Desperate Moves and Measures

"Mother?!" asked the man. He let go of Sarah's hands.

"Yeah!" she shouted, pulling her arms away from the rope. "I'm Sarah Valentine-Wheeler. Mai Valentine, female duelist extraordinaire, is my mom and Joey Wheeler, third best duelist in the word according to game creator Maximillion Pegasus, is my dad!"

"How many times do you think she rehearsed that so she could say it and not go out of breath?" snorted Jake.

"She married that loser with the bad hair-do?!" asked Jean-Claude.

"Oh," Haushinka gasped. "THAT'S where I heard his name!! My mom told me all about him and how he tried to get Sarah's mom to marry him!"

"Hey!" Sarah said indignantly. "My father has great hair! What's up with YOURS?! You barely have any!" She flipped her own dirty-blonde locks. The comment might not have been nearly as angering if she hadn't inherited his sporadic bangs. "You have some nerve calling my dad a loser! Who got the girl in the end?!" She crossed her arms and turned away, "That's what I thought."

He laughed at her, "You've got spunk, kid. Just like your ol' mom. How'd you like to come back to Hollywood with me?"

She looked him up and down and said, "You're probably old enough to be my grandpa, so no thanks. Besides ..." she took a step towards Kenneth, "I'm spoken for." The group looked around at each other and smiled slyly.

"I see," said Jean-Claude. "But I'm sure Mai would pay dearly to get you back."

He took Sarah's hand, tugged it, and pulled her from behind the velvet rope. He dragged her down the carpet. The group gasped.

"What is he doing?!" yelled Jack.

"Let me go, you crazy geezer!" yelled Sarah. She hit his surprisingly firm hand, "LET ME GO!!!" Jean-Claude picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and ran off the red carpet.

"WHOA!!" she screamed as he tossed her into the air. As he took her away from the crowd she screamed, "AHHHHH!!! AHHHHHH!!!"

"SARAH!" shrieked Jack and Kenneth. They jumped over the velvet rope and took off after him.

"Okay, so now we've lost three of us," said Jake. "Now what do we do?"

"If there's a problem?"

"I go to the nearest payphone and call you right away."

"Jake, do you have a cell phone?"

"Of course," he said, bringing out a cherry red mobile phone. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Well, I don't," she said. "Can I borrow that?"

"Sure," he complied, placing the phone in her hand.

"You and Gen go after them before they try to kick his butt and lose!" exclaimed Haushinka. "I'm gonna call my dad." Instinctively, not a thought put to it, she gave Jake a quick farewell peck on the cheek, "He'll know what to do." She flipped the phone open and started dialing her number.

"Pick up, pick up," she chanted.

Jake stood in place for a moment, staring at her, put a hand to his cheek, and smiled.

"Come on!" shouted Gen. "Let's go!" Reluctantly he took his hand off his cheek and started to push through people with Genesis.

"Excuse us, friends of the victim--er--kidnapee --er--abductee--um... just let us through!" screamed Jake. They leapt gracefully over the rope.

At the Turtle Game Shop, Yugi and Téa sat together, eating dinner alone. Yugi kept glancing at the empty chair Haushinka usually sat in.

"I wish you had bought her a cell phone," Téa sighed. "I'd like to see how she is, too."

Suddenly, the phone rang.

Yugi went to pick it up. He stared at the foreign number and asked, "Téa, do we know this number?"

She got up and said it a few times to herself, "No."

The couple glanced at one another. That could only mean ...

"HAUSHINKA!!" yelled Yugi. He picked it up.

"Dad, it's Haushinka!" she yelled before he could say anything.

"What's wrong?" asked Yugi. "What did that boy do to you?!"

"Jean-Claude Magnum kidnapped Sarah!" she yelled. "He wants her mom to come after him!"

"That's terrible publicity," Yugi mumbled to himself. He asked Haushinka, "Where are you now?"

"I'm at the theater," she told him. "The rest of the gang went after him."

"You're at a payphone?"

"No, Jake's cell."

Yugi put his hand on the bottom of the phone, "Téa, say that number again."

She did.

"Write it down," he ordered.

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," he promised. "Just write it down." He took his hand off the phone, and demanded to his daughter, "Go after them! I'm going to get her parents and find you."

"Okay, Dad," she said. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said. She closed the phone and he hung up.

"Get your coat, Téa," he said. "We have to get Joey and Mai."

"What's wrong?!" she shouted.

"Sarah's been kidnapped!"

"Oh no!" she gasped. She took the coats off the hangers and handed Yugi's to him.

"I'm driving," he insisted, dashing out the door behind her.

"He did WHAT?!" Mai screamed, utterly shocked at the news.

"He took Sarah," Yugi repeated.

"What a psycho!" she said breathlessly to herself. "If he wants me, he'll get me." She went to find her motorcycle helmet.

Joey gritted his teeth and started to growl, "That BASTARD! First he tried to steal my wife, and now he wants my daughter!!? Well it ain't gonna happen!" He pulled his duel disk out and put it on his arm, "Joey Wheeler is officially coming out of retirement for one helluva duel!"

"Let's roll," said Mai, tossing her extra helmet to Joey. They left out the front door, followed by Yugi and Téa.

In the parking lot, the Mutos slid into their car while the Valentine-Wheelers stood before Mai's motorcycle.

"Do I HAVTA ride in the back?" he asked.

"Can you drive a motorcycle?" she screamed hysterically, obviously thinking his priorities weren't straight while their daughter was in danger.

"I'll ride in the back," he concurred.

They sped off into the night, with the Mutos' car tailing them closely.