NOTE: I know it might look like I'm trying to get Seto and Tea together romantically, but I swear I'm not ^_~ I don't support any "shipper" movements!
"What should we do, Kaiba?" Tea asked.
"That thing couldn't have gotten far," Seto replied. "Let's go down this way," he decided, leading Tea into the alley.
"How pleasant," Tea grumbled.
"Look out!" Seto pulled Tea out of the way just as someone pushed a flowerpot off the roof of a mangy-looking building. It crashed down right where she had been standing only a moment before.
Tea screamed. "Who would do that?! They could've killed me!"
"Let's see if we can catch them and find out," Seto replied grimly, heading for the fire escape. Tea looked momentarily startled, but then followed him determinedly.
When they got to the top, Seto looked around suspiciously. "Come out and face the music!" he yelled. "Why were you trying to kill us?"
A horrible laugh was the only answer, and then another scarecrow emerged from behind an old crate, a deadly knife in hand.
Tea gasped and backed up slowly, her eyes wide. "Kaiba, if you don't get out of the way, that thing is going to . . ."
"I know what it's going to try to do, Tea," Seto replied, "but I'm not worried." Abruptly he shot his leg out and tripped the scarecrow, sending the knife flying out of its hand and clattering harmlessly to the roof's floor. With a smirk, Seto stomped on the straw-filled doll and a cloud of smoke rose up. When it cleared, the scarecrow was laying harmless as well. "It's alright, Tea," Seto told the astonished girl. "Now it's just straw and cloth again. It's not alive."
"But . . . it was . . . a minute ago," Tea said, blinking in confusion.
Seto sighed. "I know." He turned to climb down from the roof. "Come on."
"Where?" Tea demanded.
"To my place," Seto replied. "Let's see if my computer can help us figure out what's going on around here."
****
"So, what's the plan, Yugi?" Joey asked.
"Be on guard for anything that looks suspicious," Yugi replied.
"Suspicious?" Joey repeated. "You mean somethin' like that?" He pointed ahead, where another scarecrow was sneaking out of the cornfield it was supposed to be guarding.
"Exactly like that!" Yugi replied. "Come on, after it!"
Quickly the two friends ran into the cornfield after the runaway scarecrow. "Hey, come back here, you!" Joey yelled.
He looked around, suddenly discovering he was alone. "Hey, Yugi!" he called. "Where'd you go?!"
A hand clamped on his shoulder. "Oh, here you are," Joey said, relieved.
A snarl was the answer.
"Uh . . . Yugi?" Joey was starting to get nervous. "That wasn't you . . . was it?"
The next moments were full of confusion as Joey found himself wrestling on the ground with the scarecrow, which was putting up quite a fight. Joey grunted, grabbing his opponent around the neck.
"Alright, I've got you now, you . . . you . . ." Joey stopped and gasped. Suddenly the scarecrow had disappeared and he now had his fingers wrapped tightly around Yugi's neck. "Yugi!" he gasped. "Where did you come from?!" He loosened his grip, helping his friend stand up.
"I don't know, Joey," Yugi said grimly. "That was very strange. I don't like this one bit."
"That makes two of us," Joey groaned.
****
"Hey, Bakura, look at that!" Tristan exclaimed, pointing. "There's the scarecrow over there!"
"Oh dear," Bakura said, his brown eyes wide. "It looks as though it's about to cause some kind of mischief!"
"Quick, after it!" Tristan yelled.
"Aren't we trespassing?" Bakura exclaimed as they ran into a vegetable garden.
"I don't know," Tristan replied. "The owner of this garden might be grateful to us for catching his scarecrow."
"Or maybe he'd just think we escaped from the local mental hospital!" Bakura shot back.
Tristan looked up ahead. "There it is! I'm gonna let it have it!" With that, he charged, getting ready to punch the straw man. Instead, he found himself being hoisted up onto the scarecrow's pole. "Hey! What the . . . let me down!!" he yelled, kicking wildly in vain.
It seemed as though he'd been trapped there for ages when Bakura finally came along. The silver-haired boy stopped short in astonishment. "Oh my!" he gasped. "What happened?!"
"Bakura! Get me down from here!" Tristan screamed.
"Oh. Of course," Bakura said, hurrying to unwrap Tristan's trenchcoat from around the pole. "What on earth happened?" he asked again.
"What else? That maniacal monstrosity put me up here!" Tristan replied angrily, as he was finally freed.
"Oh my," Bakura gasped as he helped his friend stand up. "This isn't good at all!"
"You can say that again," Tristan grumbled. "And now that thing's gotten away again!"
"Should we go after it again?" Bakura wondered.
"Of course," Tristan said, his hazel eyes glowing with anger. "I'm not going to be pushed around by a man made of straw!"
****
"Follow me, Tea," Seto said, opening a secret door in the wall.
"What are you going to do, Kaiba?" Tea asked, confused, as he led her into a room lined with giant computer screens. "I don't understand."
Seto smirked. "We're going to see if we can find out what Graves' assistant was hiding from us on his computer."
Before Tea could reply, Seto looked around the room suspiciously. "Something isn't right here."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Tea demanded.
Seto shook his head. "I don't know." He moved over to the keyboard. "Maybe the computer does." He pressed the Startup button on the hard drive and went to type a command into the machine. In the next instant, Tea gasped as the boy was thrown forcefully against the wall. He groaned once and fell still.
"Kaiba!" Tea exclaimed, panic creeping into her voice.
"What just happened?" a new, feminine-sounding voice asked.
"Who said that?" Tea demanded, looking around.
"Me," the voice replied. "I'm Seto Kaiba's computer." Tea turned to look at the computer, which was now loading up the Desktop screen. "I was still booting up and I didn't see what happened, but I heard Kaiba scream in pain."
Tea looked back and forth between the computer and Seto's silent form, a sinking suspicion growing in her mind. Quickly she dropped a hairpin on the keyboard and then drew back when sparks sizzled and sent the pin flying, confirming her fears.
"Oh no. Are you trying to tell me that he received an electrical shock?" the computer exclaimed.
Tea nodded slowly. "Yes . . . yes, I'm afraid he did."
"I should've known that the creepy guy who broke in here would do something like this," the computer sighed, "but he shut me down before I could stop him." The machine paused. "Okay, now I can see Kaiba slumped against the wall. He doesn't look so well. Honey, do you know first aid?" she asked urgently.
"Yes, I do," Tea said, kneeling down next to Seto's still body.
"Then you'd better make sure he's alive," the computer told her. "If a blast of electricity is strong enough to render someone unconscious, it can also be strong enough to stop their heart."
Tea nodded numbly, placing a hand on Seto's chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the boy's heart still beating. "He's alive," she announced, only realizing then just how worried she had been.
"Thank heavens," the computer declared. "Try to wake him up, honey." The machine paused. "I know to most everyone, I'm just a computer, but I've known Seto Kaiba for years now—he created me, programmed me—and I consider myself his friend. I don't know why someone would hurt him like this!" Now she sounded angry.
Tea checked Seto for electrical burns and was surprised and relieved to find that he didn't seem to have any. Gently she rubbed his wrists, trying to rouse him, and soon was rewarded when his eyes fluttered.
"Kaiba? Can you hear me?" Tea asked.
Seto was silent, then slowly nodded.
"Are you hurt? Can you speak?" Tea looked into his deep-blue eyes, which had just opened. They looked glassy at first, but then focused.
"I'm alright, Tea," Seto managed to say. "Just weak."
"That's good to know," the computer said, obviously relieved. "You had us both very worried!"
Seto raised an eyebrow at Tea as if to say *You* were worried about *me?!*
Tea blushed and narrowed her eyes. "Of course I was worried about you, Seto Kaiba!" she declared out loud. "You gave me a terrible scare, flying across the room the way you did! I thought you were probably dead!"
"It's not that easy to get rid of me, Tea," Seto replied with a smirk, shakily standing up and then collapsing into a nearby chair. "But what happened to me?!" he demanded, suddenly serious again.
"Someone sabotaged my keyboard and gave you a nasty shock," the computer told him.
"Oh they did, huh?" Seto's eyes narrowed. "You mean to say someone bypassed all the security and alarms and got in here to rig things so I'd be electrocuted?!" He clenched his fists angrily.
"I'm afraid so," the computer sighed.
"That's outrageous!" Tea declared hotly. "And horrible!" Her hand brushed against a piece of paper. "Huh? What's this?" She picked it up. "It's a message written with letters cut from a newspaper," she announced.
Seto took it and read it aloud. "'If you're reading this, you've obviously recovered from your rather shocking experience.'" His eyes narrowed at the bad pun. "'Consider it a warning,'" he read on. "'Stop investigating now or next time you won't recover!'"
Tea gasped. "That's terrible! They just threatened to kill you!"
"Someone is seriously demented," the computer declared.
Seto looked angry enough to bite through metal. "Whoever it is won't get away with their plans," he muttered. "I'll see to that."
Tea looked at him, concerned. "Are you sure you're alright, Kaiba? Maybe I should call an ambulance."
Seto grimaced. "That's the last thing I need—doctors poking, prodding, and fussing over me. No, what I need is a quiet night here. I'll be fine in the morning. You go on back to the game shop, Tea. They'll be waiting for you. I'll have my chauffeur take you there."
"Oh . . . thank you." Tea blinked, a little surprised. She paused. "What was it you were going to do with the computer when we came in?"
Seto smirked. "I was planning to hack into Bob Fielding's computer. I saw something on his screen that looked suspicious and I wanted to check it out further. I will, too, once I get the keyboard rewired. I also want to see if my computer got a good look on the conniving snake who broke in here."
Tea sighed. "Well, be careful," she said finally.
"Thanks. I never thought I'd need to be careful in my own house," Seto replied wryly. Tea could see the anger in his eyes. She said goodbye and left shortly afterwards.
As she rode back to Yugi's place, the events of the day swirled through her mind. She wasn't especially looking forward to solving a new strange mystery right now. This one looked like it was going to be even stranger than the first one, she sighed to herself.
Suddenly she gasped, seeing something out the window. "Stop the limo!" she cried.
"What should we do, Kaiba?" Tea asked.
"That thing couldn't have gotten far," Seto replied. "Let's go down this way," he decided, leading Tea into the alley.
"How pleasant," Tea grumbled.
"Look out!" Seto pulled Tea out of the way just as someone pushed a flowerpot off the roof of a mangy-looking building. It crashed down right where she had been standing only a moment before.
Tea screamed. "Who would do that?! They could've killed me!"
"Let's see if we can catch them and find out," Seto replied grimly, heading for the fire escape. Tea looked momentarily startled, but then followed him determinedly.
When they got to the top, Seto looked around suspiciously. "Come out and face the music!" he yelled. "Why were you trying to kill us?"
A horrible laugh was the only answer, and then another scarecrow emerged from behind an old crate, a deadly knife in hand.
Tea gasped and backed up slowly, her eyes wide. "Kaiba, if you don't get out of the way, that thing is going to . . ."
"I know what it's going to try to do, Tea," Seto replied, "but I'm not worried." Abruptly he shot his leg out and tripped the scarecrow, sending the knife flying out of its hand and clattering harmlessly to the roof's floor. With a smirk, Seto stomped on the straw-filled doll and a cloud of smoke rose up. When it cleared, the scarecrow was laying harmless as well. "It's alright, Tea," Seto told the astonished girl. "Now it's just straw and cloth again. It's not alive."
"But . . . it was . . . a minute ago," Tea said, blinking in confusion.
Seto sighed. "I know." He turned to climb down from the roof. "Come on."
"Where?" Tea demanded.
"To my place," Seto replied. "Let's see if my computer can help us figure out what's going on around here."
****
"So, what's the plan, Yugi?" Joey asked.
"Be on guard for anything that looks suspicious," Yugi replied.
"Suspicious?" Joey repeated. "You mean somethin' like that?" He pointed ahead, where another scarecrow was sneaking out of the cornfield it was supposed to be guarding.
"Exactly like that!" Yugi replied. "Come on, after it!"
Quickly the two friends ran into the cornfield after the runaway scarecrow. "Hey, come back here, you!" Joey yelled.
He looked around, suddenly discovering he was alone. "Hey, Yugi!" he called. "Where'd you go?!"
A hand clamped on his shoulder. "Oh, here you are," Joey said, relieved.
A snarl was the answer.
"Uh . . . Yugi?" Joey was starting to get nervous. "That wasn't you . . . was it?"
The next moments were full of confusion as Joey found himself wrestling on the ground with the scarecrow, which was putting up quite a fight. Joey grunted, grabbing his opponent around the neck.
"Alright, I've got you now, you . . . you . . ." Joey stopped and gasped. Suddenly the scarecrow had disappeared and he now had his fingers wrapped tightly around Yugi's neck. "Yugi!" he gasped. "Where did you come from?!" He loosened his grip, helping his friend stand up.
"I don't know, Joey," Yugi said grimly. "That was very strange. I don't like this one bit."
"That makes two of us," Joey groaned.
****
"Hey, Bakura, look at that!" Tristan exclaimed, pointing. "There's the scarecrow over there!"
"Oh dear," Bakura said, his brown eyes wide. "It looks as though it's about to cause some kind of mischief!"
"Quick, after it!" Tristan yelled.
"Aren't we trespassing?" Bakura exclaimed as they ran into a vegetable garden.
"I don't know," Tristan replied. "The owner of this garden might be grateful to us for catching his scarecrow."
"Or maybe he'd just think we escaped from the local mental hospital!" Bakura shot back.
Tristan looked up ahead. "There it is! I'm gonna let it have it!" With that, he charged, getting ready to punch the straw man. Instead, he found himself being hoisted up onto the scarecrow's pole. "Hey! What the . . . let me down!!" he yelled, kicking wildly in vain.
It seemed as though he'd been trapped there for ages when Bakura finally came along. The silver-haired boy stopped short in astonishment. "Oh my!" he gasped. "What happened?!"
"Bakura! Get me down from here!" Tristan screamed.
"Oh. Of course," Bakura said, hurrying to unwrap Tristan's trenchcoat from around the pole. "What on earth happened?" he asked again.
"What else? That maniacal monstrosity put me up here!" Tristan replied angrily, as he was finally freed.
"Oh my," Bakura gasped as he helped his friend stand up. "This isn't good at all!"
"You can say that again," Tristan grumbled. "And now that thing's gotten away again!"
"Should we go after it again?" Bakura wondered.
"Of course," Tristan said, his hazel eyes glowing with anger. "I'm not going to be pushed around by a man made of straw!"
****
"Follow me, Tea," Seto said, opening a secret door in the wall.
"What are you going to do, Kaiba?" Tea asked, confused, as he led her into a room lined with giant computer screens. "I don't understand."
Seto smirked. "We're going to see if we can find out what Graves' assistant was hiding from us on his computer."
Before Tea could reply, Seto looked around the room suspiciously. "Something isn't right here."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Tea demanded.
Seto shook his head. "I don't know." He moved over to the keyboard. "Maybe the computer does." He pressed the Startup button on the hard drive and went to type a command into the machine. In the next instant, Tea gasped as the boy was thrown forcefully against the wall. He groaned once and fell still.
"Kaiba!" Tea exclaimed, panic creeping into her voice.
"What just happened?" a new, feminine-sounding voice asked.
"Who said that?" Tea demanded, looking around.
"Me," the voice replied. "I'm Seto Kaiba's computer." Tea turned to look at the computer, which was now loading up the Desktop screen. "I was still booting up and I didn't see what happened, but I heard Kaiba scream in pain."
Tea looked back and forth between the computer and Seto's silent form, a sinking suspicion growing in her mind. Quickly she dropped a hairpin on the keyboard and then drew back when sparks sizzled and sent the pin flying, confirming her fears.
"Oh no. Are you trying to tell me that he received an electrical shock?" the computer exclaimed.
Tea nodded slowly. "Yes . . . yes, I'm afraid he did."
"I should've known that the creepy guy who broke in here would do something like this," the computer sighed, "but he shut me down before I could stop him." The machine paused. "Okay, now I can see Kaiba slumped against the wall. He doesn't look so well. Honey, do you know first aid?" she asked urgently.
"Yes, I do," Tea said, kneeling down next to Seto's still body.
"Then you'd better make sure he's alive," the computer told her. "If a blast of electricity is strong enough to render someone unconscious, it can also be strong enough to stop their heart."
Tea nodded numbly, placing a hand on Seto's chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the boy's heart still beating. "He's alive," she announced, only realizing then just how worried she had been.
"Thank heavens," the computer declared. "Try to wake him up, honey." The machine paused. "I know to most everyone, I'm just a computer, but I've known Seto Kaiba for years now—he created me, programmed me—and I consider myself his friend. I don't know why someone would hurt him like this!" Now she sounded angry.
Tea checked Seto for electrical burns and was surprised and relieved to find that he didn't seem to have any. Gently she rubbed his wrists, trying to rouse him, and soon was rewarded when his eyes fluttered.
"Kaiba? Can you hear me?" Tea asked.
Seto was silent, then slowly nodded.
"Are you hurt? Can you speak?" Tea looked into his deep-blue eyes, which had just opened. They looked glassy at first, but then focused.
"I'm alright, Tea," Seto managed to say. "Just weak."
"That's good to know," the computer said, obviously relieved. "You had us both very worried!"
Seto raised an eyebrow at Tea as if to say *You* were worried about *me?!*
Tea blushed and narrowed her eyes. "Of course I was worried about you, Seto Kaiba!" she declared out loud. "You gave me a terrible scare, flying across the room the way you did! I thought you were probably dead!"
"It's not that easy to get rid of me, Tea," Seto replied with a smirk, shakily standing up and then collapsing into a nearby chair. "But what happened to me?!" he demanded, suddenly serious again.
"Someone sabotaged my keyboard and gave you a nasty shock," the computer told him.
"Oh they did, huh?" Seto's eyes narrowed. "You mean to say someone bypassed all the security and alarms and got in here to rig things so I'd be electrocuted?!" He clenched his fists angrily.
"I'm afraid so," the computer sighed.
"That's outrageous!" Tea declared hotly. "And horrible!" Her hand brushed against a piece of paper. "Huh? What's this?" She picked it up. "It's a message written with letters cut from a newspaper," she announced.
Seto took it and read it aloud. "'If you're reading this, you've obviously recovered from your rather shocking experience.'" His eyes narrowed at the bad pun. "'Consider it a warning,'" he read on. "'Stop investigating now or next time you won't recover!'"
Tea gasped. "That's terrible! They just threatened to kill you!"
"Someone is seriously demented," the computer declared.
Seto looked angry enough to bite through metal. "Whoever it is won't get away with their plans," he muttered. "I'll see to that."
Tea looked at him, concerned. "Are you sure you're alright, Kaiba? Maybe I should call an ambulance."
Seto grimaced. "That's the last thing I need—doctors poking, prodding, and fussing over me. No, what I need is a quiet night here. I'll be fine in the morning. You go on back to the game shop, Tea. They'll be waiting for you. I'll have my chauffeur take you there."
"Oh . . . thank you." Tea blinked, a little surprised. She paused. "What was it you were going to do with the computer when we came in?"
Seto smirked. "I was planning to hack into Bob Fielding's computer. I saw something on his screen that looked suspicious and I wanted to check it out further. I will, too, once I get the keyboard rewired. I also want to see if my computer got a good look on the conniving snake who broke in here."
Tea sighed. "Well, be careful," she said finally.
"Thanks. I never thought I'd need to be careful in my own house," Seto replied wryly. Tea could see the anger in his eyes. She said goodbye and left shortly afterwards.
As she rode back to Yugi's place, the events of the day swirled through her mind. She wasn't especially looking forward to solving a new strange mystery right now. This one looked like it was going to be even stranger than the first one, she sighed to herself.
Suddenly she gasped, seeing something out the window. "Stop the limo!" she cried.