Note: LOL, the stereo part is based on a funny story my Sunday School teacher told the class yesterday ^^
Quickly Joey did the only thing he could think of to do in such a situation. He ran up to the door and slammed himself against it, trying to prevent whoever was on the other end from getting in.
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Now they'll know for certain that something strange is going on in here, Wheeler," he scolded.
Sure enough, the person on the other side was getting very angry. They kicked at the door, rattled the knob, and tried to bust the thing down. "What the heck's the matter here?!" an unfamiliar voice growled.
What followed was a long, uncomfortable silence.
"Do you think they've gone?" Tea wondered.
Joey listened for several long moments and then slowly backed away from the door. "Yeah, I would say so," he grinned. "They didn't wanna go up against the mighty Joey Wheeler to get through!"
The other teens exchanged "Oh brother" looks.
Suddenly there was a horrid crash on the other side of the door and the whole thing tore off its hinges, falling to the floor and pinning Joey underneath it!
"Joey!" Yugi cried. "Are you okay?!"
Before Joey could answer, a tough-looking man that none of the teens recognized strode in and glared angrily at each of the teens in turn.
"Who are you?!" the teens all demanded in unison.
"Doesn't matter," the man growled, tapping his fingers on the desk as if he owned the place. "Where's Thorton?"
"He's left for the evening," Tea spoke up. "But I could give him a message if you'd like."
The man growled in irritation. "I'm Richard Byrnes, manager of the Jack Eiffel furniture store here in the mall," he said. "Just tell Thorton I came by." He turned to leave and stepped gracefully over Joey and the fallen door. Yugi, Tristan, and Seto all went to help the other boy climb out from under the heavy slab of wood.
"Man, he didn't say 'I'm sorry' or nothin'!" Joey grumbled as the other boys lifted the door off of him.
"He really wasn't very polite," Yugi agreed, looking upset.
"I wonder what on earth he wanted," Bakura mused.
Seto didn't say anything, but he had noticed the man stare at the photo of the frantic woman—which Yugi had set back on the desk earlier—and then pocket it when he was sure no one was looking. Seto thought he had been the only one to notice, but then Joey remarked, "And hey, did you see him steal that picture from off the desk?! I thought maybe I was just imaginin' things, but it's gone!"
"I saw that too," Tristan admitted, "but it was so fast I wasn't altogether sure it really happened."
"What would he want with that picture?!" Tea exclaimed in frustration. "What relevance does it have to anything?!"
Seto wondered this too. If the woman in the picture really was Mara's mother, Byrnes must have known it. He decided that he needed to visit that furniture store. Without a word, he turned to leave the room.
"Hey, Kaiba, where're you goin'?!" Joey asked.
"Elsewhere," Seto replied.
"Come on, man, you can tell us!" Joey said in frustration, following after him.
"I could," Seto agreed, "if I wanted to." He went on out into the main part of the store.
"Maybe we should go find that guy and ask him why he stole that picture," Tristan suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, Tristan," Yugi admitted, "but we should probably check on my yami first. . . ."
"No need," Yami Yugi said, coming up behind the short boy. The pharaoh sighed. "Whoever was hiding out in there is long gone now," he said.
"Well, we expected as much," Yugi said. "But something else strange happened while you were gone, Yami." With that he and the other teens began to explain about Byrnes' sudden appearance and the stealing of the photo.
"That is odd," Yami Yugi admitted. "What would he want with that?"
"That's what we need to find out!" Joey said determinedly, slamming his fist into his palm. "So let's put things back the way we found 'em and head off to that furniture place!" The others agreed, and before long they were wandering through the seemingly endless mall corridors, trying to find Jack Eiffel Furniture.
"I'm sure I've seen it sometimes on my way to work," Tea said. "I think it's a two-floor store at least."
"Full of nothin' but furniture?" Joey asked.
"Pretty much," Yugi said. "Grampa went in there recently to buy a new counter for the shop. It's a pretty nice place."
"Hey! Isn't that it over there?" Bakura said suddenly, pointing ahead to a store near the end of the long hallway.
"I think it is," Yugi announced.
Before long the group had reached the entrance and hurried inside. "We barely made it in time," Tea said. "I think they're about to close."
"Hey, isn't that Kaiba over there arguing with Byrnes?!" Tristan exclaimed.
Everyone's gaze was directed to where Tristan indicated. "It sure is!" Yugi said, blinking.
"You insolent shrimp!" Byrnes was screaming. "Get out of my store and don't come back!!" Before Seto could do anything, the man had shoved him backward violently into a display of garden statues.
The others gasped and rushed over. "Kaiba! Are you hurt?" Yugi demanded worriedly.
Seto looked up, a world-weary expression on his face. He had crashed between a cherub holding a bird and a Grecian woman filling a jug of water. He stood up, glaring at Byrnes. "That was uncalled for," he growled. "I should bring you up on assault charges."
"Just try it." Byrnes whirled around and stormed away.
"Whoa, what's his problem?!" Joey exclaimed.
"I seem to have pushed his buttons," Seto replied. "And that means I must be on the right track."
"Eh, he didn't give you the picture back, did he?" Joey asked.
"No." Seto turned to walk away. He didn't seem surprised to see Yugi and the others there—which he wasn't.
At that moment the lights dimmed considerably.
"Oh man, what's happening?!" Joey cried. "Don't tell me we're bein' locked in!"
"I'm afraid we are," Yami Yugi said grimly, coming up behind the Brooklyn boy. "I just tried the door."
"What?!" Joey messed up his hair in frustration. "We can't stay in here all night!!"
"I don't think we have a choice," Yami Yugi replied. "If we try to open the doors, we'll probably sound the burglar alarm."
"You've gotta be kiddin'!" Joey cried, messing up his hair. "That guy wanted us to get out! Why the heck would he lock us in his furniture store?!"
"It doesn't make much sense," Tea remarked, crossing her arms.
"Maybe there's another door somewhere," Bakura suggested.
"If there is, we shouldn't waste any time finding it," Yami Yugi said.
Quickly they split up into two groups to look for another exit.
"Kaiba, what the heck did you say to that guy?" Joey demanded.
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Nothing to warrent being shoved into the garden statues," he replied. This case was becoming very perplexing. Everyone seemed to be a suspect, but who was actually guilty?
"Maybe we should be workin' together again," Joey suggested. "It seems like your case is probably connected in some weird way to ours."
Seto didn't answer, except to say, "This isn't exactly the time, Wheeler." He tried the Emergency Exit and found it also locked.
"Man, what now?" Joey burst out. "We can't stay in here all night!"
"I suppose I could try disabling the alarm system," Seto mused, "but then I might not be able to get it back up again." If he disabled it, then they would all get back outside the store, but Seto would have no way of getting the alarm running again without going inside, defeating the whole purpose.
"Man, at this point, I don't care!!" Joey exclaimed.
Seto grunted in reply. He wasn't sure it was the best thing to try doing, but they did need to get out of there. . . . It wasn't their fault they were locked in there; he was certain that someone had locked them in on purpose, for whatever reason. Before they left, however, he decided to investigate Byrnes' office. The man was obviously hiding something.
"Where are you going, Kaiba?" Tea demanded, seeing him walking off.
Seto went through the Employees Only door and disappeared down the long corridor on the other side.
"Hey, wait for us!" Joey yelled, chasing after him.
****
"I don't see any way out," Bakura sighed.
"Man, this is crazy!" Tristan exclaimed. "Why aren't there any clerks or anyone around?"
"They surely couldn't have all gotten away that fast," Bakura declared. "Something isn't right here!"
Yugi nodded grimly. "Someone wanted us to come here so they could lock us in," he said.
Suddenly a hideously loud sound blasted out around the store and everyone froze in shock. "What IS that?!" Joey screamed, covering his ears.
"It's deafening!" Tea shrieked. Seto's eyes narrowed in vexation.
A nearby lamp fell off a table and shattered.
"Someone's playing a stereo at full blast!" Yugi screamed.
"Man, they need to turn it down before we all shatter like that lamp did!" Tristan exclaimed.
Bakura covered his ears as Joey had, grimacing at the earth-shaking noise.
Then, as abruptly as it started, it stopped.
"You can take your hands off your ears now," Seto said wryly.
"WHAT?" Joey yelled. Tea rolled her eyes and pried Joey's hands away. The blonde boy blinked, looking around. "Oh," he said in a normal voice.
"What was that infernal racket?!" Yami Bakura demanded, emerging from the Ring.
"I can't imagine," Bakura replied.
"But this means someone else must still be in here," Yugi said slowly. "The stereo couldn't have turned on and off by itself!"
Yugi's group quickly went off to find the electronic department, but when they arrived, nothing looked out of place.
"This stereo doesn't look like it's been touched all evening," Bakura remarked.
"Whoever was here got away in a hurry," Yami Yugi said.
"But they havta still be in the store somewhere," Tristan declared, crossing his arms.
Meanwhile, Seto had found Byrnes' office and was attempting to pick the lock.
"Man, I hope that won't activate the alarm," Joey said.
"It shouldn't," Seto replied, hearing a soft click. Without another word, he swung the door open and clicked on the light. Byrnes' office was the exact opposite of Thorton's—completely neat in every way.
"Man, what a switch!" Joey exclaimed, gesturing around. "Nothin's out of place in here!"
Tea cautiously went over to the desk and stared at it. "I wonder where he would put that picture," she mused.
"He probably took it home with him," Seto decided, "but there might be something else here of use." He opened the filing cabinet and started going through it.
"Find anything yet?" Joey asked, peeking over the other boy's shoulder.
Seto didn't answer and continued to thumb through the files. Suddenly he stopped and pulled one out.
"What? What is it?" Joey demanded, as he and Tea crowded around to see.
Seto stared at the contents of the folder. It seemed to be a pack of photographs. He removed the top one for a closer look.
It was a black-and-white shot of Mara and a woman—obviously her mother—boarding a train!
"Isn't that the woman from the other picture?!" Tea burst out.
"It is," Seto agreed. Quickly he turned to the Xerox machine in the corner and began making copies of all the photos, which were all of Mara and her mother on the train. "There might be some important clues we could find by studying these pictures closely," he explained.
"Hey, man, that kid in the pictures—ain't she the same one who was hangin' out with you?" Joey said suddenly. He hadn't stopped to realize that earlier because he had been so startled to see the same frantic woman in the photos, but now he realized that the little girl was familiar as well.
Seto was silent for a while, but then finally admitted that it was the same girl.
"So how come she's taken such a likin' to you, anyway, Kaiba?" Joey asked.
"Now that is none of your concern," Seto replied.
"What do you think these pictures mean?" Tea wondered. "Is Byrnes a criminal?"
"I would say they mean that we need to have a talk with Byrnes," Seto told her.
"Yeah!" Joey agreed. "We should just go marchin' right up to him and confront him with what we've found!"
"But we shouldn't say that we were poking around in here," Tea said. "He could have us arrested!"
"Hey, it's not our fault he locked us in here!" Joey shot back.
"I'm not so sure it was him," Seto said. "He did want us to leave. Why would he prevent us from doing so? He'd know we might find his secrets."
"Nothin' makes sense!!" Joey cried in frustration.
Suddenly Tea, who was at the door, gasped and turned off the light. "Someone's coming!" she declared. "And it's not Yugi or any of the others!"
Quickly Seto grabbed Tea and Joey and herded them deeper into the shadows, behind the desk and filing cabinet.
"They're comin' in," Joey announced.
"Shut up, Wheeler," Seto growled. "They'll hear you!!"
The intruder shined a flashlight around and then made their way over to the filing cabinet. After a brief search, they pulled out the folder with the pictures inside.
Without thinking about it, Joey leaped up and tackled the person, bringing them to the floor. "Alright!! The jig's up!!" he yelled, and Tea clicked on the lights again.
"What are you kids trying to do?!" a familiar voice yelled.
The teens stared at the intruder in disbelief. It was Maureen!
Quickly Joey did the only thing he could think of to do in such a situation. He ran up to the door and slammed himself against it, trying to prevent whoever was on the other end from getting in.
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Now they'll know for certain that something strange is going on in here, Wheeler," he scolded.
Sure enough, the person on the other side was getting very angry. They kicked at the door, rattled the knob, and tried to bust the thing down. "What the heck's the matter here?!" an unfamiliar voice growled.
What followed was a long, uncomfortable silence.
"Do you think they've gone?" Tea wondered.
Joey listened for several long moments and then slowly backed away from the door. "Yeah, I would say so," he grinned. "They didn't wanna go up against the mighty Joey Wheeler to get through!"
The other teens exchanged "Oh brother" looks.
Suddenly there was a horrid crash on the other side of the door and the whole thing tore off its hinges, falling to the floor and pinning Joey underneath it!
"Joey!" Yugi cried. "Are you okay?!"
Before Joey could answer, a tough-looking man that none of the teens recognized strode in and glared angrily at each of the teens in turn.
"Who are you?!" the teens all demanded in unison.
"Doesn't matter," the man growled, tapping his fingers on the desk as if he owned the place. "Where's Thorton?"
"He's left for the evening," Tea spoke up. "But I could give him a message if you'd like."
The man growled in irritation. "I'm Richard Byrnes, manager of the Jack Eiffel furniture store here in the mall," he said. "Just tell Thorton I came by." He turned to leave and stepped gracefully over Joey and the fallen door. Yugi, Tristan, and Seto all went to help the other boy climb out from under the heavy slab of wood.
"Man, he didn't say 'I'm sorry' or nothin'!" Joey grumbled as the other boys lifted the door off of him.
"He really wasn't very polite," Yugi agreed, looking upset.
"I wonder what on earth he wanted," Bakura mused.
Seto didn't say anything, but he had noticed the man stare at the photo of the frantic woman—which Yugi had set back on the desk earlier—and then pocket it when he was sure no one was looking. Seto thought he had been the only one to notice, but then Joey remarked, "And hey, did you see him steal that picture from off the desk?! I thought maybe I was just imaginin' things, but it's gone!"
"I saw that too," Tristan admitted, "but it was so fast I wasn't altogether sure it really happened."
"What would he want with that picture?!" Tea exclaimed in frustration. "What relevance does it have to anything?!"
Seto wondered this too. If the woman in the picture really was Mara's mother, Byrnes must have known it. He decided that he needed to visit that furniture store. Without a word, he turned to leave the room.
"Hey, Kaiba, where're you goin'?!" Joey asked.
"Elsewhere," Seto replied.
"Come on, man, you can tell us!" Joey said in frustration, following after him.
"I could," Seto agreed, "if I wanted to." He went on out into the main part of the store.
"Maybe we should go find that guy and ask him why he stole that picture," Tristan suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, Tristan," Yugi admitted, "but we should probably check on my yami first. . . ."
"No need," Yami Yugi said, coming up behind the short boy. The pharaoh sighed. "Whoever was hiding out in there is long gone now," he said.
"Well, we expected as much," Yugi said. "But something else strange happened while you were gone, Yami." With that he and the other teens began to explain about Byrnes' sudden appearance and the stealing of the photo.
"That is odd," Yami Yugi admitted. "What would he want with that?"
"That's what we need to find out!" Joey said determinedly, slamming his fist into his palm. "So let's put things back the way we found 'em and head off to that furniture place!" The others agreed, and before long they were wandering through the seemingly endless mall corridors, trying to find Jack Eiffel Furniture.
"I'm sure I've seen it sometimes on my way to work," Tea said. "I think it's a two-floor store at least."
"Full of nothin' but furniture?" Joey asked.
"Pretty much," Yugi said. "Grampa went in there recently to buy a new counter for the shop. It's a pretty nice place."
"Hey! Isn't that it over there?" Bakura said suddenly, pointing ahead to a store near the end of the long hallway.
"I think it is," Yugi announced.
Before long the group had reached the entrance and hurried inside. "We barely made it in time," Tea said. "I think they're about to close."
"Hey, isn't that Kaiba over there arguing with Byrnes?!" Tristan exclaimed.
Everyone's gaze was directed to where Tristan indicated. "It sure is!" Yugi said, blinking.
"You insolent shrimp!" Byrnes was screaming. "Get out of my store and don't come back!!" Before Seto could do anything, the man had shoved him backward violently into a display of garden statues.
The others gasped and rushed over. "Kaiba! Are you hurt?" Yugi demanded worriedly.
Seto looked up, a world-weary expression on his face. He had crashed between a cherub holding a bird and a Grecian woman filling a jug of water. He stood up, glaring at Byrnes. "That was uncalled for," he growled. "I should bring you up on assault charges."
"Just try it." Byrnes whirled around and stormed away.
"Whoa, what's his problem?!" Joey exclaimed.
"I seem to have pushed his buttons," Seto replied. "And that means I must be on the right track."
"Eh, he didn't give you the picture back, did he?" Joey asked.
"No." Seto turned to walk away. He didn't seem surprised to see Yugi and the others there—which he wasn't.
At that moment the lights dimmed considerably.
"Oh man, what's happening?!" Joey cried. "Don't tell me we're bein' locked in!"
"I'm afraid we are," Yami Yugi said grimly, coming up behind the Brooklyn boy. "I just tried the door."
"What?!" Joey messed up his hair in frustration. "We can't stay in here all night!!"
"I don't think we have a choice," Yami Yugi replied. "If we try to open the doors, we'll probably sound the burglar alarm."
"You've gotta be kiddin'!" Joey cried, messing up his hair. "That guy wanted us to get out! Why the heck would he lock us in his furniture store?!"
"It doesn't make much sense," Tea remarked, crossing her arms.
"Maybe there's another door somewhere," Bakura suggested.
"If there is, we shouldn't waste any time finding it," Yami Yugi said.
Quickly they split up into two groups to look for another exit.
"Kaiba, what the heck did you say to that guy?" Joey demanded.
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Nothing to warrent being shoved into the garden statues," he replied. This case was becoming very perplexing. Everyone seemed to be a suspect, but who was actually guilty?
"Maybe we should be workin' together again," Joey suggested. "It seems like your case is probably connected in some weird way to ours."
Seto didn't answer, except to say, "This isn't exactly the time, Wheeler." He tried the Emergency Exit and found it also locked.
"Man, what now?" Joey burst out. "We can't stay in here all night!"
"I suppose I could try disabling the alarm system," Seto mused, "but then I might not be able to get it back up again." If he disabled it, then they would all get back outside the store, but Seto would have no way of getting the alarm running again without going inside, defeating the whole purpose.
"Man, at this point, I don't care!!" Joey exclaimed.
Seto grunted in reply. He wasn't sure it was the best thing to try doing, but they did need to get out of there. . . . It wasn't their fault they were locked in there; he was certain that someone had locked them in on purpose, for whatever reason. Before they left, however, he decided to investigate Byrnes' office. The man was obviously hiding something.
"Where are you going, Kaiba?" Tea demanded, seeing him walking off.
Seto went through the Employees Only door and disappeared down the long corridor on the other side.
"Hey, wait for us!" Joey yelled, chasing after him.
****
"I don't see any way out," Bakura sighed.
"Man, this is crazy!" Tristan exclaimed. "Why aren't there any clerks or anyone around?"
"They surely couldn't have all gotten away that fast," Bakura declared. "Something isn't right here!"
Yugi nodded grimly. "Someone wanted us to come here so they could lock us in," he said.
Suddenly a hideously loud sound blasted out around the store and everyone froze in shock. "What IS that?!" Joey screamed, covering his ears.
"It's deafening!" Tea shrieked. Seto's eyes narrowed in vexation.
A nearby lamp fell off a table and shattered.
"Someone's playing a stereo at full blast!" Yugi screamed.
"Man, they need to turn it down before we all shatter like that lamp did!" Tristan exclaimed.
Bakura covered his ears as Joey had, grimacing at the earth-shaking noise.
Then, as abruptly as it started, it stopped.
"You can take your hands off your ears now," Seto said wryly.
"WHAT?" Joey yelled. Tea rolled her eyes and pried Joey's hands away. The blonde boy blinked, looking around. "Oh," he said in a normal voice.
"What was that infernal racket?!" Yami Bakura demanded, emerging from the Ring.
"I can't imagine," Bakura replied.
"But this means someone else must still be in here," Yugi said slowly. "The stereo couldn't have turned on and off by itself!"
Yugi's group quickly went off to find the electronic department, but when they arrived, nothing looked out of place.
"This stereo doesn't look like it's been touched all evening," Bakura remarked.
"Whoever was here got away in a hurry," Yami Yugi said.
"But they havta still be in the store somewhere," Tristan declared, crossing his arms.
Meanwhile, Seto had found Byrnes' office and was attempting to pick the lock.
"Man, I hope that won't activate the alarm," Joey said.
"It shouldn't," Seto replied, hearing a soft click. Without another word, he swung the door open and clicked on the light. Byrnes' office was the exact opposite of Thorton's—completely neat in every way.
"Man, what a switch!" Joey exclaimed, gesturing around. "Nothin's out of place in here!"
Tea cautiously went over to the desk and stared at it. "I wonder where he would put that picture," she mused.
"He probably took it home with him," Seto decided, "but there might be something else here of use." He opened the filing cabinet and started going through it.
"Find anything yet?" Joey asked, peeking over the other boy's shoulder.
Seto didn't answer and continued to thumb through the files. Suddenly he stopped and pulled one out.
"What? What is it?" Joey demanded, as he and Tea crowded around to see.
Seto stared at the contents of the folder. It seemed to be a pack of photographs. He removed the top one for a closer look.
It was a black-and-white shot of Mara and a woman—obviously her mother—boarding a train!
"Isn't that the woman from the other picture?!" Tea burst out.
"It is," Seto agreed. Quickly he turned to the Xerox machine in the corner and began making copies of all the photos, which were all of Mara and her mother on the train. "There might be some important clues we could find by studying these pictures closely," he explained.
"Hey, man, that kid in the pictures—ain't she the same one who was hangin' out with you?" Joey said suddenly. He hadn't stopped to realize that earlier because he had been so startled to see the same frantic woman in the photos, but now he realized that the little girl was familiar as well.
Seto was silent for a while, but then finally admitted that it was the same girl.
"So how come she's taken such a likin' to you, anyway, Kaiba?" Joey asked.
"Now that is none of your concern," Seto replied.
"What do you think these pictures mean?" Tea wondered. "Is Byrnes a criminal?"
"I would say they mean that we need to have a talk with Byrnes," Seto told her.
"Yeah!" Joey agreed. "We should just go marchin' right up to him and confront him with what we've found!"
"But we shouldn't say that we were poking around in here," Tea said. "He could have us arrested!"
"Hey, it's not our fault he locked us in here!" Joey shot back.
"I'm not so sure it was him," Seto said. "He did want us to leave. Why would he prevent us from doing so? He'd know we might find his secrets."
"Nothin' makes sense!!" Joey cried in frustration.
Suddenly Tea, who was at the door, gasped and turned off the light. "Someone's coming!" she declared. "And it's not Yugi or any of the others!"
Quickly Seto grabbed Tea and Joey and herded them deeper into the shadows, behind the desk and filing cabinet.
"They're comin' in," Joey announced.
"Shut up, Wheeler," Seto growled. "They'll hear you!!"
The intruder shined a flashlight around and then made their way over to the filing cabinet. After a brief search, they pulled out the folder with the pictures inside.
Without thinking about it, Joey leaped up and tackled the person, bringing them to the floor. "Alright!! The jig's up!!" he yelled, and Tea clicked on the lights again.
"What are you kids trying to do?!" a familiar voice yelled.
The teens stared at the intruder in disbelief. It was Maureen!