The young people stared at the dog in shock and disbelief as it began to pace back and forth in front of them, growling low.
"Be careful," Seto muttered. "It might bite someone."
"Where would it come from?!" Tea cried, pressing herself against the wall.
"My guess is that it was traveling in one of the crates that was just thrown to the floor," Seto replied, narrowing his eyes. "Then the container shattered and the dog was able to get out."
"What are we going to do, Seto?" Mokuba asked, wide-eyed as the dog came over to him.
"Don't make any sudden moves," Seto cautioned. "And don't show the dog you're afraid of it."
"Oh, that'll be easy," Tea remarked sarcastically, her heart pounding.
Suddenly they heard a voice out near the entrance. "See here!" a man yelled angrily. "What's happenin'?!"
"There's a dog loose in here," Seto replied just as angrily.
"What?!" The man stormed in, then stopped short. "Why did you let him loose?!"
"Let him loose?!" Tea repeated indignantly. "We didn't let him loose!"
"Please, mister, can't you come get him?!" Mokuba cried.
Grumbling to himself, the man moved forward with a rope and managed to drape it over the dog's head. The dog tried to turn around and snap at him, but the man kept a firm grip on it and let it away.
"How would it get free?" the man demanded.
Coldly Seto explained his theory and the man's eyes narrowed.
"The luggage shouldn't be a-fallin' down," he declared. "And a crate with a live creature shouldn't be placed on a high shelf in the first place! What in the name of Heaven goes on around here lately?!"
"That's what we'd like to know," Seto grumbled.
****
Upstairs in the dining room, the lights had came on again and everyone was trying to survey the damage.
"This is outrageous!" Mai cried indignantly, finding herself and Rex all tangled up in a potted plant.
Rex grumbled to himself and tried to pull free. "Hey, it's not exactly my idea of a dream vacation, either," he muttered.
Ishizu, who had been separated from her brother, now found him trying to lift a heavy cabinet off of Rishid, who had apparently passed out from the pain.
"What happened, brother?" Ishizu asked as she knelt down next to them.
"This cabinet fell on Rishid during the blackout," Marik replied grimly as he wrestled with the cupboard.
Quickly Ishizu assisted the boy and together they somehow managed to raise the piece of furniture just enough to get it out of the way.
Now Marik bent over his dear brother and examined him in concern. "Nothing seems to be broken," the Egyptian boy said in relief. "But he should still be looked at by a doctor."
****
Joey and Tristan crashed down in a heap in the Captain's quarters.
The Brooklyn boy groaned. "Man, that was fun," he said sarcastically. "Can we do it again?"
Tristan clutched at his forehead. "Now I know how Marik felt," he declared.
Suddenly the two boys became aware of nearby giggling and they both looked up to see a freckle-faced younger boy watching them.
"Who're you?" Joey demanded.
"Jamie," was the reply. "I'm Captain Hardy's nephew!"
"'Nephew'?" Tristan repeated. "What're you doing in here?"
Jamie crossed his arms. "Oh, he keeps me here," he said, "'cause I make mischief and cause trouble. Of course," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "I can sneak out anytime I want to."
"Oh boy," Joey groaned, struggling to stand up and feeling dizzy. "A pint-sized brat is all we need to deal with right now!"
"Hey, do you know why this tunnel's here?" Tristan asked Jamie, who shrugged.
"It's always been there," he reported. "I play in it." He extended a hand. "Here, I'll help you up."
Joey shook his head. "Ohhh no. I'm not fallin' for that electric buzzer gag."
Jamie held up his hands for inspection. "No buzzer. See?"
Tristan watched him suspiciously. "I'm not taking a chance either. You might have some other tricks up your sleeve." He collapsed into a chair.
Jamie sat on the edge of the desk. "Potato chip?" he offered.
Joey greedily reached for one. "Hey, sure!" He crunched down on it and suddenly spit it out again. "It's a piece of soap!" he cried.
Jamie was laughing hysterically, but finally he handed over a bag of real chips. "Your expression was priceless!" he snickered.
Tristan groaned. "Oh man . . . no wonder Captain Hardy doesn't want you around the other passengers," he exclaimed. "He'd get all kinds of food-poisoning lawsuits!"
****
"What are we going to do, Shadi?" Yugi asked worriedly. He, Shadi, and Yami Yugi were conversing as they walked down a deserted back hall that should take them back to the dining room. "How do we free Bakura from the mind control?"
Shadi was very grim. "Bakura is, most likely, not being mind-controlled anymore."
"What are you saying?" Yami Yugi demanded. "Bakura would not just turn evil."
"You are correct," Shadi agreed, "but you do not comprehend the powers contained in the purloined staff." Convinced that no one was around who wasn't supposed to overhear, the Egyptian man began to explain.
"Five thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh's most trusted sorcerer and bodyguard wanted to control the world." Shadi turned a corner and Yugi and his Yami hurried to keep up.
Yugi nodded slowly. That story sounded familiar enough.
"Secretly he plotted to take action against the Pharaoh," Shadi continued, "but his evil plans were discovered by another of the Pharaoh's bodyguards and the traitor was put to death.
"His younger brother, one of the palace priests, later found the staff—which somehow had not been destroyed, as was originally thought—and planned to use it himself to complete its original owner's plans. However, it was then stolen by Bakare, one of the most notorious thieves Egypt has ever known."
Yugi blinked. "Why did he want it?"
Shadi shook his head. "No one knows for certain. But the staff disappeared not long after that and only resurfaced several years ago."
"What powers does this staff actually hold?" Yami Yugi asked.
Shadi turned to look at him. "It has mind-control powers similar to the Millennium Rod, but also . . . it is especially dangerous and deadly to those of great innocence, such as your friend Bakura."
"What is it doing to him?" Yugi exclaimed in horror.
"A dark force has taken control of him," Shadi replied gravely. "It is independent from the actual mind-controlling powers and is instead more like a possession. It takes over after the victim has been mind-controlled for a time."
"What can save him?" Yami Yugi demanded as Yugi gasped.
"Unfortunately," Shadi told him, "I don't know if anything can."
"No!" Yugi cried, his eyes glistening with tears for his fallen friend. "There has to be a way!"
Shadi looked at him very seriously. "I pray there is. But whether or not there is a way to restore him to his innocent self, you must remember that whatever Bakura says and does now, he himself is not responsible for any of it. He is forced to watch, helpless, as his body is controlled by these dark forces."
"That's terrible," Yugi said softly. He looked up, the usual determination in his eyes. "But we'll get him back! And I know the real Bakura is fighting hard to regain control. He wouldn't just stand by and continue letting this happen unless he was absolutely and completely paralyzed and unable to think!"
Shadi nodded slowly. "I am sure you are right. But . . ."
Before he could finish his sentence, the stairwell door opened and Seto, Tea, and Mokuba appeared, looking frazzled.
"What happened to you guys?!" Yugi exclaimed in horror.
The three newcomers to the scene quickly explained as they resumed walking, and then Seto took the piece of parchment out from his briefcase.
"We found this stuck in the mattress we landed on," the blue-eyed boy reported.
"We figured it was probably something important!" Mokuba chimed in.
Shadi took the parchment and stared intently at it, his expression never changing. This reminded Tea of Seto's actions many a time before.
"Can you decipher it?" the girl asked anxiously.
Shadi looked up. "I can," he said slowly.
"Is it bad?" Yugi exclaimed.
The Egyptian man nodded. "I am afraid so. It is a dark spell of unspeakable evil, most likely dating back to the original owner of the staff. But . . ." He paused, staring at it once more. "This is only half of the parchment. The other half is the counterspell, added later by the Pharaoh himself when he found what his former bodyguard had written. He couldn't destroy the spell, but he found the way to turn it around."
The young people were silent for a time after hearing this, but then Yugi spoke up.
"If we find the staff," he said hopefully, "is there a chance we can reverse the spell on Bakura?"
Shadi hesitated. "I do not wish to give you false promises, but it may be possible," he said guardedly.
****
Bakura, meanwhile, was making plans of his own. He still needed a good distraction on the ship in order to carry out his plans, and so he was gathering some notorious criminals who were on the cruise for their own purposes and explaining what he wanted them to do.
"It's fine with me," the boss said, a sly smile growing on his rugged face. "What you want actually fits in with our plans perfectly!"
"Excellent," Bakura said softly. His brown eyes had lost their innocent sparkle and as he turned away, the Millennium Rod glowed in his hand. He wasn't going to take any chances. The criminals were under the Rod's power now. They would do what he wanted and leave him free to carry out his plans.
****
In the meantime, Rishid had revived and insisted that he was fine, but Marik had sent for the ship's doctor anyway. The end report was that the man was alright for the most part, but that he would probably be quite weak and sore for a few days.
"Go to bed, Rishid," Marik advised as they sat at one of the few tables that hadn't overturned during the melee.
"I am fine, Master," Rishid replied firmly.
Marik looked at him soberly, his eyes soft. "Brother . . . please," he whispered. "You need to rest."
Rishid sighed, knowing that Marik was only concerned about him. And, well, he did have to admit that he felt a bit tired. "Alright," he agreed at last, slowly standing up.
Marik stood up as well, deciding to help Rishid back to the stateroom. "I will be back soon, sister," he told Ishizu.
Shortly afterward, Shadi and those with him entered the dining room and looked around. By now everyone had worked vigorously to get everything back to normal and most of the tables and chairs were upright again. Those who hadn't been injured during the frightful experience were sitting at the tables, eating late dinners and talking with one another.
"I sense more danger is about to happen," Yami Yugi announced grimly.
"Oh no," Tea moaned. "Not again!"
"Do you know what it is, Yami?" Yugi asked.
Yami Yugi shook his head. "No," he told him, but before he could say more a creepy voice came over the PA system.
"Greetings to all you fellow passengers!" it said. "We hope you're enjoying yourselves, because things are gonna get wild. We're takin' over and there ain't nothin' you can do about it!"
"The ship's been hijacked!" Tea cried in horror.
"Be careful," Seto muttered. "It might bite someone."
"Where would it come from?!" Tea cried, pressing herself against the wall.
"My guess is that it was traveling in one of the crates that was just thrown to the floor," Seto replied, narrowing his eyes. "Then the container shattered and the dog was able to get out."
"What are we going to do, Seto?" Mokuba asked, wide-eyed as the dog came over to him.
"Don't make any sudden moves," Seto cautioned. "And don't show the dog you're afraid of it."
"Oh, that'll be easy," Tea remarked sarcastically, her heart pounding.
Suddenly they heard a voice out near the entrance. "See here!" a man yelled angrily. "What's happenin'?!"
"There's a dog loose in here," Seto replied just as angrily.
"What?!" The man stormed in, then stopped short. "Why did you let him loose?!"
"Let him loose?!" Tea repeated indignantly. "We didn't let him loose!"
"Please, mister, can't you come get him?!" Mokuba cried.
Grumbling to himself, the man moved forward with a rope and managed to drape it over the dog's head. The dog tried to turn around and snap at him, but the man kept a firm grip on it and let it away.
"How would it get free?" the man demanded.
Coldly Seto explained his theory and the man's eyes narrowed.
"The luggage shouldn't be a-fallin' down," he declared. "And a crate with a live creature shouldn't be placed on a high shelf in the first place! What in the name of Heaven goes on around here lately?!"
"That's what we'd like to know," Seto grumbled.
****
Upstairs in the dining room, the lights had came on again and everyone was trying to survey the damage.
"This is outrageous!" Mai cried indignantly, finding herself and Rex all tangled up in a potted plant.
Rex grumbled to himself and tried to pull free. "Hey, it's not exactly my idea of a dream vacation, either," he muttered.
Ishizu, who had been separated from her brother, now found him trying to lift a heavy cabinet off of Rishid, who had apparently passed out from the pain.
"What happened, brother?" Ishizu asked as she knelt down next to them.
"This cabinet fell on Rishid during the blackout," Marik replied grimly as he wrestled with the cupboard.
Quickly Ishizu assisted the boy and together they somehow managed to raise the piece of furniture just enough to get it out of the way.
Now Marik bent over his dear brother and examined him in concern. "Nothing seems to be broken," the Egyptian boy said in relief. "But he should still be looked at by a doctor."
****
Joey and Tristan crashed down in a heap in the Captain's quarters.
The Brooklyn boy groaned. "Man, that was fun," he said sarcastically. "Can we do it again?"
Tristan clutched at his forehead. "Now I know how Marik felt," he declared.
Suddenly the two boys became aware of nearby giggling and they both looked up to see a freckle-faced younger boy watching them.
"Who're you?" Joey demanded.
"Jamie," was the reply. "I'm Captain Hardy's nephew!"
"'Nephew'?" Tristan repeated. "What're you doing in here?"
Jamie crossed his arms. "Oh, he keeps me here," he said, "'cause I make mischief and cause trouble. Of course," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "I can sneak out anytime I want to."
"Oh boy," Joey groaned, struggling to stand up and feeling dizzy. "A pint-sized brat is all we need to deal with right now!"
"Hey, do you know why this tunnel's here?" Tristan asked Jamie, who shrugged.
"It's always been there," he reported. "I play in it." He extended a hand. "Here, I'll help you up."
Joey shook his head. "Ohhh no. I'm not fallin' for that electric buzzer gag."
Jamie held up his hands for inspection. "No buzzer. See?"
Tristan watched him suspiciously. "I'm not taking a chance either. You might have some other tricks up your sleeve." He collapsed into a chair.
Jamie sat on the edge of the desk. "Potato chip?" he offered.
Joey greedily reached for one. "Hey, sure!" He crunched down on it and suddenly spit it out again. "It's a piece of soap!" he cried.
Jamie was laughing hysterically, but finally he handed over a bag of real chips. "Your expression was priceless!" he snickered.
Tristan groaned. "Oh man . . . no wonder Captain Hardy doesn't want you around the other passengers," he exclaimed. "He'd get all kinds of food-poisoning lawsuits!"
****
"What are we going to do, Shadi?" Yugi asked worriedly. He, Shadi, and Yami Yugi were conversing as they walked down a deserted back hall that should take them back to the dining room. "How do we free Bakura from the mind control?"
Shadi was very grim. "Bakura is, most likely, not being mind-controlled anymore."
"What are you saying?" Yami Yugi demanded. "Bakura would not just turn evil."
"You are correct," Shadi agreed, "but you do not comprehend the powers contained in the purloined staff." Convinced that no one was around who wasn't supposed to overhear, the Egyptian man began to explain.
"Five thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh's most trusted sorcerer and bodyguard wanted to control the world." Shadi turned a corner and Yugi and his Yami hurried to keep up.
Yugi nodded slowly. That story sounded familiar enough.
"Secretly he plotted to take action against the Pharaoh," Shadi continued, "but his evil plans were discovered by another of the Pharaoh's bodyguards and the traitor was put to death.
"His younger brother, one of the palace priests, later found the staff—which somehow had not been destroyed, as was originally thought—and planned to use it himself to complete its original owner's plans. However, it was then stolen by Bakare, one of the most notorious thieves Egypt has ever known."
Yugi blinked. "Why did he want it?"
Shadi shook his head. "No one knows for certain. But the staff disappeared not long after that and only resurfaced several years ago."
"What powers does this staff actually hold?" Yami Yugi asked.
Shadi turned to look at him. "It has mind-control powers similar to the Millennium Rod, but also . . . it is especially dangerous and deadly to those of great innocence, such as your friend Bakura."
"What is it doing to him?" Yugi exclaimed in horror.
"A dark force has taken control of him," Shadi replied gravely. "It is independent from the actual mind-controlling powers and is instead more like a possession. It takes over after the victim has been mind-controlled for a time."
"What can save him?" Yami Yugi demanded as Yugi gasped.
"Unfortunately," Shadi told him, "I don't know if anything can."
"No!" Yugi cried, his eyes glistening with tears for his fallen friend. "There has to be a way!"
Shadi looked at him very seriously. "I pray there is. But whether or not there is a way to restore him to his innocent self, you must remember that whatever Bakura says and does now, he himself is not responsible for any of it. He is forced to watch, helpless, as his body is controlled by these dark forces."
"That's terrible," Yugi said softly. He looked up, the usual determination in his eyes. "But we'll get him back! And I know the real Bakura is fighting hard to regain control. He wouldn't just stand by and continue letting this happen unless he was absolutely and completely paralyzed and unable to think!"
Shadi nodded slowly. "I am sure you are right. But . . ."
Before he could finish his sentence, the stairwell door opened and Seto, Tea, and Mokuba appeared, looking frazzled.
"What happened to you guys?!" Yugi exclaimed in horror.
The three newcomers to the scene quickly explained as they resumed walking, and then Seto took the piece of parchment out from his briefcase.
"We found this stuck in the mattress we landed on," the blue-eyed boy reported.
"We figured it was probably something important!" Mokuba chimed in.
Shadi took the parchment and stared intently at it, his expression never changing. This reminded Tea of Seto's actions many a time before.
"Can you decipher it?" the girl asked anxiously.
Shadi looked up. "I can," he said slowly.
"Is it bad?" Yugi exclaimed.
The Egyptian man nodded. "I am afraid so. It is a dark spell of unspeakable evil, most likely dating back to the original owner of the staff. But . . ." He paused, staring at it once more. "This is only half of the parchment. The other half is the counterspell, added later by the Pharaoh himself when he found what his former bodyguard had written. He couldn't destroy the spell, but he found the way to turn it around."
The young people were silent for a time after hearing this, but then Yugi spoke up.
"If we find the staff," he said hopefully, "is there a chance we can reverse the spell on Bakura?"
Shadi hesitated. "I do not wish to give you false promises, but it may be possible," he said guardedly.
****
Bakura, meanwhile, was making plans of his own. He still needed a good distraction on the ship in order to carry out his plans, and so he was gathering some notorious criminals who were on the cruise for their own purposes and explaining what he wanted them to do.
"It's fine with me," the boss said, a sly smile growing on his rugged face. "What you want actually fits in with our plans perfectly!"
"Excellent," Bakura said softly. His brown eyes had lost their innocent sparkle and as he turned away, the Millennium Rod glowed in his hand. He wasn't going to take any chances. The criminals were under the Rod's power now. They would do what he wanted and leave him free to carry out his plans.
****
In the meantime, Rishid had revived and insisted that he was fine, but Marik had sent for the ship's doctor anyway. The end report was that the man was alright for the most part, but that he would probably be quite weak and sore for a few days.
"Go to bed, Rishid," Marik advised as they sat at one of the few tables that hadn't overturned during the melee.
"I am fine, Master," Rishid replied firmly.
Marik looked at him soberly, his eyes soft. "Brother . . . please," he whispered. "You need to rest."
Rishid sighed, knowing that Marik was only concerned about him. And, well, he did have to admit that he felt a bit tired. "Alright," he agreed at last, slowly standing up.
Marik stood up as well, deciding to help Rishid back to the stateroom. "I will be back soon, sister," he told Ishizu.
Shortly afterward, Shadi and those with him entered the dining room and looked around. By now everyone had worked vigorously to get everything back to normal and most of the tables and chairs were upright again. Those who hadn't been injured during the frightful experience were sitting at the tables, eating late dinners and talking with one another.
"I sense more danger is about to happen," Yami Yugi announced grimly.
"Oh no," Tea moaned. "Not again!"
"Do you know what it is, Yami?" Yugi asked.
Yami Yugi shook his head. "No," he told him, but before he could say more a creepy voice came over the PA system.
"Greetings to all you fellow passengers!" it said. "We hope you're enjoying yourselves, because things are gonna get wild. We're takin' over and there ain't nothin' you can do about it!"
"The ship's been hijacked!" Tea cried in horror.