Thanks to Redemmo, I have fixed a bad error. XD; Saying "The Ishtars and Rishid" was a big boo-boo, since of course Rishid is really an Ishtar!
Mokuba's eyes narrowed as the man came closer. "Get away from me!!"
Seto stirred and sprang up from the next bed over, hearing the noise. Narrowing his eyes angrily, he grabbed the man's arm fiercely and twisted it.
Undaunted, the man grunted and pulled free, throwing Seto back against the wall.
"Big brother!!" Mokuba wailed, seeing the older boy slump to the floor. Furiously he snatched a nearby vase and broke it over the man's head.
"You little punk!" the man snarled, reaching out to try strangling the boy.
Unbeknownst to him, Seto had now recovered and was coming up behind him. He wrenched the man's arm again, this time squeezing a pressure point and causing him to scream in pain.
"If you lay a finger on him, I'll drop you where you stand," Seto threatened.
The man cursed the Kaiba brothers hatefully and then suddenly jumped out through the nearby porthole.
Quickly Mokuba clicked on the light as Seto ran to look out the open window. "Big brother, is he . . ."
"He's vanished," Seto grumbled, relieved that the man was gone but annoyed that he couldn't be questioned now.
The older boy closed the window and turned to look at his brother. "Are you alright, kid?" he asked softly. Blood trickled down his left temple, but he didn't seem to notice.
Mokuba did, however. "I'm fine, Seto . . . but you're bleeding!" he cried in horror.
Seto pulled him close. "It's alright," he whispered, smoothing Mokuba's hair back. "It's just a scratch." He sighed. "It must've happened when he threw me back against the wall," he decided.
They stayed that way for quite some time, embracing and being relieved that they were safe, until suddenly there was a sharp knock at the door.
"Is everything okay in there?" a concerned voice called.
"Someone broke in!" Mokuba called back.
"Are they still there?" the voice demanded.
"No," Seto answered sternly, "but who are you?!"
"First mate Chris Knox," was the reply. "Your lady friend heard the commotion as she walked down the hall and came to find me when she couldn't get anyone to answer her worried yells."
"Are you two alright?!" Tea now cried frantically.
With a sigh and a rueful smile, Seto walked over and opened the door—which was already unlocked—and came face-to-face with the worried girl. "We're both fine," he assured her emotionlessly.
Tea's blue eyes widened at the sight of the blood, but she tried not to gasp in alarm. "Kaiba, you're hurt!" she exclaimed.
Seto grunted. "I'm fine!" he growled forcefully and then turned to First Mate Knox and explained in detail what had happened.
"Could either of you see what this burglar looked like?" Chris asked, going to look out the porthole.
"It was dark," Seto said coldly. "We couldn't see."
"Do you think he jumped into the water?" Mokuba asked, wide-eyed.
"He just might have done that," Chris agreed, "especially since your brother rendered one of his arms temporarily useless and he wouldn't be able to climb anywhere." He turned to go, then stopped. "I'm going to go topside and see if we can see anyone out in the water or under it." Now he paused. "But can either of you think of any reason why he would come into your room?"
Seto and Mokuba exchanged a look. There were lots of strange things happening, but neither of them had really been involved. "No," Seto said at last.
Chris nodded and then left, leaving the young people to ponder on things.
"What are you going to do?" Tea asked in concern.
Seto turned to go into the bathroom. "I'm going to clean up this cut and then put Mokuba to bed," he said shortly, disappearing from the room.
Now Mokuba looked up at Tea and smiled. "Thanks for coming by," he said.
Tea smiled back. "I'm just glad you're both okay," she told him.
Mokuba paused, apparently trying to choose his words carefully. "You know, I think that Seto really is glad that you care," he said at last, catching Tea completely by surprise.
"Huh?!" she exclaimed. "Why would you say that?"
Mokuba shrugged and didn't really answer the question. "I know Seto hates to be fussed over and everything, but deep down he knows that we're just worried about him and that we care about him, and he appreciates that."
Tea gave him a funny look. "I don't know why you're telling me this and I probably don't want to know."
Now Mokuba grinned broadly. "I know you like him," he proclaimed mischievously.
"That's ridiculous!" Tea shot back, turning beet red.
She was spared from answering further as Seto came back into the room. His long bangs were damp from washing the blood out of them and Tea could see a bandage over his left temple. "You don't have to stay now," he said firmly. "We're fine."
Tea nodded, turning to go. "I'll see you both tomorrow," she said softly as she went out the door.
The next morning everyone began to meet in the dining room at breakfast time.
"Hi, Yugi!" Tea chirped, waving to the violet-eyed boy and hurrying over to him. "Did everything go okay for you last night?"
Yugi nodded, smiling at her. "Yami and I made some interesting discoveries in the library," he said, "and Captain Hardy wants us to show them to him after breakfast."
"That sounds mysterious," Tea commented.
Yugi chuckled now. "Some of what we found was pretty weird," he told her, "but that's all I'd better say about it for now."
Bakura came in a few minutes later and sat down at the table as well. "Hello," he said with a soft smile.
"Bakura!" Tea exclaimed, happy to know that another of her friends was okay.
"How's your Yami?" Yugi asked.
Bakura blinked worriedly. "Actually, I was hoping you'd seen him," he admitted. "He wasn't around when I woke up this morning."
"Well," Joey said as he and Tristan came up and overheard the last part, "knowin' Yami B, he's probably causing some kinda trouble."
Bakura sighed. "I do hope not," he said, shaking his head.
Before long the Ishtars had joined them as well and they all resumed discussing the case.
"Where is Mokuba?" Marik wanted to know.
Tea blinked, looking around. "I don't see him or Kaiba anywhere," she said worriedly. "I hope they're okay. . . ."
"Why wouldn't they be?" Joey wondered, leaning back on his chair.
Quickly Tea explained what had happened the past night while everyone listened, wide-eyed.
"Man, I can't imagine why someone would go bustin' into their room," Joey declared, shaking his head. "That's weird!"
"Everything seems to be weird here," Tristan remarked.
"Oh, I think I see them," Bakura said suddenly. "They're sitting over at a corner table."
Joey shrugged. "Eh, well, that's Kaiba for you," he said. "He doesn't like to hang out with us any more than he ever did."
Tea nodded but then was quick to add, "But he's always there when you really need him," remembering more than one occasion when Seto had put his own life on the line to rescue them from certain death.
Bakura got up slowly. "Well, I'd best go find Yami," he said now, looking nervous.
"But you haven't had anything to eat yet!" Yugi exclaimed.
Bakura shook his head. "I should find him first," he said. "There's really no telling what kinds of disasters he might be getting into." And with that the silver-haired boy hurried off.
Before long Captain Hardy got up on the stage and greeted everyone.
"He must be gonna announce about his interactive mystery thing," Joey decided.
Sure enough, the Captain then went on, "I'm sure all of you have seen the fliers around announcing about the interactive mystery we'll be playing." He held up a white envelope. "There will be one of these underneath your glasses of water. It explains what the case is and who the suspects are. There will also be a slip of paper telling you what kind of character you will be playing. You are all trying to solve the mystery, but at the same time one of you is the criminal we'll all be looking for."
The teens all looked at each other and then found their own envelopes to look at.
Yugi started to laugh. "It says that I'm a football star," he said.
"And I'm a rich heiress," Tea chimed in.
"And Joey's a college professor," Tristan smirked.
"Heeeey," Joey said defensively. "I could teach a college class anyday!"
Marik looked at Joey's paper. "But one in astrophysics?" he said dryly.
"Sure I could!" Joey blurted.
Seto, overhearing the conversation, looked over at Joey with a raised eyebrow and a "dream on" look in his eyes. Mokuba just looked amused.
"Do you think Kaiba's gonna play the game?" Joey asked teasingly.
"I doubt it," Yugi chuckled.
"What about you, Tristan and Marik?" Tea asked. "What characters did you guys get?"
Tristan grinned. "I'm a lifeguard. I get to watch all the pretty girls at the swimming pool."
Marik shook his head. "I don't know if I'll play. It's not really my thing," he admitted.
"Oh come on, Marik! It'll be fun," Yugi tried to encourage.
Marik idly played with his envelope. "We shall see," was all he would say.
"Hey," Tristan said suddenly, "do you think he's gonna play?"
Everyone turned to see who Tristan was pointing at, only to see a mysterious-looking Egyptian man disappearing around a corner.
Yugi jumped up. "He must've been the one Bakura saw in the cargo hold!" he exclaimed.
"Yugi, what are you doing?!" Tea demanded, seeing her friend start weaving around the tables.
"I've gotta catch up to him!" Yugi called back.
The others teens looked at each other and stood up as well. "We'll all follow him!" Joey declared as they ran off.
As they all dashed down the corridors, they tried desperately to keep up with Yugi, who was running extremely fast.
"Hey man!! Wait up!!" Joey yelled, starting to breathe heavily.
Yugi barely heard them. He was concentrating solely on catching up to the Egyptian man and wasn't even quite aware that his friends were following him.
"Where are you?" the boy called, looking down two different paths in frustration.
Try the left one, Yami Yugi suggested, and Yugi complied.
Soon the Egyptian man again came into view. He was walking determinedly down the hall and seemed to know exactly where he wanted to go.
"Wait!" Yugi called again. "Please wait!!"
The man turned, his eyes interlocking with Yugi's for one brief moment. Then he turned and vanished into seemingly thin air.