The Mouse Shuffle
Outside, Toby let everyone off at the window. Joey rubbed the glass with his sleeve. Looking inside, he saw empty cages and glass bowls. "Looks like some kind of pet shop," he figured. "But it's totally empty."
"The lot was abandoned a short time ago," Basil said. "The animals were moved to another location while most of the cages and other necessities were left behind."
"How are we going to get in?" Joey asked.
Kaiba had the answer. He used his scepter to create a small door in the front window.
Basil was astounded. "Splendid, Master Kaiba."
The brunette grinned. "What do you expect from someone who carries the blood of royal Egyptian sorcerers?" He opened the door and passed through with the others following him. Kaiba raised his scepter and the tip of it glowed to produce light.
"This place is huge," Yugi whispered. "Emily could be anywhere."
"And so could Ratigan and his lackeys," said Basil.
It was a good thing all of the pets had been cleared out. This meant that they could look around without having to worry about any larger animals making a ruckus. It also wouldn't be surprising if Ratigan used these abandoned cages to trap his victims and use them like prison carts for when he would deliver them to the Dark Masters.
"Do you think Emily could be in any one of these cages?" Joey asked.
"Maybe," Yugi said. "But it would have to be one that's surrounded with mice guarding her."
"All of you keep your voices down," Basil whispered. "If we get caught, we won't be able to help the princess."
Right now, the group wasn't able to look around from where they were standing. The area in the front window was barricaded by a fence that was used to pen puppies. The holes in the fence were too small for mice to squeeze through. Kaiba then saw and old toy and used his magic to unravel it into rope and turn it into a grappling hook. He tossed the hook over the fence and tugged on it to make sure it was secure.
"We're going to climb?" Joey asked.
"We can't fly," Kaiba reminded him. He began climbing with the others following him. Once they made it to the other side, they stepped on the ground floor. They were about to continue their search until the sound of glass breaking startled them.
Frightened, Joey was about to run off, but yelped as he felt himself being held back by his tail. "Somebody's got me-!"
It was Kaiba who caught him and said, "I got you by the tail!"
"Why don't you tell somebody you're gonna do that!?" Joey shouted.
"Stop!" Basil said in a harsh whisper, trying to break it up. He calmed himself and said silently, "We need to be quiet."
"Easy for you to say," Joey whispered. "I nearly had a heart attack."
The detective hushed the blonde once again and asked Kaiba to release his friend. The brunette did so and Joey began massaging his tail to ease the pain of it being pulled.
Yugi looked at the pieces of glass all over the floor. It looked like a fish bowl. He then wondered if Ratigan was trying to scare him and his friends by making noises. Maybe the rat was also trying to separate them. Yugi also had to remember that Ratigan also had goons working for him. Maybe Fidget was the one behind this. Yugi remembered that the peg-legged bat was a nasty little trickster.
Yugi sniffed the area, thinking he could catch the bat's scent or maybe the scent of any of Ratigan's minions. The problem was, the pet shop still carried the scents of many different animals. Now Yugi understood why Ratigan would choose this particular place to spring a trap. Because the pet shop smelled of many different animals, it would be difficult to detect Ratigan's scent or Emily's or anyone else's. Yugi had to admit, that was clever thinking on Ratigan's part. But he wasn't going to let that deter him from finding Emily.
He then felt someone tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Fidget with his wings spread out and getting ready to strike. Before Yugi had a chance to react, Fidget turned around and began running off. At first, Yugi wondered if Fidget was leading him to a trap, but he wasn't about to spend a lot of time thinking about that. He pursued the peg-legged bat through an aisle that was filled with toys for pets. Toys suddenly began to fall from the shelf and Yugi weaved away to avoid getting crushed. He managed to safely get in one of the shelves as the toys kept falling and wondered if more of Ratigan's lackeys were deliberately dropping them from the shelves.
Yugi knew that if he stayed in his hiding spot, surely Fidget or any of the henchmice would find him. To his luck, there was a hole big enough for him to squeeze through.
Basil helped him out. "Are you all right, Yugi?"
"Yeah, I guess so," he replied, though he was a little shaken up. "I thought I could catch Fidget and make him tell me where Emily was, but he was too fast."
"He's a tricky one," Basil said. "We have to get back to the others."
In another part of the store, Kaiba was distracted by the sound of food dishes clattering as they were falling to the floor. He wondered, did Ratigan deliberately choose idiots to work for him? It was like they didn't know what kinds of traps they were trying to spring. Although Kaiba had not yet met Ratigan, he knew that the rat was not of minimal intelligence. After all, the rat was a professor. And Kaiba had the same thoughts as Yugi about Ratigan being clever enough to hide in a pet store to plot his attacks.
All these distractions made it difficult for Kaiba to concentrate on using his magic to find his friends. It was just as hard for him to think about what other kinds of spells he could cast. Suddenly, he was hit from behind with a blunt object, causing him to lose his grip on his scepter. He quickly recovered it, but felt someone pulling his tail. It was Fidget and he hit Kaiba again with a small piece of wood.
"All right, you want to play games?" Kaiba asked. He pointed his scepter towards Fidget and unleashed a light, temporarily blinding the peg-legged bat and causing him to stumble backwards. "I got him!" the brunette said triumphantly.
Fidget continued to stumble until he fell into a large bowl that was filled with water. Kaiba approached the rim of the bowl and dipped his hand in the water, trying to feel for Fidget so he could pull the bat out. The brunette felt the bat grab his hand, but as he pulled him out, Fidget spat water in Kaiba's face, causing him to stumble backwards and lose his grip. Kaiba sputtered and dried his face with his sleeve. "You scummy little imp!" He tried to grab Fidget, but ended up slipping and falling into the bowl as Fidget got himself out.
Thankfully, Kaiba could still swim and the bowl wasn't filled with too much water. He got out and said to himself, "I can't believe I was sent to this world for this. I never had to deal with this kind of trouble before." As he put his deerstalker cap back on his head, water splashed over his head.
"Kaiba?" Yugi's voice asked.
The brunette saw him and Basil coming towards him. "Yugi, Basil," he responded.
"I guess Fidget got you too," Yugi wondered.
"I had him, but then he slipped away," said Kaiba. "Ratigan obviously planned this; to cause all these distractions to try to separate us and make us lose our guard."
Basil figured that out too after the fish bowl shattered on the floor and Fidget began leading Yugi on a chase and came back to try to attack Kaiba. Now he had a feeling that the peg-legged bat was looking for Joey. The question was: where did the blonde run off to? Worse, did Fidget already capture him?
Kaiba touched the floor with the end of his scepter to get a layout of the pet store. The whole layout was displayed at everyone's feet. Kaiba showed his comrades three lights of different colors in one section. "These red, blue, and green lights are us," the brunette explained. "The gold light in the back of the store is Wheeler. And down in the basement is a white light. That has to be Briar."
Once again, Basil was amazed. "Yes, that has to be her." He looked at the brunette once again. "And it's elementary that you could tell your friends apart simply by the lights. They do match your signature colors, after all."
"Indeed," he said to the detective. "My friends and I are always dressed in clothes of our signature colors whenever we go to another world." He used his magic to teleport himself and his comrades to the basement, hoping Joey would find his way down there.
It was hard for the blonde not to be scared with all of the noises of objects falling everywhere he turned. He was always afraid Fidget was going to jump out from the shadows and surprise him. He also feared Ratigan's cat Felicia would come out to eat him. It was times like these when Joey wished he could use his wings. He'd fly around the pet store to locate his friends.
Joey kept walking around until he came to an open door. Looking inside, he saw a flight of stairs that led to the basement. He figured that this had to be the spot where Emily was being held. He had to find the others and tell them.
At that moment, Fidget caused another sneak attack and jumped in front of Joey, scaring the blonde and causing him to stumble backwards. The peg-legged bat cackled, thinking the expression on Joey's face was priceless.
"Jeez," said Joey, "you sick or what?" He never liked Fidget. He thought the bat was crazy as much as he was creepy. The bat continued laughing. "Oh, you think it's funny to go around scaring people?" Joey asked. "You won't be laughing when I'm through with you."
Fidget pulled himself together and ran towards a pile of empty boxes and crates for smaller items like collars and decorations. Some of the mice who worked with Ratigan were hiding in the pile, getting ready to trap Joey. Fidget dived into the pile and some of the mice moved away.
Joey dived in after him, but was having difficulty moving around. One of the mice tried to grab Joey by his legs, but the blonde kept kicking away. As they saw Joey struggling to get out, they hurried to get the trap ready. It was a carrier for rodents.
Joey's upper body suddenly came out all covered in strings. Looking behind him, he saw a tail swishing back and forth. He thought someone else was in the pile with him getting ready to attack. Joey reached back and took an arrow from his quiver. Firmly grasping the arrow, he pointed it down and let out a painful scream, realizing he had just pricked himself in the rear. "Owww!They got me!" Joey cried out as he began thrashing around. "They pulled a knife on me!" He was so focused on his pain and he continued thrashing around and didn't even realize he was being hauled inside the carrier. "Yugi, help!" Once the door was closed, Fidget and the other mice pushed the carrier towards the stairs and it began tumbling down.
"Help! Whoa!" Joey cried out.
Yugi, Kaiba, and Basil were already down in the basement and they heard the sound of the carrier tumbling down the stairs. The brunette quickly used his magic to stop the carrier and get Joey out. The blonde was feeling disoriented from all of that tumbling and thought he was going to be sick. The others looked away as he bent over and vomited. Joey felt bad that his friends had to see that.
Yugi pulled Joey away and rubbed his back. "You're okay, Joey. Just breathe." The blonde obeyed and took deep breaths to relax himself. He also sat down against the floor.
"Yugi, maybe you should stay here with Wheeler and let me and Basil look for Briar," Kaiba suggested.
Joey wanted to protest, but Basil held him down. "Stay down," the detective ordered. "If you try to stand, you'll hurt yourself."
Yugi wanted to help find and rescue Emily, but he didn't want to leave Joey in his condition. If only he had something to help Joey overcome his dizziness and get his bearings.
Kaiba raised his scepter and created a barrier around himself and his friends. Not only would it protect them from enemy attacks, it would also make them invisible to the eyes of anyone on the outside. He had an idea and he wanted it to be a surprise.
