Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. It belongs to the creators of the show. However, I do have one request though. It's a simple request really. Please don't "plagiarize" off my written work, which includes original characters/places/names/chapter ideas. I mean if you want to use something that I have written out. That I have worked very hard on and spent many hours reediting, please show some courtesy and ask me first, okay, Thanks – Razzleteddy

Thanks for reading :) Here's chapter 25 :) Enjoy! –- Razzleteddy

Psychic Connections

The three strangers walked hurriedly to the entrance of the hospital, it was night out now, the sun has set and left nothing but a blank of darkness, not even the stars were out. Ryou viewed this a bit worriedly. He didn't like the atmosphere; there was a chill in the air so cold that it brought a slight shiver to the young teen. With that, he moved closer to Malik for comfort as he always done. When they reached to doors, they slid opened and the three walked right into the hospital lobby. Malik inhaled a deep breath while he scanned the place; he wanted to be sure that it was safe first. "Do you know where Joey is?"

Yami creased his brow a bit, "Yes, I think so." He viewed over to the teen, "I heard the doctor say that they moved him down the hall to room twelve for observation." He looked to his right to a clock displayed on the wall, "We better hurry here. Visiting hours is over at nine."

Malik viewed the clock as well. It was eight forty-five, "Right, let's go." He turned around to Ryou for a second; he wanted to make sure that he was still there. He let out breath of relief, "Come on," he reached out and pulled him closer. Ryou creased his worrisome face while the two of them followed the man through the lobby, he then saw him stopped and peaked around the corner down the hall for a second then preceded forward. Malik looked around cautiously while he followed him down the hallway, as he did so he could suddenly sense Joey's essence, it was weak but it was there.

Yami walked hurriedly to the teen's room, when they reached it he moved over to the window, peaked inside and spotted Mr. Wheeler and a young girl sitting in chairs by the boy's bed. He frowned a little, "Damn, the boy's father is in there and some girl," his voice was grim.

"That's Serenity, Joey's sister." Ryou confirmed while he peaked into the window for a moment. He spotted the girl near Joey's bedside with a sad and worried look upon her face. "Don't worry, she's cool."

Yami just nodded before he moved his eyes back to the man. He didn't like the looks of him, his face as hard and mean looking. "Well she really not me concern. It's the father, I just know he'll give us trouble," he furrowed his brow some at the man's glum face.

Malik just smirked to himself, "Don't worry, I can handle him." He was about to head in when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly to Ryou and saw that the worry had never left his face.

"Don't hurt him Malik, okay." Ryou thought, he knew Malik and knew that he could.

Malik sighed and nodded back. He turned toward the door again and preceded inside hurriedly which caught Mr. Wheeler off guard. "Hello Mr. Wheeler," he greeted the man with a hint of distasted in his voice. He never really liked Mr. Wheeler, by his stance, he wasn't right and it might be due to his drinking, he guessed. With a sigh, he turned to the girl briefly, "Serenity," he greeted respectively before he turned back to the man.

Mr. Wheeler looked shocked as he jumped out of the chair that he was in. "What the…? What are you doing here!" he began to shout. He glared at the two teens with anger before he moved his eyes to the other stranger that he hadn't seen before. However, he shook his head and instead moved his attention back to the other two angrily. "Get out!" he pointed his finger at the two, "It's probably your fault my son's here!" he accused with more anger.

"Mr. Wheeler, please," Ryou pleaded with the man. However, he couldn't really blame Mr. Wheeler's anger, he might had ever right to be upset with them. It was probably their fault for poor Joey's mishap. He viewed over to their friend for a moment with worry and fear in his eyes. "Oh Joey…" he murmured sadly, he moved closer to him when Mr. Wheeler shouted at him, which caused him to jump.

"Get away from him!"

"Daddy, please." The girl finally spoke in her soft voice. Serenity moved over to her father to calm him down. She knew his temper and didn't want anyone hurt by it. She rubbed his arm comfortingly while turned her attention to the group. "You must excuse father's outburst, he's just upset over the whole situation." She turned her eyes to her brother sadly, "As you can see, Joey's still unconscious. And we still don't know what happened or who put him here. An-"

"Oh, I know who put him here and I'm looking right at them!" Mr. Wheeler flared his eyes as he pointed his finger at the two teens again. "Just look at them! You know they had something to do with it! It's written over their faces!" He shouted once more, "Do you deny it!"

Ryou bit his lip and casted his eyes down to floor in somewhat guilty fashion. He didn't know how to answer that quite yet. However, with all the circumstances, it seemed that all arrows pointed in their direction. Therefore, with a sigh he viewed back up to the man, "You could be right Mr. Wheeler. It could be our fault that Joey's." He admitted which caused the girl to gasp slightly surprised.

"Aye ha! I knew!" Mr. Wheeler glared at them more. "You punks are nothing more but bad trouble! I mean look just what you did to my poor Joey!" He continued with is rant.

"My god, the way you talk. I'm surprise you even show such concern…" Malik narrowed his eyes a bit, as he finally spoke, "I mean considering the way you treat him half the time." He spat out then smirked slightly at the man's 'how dare you!' remark.

"Please… Mr. Wheeler is it." Yami finally stepped forward with a look of plea in his eyes, "We just need a few minutes with him." He hoped the teen's father would understand.

"And just who the hell are you!" Mr. Wheeler then turned his attention the stranger.

"Oh I'm sorry." Yami straightened up a bit, "My name's Yami Moto." He softened his expression for moment, "I was the one who found your son in the park and brought him in."

"You did?" Serenity viewed the stranger as well then smiled gratefully, "Thank you. Thank you so much for helping him." She was about to go over to hug him when she heard her father shout 'get back'. She then felt him grasp her arm somewhat tight, pulled her back behind him and told her to remain quiet.

"Excuse me sir," Yami hardened his face that man's roughness with girl, "But there's no need to be so rough with the girl." He inhaled a short breath, "She was try-" he began but was cut off.

"Look, don't tell me what to do!" Mr. Wheeler then turned to the other man and glared at him for a moment, "You have no right to be here nor I want you here. So beat it!" He pointed his finger at them again.

"No. Not until we see your son. He may know what happened to my brother and where he is?"

Mr. Wheeler shook his furiously, "Not a chance, now get out!" He narrowed eyes even more, "Before I call security and have them throw your asses out of here!"

Malik rolled his eyes at him at his attitude, "Listen dickhead," He spat out finally, "We're here to see Joey, not you! So back off!" he yelled back as he felt his own temper rising.

"Yeah, you wanna bet!" And with that, Mr. Wheeler dashed for the door.

Yami creased his brow panicked when he saw Mr. Wheeler hurried to the door about to call security, "No wait, please!" he was about to go after when suddenly, the man stopped dead in his tracks with this odd look on his face, with closer inspection the man seemed to in a some kind of a trance.

"Now Mr. Wheeler, there's no need to get others involved here." Malik said in a cool voice and held control over the man's mind. He had enough of his attitude for the moment; they needed to find Yugi, all that mattered was Yugi. He crossed his arms against his chest, "Now please have a seat in the chair over there and behave yourself."

Yami then swallowed at the small lump in his throat as he viewed the man let go of the door handle, turn around slowly, walked back over to the chair and sat down. He viewed his eyes and could tell that they were vacant. Without a word, he turned his attention back to teen called Malik and watched him close. He noticed something his eyes and posture that told him that the young teen was in control of him. He rutted his brow a bit startled, "What you have you done to him?" he asked innocently and waited an answer but got nothing.

"Daddy?" Serenity went to her father's side as she noticed this too. She shook him a couple of times to snap him out of it bit to no avail. "Daddy?" She then became frightened, "What did you do to him!" she began to cry some, "Please don't hurt him!"

Ryou sighed deeply, "Don't worry Serenity, he won't hurt him. He just…" he trailed off for a moment, "Hmm well, let's just say he took just over the situation," he explained.

"O-kay," Yami looked at Malik in awed and wondered what else these two could do. He viewed the young girl who now was frightened and softened his eyes calmly, "It's okay."

"Sorry to interrupt here but we're wasting time and that's not good," Malik turned around seriously, "Mr. Motto, stand by the door and make sure the close is clear. We don't need anyone walking in on us."

Yami creased his brow serious himself, "Right," he then walked over to the door and stood guard as Malik asked him.

Malik smirked before he turned his attention to his friend in the bed. With cool composer, he went over to Joey. Ryou did the same and joined the other side of their friend's bed. He looked over his injuries and frowned a little, "Oh poor Joey…" he mourned for him.

"Come on, let's hurry," Malik looked on seriously, he was about to reach out his hand for Ryou's when he heard the young girl shout out scared. He stepped aside as the girl rushed passed him and right over to her brother's side.

"No!" Serenity covered his body with hers protectively. "Stay away from him! Please don't hurt him!" she pleaded with them both, she didn't know what they intended to do.

"No Malik. I'll handle this."Ryou viewed up to Malik seriously when he sense on what he was about to do. He turned back to the girl and softened his eyes, "Please don't be scared Serenity. We're not going to harm him I promise. We just need to examine him for only a few moments." He reached over his hand and lifted her chin a bit, "But you must step aside okay and let us."

Serenity viewed up to him uncertainly, Ryou saw this and softened his eyes more, "Please trust us. He'll be all right," he reassured her with a kind smile.

Serenity searched his eyes more and noticed that they we not filled with deceit or bad intent. Somehow, she knew he was telling the truth and somehow trusted him. With a jagged breath, she nodded her head and uncovered herself from Joey's form. She then stepped aside and went back over her father's side.

Malik swiped his forehead a bit relieved and took his place. He then reached his hand out, "Ryou?"

Ryou then looked up to him and became more worried for his brother, "Are you sure you up for to it Malik?" he knew most of Malik's powers was used up on Mr. Wheeler.

Malik gave him a smile in reassurance when he felt his concerns, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Ryou smiled back before he gasped his hand strongly, "Okay but please don't push yourself." He watched Malik nod before they both closed their eyes and laid their hands on Joey's forehead. They entered his mind slowly so not to hurt him more and began to travel back through his chamber of memories, some good, most bad. Still they kept on until they reached the final chamber with the latest ones.

Malik looked around for moment before he spotted what they were looking for, "Look there!" he moved toward it and entered it fast. Once inside the memory, Malik landed on the ground hard, which knocked some wind out of him, he gasped. "Man, not smart."

"Malik, are you all right?" Ryou ran over to him quick and knelt down beside him worriedly, "You should know better not to rush in like that," he scolded a bit.

Malik inhaled a deep breath, "S-Sorry," but that didn't matter to him, all that matter was Yugi. Therefore, with Ryou's help he stood up on feet, he felt his legs shake a little before they became steady. "I'm fine Ryou, don't worry," he viewed him with a small smile.

Ryou nodded before he looked around the area and for sure, they were back in the park but the place looked a tab misty though. He rutted his brow, "We better hurry Malik."

Malik nodded seriously then grabbed his hand to pull him into a run. They ran as they searched around before he saw what they were looking for. There, they spotted Yugi and Joey far off in the distant and appeared to be in conversation. "Over there!" he pointed before he ran faster, when reached them the two teen halted and panted for breath before they listened in to their conversation…

"I'm still your friend right?"

Ryou and Malik then watched Joey fold his arms before Yugi looked over to him with a smile. "Yes… you are," they heard him say.

"And you do trust me… don't you?"

Ryou saw Yugi's hesitation but only for a second, "Of course I do…" he heard him say. He looked over to Malik for a moment and hoped his heard that then turned back to the scene.

"Then… if you're in some kind of trouble… maybe I can help."

"No… you can't… no one can…"

Ryou frowned at that when suddenly he noticed Yugi trail off uneasily and wondered why. He looked around himself and then noticed how quiet it became. "Malik d-do you sense that?" he felt his fear build up in him.

Malik looked around himself and creased his brow seriously, "Yes I do." He drifted away from the two's conversation and instead scanned the area more carefully when suddenly he heard a branch snap, "Ryou. -" He was about say something when he saw Yugi grabbed hold of Joey's arm and began to take him away for the area quick.

"Come on!" he motioned Ryou to follow him as he took off after them. He ran with panted breath before he caught up right behind them. He was about uttered something when unexpectedly someone jumped down from a tree branch above, right in front of everyone's path. He widened his eyes at the clocked figure, his face hidden from their view, "What the hell?" he was about say something more when he watched the stranger clasp something around Yugi's neck, with closer inspection he saw that it was the collar.

"Hello Yugi, so nice to see you." Malik heard the stranger say in a cold tone as tears of fear formed in Yugi's eyes. He was about rush in to help when Ryou grabbed hold of his arm tight.

"Don't!" Ryou pulled him back quick, "You can't interrupt a memory Malik. You know what will happen if you do," he warned with sadness in his voice, he wanted so bad to help them as well but knew he couldn't. He turned back to the scene as Joey bent down to aid his friend.

"That's none of your concern boy."

"Yeah, well, I'm making it my concern pal!"

The two of them then saw Joey yell at the stranger before a strong force picked him up and threw him against a tree, which cause him to smack his head painfully hard against the truck.

Abruptly the picture when blank with darkness, the two teens then braced when they felt themselves pull forward in lighting speed. Before they knew it, they snapped back into their own bodies rough. Ryou jolted back and fell against the wall before he landed on the floor. Yami saw this and rushed right over to him at once, "Boy!" he held him steady in his arms, "Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

Ryou groaned while his head spun, "M-Malik…" he managed to say.

At the sound of the teen's concern voice, Yami then stood up and hurried over to aid the over teen, he saw him on the ground passed out. "Oh no…" he rushed right over to him and knelt down, he pulled the teen's head into his arms, "Hey… hey M-Malik," he mumbled worriedly, he slapped his face a couple of times.

"W-wha-… what the h-h-ell happened?"

"Daddy!"

Yami then looked over his shoulder startled at the sound of Mr. Wheeler confused voice. Whatever the teen had done to the man, he surely wasn't doing it now, "Oh damn." He faced the teen again, "Hey boy, hey wake up! Malik, please!" he continued to slap his face when he looked up shortly and saw the other teen crawl over to them.

Ryou sucked in a breath with his saw Malik passed out, "Malik!" he crawled over to him and grasped his shoulders desperately, "Malik, please wake up!" he shook him hard as he felt tears formed in his eyes, "Please… don't leave him here alone." He whispered to him, he laid his head into his chest when suddenly heard a painful groan. At the sound of that, he snapped his head back up and viewed Malik's face, "Malik… hey Malik," he shook his shoulders a bit.

Malik eyes fluttered opened then looked up as a blurry image of Ryou and Yugi's brother came into focus. "Man, let's not do that again," he sat up slowly and felt is head spun from that, he groaned as he grabbed his head for a moment.

"Oh Malik…" Ryou embraced him strong, glad that he was all right, "Thank god you're okay."

Malik hugged him back before he stood up back onto his feet, he felt his head spun some more so he walked over to the bed and sat down. He needed to collect himself but deep down he knew what they had to do and he dreaded it.

"Take it easy son… you hit your head pretty good there." Yami worried for him, he could tell that he was exhausted.

Malik just sighed again then furrowed his brow half-heartedly, "We need to go Ryou…" he dropped his voice low. He hated to say it but he knew they were defeated, they have found them.

"Go…?" Yami looked at both of them, "Go where?"

Ryou frowned a bit fearful before he answered, "Back to Orichalcos," he sighed jaggedly, "Back to… back to M-Master Dartz…"

"Master Dartz? Who's he?" Yami lined his face seriously at them, he waited for them say something more but they didn't. They just sat there lost and scared, "He has Yugi doesn't he?"

Malik closed his eyes, "Yes," he then stood up slowly off the bed, "We have to go back."

"Then I'm coming too!" Yami stood up at once, determined.

However, Malik shook his head at the idea, "No, it's not safe for you."

"Malik's right mister," Ryou then stood off the bed also, "It's too dangerous."

"I don't care!" Yami then calmed himself and viewed them more determined, "This is my brother, I…" he trailed off for moment and turned his head away as he felt a lump began to form in his throat, "I can't lose him again."

Ryou saddened his eyes at the man, he saw how desperate he was, "Malik, what do you think?"

Malik rubbed his forehead as he thought. He didn't like it as Ryou said it was too dangerous for him. However, as he looked at the man's sad and determined form he knew he couldn't stop him even if he wanted too. "All right, let's go if you're going," he rutted his brow tough, "Just be careful."

Yami nodded repeatedly, he knew this was going to be dangerous, his last encounter with these people had kill their grandfather and nearly ended his own life, still he had to, he needed to save his brother at all costs. "Right," he gave them a confident smile.

"What are you guys keep babbling about?"

All three looked straight ahead to Mr. Wheeler, who still sat in the chair while he rubbed his forehead; they almost forgot that he was there. Malik narrowed his eyes a bit, "Nothing for you to be concern about." He then turned and walked slowly to the door, he paused for second and threw a glanced over to Joey's bed. He was wrong about him, so wrong. He frowned somewhat regretfully and wished he should have given him a chance, now it was too late. He sighed deep before he opened the door and walked out slowly with Yami close behind him. Ryou was about to leave too when he heard the young girl speak.

"R-Rita?" Serenity said softly and watched Ryou turned around to her. From what all that she gathered she knew they were in some kind of trouble. She could tell in his sad worried eyes. She inhaled a deep breath softhearted breath, "I hope turns out okay for you and your brothers."

Ryou gave her a small smile and nodded a thank you. He then turned around and left the room into the hallway where Malik and Yami waited. He saddened his eyes at regretful Malik's thoughts, "Don't feel bad Malik, I'm sure Joey doesn't hold any real bad feelings toward you," he consoled.

"Thanks Ryou…" Malik smirked a bit as they began to walk hurriedly down the hallway. They then exited the hospital lounge and into the chilly air, speed walked to Yami's car and got in, all with mixed emotions.

"All right, where do we go from here?" Yami asked as he viewed the two teens from the backseat, he noticed their sad and anxious looks but mostly he could tell that they weren't scare to go back.

Malik leaned back his seat tiredly, "Just drive out of the city and head north…" he closed his eyes, "We'll let know then."

"North, right," Yami sighed himself while he started the car and proceeded out of the city toward north.

Thanks for Reading :) Please, Review :) -- Razzleteddy