonna cover all of our bases?" Joey muttered.

Kali nodded. "Askari told me that it's difficult to sense someone when there's a bunch of people in an area." She explained. She looked around the room. "Anyone that wants to stay, raise your hand now or everyone is going."

"What's the point in staying?" Ash hissed. "We're all going…right?"

Misty, Téa, Tristan, Sabrina, Joey, Mokuba, Yugi, and Atem nodded. "We're in this together." Téa said. "No matter how serious it is."

Kali smiled softly. "All right!" She cheered. "We'll just need to leave some Pokémon behind to protect the tablet."

"About Elektra?" Sabrina muttered.

Kali checked all of her sister's pokéballs—that were left behind—and saw that Elektra's pokéball was missing. "Elektra should be with Shika. Minun might have followed, if we're lucky." She sent out Lothíriel, Horus, Ciar, Askari, Theodore, Ivy, Evalon, Fox, and Veil. She told Lothíriel, Ciar, Askari, and Evalon to listen to the others if there is any problem, Horus to search the sky once they were outside, and Theodore, Ivy, Fox, and Veil to stay and guard Palkia's tablet. She had also asked Sabrina's Kadabra to stay and protect the tablet as well.

"What about Thora?" Asked Yugi.

Kali smiled. "She might faint because she can't control her electricity yet," she answered, "but she's still coming with me."

"And the others?" Atem said with some worry in his voice.

"They'll be able to handle off Team Rocket if they come to steal the tablet." Kali replied. All of them headed outside and she sent out Tatsu. She told him, after his big confusion fit, to search around the city with Horus. Everyone split up into pairs and hurried off in different directions each team with one Pokémon.

Kali, Mokuba, and Thora made team one. Ash, Misty (expected), and Lothíriel made team two. Yugi, Atem, and Askari made team 3. Joey, Tristan, and Evalon made team 4. Sabrina, Téa, and Ciar made team 5.

- - - - - - - -

Thief Bakura wandered aimlessly and he saw Yugi, the Pharaoh, and a strange creature running ahead of them. He ignored the creature and the duo and continued on his long walk. He stopped abruptly when he spotted a man that was far too familiar. "Marik." He muttered.

"Hello Thief King." He mocked with his evil—almost demonic—voice. "It is so good to see you."

"I wish I could say the same about you." Bakura hissed. "How did you ever get out of the Shadow Realm? Last time I checked, the great and powerful Pharaoh sent you there."

Marik laughed. "Yesss, but someone got me out of the Shadow Realm." He replied.

"I guess that means I'll have to put you back myself." The thief ran at Marik and tried to hit him, but much to his surprised, he missed the dark and evil Egyptian.

Marik hit Bakura in the back. He then chanted something and an explosion struck the Thief King hard.

Bakura hit the ground and skidded to a halt. He felt something warm trickle from his forehead.

Marik stalked towards Bakura, knelt down next to the injured thief, and pulled out a knife.

- - - -

Askari stopped abruptly, made grunting noises, and pointed down an alley. Atem and Yugi nodded and followed him into the alley.

Lying on the ground was Bakura. He looked like he was beaten for hours and he was bleeding just above his eyebrow and his stomach looked like he was stabbed.

Yugi ran up to him—not really caring that he was a thief at the moment—and tried to help him.

Askari went up to help too but Atem hesitated.

Yugi looked at him and snapped, "Don't just stand there! Help me!"

Atem sighed with defeat and hurried over to help.

"M…" Bakura murmured. "Mar…Marik."

The color drained from Yugi and Atem's faces. "What?!" They cried in unison.

Askari held his hand—err…paw—over Bakura's stab wound and his aura seemed to heal it.

"Marik." Bakura repeated. "H…He's back."

"But I sent him to the Shadow Realm." Atem retorted.

"Then someone brought him back, Atem." Yugi told him.

"Then I'll just put him back!" Atem shouted.

"We've got bigger fish to fry." Yugi snapped.


dragonchild247: Uh-oh. Marik just tried to kill Bakura, Kaiba and Shika are kidnapped, and everyone is looking for them. I think it was a little change of pace to have Kaiba kidnapped…though I really think he's been kidnapped before. But! Team Rocket has never kidnapped Kaiba! Surprisingly, Atem and Yugi seem to understand Askari, Kali's Lucario. Please review.