Mai was the first to break the ensuing silence. "Isn't that Yugi's Yami?" she exclaimed.
"It sure looks like him," Tea replied, "but it couldn't be him! We hadn't even docked in San Francisco yesterday! He would have been on the boat with all of us!"
"This is crazy!" Mokuba burst out. "That means that now there's two doubles running loose! How are we gonna catch them?!"
"There's another possibility," Seto said slowly, not answering his younger's brother question.
All eyes turned to stare at the brown-haired boy.
"And what possibility is that?" Mai wanted to know.
"The person we're after could be a master of disguise," Seto stated, crossing his arms. "If he was enough of an expert, he could imitate both Yami Yugi and Marik."
Mai blinked. "But hardly anyone would be that skilled . . . would they?" she demanded. "Yami Yugi and Marik don't look or sound a bit alike!"
"With the proper makeup and wigs—and voice tricks—a trained professional actor could pull it off," Seto replied.
"But why would someone want to?!" Tea cried, throwing her hands up in the air.
Seto only grunted. He had no clue himself, but with all of their strange cases, nothing sounded impossible anymore.
****
Yami Yugi gave the girl a stern look. "What is your name?" he asked, realizing that they had never been introduced.
"The name's Jade," she replied casually. "And you guys are . . .?"
One by one the others gave their names as well.
"And where are your parents, Jade?" Yami Yugi wanted to know.
"Oh, they're in Hong Kong," the dark-haired girl answered. "I'm staying with my uncle."
"Well, then where is your uncle?" Marik demanded.
"Chasing bad guys," was the reply. "And . . . whoa! Total creep at twelve o'clock!" Jade pointed ahead to where a sinister-looking man was disappearing around a corner, heading for a dockside pizza diner. "That's the guy from the warehouse!"
Instantly everyone became alert.
"Let's go after him and find out what he was doing!" Yugi cried.
"I'm already on it!" Jade called, dashing off.
"Jade, wait!!" Bakura exclaimed, but in vain.
Marik muttered something in either Egyptian or Arabic before running off as well. Quickly Yugi, his Yami, and Bakura all followed suit, heading for the nearby diner.
When they burst through the doors, they found one very crowded room. Most people were seated at the booths and counter, but others were standing about and even dancing to the beat as they were entertained by a singer on a stage up front.
"It's karaoke night," Bakura realized, "and it seems to be standing room only! How will we ever find that man in here?!"
"Hey, don't panic," Jade said casually, disappearing into the crowd. "He can't have gone far!"
"Come back!" Yugi cried, hurrying after her.
With a flash of light, Yami Bakura emerged from the Ring and greedily grabbed a piece of pizza off the counter. He definitely found all mortals to be fools, but he did enjoy the food they made.
"Yami!!" Bakura scolded, seeing what his friend had just done.
The thief only sneered at him and pushed past the crowds to a back table. Marik, after glancing about, followed him—a jug of chocolate milk in hand. He knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how he would find it out.
****
Joey, meanwhile, was having an encounter with Rex Raptor.
"Man, what the heck's going on with you lately?!" the long-haired boy burst out, coming onto the deck between tennis games. "How come you never told me you were loaded?!"
"Whaddya mean?!" Joey demanded, utterly baffled.
In reply Rex shoved a newspaper at him and pointed to a picture. "This!"
Joey stared. "What the . . ." He found himself gazing at a likeness of a too-familiar blonde boy with a triumphant grin. "That's me!"
"How observant," Rex said sarcastically. "This was taken at the Millionaire's Ball a month or so ago. Everyone's been wondering who the mystery millionaire was who showed up and began asking them all weird questions!" His eyes narrowed as he looked at Joey. "Now it looks like the mystery has been revealed!"
"That's crazy!" Joey shot back. "Hey, I'd love to get rich just like everyone would, but I'm sure no millionaire!" Of course he *had* had the three million dollars after Duelist Kingdom—which seemed so very long ago now—but he had only wanted that money to pay for his sister's operation. "And I sure as heck didn't go to any ball!" he continued now. "Man, I hate tuxedos!"
Rex rolled up the newspaper and stuck it back in his pocket. "Don't tell me you've got an impersonator just like that Egyptian guy does!" he cried in disbelief.
Joey shook his head and cracked his knuckles. "Well, if I do, they're gonna be sorry they ever tried to pretend to be me!" he vowed.
****
Yami Bakura leaned back in the chair, drinking from the bottle of chocolate milk greedily. He then laughed raucously before suddenly sobering again. "I loved that woman," he said quietly.
Marik looked frustrated. He had doctored the milk in the hopes that it would loosen the thief's tongue about the powers he wanted and how to get them—but instead Yami Bakura was revealing his innermost secrets and feelings.
"I always loved her," the silvery-haired Egyptian went on. "I never betrayed her, as she always thought."
"Yes, yes," Marik said impatiently. "But what about the staff of Khu?!"
"Khu?" Yami Bakura repeated vaguely, taking another swig from the bottle. "He beat me within an inch of my life when I refused to join his zealot band."
"Don't you have anything else to talk about?!" Marik cried, beginning to realize that his plan had completely backfired.
Yami Bakura grunted and hiccuped. "Bakura is such an innocent fool," he said in a slurred voice.
"This is getting me nowhere!!" Marik screamed, messing his hair up.
Yami Bakura cackled and fell out of his chair, then slowly pulled himself up and stared at the stage. "Ah, they are singing," he commented obviously, and proceed to stagger up and snatch the microphone away from the performer.
"Hey!" the man yelled indignantly.
"My turn," Yami Bakura announced.
Marik slapped his forehead in frustration, then quickly arose to hide the incriminating chocolate milk. That idiot wouldn't remember what had happened for a while, but once he was sober again he most likely would put two and two together and figure it all out.
****
Bakura, searching through the back room for the suspicious man, was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks by a familiar off-key voice belting Don't Be Cruel. "Oh my!" the boy gasped.
"Is that your Yami, Bakura?" Yugi exclaimed.
"I'm afraid so!" the British boy replied, dashing back into the main room and seeing Yami Bakura stumbling across the stage while the audience booed him loudly.
"'Don't be cruel to a *hic* heart that's true . . .'"
Bakura ran onto the stage and grabbed for the thief just before he would have fallen off the edge into the crowd below. "Yami!!" the boy cried. "You're drunk!!"
Yami Bakura turned to look at him with glazed eyes. "That's absurd," he slurred. "I don't drink, so how in the name of Heaven could I wind up drunk?" He gave a raucous laugh and slumped against the boy, still clutching the microphone. Everything they said was being broadcast around the room.
"Oh, Yami, please give me the microphone!" Bakura begged, reaching for it.
The thief jerked it away from him. "No!" he said defensively. "My number isn't over yet!"
"Yes it is!" an angry man in the back yelled.
Bakura turned beet red, embarrassed for both his Yami and himself. "Please come down, Yami!" he cried, gently pulling on the ancient tomb raider's arm. "You're terribly drunk!"
"I'm not idiot, you drunk!" Yami Bakura replied, mixing up his words. To Bakura's horror, he suddenly pitched forward off the stage, taking Bakura with him. They crashed into a table, knocked it over, and both wound up on the floor themselves.
Bakura lay dazed for several minutes until suddenly he felt a worried hand on his shoulder. "Bakura, are you alright?!" Yugi exclaimed.
The silvery-haired boy nodded shakily. "I . . . I'm fine," he stammered, "but somehow my Yami got drunk!"
Yugi blinked. "How would that happen?!" he gasped. "They don't even have alcohol at this diner!"
Bakura shook his head, helping his Yami stand up. "I have no idea how it happened," he sighed, turning to look at the old thief. "Yami, what were you doing right before you got onstage?" he asked.
Yami Bakura blinked his brown eyes at him, apparently not understanding the question. "You know," he said instead and hiccuped, "I never realized Marik was *hic* still interested in power."
"What?!" Yami Yugi cried as he approached.
Suddenly Jade appeared from in the back room, looking put out. "That creepy guy escaped out the window and disappeared!" she exclaimed, and was about to say more when she saw Yami Bakura beginning a new song. "Whoa," she said with a blink.
"What is this about Marik still being interested in power?" Yami Yugi demanded.
Yami Bakura just stared at him blankly. "Why don't you tell me?" he returned, bursting into laughter again.
"Oh dear," Bakura exclaimed. "I must get him back to the cruise ship immediately!"
"You'll definitely need some help," Yugi declared.
Yami Yugi nodded slowly. "You two take him back. I'll look for Marik and then walk Jade to her home."
This plan was quickly agreed to and the group split up.
****
In the meantime, Seto, Tea, Mokuba, and Mai had all left the library—after Xeroxing the picture of Yami Yugi's double—and had finally made it back to the ship. Marik, standing on the deck with Mako, Joey, and Tristan, greeted them as they approached.
"You look exhausted," the Egyptian boy commented. "Exhausted and confused."
"We're definitely that," Mai sighed. "I'm not sure you guys have ever had such an odd mystery to figure out!"
Marik chuckled and leaned against the wall, crossing his bare arms. "Each one seems to be stranger than the last," he remarked.
"Man, ain't it the truth," Joey said, shaking his head. "But now, hey, what did happen to you guys?!" he wanted to know.
"Tea can tell you," Seto replied shortly, heading below deck.
"Well, he's in his usual good mood, I see," Tristan remarked.
****
Rex wandered down the long halls, staring at the newspaper story again. "That's just too weird," he commented to himself. "To think that Joey would have a millionaire double! Why are all these doubles turning up anyway?! Man, nothing makes sense!"
As he turned the corner and began to head down a more isolated part of the ship, a strong arm suddenly reached out and grabbed him around the neck.
"Hey!!" he cried, struggling fiercely. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I think I'm giving you a warning you won't forget," the voice hissed. "Forget everything about Wheeler's double if you ever want to see the light of another day." With that the shadowy figure pressed hard against the pressure point on the boy's neck until he passed into unconsciousness. Muttering to himself, the man left Rex laying on the floor and slipped back into the shadows once more.
"It sure looks like him," Tea replied, "but it couldn't be him! We hadn't even docked in San Francisco yesterday! He would have been on the boat with all of us!"
"This is crazy!" Mokuba burst out. "That means that now there's two doubles running loose! How are we gonna catch them?!"
"There's another possibility," Seto said slowly, not answering his younger's brother question.
All eyes turned to stare at the brown-haired boy.
"And what possibility is that?" Mai wanted to know.
"The person we're after could be a master of disguise," Seto stated, crossing his arms. "If he was enough of an expert, he could imitate both Yami Yugi and Marik."
Mai blinked. "But hardly anyone would be that skilled . . . would they?" she demanded. "Yami Yugi and Marik don't look or sound a bit alike!"
"With the proper makeup and wigs—and voice tricks—a trained professional actor could pull it off," Seto replied.
"But why would someone want to?!" Tea cried, throwing her hands up in the air.
Seto only grunted. He had no clue himself, but with all of their strange cases, nothing sounded impossible anymore.
****
Yami Yugi gave the girl a stern look. "What is your name?" he asked, realizing that they had never been introduced.
"The name's Jade," she replied casually. "And you guys are . . .?"
One by one the others gave their names as well.
"And where are your parents, Jade?" Yami Yugi wanted to know.
"Oh, they're in Hong Kong," the dark-haired girl answered. "I'm staying with my uncle."
"Well, then where is your uncle?" Marik demanded.
"Chasing bad guys," was the reply. "And . . . whoa! Total creep at twelve o'clock!" Jade pointed ahead to where a sinister-looking man was disappearing around a corner, heading for a dockside pizza diner. "That's the guy from the warehouse!"
Instantly everyone became alert.
"Let's go after him and find out what he was doing!" Yugi cried.
"I'm already on it!" Jade called, dashing off.
"Jade, wait!!" Bakura exclaimed, but in vain.
Marik muttered something in either Egyptian or Arabic before running off as well. Quickly Yugi, his Yami, and Bakura all followed suit, heading for the nearby diner.
When they burst through the doors, they found one very crowded room. Most people were seated at the booths and counter, but others were standing about and even dancing to the beat as they were entertained by a singer on a stage up front.
"It's karaoke night," Bakura realized, "and it seems to be standing room only! How will we ever find that man in here?!"
"Hey, don't panic," Jade said casually, disappearing into the crowd. "He can't have gone far!"
"Come back!" Yugi cried, hurrying after her.
With a flash of light, Yami Bakura emerged from the Ring and greedily grabbed a piece of pizza off the counter. He definitely found all mortals to be fools, but he did enjoy the food they made.
"Yami!!" Bakura scolded, seeing what his friend had just done.
The thief only sneered at him and pushed past the crowds to a back table. Marik, after glancing about, followed him—a jug of chocolate milk in hand. He knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how he would find it out.
****
Joey, meanwhile, was having an encounter with Rex Raptor.
"Man, what the heck's going on with you lately?!" the long-haired boy burst out, coming onto the deck between tennis games. "How come you never told me you were loaded?!"
"Whaddya mean?!" Joey demanded, utterly baffled.
In reply Rex shoved a newspaper at him and pointed to a picture. "This!"
Joey stared. "What the . . ." He found himself gazing at a likeness of a too-familiar blonde boy with a triumphant grin. "That's me!"
"How observant," Rex said sarcastically. "This was taken at the Millionaire's Ball a month or so ago. Everyone's been wondering who the mystery millionaire was who showed up and began asking them all weird questions!" His eyes narrowed as he looked at Joey. "Now it looks like the mystery has been revealed!"
"That's crazy!" Joey shot back. "Hey, I'd love to get rich just like everyone would, but I'm sure no millionaire!" Of course he *had* had the three million dollars after Duelist Kingdom—which seemed so very long ago now—but he had only wanted that money to pay for his sister's operation. "And I sure as heck didn't go to any ball!" he continued now. "Man, I hate tuxedos!"
Rex rolled up the newspaper and stuck it back in his pocket. "Don't tell me you've got an impersonator just like that Egyptian guy does!" he cried in disbelief.
Joey shook his head and cracked his knuckles. "Well, if I do, they're gonna be sorry they ever tried to pretend to be me!" he vowed.
****
Yami Bakura leaned back in the chair, drinking from the bottle of chocolate milk greedily. He then laughed raucously before suddenly sobering again. "I loved that woman," he said quietly.
Marik looked frustrated. He had doctored the milk in the hopes that it would loosen the thief's tongue about the powers he wanted and how to get them—but instead Yami Bakura was revealing his innermost secrets and feelings.
"I always loved her," the silvery-haired Egyptian went on. "I never betrayed her, as she always thought."
"Yes, yes," Marik said impatiently. "But what about the staff of Khu?!"
"Khu?" Yami Bakura repeated vaguely, taking another swig from the bottle. "He beat me within an inch of my life when I refused to join his zealot band."
"Don't you have anything else to talk about?!" Marik cried, beginning to realize that his plan had completely backfired.
Yami Bakura grunted and hiccuped. "Bakura is such an innocent fool," he said in a slurred voice.
"This is getting me nowhere!!" Marik screamed, messing his hair up.
Yami Bakura cackled and fell out of his chair, then slowly pulled himself up and stared at the stage. "Ah, they are singing," he commented obviously, and proceed to stagger up and snatch the microphone away from the performer.
"Hey!" the man yelled indignantly.
"My turn," Yami Bakura announced.
Marik slapped his forehead in frustration, then quickly arose to hide the incriminating chocolate milk. That idiot wouldn't remember what had happened for a while, but once he was sober again he most likely would put two and two together and figure it all out.
****
Bakura, searching through the back room for the suspicious man, was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks by a familiar off-key voice belting Don't Be Cruel. "Oh my!" the boy gasped.
"Is that your Yami, Bakura?" Yugi exclaimed.
"I'm afraid so!" the British boy replied, dashing back into the main room and seeing Yami Bakura stumbling across the stage while the audience booed him loudly.
"'Don't be cruel to a *hic* heart that's true . . .'"
Bakura ran onto the stage and grabbed for the thief just before he would have fallen off the edge into the crowd below. "Yami!!" the boy cried. "You're drunk!!"
Yami Bakura turned to look at him with glazed eyes. "That's absurd," he slurred. "I don't drink, so how in the name of Heaven could I wind up drunk?" He gave a raucous laugh and slumped against the boy, still clutching the microphone. Everything they said was being broadcast around the room.
"Oh, Yami, please give me the microphone!" Bakura begged, reaching for it.
The thief jerked it away from him. "No!" he said defensively. "My number isn't over yet!"
"Yes it is!" an angry man in the back yelled.
Bakura turned beet red, embarrassed for both his Yami and himself. "Please come down, Yami!" he cried, gently pulling on the ancient tomb raider's arm. "You're terribly drunk!"
"I'm not idiot, you drunk!" Yami Bakura replied, mixing up his words. To Bakura's horror, he suddenly pitched forward off the stage, taking Bakura with him. They crashed into a table, knocked it over, and both wound up on the floor themselves.
Bakura lay dazed for several minutes until suddenly he felt a worried hand on his shoulder. "Bakura, are you alright?!" Yugi exclaimed.
The silvery-haired boy nodded shakily. "I . . . I'm fine," he stammered, "but somehow my Yami got drunk!"
Yugi blinked. "How would that happen?!" he gasped. "They don't even have alcohol at this diner!"
Bakura shook his head, helping his Yami stand up. "I have no idea how it happened," he sighed, turning to look at the old thief. "Yami, what were you doing right before you got onstage?" he asked.
Yami Bakura blinked his brown eyes at him, apparently not understanding the question. "You know," he said instead and hiccuped, "I never realized Marik was *hic* still interested in power."
"What?!" Yami Yugi cried as he approached.
Suddenly Jade appeared from in the back room, looking put out. "That creepy guy escaped out the window and disappeared!" she exclaimed, and was about to say more when she saw Yami Bakura beginning a new song. "Whoa," she said with a blink.
"What is this about Marik still being interested in power?" Yami Yugi demanded.
Yami Bakura just stared at him blankly. "Why don't you tell me?" he returned, bursting into laughter again.
"Oh dear," Bakura exclaimed. "I must get him back to the cruise ship immediately!"
"You'll definitely need some help," Yugi declared.
Yami Yugi nodded slowly. "You two take him back. I'll look for Marik and then walk Jade to her home."
This plan was quickly agreed to and the group split up.
****
In the meantime, Seto, Tea, Mokuba, and Mai had all left the library—after Xeroxing the picture of Yami Yugi's double—and had finally made it back to the ship. Marik, standing on the deck with Mako, Joey, and Tristan, greeted them as they approached.
"You look exhausted," the Egyptian boy commented. "Exhausted and confused."
"We're definitely that," Mai sighed. "I'm not sure you guys have ever had such an odd mystery to figure out!"
Marik chuckled and leaned against the wall, crossing his bare arms. "Each one seems to be stranger than the last," he remarked.
"Man, ain't it the truth," Joey said, shaking his head. "But now, hey, what did happen to you guys?!" he wanted to know.
"Tea can tell you," Seto replied shortly, heading below deck.
"Well, he's in his usual good mood, I see," Tristan remarked.
****
Rex wandered down the long halls, staring at the newspaper story again. "That's just too weird," he commented to himself. "To think that Joey would have a millionaire double! Why are all these doubles turning up anyway?! Man, nothing makes sense!"
As he turned the corner and began to head down a more isolated part of the ship, a strong arm suddenly reached out and grabbed him around the neck.
"Hey!!" he cried, struggling fiercely. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I think I'm giving you a warning you won't forget," the voice hissed. "Forget everything about Wheeler's double if you ever want to see the light of another day." With that the shadowy figure pressed hard against the pressure point on the boy's neck until he passed into unconsciousness. Muttering to himself, the man left Rex laying on the floor and slipped back into the shadows once more.