Marik's eyes went wide. "Please," he choked, "please stop!" He again tried to pull the man's hands away, but to no avail.
"Why should I?" the man retorted. "After all you did to me and the others, you deserve to die!" His eyes narrowed at the memories. "You put us under your mind control. You imprisoned us in the Shadow Realm. Give me one good reason why I should let you live!"
Marik was horrified at the man's words. He had really done all that?! "I . . . I do not remember what I did, but I am most heartily sor . . ."
The man's grip tightened. "Save it. Your tricks won't work on me!"
Marik had to think fast. Quickly he lashed out and kicked the man in the shin. He cried in pain, but instead of loosening his hold on Marik's throat, the man tightened it painfully. The boy's vision began to swim.
"Please . . . let me go," Marik rasped.
"Oh, I'll let you go," the man replied, "when you can't bother anyone anymore!"
Marik still struggled, but he was beginning to wonder if he should just accept his fate. If he was such a horrid person, maybe everyone would be better off if he was dead. A tear fell from his eye as he embraced the darkness. No one would miss him.
"Hey!" a new voice screamed. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Startled, the man let Marik go and he dropped to the ground in a heap. "Who are you, punk?!" he demanded, whirling around.
"The one who will deal out your future." Now the voice sounded different . . . more commanding. "Mind crush!!"
With a cry of pain, the man collapsed to the ground.
****
"Man, Yug, that was somethin' else," Joey said, shaking his head.
Yugi made no reply. He couldn't imagine why that man had been trying to kill the boy. Purposefully he strode up to the dazed form on the ground and knelt next to him. "Are you alright?" He felt his Yami disappear back into the Puzzle.
Marik shook the cobwebs from his mind. "You . . . you saved my life," he said quietly. "I am forever indebted to you." He looked up, and the other teens gasped.
"It can't be!" Joey cried. "No way!"
Yugi stared. "Marik? Marik Ishtar?" he said in disbelief. He hadn't seen Marik ever since the end of Battle City, even though he knew the boy was living in Domino with his siblings!
The boy blinked, shaking his head. "I do not know my name, nor do I remember you," he said. "But it appears that you know me."
"Heck, of course we know you!" Joey yelled. "Quit tryin' to fool us!" He turned to Yugi. "You ain't gonna believe him, are you, Yug?! After all he's done to us?!" In spite of Marik's actions at the close of Battle City, Joey was still a bit suspicious of him.
Marik hung his head. "I have been hearing what a despicable person I am." He got up slowly. "I am not deserving of your kindness. I should have been killed by that man." No one he had known before said that he was a good person. All he had to go on were these derogatory remarks. They must be true.
"It's a trick, Yug!" Joey cried. "Don't fall for it!"
Yugi shook his head. "I think he's telling the truth, Joey," he replied. "You know how he changed!"
"Yug, you know what he's tried to do to you!" Joey persisted. "He's nothing but a jerk! You can't trust him from here to that fence!" Oh, yes, he knew how Marik how changed. He wanted to believe it, but another part of him screamed to not.
Yugi ignored his friend. "Marik? Do you really have amnesia?" he asked.
The other boy nodded sadly. "But perhaps it is better this way," he conceded. "I don't want to remember the terrible things I have done." He paused. "But why do you call me 'Marik'? That is a name that a nurse gave me. How do you know of it?"
Yugi blinked. "That is your name!" he exclaimed.
Joey stepped forward. He still wasn't buying any of this. "Look, Yugi saved your life. Now why don't you just get outta here?" If Marik would just leave, then Joey wouldn't have to keep being bothered by this feeling that he wasn't doing the right thing!
Marik nodded slowly. "I will leave." He turned to go, feeling sad. What did he really have to live for? He had done treacherous things, and now everyone either wanted him dead or probably didn't care one way or another, even though he no longer remembered what he had done and now wanted to be better. This Yugi hadn't realized at the time who he'd rescued. He certainly would not have saved me if he had known, Marik thought to himself as he trudged down the street.
Joey grunted. "Eh, good riddance." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner, ignoring the way his stomach was starting to knot up.
"Joey!" Yugi scolded.
"He's a creep, Yug!" Joey cried. "You know it and I know it!"
"But he doesn't remember any of that anymore!" Yugi protested. "And, besides, he repented, Joey!! Doesn't that count for something?!"
"He says he doesn't remember," Joey replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised if that slimeball is puttin' on an act!" He ignored Yugi's other remarks, crossing his arms firmly instead. Back to his memory came thoughts of Marik as "Namu." He had pretended to be their friend when he truly wasn't! And then he had mind-controlled Joey! How would they know if Marik wasn't pulling something again?
"I don't think so," Yugi said firmly. "He's not the same Marik we knew, Joey," the violet-eyed boy said quietly. "He truly has changed and now he's in trouble. I think he needs a friend."
Joey stared at his friend in disbelief. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!"
"I'm serious, Joey," Yugi replied firmly, then looked around desperately for Marik.
"He's flown the coop," Joey said, shaking his head. "He probably didn't want us to find out he was bluffin'!"
Yugi ignored him. "Marik!!" he called, running down the street. "Marik, where are you?!" He didn't get an answer. I have to find him! he thought determinedly.
****
"Mr. Kaiba, sir?"
Seto looked up at his secretary. "Yes?"
"Sir, these are the files you wanted." The blonde girl handed him a stack of folders.
Seto accepted them and opened the top one. "Thank you," he said emotionlessly, and the secretary nodded and left.
Seto examined one document, then another. It was just as he'd thought—several thousands of dollars had disappeared from the accounts mysteriously in the last few weeks, and there wasn't any record of where it was going or who was taking it.
Someone was embezzling money from the company. It was the only explanation. But why? And who?
Seto stood up, holding the files in hand. He didn't exactly relish the prospect of chasing the embezzlers. The last time someone had embezzled money, Seto had nearly lost his life fighting with them.
With a sigh, the blue-eyed boy walked out of his office and to the elevator. He needed to take a short break and decide how he would deal with this.
When he got outside, he felt an urgent sense of impending doom and quickly ducked low. Without warning, a knife was thrown out of nowhere and landed right where he'd just been standing, and an ear-piercing scream split through the air!
****
Bakura gently changed the bandaging on his Yami's knife wound, trying to ignore the feelings of dizziness at seeing the deep abrasion and the blood. The thief was still asleep—or unconscious—Bakura couldn't tell which.
He had tried to call Yugi to warn him about what Yami Bakura had said, but the other boy still hadn't returned from school. The tomb raider's words still gave gentle, innocent Bakura the chills. They had made many enemies through the years, but these new ones were relying on some supernatural dark powers that made them even more fearsome—according to Yami Bakura, that is. But Bakura supposed that his Yami knew what he was talking about. After having been around for several thousand years, one would tend to become familiar with dark powers when they saw them, the boy reasoned, and he shivered.
With a sigh of relief, Bakura finally finished his task and went to wash his hands of the blood that had gotten on them. As he stood at the sink, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there. His heart pounding, he whirled around, splashing water on the opposite wall. No one was in sight, but Bakura could still feel a piercing gaze boring into him. He finished washing his hands as fast as he could and then ran back to his Yami. The ancient spirit wasn't a lot of company at this point, but Bakura still felt safer being with him rather than being alone with . . . whatever that was.
"Oh Yami," the boy whispered aloud, "I do wish you'd wake up!" For more reasons than one, he added silently. Even now he felt like something was watching him from the doorway of the room.
"Who are you?!" he cried bravely. "What do you want with me?! If you wish to speak to me, please just come right out and say so!" It made him quite nervous to have an unknown something staring at him. "But please don't hurt my Yami!" he added frantically. "He's been hurt quite enough already!" He had the feeling that whatever was watching him wasn't impressed.
****
Seto straightened up, staring at the knife angrily. He looked around for the guilty party who had thrown it, but no one was around at all.
Except for Tea, who was standing in horror on the sidewalk, her blue eyes wide. Seto assumed that she had been the one who screamed.
"Did you see who threw that?" he demanded.
Tea shook her head. "No, I didn't," she said shakily. "I . . . I was just coming down the street when I saw it fly through the air. . . . Kaiba, it almost hit you!!" she burst out.
Seto grunted. He knew that only too well.
Within a few minutes, the police arrived, having been summoned by another passerby who had witnessed the attempted murder.
Officer Gabrielle Valesquez didn't look surprised when she got out of the car and found Seto there with Tea. "Man, someone's always trying to kill one of you kids," she said, shaking her head.
"I'm starting to get sick of it," Seto replied, narrowing his eyes.
****
Yugi ran down the streets frantically, calling for Marik. He shouldn't have let the other boy walk away, but he had been busy trying to convince Joey that Marik hadn't been lying. He was sure Joey still didn't believe that, but his friend had come along anyway to lend a hand in the search.
"Marik! Hey man, quit playin' hide-and-seek!" Joey yelled in frustration. "Yug's all worried about you!"
And it was true. Yugi *was* worried about Marik. Apparently the Rare Hunters, who had all been freed of the mind-controlling powers of the Millennium Rod, were all coming after their former master to kill him. And if Marik really did have amnesia—and Yugi was certain that he did—then he really wouldn't remember any of what he'd done to warrant their anger. Yugi had always been the kindest, most forgiving person Joey had ever met—including being willing to forgive one of their worst enemies without a second thought. Joey was a forgiving person too—but still he found it hard to just up and trust Marik Ishtar like Yugi just had.
Yami Yugi was also worried, but for a different reason. Obviously Marik no longer had the Millennium Rod . . . but then, where was it? Millennium Items becoming lost was a very dangerous matter. What if someone else found the Rod and unleashed the evil spirit inside? It was definitely cause for alarm.
****
Marik was far away from them by now. He was feeling sad and alone. For the briefest of moments, he had hoped that he had made a friend of his rescuer—but the Brooklyn boy there had informed him that he had done many terrible things to the boy who had saved him. He could never ask for friendship from them after whatever he'd done to them in the past, so he was alone again. How could anyone want to be his friend? He seriously doubted that he'd ever been nice to anyone, after what he'd been hearing.
"I should have died," he said quietly. "I have nothing to live for, and it is my own fault." With that he sat down on the dock by the river and soon accidentally fell into a troubled sleep. He still wasn't completely well and everything he had just been through had made him exhausted. But this was a very dangerous place to sleep, as he would find out.
"Why should I?" the man retorted. "After all you did to me and the others, you deserve to die!" His eyes narrowed at the memories. "You put us under your mind control. You imprisoned us in the Shadow Realm. Give me one good reason why I should let you live!"
Marik was horrified at the man's words. He had really done all that?! "I . . . I do not remember what I did, but I am most heartily sor . . ."
The man's grip tightened. "Save it. Your tricks won't work on me!"
Marik had to think fast. Quickly he lashed out and kicked the man in the shin. He cried in pain, but instead of loosening his hold on Marik's throat, the man tightened it painfully. The boy's vision began to swim.
"Please . . . let me go," Marik rasped.
"Oh, I'll let you go," the man replied, "when you can't bother anyone anymore!"
Marik still struggled, but he was beginning to wonder if he should just accept his fate. If he was such a horrid person, maybe everyone would be better off if he was dead. A tear fell from his eye as he embraced the darkness. No one would miss him.
"Hey!" a new voice screamed. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Startled, the man let Marik go and he dropped to the ground in a heap. "Who are you, punk?!" he demanded, whirling around.
"The one who will deal out your future." Now the voice sounded different . . . more commanding. "Mind crush!!"
With a cry of pain, the man collapsed to the ground.
****
"Man, Yug, that was somethin' else," Joey said, shaking his head.
Yugi made no reply. He couldn't imagine why that man had been trying to kill the boy. Purposefully he strode up to the dazed form on the ground and knelt next to him. "Are you alright?" He felt his Yami disappear back into the Puzzle.
Marik shook the cobwebs from his mind. "You . . . you saved my life," he said quietly. "I am forever indebted to you." He looked up, and the other teens gasped.
"It can't be!" Joey cried. "No way!"
Yugi stared. "Marik? Marik Ishtar?" he said in disbelief. He hadn't seen Marik ever since the end of Battle City, even though he knew the boy was living in Domino with his siblings!
The boy blinked, shaking his head. "I do not know my name, nor do I remember you," he said. "But it appears that you know me."
"Heck, of course we know you!" Joey yelled. "Quit tryin' to fool us!" He turned to Yugi. "You ain't gonna believe him, are you, Yug?! After all he's done to us?!" In spite of Marik's actions at the close of Battle City, Joey was still a bit suspicious of him.
Marik hung his head. "I have been hearing what a despicable person I am." He got up slowly. "I am not deserving of your kindness. I should have been killed by that man." No one he had known before said that he was a good person. All he had to go on were these derogatory remarks. They must be true.
"It's a trick, Yug!" Joey cried. "Don't fall for it!"
Yugi shook his head. "I think he's telling the truth, Joey," he replied. "You know how he changed!"
"Yug, you know what he's tried to do to you!" Joey persisted. "He's nothing but a jerk! You can't trust him from here to that fence!" Oh, yes, he knew how Marik how changed. He wanted to believe it, but another part of him screamed to not.
Yugi ignored his friend. "Marik? Do you really have amnesia?" he asked.
The other boy nodded sadly. "But perhaps it is better this way," he conceded. "I don't want to remember the terrible things I have done." He paused. "But why do you call me 'Marik'? That is a name that a nurse gave me. How do you know of it?"
Yugi blinked. "That is your name!" he exclaimed.
Joey stepped forward. He still wasn't buying any of this. "Look, Yugi saved your life. Now why don't you just get outta here?" If Marik would just leave, then Joey wouldn't have to keep being bothered by this feeling that he wasn't doing the right thing!
Marik nodded slowly. "I will leave." He turned to go, feeling sad. What did he really have to live for? He had done treacherous things, and now everyone either wanted him dead or probably didn't care one way or another, even though he no longer remembered what he had done and now wanted to be better. This Yugi hadn't realized at the time who he'd rescued. He certainly would not have saved me if he had known, Marik thought to himself as he trudged down the street.
Joey grunted. "Eh, good riddance." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner, ignoring the way his stomach was starting to knot up.
"Joey!" Yugi scolded.
"He's a creep, Yug!" Joey cried. "You know it and I know it!"
"But he doesn't remember any of that anymore!" Yugi protested. "And, besides, he repented, Joey!! Doesn't that count for something?!"
"He says he doesn't remember," Joey replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised if that slimeball is puttin' on an act!" He ignored Yugi's other remarks, crossing his arms firmly instead. Back to his memory came thoughts of Marik as "Namu." He had pretended to be their friend when he truly wasn't! And then he had mind-controlled Joey! How would they know if Marik wasn't pulling something again?
"I don't think so," Yugi said firmly. "He's not the same Marik we knew, Joey," the violet-eyed boy said quietly. "He truly has changed and now he's in trouble. I think he needs a friend."
Joey stared at his friend in disbelief. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!"
"I'm serious, Joey," Yugi replied firmly, then looked around desperately for Marik.
"He's flown the coop," Joey said, shaking his head. "He probably didn't want us to find out he was bluffin'!"
Yugi ignored him. "Marik!!" he called, running down the street. "Marik, where are you?!" He didn't get an answer. I have to find him! he thought determinedly.
****
"Mr. Kaiba, sir?"
Seto looked up at his secretary. "Yes?"
"Sir, these are the files you wanted." The blonde girl handed him a stack of folders.
Seto accepted them and opened the top one. "Thank you," he said emotionlessly, and the secretary nodded and left.
Seto examined one document, then another. It was just as he'd thought—several thousands of dollars had disappeared from the accounts mysteriously in the last few weeks, and there wasn't any record of where it was going or who was taking it.
Someone was embezzling money from the company. It was the only explanation. But why? And who?
Seto stood up, holding the files in hand. He didn't exactly relish the prospect of chasing the embezzlers. The last time someone had embezzled money, Seto had nearly lost his life fighting with them.
With a sigh, the blue-eyed boy walked out of his office and to the elevator. He needed to take a short break and decide how he would deal with this.
When he got outside, he felt an urgent sense of impending doom and quickly ducked low. Without warning, a knife was thrown out of nowhere and landed right where he'd just been standing, and an ear-piercing scream split through the air!
****
Bakura gently changed the bandaging on his Yami's knife wound, trying to ignore the feelings of dizziness at seeing the deep abrasion and the blood. The thief was still asleep—or unconscious—Bakura couldn't tell which.
He had tried to call Yugi to warn him about what Yami Bakura had said, but the other boy still hadn't returned from school. The tomb raider's words still gave gentle, innocent Bakura the chills. They had made many enemies through the years, but these new ones were relying on some supernatural dark powers that made them even more fearsome—according to Yami Bakura, that is. But Bakura supposed that his Yami knew what he was talking about. After having been around for several thousand years, one would tend to become familiar with dark powers when they saw them, the boy reasoned, and he shivered.
With a sigh of relief, Bakura finally finished his task and went to wash his hands of the blood that had gotten on them. As he stood at the sink, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there. His heart pounding, he whirled around, splashing water on the opposite wall. No one was in sight, but Bakura could still feel a piercing gaze boring into him. He finished washing his hands as fast as he could and then ran back to his Yami. The ancient spirit wasn't a lot of company at this point, but Bakura still felt safer being with him rather than being alone with . . . whatever that was.
"Oh Yami," the boy whispered aloud, "I do wish you'd wake up!" For more reasons than one, he added silently. Even now he felt like something was watching him from the doorway of the room.
"Who are you?!" he cried bravely. "What do you want with me?! If you wish to speak to me, please just come right out and say so!" It made him quite nervous to have an unknown something staring at him. "But please don't hurt my Yami!" he added frantically. "He's been hurt quite enough already!" He had the feeling that whatever was watching him wasn't impressed.
****
Seto straightened up, staring at the knife angrily. He looked around for the guilty party who had thrown it, but no one was around at all.
Except for Tea, who was standing in horror on the sidewalk, her blue eyes wide. Seto assumed that she had been the one who screamed.
"Did you see who threw that?" he demanded.
Tea shook her head. "No, I didn't," she said shakily. "I . . . I was just coming down the street when I saw it fly through the air. . . . Kaiba, it almost hit you!!" she burst out.
Seto grunted. He knew that only too well.
Within a few minutes, the police arrived, having been summoned by another passerby who had witnessed the attempted murder.
Officer Gabrielle Valesquez didn't look surprised when she got out of the car and found Seto there with Tea. "Man, someone's always trying to kill one of you kids," she said, shaking her head.
"I'm starting to get sick of it," Seto replied, narrowing his eyes.
****
Yugi ran down the streets frantically, calling for Marik. He shouldn't have let the other boy walk away, but he had been busy trying to convince Joey that Marik hadn't been lying. He was sure Joey still didn't believe that, but his friend had come along anyway to lend a hand in the search.
"Marik! Hey man, quit playin' hide-and-seek!" Joey yelled in frustration. "Yug's all worried about you!"
And it was true. Yugi *was* worried about Marik. Apparently the Rare Hunters, who had all been freed of the mind-controlling powers of the Millennium Rod, were all coming after their former master to kill him. And if Marik really did have amnesia—and Yugi was certain that he did—then he really wouldn't remember any of what he'd done to warrant their anger. Yugi had always been the kindest, most forgiving person Joey had ever met—including being willing to forgive one of their worst enemies without a second thought. Joey was a forgiving person too—but still he found it hard to just up and trust Marik Ishtar like Yugi just had.
Yami Yugi was also worried, but for a different reason. Obviously Marik no longer had the Millennium Rod . . . but then, where was it? Millennium Items becoming lost was a very dangerous matter. What if someone else found the Rod and unleashed the evil spirit inside? It was definitely cause for alarm.
****
Marik was far away from them by now. He was feeling sad and alone. For the briefest of moments, he had hoped that he had made a friend of his rescuer—but the Brooklyn boy there had informed him that he had done many terrible things to the boy who had saved him. He could never ask for friendship from them after whatever he'd done to them in the past, so he was alone again. How could anyone want to be his friend? He seriously doubted that he'd ever been nice to anyone, after what he'd been hearing.
"I should have died," he said quietly. "I have nothing to live for, and it is my own fault." With that he sat down on the dock by the river and soon accidentally fell into a troubled sleep. He still wasn't completely well and everything he had just been through had made him exhausted. But this was a very dangerous place to sleep, as he would find out.