Around the funeral home, Tea, Tristan, and Joey all heard Bakura's cries of terror and they ran to find him.
Tea screamed as she rounded a corner and crashed into someone. Then the other person screamed too.
Silence. "Joey?" Tea asked finally.
"Tea?"
"Joey, you scared me!" Tea fumed.
"Hey, what's up?" Tristan asked, suddenly appearing from the other direction.
Both Tea and Joey jumped.
"Tristan," Tea sighed.
"Bakura screamed," Joey announced. "I think he might be in here." He opened the nearby door and went in, Tea and Tristan following closely.
"It's the morgue room!" Tristan exclaimed.
"It's a mess," Tea remarked, seeing slabs and coffins overturned everywhere.
"Yaaaaaa!" Joey screamed. "A dead body!!!" He pointed shakily at something crumpled near the wall.
Tea gasped and cringed, but Tristan went to investigate. "Well, technically he's been dead for 5,000 years, even tho he doesn't look it," he announced presently.
Tea and Joey relaxed somewhat. "Yami Bakura," Joey realized.
Tristan nodded. "He's been beat up pretty bad."
Joey scratched his head. "Is anyone else feelin' deja vu here?"
Tea gasped. "Does that mean that Bakura . . .?" She didn't finish.
"I don't know, Tea," Tristan replied grimly.
Tea knelt down next to the ancient tomb raider and shook him gently. "He has to tell us what happened to Bakura!" she declared.
Yami Bakura stirred, hissing in pain.
"Hey, are you alright, dude?" Tristan asked.
Yami Bakura managed a weak growl and didn't answer the question. After a moment of silence, he gathered enough strength to rasp, "We were . . . attacked . . . dark wraiths . . ."
"And they took Bakura?" Tea gasped.
Yami Bakura shook his head. "I don't know. . . . They were . . . flinging him . . . through the air . . ." He fell limp again.
"Oh man . . . these dark wraiths must wield some kind of real strong power," Tristan remarked. "I've never seen anyone get the better of this guy like this before."
"Is he hurt bad?" Tea asked.
"No more than Yami Yugi was, I don't think," Tristan replied. "He just needs a few minutes to recover. Meantime, let's look around just in case they didn't take Bakura."
"Alright, man," Joey agreed.
"I don't see him anywhere," Tea fretted. "If they left him here, where would they put him?"
Tristan looked grim. "They could've put him on one of the freezer slabs," he replied.
Tea looked horrified.
"Everybody, check the freezer," Tristan directed.
The following search turned up several dead bodies that had been stored in there, but luckily, no Bakura.
"That was terrible!" Tea declared, looking squeamish. "I am never going near one of those freezers again!" She sighed. "They must've taken Bakura just like they took Yugi."
"Not necessarily," Tristan replied. "There's still one other place he could be."
"Uh, Tristan, are you thinkin' what I think you're thinkin'?" Joey asked.
Tristan nodded, purposefully going up to the nearest coffin and unlocking it. Raising the lid, he gasped and stepped back, and Tea and Joey peered in. Bakura was laying curled up at the bottom, his eyes closed.
"He's been choked," Tristan said grimly, pointing to several red marks around the other boy's neck.
Tea's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh no . . . is he . . .?"
"He'd better not be," Yami Bakura growled, limping over to them.
Tristan picked up Bakura's wrist, checking for a pulse. "It's weak, but it's there," he announced. "He's breathing irregularly . . . Hey . . . what in the . . ." He noticed a paper in the silver-haired boy's hand.
"What's that?" Tea demanded.
Tristan gently pried Bakura's fingers away from the paper and held it up. "'This is a warning,'" he read. "'Get the point yet? Keep investigating and you'll all wind up six feet under.'"
"That's like the note I found after Kaiba was electrocuted," Tea gasped.
"Somethin's not adding up here," Joey remarked. "Why didn't they take Bakura when they had the chance?"
"And why wasn't there a warning note with Yugi?" Tea added.
"Do you get the feeling that there might be two separate plots going on here?" Tristan remarked, gently lifting Bakura out of the coffin with Yami Bakura's assistance.
"Nothing makes sense," Tea said, throwing up her hands. "I don't know what to think, except that someone is seriously sick and twisted."
"I think whoever did this hurt Bakura just enough to knock him out," Tristan said grimly as he and Yami Bakura carried the boy's limp body out of the morgue and down the hall to a soft couch. "He or she knew that we'd think to look for him in the coffin and we might be scared off the case."
"Oh man, that's seriously uncool," Joey remarked angrily. "Poor Bakura!" He slammed his fist into his palm. "They're gonna be disappointed, 'cause I don't intend to back down! I'm gonna knock their nefarious plan to the ground!"
Tea nodded determinedly in agreement. "We'll catch those losers," she vowed.
"Bakura! Wake up!" Yami Bakura hissed in frustration. He looked at Tristan, his eyes flashing. "You're certain he'll be alright?"
"Pretty sure," Tristan nodded. "He's breathing more normally now. They didn't want to kill Bakura . . . at least not yet. They just wanted to scare him . . . and us."
"Well, it's working," Tea muttered. "Poor Bakura . . . being strangled and then locked in a coffin . . .!" She gently laid a hand on the unconscious boy's shoulder. "Please wake up, Bakura," she whispered.
[You're starting to scare me, you dolt!] Yami Bakura yelled angrily through their mental bond. [Wake up already!!!] He resisted the urge to slap the boy awake, but instead shook him roughly. "Wake up, you dolt!!!" he yelled aloud, startling everyone around him.
"Whoa, take it easy, man," Joey exclaimed, pushing the ancient thief back. "Don't hurt him."
Yami Bakura growled angrily.
Bakura's eyes flickered open and he looked around, confused. "Where am I?" he asked.
"In the funeral home," Joey replied mischievously, "but don't worry, pal—you're not here as a customer."
Bakura chuckled and sat up, rubbing his neck.
"You must be feeling okay if you can laugh," Tristan remarked.
"I've felt better," Bakura admitted. "Was it just a nightmare?"
"Was what just a nightmare, Bakura?" Tea asked.
"I was being thrown through the air," Bakura said softly. "Then something grabbed me by the neck and wouldn't let go." He shuddered.
"That was no nightmare, you dolt," Yami Bakura snapped. "That's what those demonic wraiths did to you. Where did you think those marks around your neck came from?"
"I . . . I don't know," Bakura said, his eyes wide.
"Well, I think we've been here long enough," Tea said, laying a hand comfortingly on Bakura's shoulder. "Why don't we all go home?"
"Fine with me," Tristan declared.
"Yeah, let's get outta this creepy joint," Joey agreed. He looked around. "Eh, just one thing—what's Graves gonna think when he sees this mess?"
"I would think that someone's been raising Cain in here!"
Everyone turned to see Mr. Graves standing in the doorway, watching them. "Do you mind telling me what's been happening? And why you're here at 4am?"
"Well, uh, we were trying to figure out what that scarecrow might have wanted in here," Joey said, "so we came over to look around. In the process, Bakura here wound up in a scuffle with some kinda weird wraiths."
"Wraiths!" Mr. Graves screamed. "Scarecrows, wraiths . . . I'm cursed!!" He pointed at Yami Bakura. "And who are you? I don't remember seeing you before."
Yami Bakura smirked. "I'm a tomb raider from ancient Egypt."
Mr. Graves threw his hands in the air in horror. "Merciful heavens!!"
Joey grinned widely, while at the same time digging painfully into Yami Bakura's shoulder with his fingers. "Eh, he loves to joke around," he fibbed.
"Well, I don't find it funny!" Mr. Graves grumped.
"Eh, well, I think we'll be goin' now, if you don't mind, sir," Joey said.
"Fine, fine," Mr. Graves sighed, waving a hand dismissively.
"We're sorry about all the trouble, Mr. Graves," Tea apologized as they headed for the door.
"Oh, it's quite alright," he replied in a resigned tone. "I just wish we could uncover what's really going on around here."
"We all do," Tristan sighed.
****
The next day during lunch at school, Yugi and the others tried to decide what to do next.
"It's almost a dead-end case," Yugi sighed. "I feel like we're just waiting around for the next disaster to happen." He turned to Bakura. "One thing I can't figure out is why they didn't take you, Bakura. Instead they left you there in that . . . thing with a warning note."
"I know," Bakura said, his brown eyes wide. "I can't figure it out either. This mystery just isn't making sense."
"You can say that again," Tea groaned.
****
A dark figure turned to his minions, his eyes flashing angrily. "Imbeciles. You were supposed to grab Yugi Muto!"
"We tried, sir," the lead wraith hissed. "But he was too strong-willed. The zombies couldn't overpower him, no matter how they tried."
"Yes, yes, I know," the figure growled. "It must be that Millennium Puzzle he has. Its powers protected him." He sighed. "And even with what we've done to him and those other two kids, they still aren't backing down!" He paused. "Do you think you can handle a simpler assignment?"
"And what would that be, sir?" the wraith asked.
"Capture some of the others instead. I know who I want. They'll do the job for me perfectly." He gave two names to the wraith. "Can you handle that?"
"Of course, sir." The wraith sneered maliciously. "It's as good as done."
****
Joey looked out the window curiously. Had he just seen something dart across the lawn? No, that was ridiculous—there was no one around. But still . . . he couldn't shake the feeling that something was out there.
Grabbing a rolling pin to use as defense, he opened the kitchen door and stepped out into the yard. He glanced around nervously. Nothing.
"I'm just bein' silly," he told himself. "There's nothing around here. I might as well go back . . ."
Suddenly something horrible and eerie grabbed the boy and held him tightly.
"Hey! What do you think you're doin'??! Let me go!!" Joey yelled, kicking and flailing wildly. He tried to use the rolling pin, but as soon as it hit whatever was holding him captive, it disintegrated. Joey's eyes went wide. "Oh man!!" he gasped.
That was the last thing he remembered as something brushed across his face and he passed out.
****
Mokuba sighed, picking his way through the cemetery that was located just to the right of his school. The chauffeur was late today and Mokuba had decided to hang out in the cemetery while he waited.
Suddenly he gasped and stood still as a decrepit hand rose up from the ground. His heart beat wildly. What was happening?!
Before he could quite comprehend it, a horrible creature that could only be a zombie was standing in front of him, grinning evilly. Mokuba backed up, his eyes wide. "What do you want?!" he demanded.
He backed up right into another one, which grabbed him fiercely.
"You let me go!!" Mokuba screamed. "When I tell my big brother what you did, you're gonna be so sorry . . .!"
He trailed off, feeling lightheaded. He tried hard to stay awake but found it impossible. Seto . . . help me! was his last conscious thought.
Tea screamed as she rounded a corner and crashed into someone. Then the other person screamed too.
Silence. "Joey?" Tea asked finally.
"Tea?"
"Joey, you scared me!" Tea fumed.
"Hey, what's up?" Tristan asked, suddenly appearing from the other direction.
Both Tea and Joey jumped.
"Tristan," Tea sighed.
"Bakura screamed," Joey announced. "I think he might be in here." He opened the nearby door and went in, Tea and Tristan following closely.
"It's the morgue room!" Tristan exclaimed.
"It's a mess," Tea remarked, seeing slabs and coffins overturned everywhere.
"Yaaaaaa!" Joey screamed. "A dead body!!!" He pointed shakily at something crumpled near the wall.
Tea gasped and cringed, but Tristan went to investigate. "Well, technically he's been dead for 5,000 years, even tho he doesn't look it," he announced presently.
Tea and Joey relaxed somewhat. "Yami Bakura," Joey realized.
Tristan nodded. "He's been beat up pretty bad."
Joey scratched his head. "Is anyone else feelin' deja vu here?"
Tea gasped. "Does that mean that Bakura . . .?" She didn't finish.
"I don't know, Tea," Tristan replied grimly.
Tea knelt down next to the ancient tomb raider and shook him gently. "He has to tell us what happened to Bakura!" she declared.
Yami Bakura stirred, hissing in pain.
"Hey, are you alright, dude?" Tristan asked.
Yami Bakura managed a weak growl and didn't answer the question. After a moment of silence, he gathered enough strength to rasp, "We were . . . attacked . . . dark wraiths . . ."
"And they took Bakura?" Tea gasped.
Yami Bakura shook his head. "I don't know. . . . They were . . . flinging him . . . through the air . . ." He fell limp again.
"Oh man . . . these dark wraiths must wield some kind of real strong power," Tristan remarked. "I've never seen anyone get the better of this guy like this before."
"Is he hurt bad?" Tea asked.
"No more than Yami Yugi was, I don't think," Tristan replied. "He just needs a few minutes to recover. Meantime, let's look around just in case they didn't take Bakura."
"Alright, man," Joey agreed.
"I don't see him anywhere," Tea fretted. "If they left him here, where would they put him?"
Tristan looked grim. "They could've put him on one of the freezer slabs," he replied.
Tea looked horrified.
"Everybody, check the freezer," Tristan directed.
The following search turned up several dead bodies that had been stored in there, but luckily, no Bakura.
"That was terrible!" Tea declared, looking squeamish. "I am never going near one of those freezers again!" She sighed. "They must've taken Bakura just like they took Yugi."
"Not necessarily," Tristan replied. "There's still one other place he could be."
"Uh, Tristan, are you thinkin' what I think you're thinkin'?" Joey asked.
Tristan nodded, purposefully going up to the nearest coffin and unlocking it. Raising the lid, he gasped and stepped back, and Tea and Joey peered in. Bakura was laying curled up at the bottom, his eyes closed.
"He's been choked," Tristan said grimly, pointing to several red marks around the other boy's neck.
Tea's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh no . . . is he . . .?"
"He'd better not be," Yami Bakura growled, limping over to them.
Tristan picked up Bakura's wrist, checking for a pulse. "It's weak, but it's there," he announced. "He's breathing irregularly . . . Hey . . . what in the . . ." He noticed a paper in the silver-haired boy's hand.
"What's that?" Tea demanded.
Tristan gently pried Bakura's fingers away from the paper and held it up. "'This is a warning,'" he read. "'Get the point yet? Keep investigating and you'll all wind up six feet under.'"
"That's like the note I found after Kaiba was electrocuted," Tea gasped.
"Somethin's not adding up here," Joey remarked. "Why didn't they take Bakura when they had the chance?"
"And why wasn't there a warning note with Yugi?" Tea added.
"Do you get the feeling that there might be two separate plots going on here?" Tristan remarked, gently lifting Bakura out of the coffin with Yami Bakura's assistance.
"Nothing makes sense," Tea said, throwing up her hands. "I don't know what to think, except that someone is seriously sick and twisted."
"I think whoever did this hurt Bakura just enough to knock him out," Tristan said grimly as he and Yami Bakura carried the boy's limp body out of the morgue and down the hall to a soft couch. "He or she knew that we'd think to look for him in the coffin and we might be scared off the case."
"Oh man, that's seriously uncool," Joey remarked angrily. "Poor Bakura!" He slammed his fist into his palm. "They're gonna be disappointed, 'cause I don't intend to back down! I'm gonna knock their nefarious plan to the ground!"
Tea nodded determinedly in agreement. "We'll catch those losers," she vowed.
"Bakura! Wake up!" Yami Bakura hissed in frustration. He looked at Tristan, his eyes flashing. "You're certain he'll be alright?"
"Pretty sure," Tristan nodded. "He's breathing more normally now. They didn't want to kill Bakura . . . at least not yet. They just wanted to scare him . . . and us."
"Well, it's working," Tea muttered. "Poor Bakura . . . being strangled and then locked in a coffin . . .!" She gently laid a hand on the unconscious boy's shoulder. "Please wake up, Bakura," she whispered.
[You're starting to scare me, you dolt!] Yami Bakura yelled angrily through their mental bond. [Wake up already!!!] He resisted the urge to slap the boy awake, but instead shook him roughly. "Wake up, you dolt!!!" he yelled aloud, startling everyone around him.
"Whoa, take it easy, man," Joey exclaimed, pushing the ancient thief back. "Don't hurt him."
Yami Bakura growled angrily.
Bakura's eyes flickered open and he looked around, confused. "Where am I?" he asked.
"In the funeral home," Joey replied mischievously, "but don't worry, pal—you're not here as a customer."
Bakura chuckled and sat up, rubbing his neck.
"You must be feeling okay if you can laugh," Tristan remarked.
"I've felt better," Bakura admitted. "Was it just a nightmare?"
"Was what just a nightmare, Bakura?" Tea asked.
"I was being thrown through the air," Bakura said softly. "Then something grabbed me by the neck and wouldn't let go." He shuddered.
"That was no nightmare, you dolt," Yami Bakura snapped. "That's what those demonic wraiths did to you. Where did you think those marks around your neck came from?"
"I . . . I don't know," Bakura said, his eyes wide.
"Well, I think we've been here long enough," Tea said, laying a hand comfortingly on Bakura's shoulder. "Why don't we all go home?"
"Fine with me," Tristan declared.
"Yeah, let's get outta this creepy joint," Joey agreed. He looked around. "Eh, just one thing—what's Graves gonna think when he sees this mess?"
"I would think that someone's been raising Cain in here!"
Everyone turned to see Mr. Graves standing in the doorway, watching them. "Do you mind telling me what's been happening? And why you're here at 4am?"
"Well, uh, we were trying to figure out what that scarecrow might have wanted in here," Joey said, "so we came over to look around. In the process, Bakura here wound up in a scuffle with some kinda weird wraiths."
"Wraiths!" Mr. Graves screamed. "Scarecrows, wraiths . . . I'm cursed!!" He pointed at Yami Bakura. "And who are you? I don't remember seeing you before."
Yami Bakura smirked. "I'm a tomb raider from ancient Egypt."
Mr. Graves threw his hands in the air in horror. "Merciful heavens!!"
Joey grinned widely, while at the same time digging painfully into Yami Bakura's shoulder with his fingers. "Eh, he loves to joke around," he fibbed.
"Well, I don't find it funny!" Mr. Graves grumped.
"Eh, well, I think we'll be goin' now, if you don't mind, sir," Joey said.
"Fine, fine," Mr. Graves sighed, waving a hand dismissively.
"We're sorry about all the trouble, Mr. Graves," Tea apologized as they headed for the door.
"Oh, it's quite alright," he replied in a resigned tone. "I just wish we could uncover what's really going on around here."
"We all do," Tristan sighed.
****
The next day during lunch at school, Yugi and the others tried to decide what to do next.
"It's almost a dead-end case," Yugi sighed. "I feel like we're just waiting around for the next disaster to happen." He turned to Bakura. "One thing I can't figure out is why they didn't take you, Bakura. Instead they left you there in that . . . thing with a warning note."
"I know," Bakura said, his brown eyes wide. "I can't figure it out either. This mystery just isn't making sense."
"You can say that again," Tea groaned.
****
A dark figure turned to his minions, his eyes flashing angrily. "Imbeciles. You were supposed to grab Yugi Muto!"
"We tried, sir," the lead wraith hissed. "But he was too strong-willed. The zombies couldn't overpower him, no matter how they tried."
"Yes, yes, I know," the figure growled. "It must be that Millennium Puzzle he has. Its powers protected him." He sighed. "And even with what we've done to him and those other two kids, they still aren't backing down!" He paused. "Do you think you can handle a simpler assignment?"
"And what would that be, sir?" the wraith asked.
"Capture some of the others instead. I know who I want. They'll do the job for me perfectly." He gave two names to the wraith. "Can you handle that?"
"Of course, sir." The wraith sneered maliciously. "It's as good as done."
****
Joey looked out the window curiously. Had he just seen something dart across the lawn? No, that was ridiculous—there was no one around. But still . . . he couldn't shake the feeling that something was out there.
Grabbing a rolling pin to use as defense, he opened the kitchen door and stepped out into the yard. He glanced around nervously. Nothing.
"I'm just bein' silly," he told himself. "There's nothing around here. I might as well go back . . ."
Suddenly something horrible and eerie grabbed the boy and held him tightly.
"Hey! What do you think you're doin'??! Let me go!!" Joey yelled, kicking and flailing wildly. He tried to use the rolling pin, but as soon as it hit whatever was holding him captive, it disintegrated. Joey's eyes went wide. "Oh man!!" he gasped.
That was the last thing he remembered as something brushed across his face and he passed out.
****
Mokuba sighed, picking his way through the cemetery that was located just to the right of his school. The chauffeur was late today and Mokuba had decided to hang out in the cemetery while he waited.
Suddenly he gasped and stood still as a decrepit hand rose up from the ground. His heart beat wildly. What was happening?!
Before he could quite comprehend it, a horrible creature that could only be a zombie was standing in front of him, grinning evilly. Mokuba backed up, his eyes wide. "What do you want?!" he demanded.
He backed up right into another one, which grabbed him fiercely.
"You let me go!!" Mokuba screamed. "When I tell my big brother what you did, you're gonna be so sorry . . .!"
He trailed off, feeling lightheaded. He tried hard to stay awake but found it impossible. Seto . . . help me! was his last conscious thought.