NOTES: I am still not trying to get Seto and Tea together romantically ^_~ And thanx to JP for his plot idea near the end of this chapter! ^^
Without warning, the horrible creature dove at them and grabbed Tea.
"Let me go!!" the poor girl screamed in terror, her blue eyes wide. The creature only laughed evilly.
The three boys watched this in outrage and then launched their own attack at the monster, which first tripped Tristan and then threw Mokuba back forcefully into Seto's arms. Seto staggered back, momentarily caught off guard.
"Are you alright, Mokuba?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, big brother," Mokuba replied, jumping back down to the floor to glare at the monster.
"What do you want with me?!" Tea demanded, but it only tightened its grip on her and prepared to jump out the window.
"Not so fast," Seto growled, digging his fingers into the thing's shoulder. It growled and let go of Tea, turning its full attention to Seto. Tea backed up and watched in horror as the two grappled violently on the floor. First Seto had the upper hand, but then the creature would scratch him viciously with its long fingernails and overpower him again.
"Tristan, what do we do?" Tea gasped.
Tristan watched the bloody scene grimly. "I don't think there's anything we can do, Tea," he told her.
"My brother will win!" Mokuba said confidently, but his eyes showed how worried he was.
Now the creature had Seto on the floor and was trying to strangle him, but at just the right moment, Seto shot out and kicked the phantom, throwing it across the room. It was quickly back on its feet again, however, and punched Seto hard in the chest. Seto gasped and sank to his knees, breathing heavily.
"Big brother!" Mokuba gasped, his eyes wide.
Seto's eyes narrowed at the creature and he stumbled back to his feet, launching a hard punch at the apparition that sent it flying out the window, where it vanished in midair. Seto watched it disappear and then leaned against the wall, trying to regain his strength.
"Whoa, Kaiba, that was some fight!" Tristan exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
Seto nodded. "I'm fine," he replied slowly, smiling as Mokuba rushed over to hug him.
"Maybe we'd better go back downstairs and see what the others are doing," Tristan suggested.
"Good idea," Tea agreed, and watched in concern as Seto struggled to stand up. "You *are* hurt, Kaiba!" she exclaimed.
Seto shook his head. "No. No, Tea, I'm fine," he insisted, trying to ignore the burning pain in his chest. The apparition had hit him right where that strange mark was, and it really hurt, but he was not about to admit that to anyone.
Tea and Mokuba stayed close to him as they went down the main stairs leading out of the attic. Tea looked at the blue-eyed boy worriedly. She never had liked him very much before, but he had changed a lot since the whole Duelist Kingdom experience, and he *had* just saved her from that . . . monstrosity. . . .
"Thank you," she whispered softly. "Thank you for rescuing me."
Seto didn't reply, but Tea had expected that.
Yugi and Joey met them at the bottom. "Oh man, what happened to you guys?" Joey gasped.
"Is everything alright?" Yugi asked.
"We met the Headless Horseman dude up in the attic!" Tristan announced. "It tried to cart Tea off with it!"
"No kidding?! Oh man . . ." Joey's eyes were wide. "How the heck did you get rid of it?!" He looked at Seto and did a doubletake. "Whoa, what happened to you, man?!"
"Never mind," Seto replied coldly. "Did you find anything of value?"
"Heck, yeah," Joey replied. "I found a bottle of red disappearing ink! That was probably the blood that was on Mai's carpet. That'd account for how it disappeared like it did!"
Seto nodded slowly. "That's possible," he agreed.
That's when Mai and Bakura came running down another staircase, looking completely spooked. "There's a phantom upstairs in the bedroom!" Bakura exclaimed.
"It threw my wardrobe at us!" Mai added.
Yugi looked grim. "That's terrible! What did you do?"
"We locked it in, but it probably escaped by now," Mai replied with a sigh.
Yugi turned to go up the stairs. "I'd better investigate," he decided.
"Be careful, Yugi," Tea said worriedly.
Yugi nodded solemnly and headed upstairs, with the others following closely.
"Which room is it?" Yugi asked, glancing around the lengthy hallway.
"This one," Mai told him, pointing at the bolted door on the left.
Yugi turned to unlock the door. "Stand back," he warned, the third eye glowing on his forehead, "I can sense great danger inside."
"Oh man, you don't havta tell us twice, Yug," Joey exclaimed, backing up. "I don't wanna be attacked by a vicious wardrobe like Kaiba was!"
"It was a bookcase," Seto muttered.
Yugi suddenly thrust the door open and glared into the room. "Spirits, reveal yourselves!" he ordered.
An eerie cackling laugh began to echo throughout the room, and slowly twenty-five or more apparitions materialized.
"Whoa!" Joey gasped, and Seto put his arms around Mokuba protectively.
"Spirits, why have you intruded into Mai's house and terrorized her and all of us?" Yugi demanded.
All of the phantoms only started laughing wickedly again.
"You may refuse to give me a straight answer, but I do know that whatever your motives are, they are not righteous and good." Yugi looked at the wraiths stonily. "I will give you the chance to leave peacefully."
None of the evil spirits moved from their places.
Yugi's eyes narrowed. "Very well. Now I will be forced to make you depart." He raised his right hand in emphasis. "Be gone!"
With cries of anger and fury, the wraiths vanished.
"What were those things?!" Mai demanded.
"Evil spirits,"Yugi told her grimly.
"What would they want with me?!" Mai exclaimed.
"I don't know," Yugi said, shaking his head.
"Yugi, do you think it has something to do with our alien mystery?" Tea asked.
"It's possible, I suppose," Yugi said slowly. "We'd better check the rest of the house to make certain there aren't any more wraiths hiding around."
"Speakin' of aliens, are we still gonna go up to the canyons to look for clues?" Joey wondered as they finished up their search of Mai's house an hour later.
Yugi nodded. "I think we should."
"I'll come with you," Mai volunteered.
"Well, that's cool," Joey grinned. "We can use all the help we can get!"
As they went out the door and climbed into Seto's limo, Tristan, Tea, and Mokuba told Mai about their encounter with the headless phantom that had attacked them.
"It just reached out and grabbed you?!" Mai exclaimed to Tea, her violet eyes wide.
"It sure did," Tea nodded. "If Kaiba hadn't been able to overpower it, who knows where I might be now!" She shuddered.
Mai turned to Seto, who had been characteristically silent for most of this time. "You were fighting with it? Are you alright?"
Seto nodded. "I'm fine." He pulled the sleeve of his trenchcoat down to hide the scratch marks on his wrist.
"Were you able to figure out what it was?" Mai asked.
"Whatever it was, I doubt that it was mortal," Seto replied.
"Yeah, and it sure wasn't any projected image," Tristan added. "It really clawed Kaiba up!"
Seto looked irritated. "I told you, I'm fine," he said again, subconsciously rubbing at his aching chest.
"One of these days, Kaiba, you might regret being so independent," Joey said, shaking his head. It was obvious to him and most everyone else that Seto was in pain.
"I can take care of myself," Seto replied.
"Whatever you say, man," Joey shrugged as they drove up into the canyons. "Whoa, man, have a look at that!" He pointed down at a steep, tree-filled incline just off the road, with a stream of water at the bottom far below. "I'd hate to fall down that thing!"
"You and me both, kiddo," Mai said, peering out the window as well.
"Where was the UFO sighted, Mokuba?" Seto asked.
Mokuba paused, thinking. "I think the reporter said it was up near the top, Seto," he replied.
"Keep driving," Seto directed his chauffeur.
It wasn't hard to spot the area in question. As they neared the top, they found yellow tape around certain areas and two or three random officers apparently looking for anything they'd missed.
"If they catch us here, they'll probably rout us out," Mai remarked.
"So we'd better split up," Joey decided.
"I agree," Yugi nodded, "but we must be very careful. They haven't blocked off certain areas up here for no reason."
This time they split up into two groups of four each. Yugi went with Tristan, Mai, and Bakura, and Tea went with the Kaiba brothers and Joey, with the agreement that they'd meet up again in two hours.
"So what are we looking for, Yugi?" Mai asked as they started walking through the clusters of trees.
"Anything unusual," Yugi replied.
"Oh, speaking of unusual . . . Bakura, have you heard anything about that piece of metal you found in your yard?" Tristan asked.
Bakura shook his head, his long silver hair flying with the motion. "No, I haven't," he said. "I called the laboratory today and the scientist said they were still testing it."
"What piece of metal?" Mai looked confused.
"I found it in my yard yesterday morning," Bakura replied.
"Yesterday morning!" Tristan shook his head. "Man, it's hard to believe all of this has happened just since then."
Yugi nodded in agreement.
****
"Do you see anything, Joey?" Tea asked, looking up at Joey, who was perched in a tree.
"Nothing," Joey replied in frustration.
"You might want to consider coming down before you fall down," Seto said dryly.
A small tremor shook the ground around them and Joey grabbed onto the branch in shock. "What the heck was that?!" he exclaimed.
"Whatever it was, I don't think it was good!" Tea declared.
A second tremor, harsher than the first, rumbled through and abruptly threw Joey out of the tree and to the ground. Then it sent Tea flying backward with a scream into Seto's arms, while Mokuba watched wide-eyed.
"What's happening?!" Tea gasped.
"I think it's an earthquake," Seto replied grimly.
Without warning, the horrible creature dove at them and grabbed Tea.
"Let me go!!" the poor girl screamed in terror, her blue eyes wide. The creature only laughed evilly.
The three boys watched this in outrage and then launched their own attack at the monster, which first tripped Tristan and then threw Mokuba back forcefully into Seto's arms. Seto staggered back, momentarily caught off guard.
"Are you alright, Mokuba?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, big brother," Mokuba replied, jumping back down to the floor to glare at the monster.
"What do you want with me?!" Tea demanded, but it only tightened its grip on her and prepared to jump out the window.
"Not so fast," Seto growled, digging his fingers into the thing's shoulder. It growled and let go of Tea, turning its full attention to Seto. Tea backed up and watched in horror as the two grappled violently on the floor. First Seto had the upper hand, but then the creature would scratch him viciously with its long fingernails and overpower him again.
"Tristan, what do we do?" Tea gasped.
Tristan watched the bloody scene grimly. "I don't think there's anything we can do, Tea," he told her.
"My brother will win!" Mokuba said confidently, but his eyes showed how worried he was.
Now the creature had Seto on the floor and was trying to strangle him, but at just the right moment, Seto shot out and kicked the phantom, throwing it across the room. It was quickly back on its feet again, however, and punched Seto hard in the chest. Seto gasped and sank to his knees, breathing heavily.
"Big brother!" Mokuba gasped, his eyes wide.
Seto's eyes narrowed at the creature and he stumbled back to his feet, launching a hard punch at the apparition that sent it flying out the window, where it vanished in midair. Seto watched it disappear and then leaned against the wall, trying to regain his strength.
"Whoa, Kaiba, that was some fight!" Tristan exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
Seto nodded. "I'm fine," he replied slowly, smiling as Mokuba rushed over to hug him.
"Maybe we'd better go back downstairs and see what the others are doing," Tristan suggested.
"Good idea," Tea agreed, and watched in concern as Seto struggled to stand up. "You *are* hurt, Kaiba!" she exclaimed.
Seto shook his head. "No. No, Tea, I'm fine," he insisted, trying to ignore the burning pain in his chest. The apparition had hit him right where that strange mark was, and it really hurt, but he was not about to admit that to anyone.
Tea and Mokuba stayed close to him as they went down the main stairs leading out of the attic. Tea looked at the blue-eyed boy worriedly. She never had liked him very much before, but he had changed a lot since the whole Duelist Kingdom experience, and he *had* just saved her from that . . . monstrosity. . . .
"Thank you," she whispered softly. "Thank you for rescuing me."
Seto didn't reply, but Tea had expected that.
Yugi and Joey met them at the bottom. "Oh man, what happened to you guys?" Joey gasped.
"Is everything alright?" Yugi asked.
"We met the Headless Horseman dude up in the attic!" Tristan announced. "It tried to cart Tea off with it!"
"No kidding?! Oh man . . ." Joey's eyes were wide. "How the heck did you get rid of it?!" He looked at Seto and did a doubletake. "Whoa, what happened to you, man?!"
"Never mind," Seto replied coldly. "Did you find anything of value?"
"Heck, yeah," Joey replied. "I found a bottle of red disappearing ink! That was probably the blood that was on Mai's carpet. That'd account for how it disappeared like it did!"
Seto nodded slowly. "That's possible," he agreed.
That's when Mai and Bakura came running down another staircase, looking completely spooked. "There's a phantom upstairs in the bedroom!" Bakura exclaimed.
"It threw my wardrobe at us!" Mai added.
Yugi looked grim. "That's terrible! What did you do?"
"We locked it in, but it probably escaped by now," Mai replied with a sigh.
Yugi turned to go up the stairs. "I'd better investigate," he decided.
"Be careful, Yugi," Tea said worriedly.
Yugi nodded solemnly and headed upstairs, with the others following closely.
"Which room is it?" Yugi asked, glancing around the lengthy hallway.
"This one," Mai told him, pointing at the bolted door on the left.
Yugi turned to unlock the door. "Stand back," he warned, the third eye glowing on his forehead, "I can sense great danger inside."
"Oh man, you don't havta tell us twice, Yug," Joey exclaimed, backing up. "I don't wanna be attacked by a vicious wardrobe like Kaiba was!"
"It was a bookcase," Seto muttered.
Yugi suddenly thrust the door open and glared into the room. "Spirits, reveal yourselves!" he ordered.
An eerie cackling laugh began to echo throughout the room, and slowly twenty-five or more apparitions materialized.
"Whoa!" Joey gasped, and Seto put his arms around Mokuba protectively.
"Spirits, why have you intruded into Mai's house and terrorized her and all of us?" Yugi demanded.
All of the phantoms only started laughing wickedly again.
"You may refuse to give me a straight answer, but I do know that whatever your motives are, they are not righteous and good." Yugi looked at the wraiths stonily. "I will give you the chance to leave peacefully."
None of the evil spirits moved from their places.
Yugi's eyes narrowed. "Very well. Now I will be forced to make you depart." He raised his right hand in emphasis. "Be gone!"
With cries of anger and fury, the wraiths vanished.
"What were those things?!" Mai demanded.
"Evil spirits,"Yugi told her grimly.
"What would they want with me?!" Mai exclaimed.
"I don't know," Yugi said, shaking his head.
"Yugi, do you think it has something to do with our alien mystery?" Tea asked.
"It's possible, I suppose," Yugi said slowly. "We'd better check the rest of the house to make certain there aren't any more wraiths hiding around."
"Speakin' of aliens, are we still gonna go up to the canyons to look for clues?" Joey wondered as they finished up their search of Mai's house an hour later.
Yugi nodded. "I think we should."
"I'll come with you," Mai volunteered.
"Well, that's cool," Joey grinned. "We can use all the help we can get!"
As they went out the door and climbed into Seto's limo, Tristan, Tea, and Mokuba told Mai about their encounter with the headless phantom that had attacked them.
"It just reached out and grabbed you?!" Mai exclaimed to Tea, her violet eyes wide.
"It sure did," Tea nodded. "If Kaiba hadn't been able to overpower it, who knows where I might be now!" She shuddered.
Mai turned to Seto, who had been characteristically silent for most of this time. "You were fighting with it? Are you alright?"
Seto nodded. "I'm fine." He pulled the sleeve of his trenchcoat down to hide the scratch marks on his wrist.
"Were you able to figure out what it was?" Mai asked.
"Whatever it was, I doubt that it was mortal," Seto replied.
"Yeah, and it sure wasn't any projected image," Tristan added. "It really clawed Kaiba up!"
Seto looked irritated. "I told you, I'm fine," he said again, subconsciously rubbing at his aching chest.
"One of these days, Kaiba, you might regret being so independent," Joey said, shaking his head. It was obvious to him and most everyone else that Seto was in pain.
"I can take care of myself," Seto replied.
"Whatever you say, man," Joey shrugged as they drove up into the canyons. "Whoa, man, have a look at that!" He pointed down at a steep, tree-filled incline just off the road, with a stream of water at the bottom far below. "I'd hate to fall down that thing!"
"You and me both, kiddo," Mai said, peering out the window as well.
"Where was the UFO sighted, Mokuba?" Seto asked.
Mokuba paused, thinking. "I think the reporter said it was up near the top, Seto," he replied.
"Keep driving," Seto directed his chauffeur.
It wasn't hard to spot the area in question. As they neared the top, they found yellow tape around certain areas and two or three random officers apparently looking for anything they'd missed.
"If they catch us here, they'll probably rout us out," Mai remarked.
"So we'd better split up," Joey decided.
"I agree," Yugi nodded, "but we must be very careful. They haven't blocked off certain areas up here for no reason."
This time they split up into two groups of four each. Yugi went with Tristan, Mai, and Bakura, and Tea went with the Kaiba brothers and Joey, with the agreement that they'd meet up again in two hours.
"So what are we looking for, Yugi?" Mai asked as they started walking through the clusters of trees.
"Anything unusual," Yugi replied.
"Oh, speaking of unusual . . . Bakura, have you heard anything about that piece of metal you found in your yard?" Tristan asked.
Bakura shook his head, his long silver hair flying with the motion. "No, I haven't," he said. "I called the laboratory today and the scientist said they were still testing it."
"What piece of metal?" Mai looked confused.
"I found it in my yard yesterday morning," Bakura replied.
"Yesterday morning!" Tristan shook his head. "Man, it's hard to believe all of this has happened just since then."
Yugi nodded in agreement.
****
"Do you see anything, Joey?" Tea asked, looking up at Joey, who was perched in a tree.
"Nothing," Joey replied in frustration.
"You might want to consider coming down before you fall down," Seto said dryly.
A small tremor shook the ground around them and Joey grabbed onto the branch in shock. "What the heck was that?!" he exclaimed.
"Whatever it was, I don't think it was good!" Tea declared.
A second tremor, harsher than the first, rumbled through and abruptly threw Joey out of the tree and to the ground. Then it sent Tea flying backward with a scream into Seto's arms, while Mokuba watched wide-eyed.
"What's happening?!" Tea gasped.
"I think it's an earthquake," Seto replied grimly.