"What?!?!" Joey cried in disbelief, his jaw almost hitting the floor. "You saw a disappearin' horseman?!"
Bakura managed a weak smile. "I'm sure it wasn't really there. The rain must be playing tricks on my eyes."
"Man, with the crazy things we always deal with, you never know!" Joey retorted.
"Maybe we should try to figure out where we are," Linda Owens suggested, limping to the door and staring across the field.
"How could any of us go out in that rain?" Mai retorted, narrowing her eyes as the downpour became more ferocious.
"Even though I'm sure Mai is mostly worried about messin' her hair up, she's probably got a point," Joey said, grinning mischievously as Mai glared at him.
Tristan nodded. "Someone could get lost in rain that heavy."
That was when they heard the galloping of hooves on the ground.
"Wow, Bakura," Tea exclaimed, "maybe you weren't just seeing things! That sounds like a horse to me!"
In the next moment, a man dressed in a plaid shirt and dark jeans appeared, staring at the jet in utter astonishment. "Are you folks all okay?" he gasped, seeing several of the group standing in the open doorway.
"We're all fine," Yami Yugi said, stepping forward. He had come out of the Puzzle only recently to make certain of this statement.
"Can you tell us where we are?" Tea asked hopefully.
The man seemed to ignore her question at first and just continued to gape at the enormous airplane. "I can't believe this thing crashed down here!" he cried.
"Well, we can't either," Mai retorted. "But where is here?!"
Finally the man seemed to take notice of the query. "'Here' is Black Diamond Ranch, ma'am," he told her. "Deep in the heart of Nebraska!"
"Nebraska?!" Joey groaned. "Oh man, I knew we were way off course!! We're tryin' to get to Boston!"
"Boston, eh?" The man grinned. "That's quite a piece aways. Why don't y'all just come back to the house and we'll try to figure out what we can do for you?"
"Really?" Yugi smiled, his violet eyes wide. "Thanks! That'd be great!!" He glanced around. "Um, where is the house?"
"Is it nearby?" Tea wondered.
"Right over that hill." The man suddenly paused and laughed. "Where are my manners today? I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Bart."
The others gave their names as well and then Bart promised that he would go fetch the truck and that everyone could ride in it back to the house.
"What a bit of good fortune!" Ms. Myrvyn sighed in relief. "Now we won't all die here after all!"
Ishizu made no comment and instead stared ahead, lost in her own world.
"Hey, uh, are you okay?" Joey asked at last, blinking in confusion.
Ishizu continued to gaze off at nothing before at last snapping back to the present. "We must be wary," she said quietly.
"Wary?!" Joey repeated. "Of what?!"
"I cannot explain at this moment." Ishizu turned away, beginning to gather up the luggage.
Joey stared at her for a moment and then went to find his trunk in the baggage compartment.
Oreo meowed happily as Yami Bakura straightened up from his position under the water cooler, the bothersome glitter finally removed from his long silvery locks. As he headed out the door, the cat leaped into his arms and snuggled inside his shirt to stay warm and dry from the rain.
"This is absurd!!!" the thief screamed, twitching as Oreo's whiskers tickled his chest.
Bakura chuckled. "Oh, Yami, she just adores you," he replied.
Yami Bakura gave him a dark look and didn't answer.
****
At last everyone was safe inside the cozy ranch house and sitting around a fireplace drinking hot chocolate. Oreo drank out of Yami Bakura's glass when he wasn't looking and caused Joey to completely break up laughing.
"So tell me, Bart," Yami Yugi asked slowly, "I haven't seen anyone else around. Are you the one in charge here?"
Bart waved his hands wildly in protest. "Oh no! Not me! I'm just one of the ranch hands. Lorelei owns the place, but she's not here at the moment."
"Is there any way we could use a telephone?" Tea asked hopefully. "We need to call somewhere so that the airplane can get fixed."
"Sorry," Bart replied, "but the telephone line got washed out by the storm. It should be back up in a couple of days, though," he added, trying to sound optimistic.
"So we're stuck here and no one'll even know where we are or anything?!" Joey cried, looking upset.
Seto was already pulling out his cell phone, but Bart sighed and shook his head.
"You won't get very good reception up here, especially in a storm such as this," the man told him.
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Linda cried in frustration.
"Well," Bart said after a moment, "I could get y'all set up with rooms and a bite to eat and we'll worry about contacting the outside world when the storm's over."
Everyone looked at each other and sighed. At last Yami Yugi nodded slowly and stood up. "Very well," he said then. "It seems we have no other options."
Bart grinned and gestured for everyone to follow him. "The guest rooms are upstairs," he announced. "Since there's so many of you, I'll probably get you into groups of twos."
The end results were as follows: Yugi and his Yami, Joey and Tristan, Bakura and his Yami, Tea and Mai, Marik and Rishid, Seto and Mokuba, Mako and Mr. O'Dover, Ishizu and Linda, and then Ms. Myrvyn, Joan—an aspiring writer—and Marie—a pottery maker—all in the last room.
Yugi sighed as he flopped onto his bed. "What a day," he exclaimed.
Yami Yugi nodded absentmindedly, a concerned look in his violet eyes. "I'm afraid that Ishizu may be right about our need to be cautious," he said solemnly. "I only agreed for us to stay here because there are no other options at the moment."
Yugi sat up, confusion obvious on his face. "What's wrong, Yami?" he wanted to know.
Yami Yugi crossed the room to the door and opened it. "Have you noticed how quiet it is here?" he said, staring into the hall.
Yugi blinked in surprise. "Well, yeah, I have," he admitted. "About the only sound I've heard is the rain outside. It is kinda strange that there's no one around except Bart," he mused now.
"It feels more like a tomb than a ranch house," Yami Yugi stated grimly.
Yugi gasped at the Pharaoh's choice of words, but as he listened to the eerie stillness around them he had to concede that maybe that comment wasn't that far off the mark.
****
In a couple of hours Bart went around to all the rooms and delivered trays of food, apologizing that Lorelei wasn't around to fix something more elaborate for them.
"She's out at the next ranch over," Bart explained when Joey asked where she was, "but she should be back tomorrow, if the storm stops."
Seto was hard at work on his laptop, trying to send an email about their predicament to his company, when there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Mokuba chirped, leaping up. When he hauled the door open, he was happily surprised to find Marik and Ishizu there. "Marik!" the little boy exclaimed, hugging his friend joyfully. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried on the plane!"
Marik chuckled softly. "I don't remember anything about what happened directly after the crash," he admitted ruefully. "The next thing I remember clearly is Ishizu and Rishid helping me into the ranch house."
Ishizu patted her brother on the shoulder, then walked on into the room to speak with Seto.
The boy looked up curiously as she approached. "To what do I owe the explanation of your visit?" he demanded.
"I would advise you to make certain that your door and windows are all locked tonight," she replied, proceeding to tell of her uneasy feelings about the ranch.
Seto snorted. "You've probably just been on one too many mysteries with Yugi and his cronies," he said flatly.
Ishizu shook her head. "You may choose not to heed my warning, Seto Kaiba, but you may be putting your brother in danger by not doing so."
That got Seto's complete attention, but he still looked suspicious. "What proof do you have of any danger?" he wanted to know.
"There is simply something not right." Ishizu paused before going on to reveal the most unexpected thing Seto ever thought she would say. "We were passing over where the ranch was supposed to be immediately previous to the crash. And, Seto Kaiba—nothing was there."
Seto just gaped. "WHAT?!" he burst out. "That's impossible!"
Marik and Mokuba, who were quietly playing Monster Capsule, both looked up in astonishment at the outburst.
Now Seto narrowed his eyes and glared at Ishizu. "Look, the plane was doing all kinds of crazy things right before it went down. You were probably just hallucinating. As I recall, you did wind up with a bad headache."
Ishizu sighed. "I recognized the oddly-shaped hill when we drove over it in the truck. I saw it from up in the airplane during the few seconds when it descended smoothly—and the spot beyond it where we are now was completely bare and devoid of life."
"You're crazy," Seto retorted. "If it wasn't here then, it couldn't be here now."
"We shall see," Ishizu said with a slow nod. "But I would not recommend wandering about alone."
"I have no intention of wandering anywhere," Seto grunted.
****
Bakura paced his room nervously, eventually making his Yami nervous as well.
"Will you stop with the blasted pacing?!" Yami Bakura screamed after about thirty minutes of watching Bakura walk across the floor off and on. "If you don't, you'll wear a hole in the wood!!"
Bakura halted abruptly, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Yami," he apologized, sitting down on the bed. "But I just can't help but feel a bit anxious. This is such a strange situation we've been plunged into. What if we're stranded here for quite some time?"
Yami Bakura laid down on his bed and pulled the quilt up around himself. "Don't worry yourself sick over it. We'll be out of here tomorrow or the next day." To his vexation, Oreo climbed onto his back and rested directly under his hair.
Bakura struggled not to laugh as the thief screamed in anger.
"GET THIS ABSURD CREATURE AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Oreo purred loud enough that she drowned Yami Bakura's voice out and then snuggled closer, placing her front paws on his neck.
"I'm sorry, Yami," Bakura tried to say with a straight face, "but I don't think she's going to leave."
"I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP LIKE THIS!!!" Yami Bakura yelled .
Oreo rubbed against him and then leaned down to lick his cheek. The old tomb raider growled and muttered a stream of words in Egyptian before shifting uncomfortably and eventually starting to doze off.
****
It was late at night when Marik was awakened by a very strange sound.
"Help me!" he heard a soft, unfamiliar female voice cry from far down the hall.
Blinking, the Egyptian boy slowly climbed out of his bed and made his way to the door while trying not to disturb Rishid in the other bed. Inching the door open, he stared into the dark corridor and strained to hear the woman's plea once more.
"Marik . . . help me," the voice whispered now, sounding unbelievably close by.
"Who are you?!" Marik exclaimed, stepping into the hall. "How can I help you?!"
Now he heard the voice no longer. A soft breeze wafted past, tussling his hair and blowing it against his face. After glancing about, he found that an open window was not to blame. What had happened?!
Bakura managed a weak smile. "I'm sure it wasn't really there. The rain must be playing tricks on my eyes."
"Man, with the crazy things we always deal with, you never know!" Joey retorted.
"Maybe we should try to figure out where we are," Linda Owens suggested, limping to the door and staring across the field.
"How could any of us go out in that rain?" Mai retorted, narrowing her eyes as the downpour became more ferocious.
"Even though I'm sure Mai is mostly worried about messin' her hair up, she's probably got a point," Joey said, grinning mischievously as Mai glared at him.
Tristan nodded. "Someone could get lost in rain that heavy."
That was when they heard the galloping of hooves on the ground.
"Wow, Bakura," Tea exclaimed, "maybe you weren't just seeing things! That sounds like a horse to me!"
In the next moment, a man dressed in a plaid shirt and dark jeans appeared, staring at the jet in utter astonishment. "Are you folks all okay?" he gasped, seeing several of the group standing in the open doorway.
"We're all fine," Yami Yugi said, stepping forward. He had come out of the Puzzle only recently to make certain of this statement.
"Can you tell us where we are?" Tea asked hopefully.
The man seemed to ignore her question at first and just continued to gape at the enormous airplane. "I can't believe this thing crashed down here!" he cried.
"Well, we can't either," Mai retorted. "But where is here?!"
Finally the man seemed to take notice of the query. "'Here' is Black Diamond Ranch, ma'am," he told her. "Deep in the heart of Nebraska!"
"Nebraska?!" Joey groaned. "Oh man, I knew we were way off course!! We're tryin' to get to Boston!"
"Boston, eh?" The man grinned. "That's quite a piece aways. Why don't y'all just come back to the house and we'll try to figure out what we can do for you?"
"Really?" Yugi smiled, his violet eyes wide. "Thanks! That'd be great!!" He glanced around. "Um, where is the house?"
"Is it nearby?" Tea wondered.
"Right over that hill." The man suddenly paused and laughed. "Where are my manners today? I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Bart."
The others gave their names as well and then Bart promised that he would go fetch the truck and that everyone could ride in it back to the house.
"What a bit of good fortune!" Ms. Myrvyn sighed in relief. "Now we won't all die here after all!"
Ishizu made no comment and instead stared ahead, lost in her own world.
"Hey, uh, are you okay?" Joey asked at last, blinking in confusion.
Ishizu continued to gaze off at nothing before at last snapping back to the present. "We must be wary," she said quietly.
"Wary?!" Joey repeated. "Of what?!"
"I cannot explain at this moment." Ishizu turned away, beginning to gather up the luggage.
Joey stared at her for a moment and then went to find his trunk in the baggage compartment.
Oreo meowed happily as Yami Bakura straightened up from his position under the water cooler, the bothersome glitter finally removed from his long silvery locks. As he headed out the door, the cat leaped into his arms and snuggled inside his shirt to stay warm and dry from the rain.
"This is absurd!!!" the thief screamed, twitching as Oreo's whiskers tickled his chest.
Bakura chuckled. "Oh, Yami, she just adores you," he replied.
Yami Bakura gave him a dark look and didn't answer.
****
At last everyone was safe inside the cozy ranch house and sitting around a fireplace drinking hot chocolate. Oreo drank out of Yami Bakura's glass when he wasn't looking and caused Joey to completely break up laughing.
"So tell me, Bart," Yami Yugi asked slowly, "I haven't seen anyone else around. Are you the one in charge here?"
Bart waved his hands wildly in protest. "Oh no! Not me! I'm just one of the ranch hands. Lorelei owns the place, but she's not here at the moment."
"Is there any way we could use a telephone?" Tea asked hopefully. "We need to call somewhere so that the airplane can get fixed."
"Sorry," Bart replied, "but the telephone line got washed out by the storm. It should be back up in a couple of days, though," he added, trying to sound optimistic.
"So we're stuck here and no one'll even know where we are or anything?!" Joey cried, looking upset.
Seto was already pulling out his cell phone, but Bart sighed and shook his head.
"You won't get very good reception up here, especially in a storm such as this," the man told him.
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Linda cried in frustration.
"Well," Bart said after a moment, "I could get y'all set up with rooms and a bite to eat and we'll worry about contacting the outside world when the storm's over."
Everyone looked at each other and sighed. At last Yami Yugi nodded slowly and stood up. "Very well," he said then. "It seems we have no other options."
Bart grinned and gestured for everyone to follow him. "The guest rooms are upstairs," he announced. "Since there's so many of you, I'll probably get you into groups of twos."
The end results were as follows: Yugi and his Yami, Joey and Tristan, Bakura and his Yami, Tea and Mai, Marik and Rishid, Seto and Mokuba, Mako and Mr. O'Dover, Ishizu and Linda, and then Ms. Myrvyn, Joan—an aspiring writer—and Marie—a pottery maker—all in the last room.
Yugi sighed as he flopped onto his bed. "What a day," he exclaimed.
Yami Yugi nodded absentmindedly, a concerned look in his violet eyes. "I'm afraid that Ishizu may be right about our need to be cautious," he said solemnly. "I only agreed for us to stay here because there are no other options at the moment."
Yugi sat up, confusion obvious on his face. "What's wrong, Yami?" he wanted to know.
Yami Yugi crossed the room to the door and opened it. "Have you noticed how quiet it is here?" he said, staring into the hall.
Yugi blinked in surprise. "Well, yeah, I have," he admitted. "About the only sound I've heard is the rain outside. It is kinda strange that there's no one around except Bart," he mused now.
"It feels more like a tomb than a ranch house," Yami Yugi stated grimly.
Yugi gasped at the Pharaoh's choice of words, but as he listened to the eerie stillness around them he had to concede that maybe that comment wasn't that far off the mark.
****
In a couple of hours Bart went around to all the rooms and delivered trays of food, apologizing that Lorelei wasn't around to fix something more elaborate for them.
"She's out at the next ranch over," Bart explained when Joey asked where she was, "but she should be back tomorrow, if the storm stops."
Seto was hard at work on his laptop, trying to send an email about their predicament to his company, when there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Mokuba chirped, leaping up. When he hauled the door open, he was happily surprised to find Marik and Ishizu there. "Marik!" the little boy exclaimed, hugging his friend joyfully. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried on the plane!"
Marik chuckled softly. "I don't remember anything about what happened directly after the crash," he admitted ruefully. "The next thing I remember clearly is Ishizu and Rishid helping me into the ranch house."
Ishizu patted her brother on the shoulder, then walked on into the room to speak with Seto.
The boy looked up curiously as she approached. "To what do I owe the explanation of your visit?" he demanded.
"I would advise you to make certain that your door and windows are all locked tonight," she replied, proceeding to tell of her uneasy feelings about the ranch.
Seto snorted. "You've probably just been on one too many mysteries with Yugi and his cronies," he said flatly.
Ishizu shook her head. "You may choose not to heed my warning, Seto Kaiba, but you may be putting your brother in danger by not doing so."
That got Seto's complete attention, but he still looked suspicious. "What proof do you have of any danger?" he wanted to know.
"There is simply something not right." Ishizu paused before going on to reveal the most unexpected thing Seto ever thought she would say. "We were passing over where the ranch was supposed to be immediately previous to the crash. And, Seto Kaiba—nothing was there."
Seto just gaped. "WHAT?!" he burst out. "That's impossible!"
Marik and Mokuba, who were quietly playing Monster Capsule, both looked up in astonishment at the outburst.
Now Seto narrowed his eyes and glared at Ishizu. "Look, the plane was doing all kinds of crazy things right before it went down. You were probably just hallucinating. As I recall, you did wind up with a bad headache."
Ishizu sighed. "I recognized the oddly-shaped hill when we drove over it in the truck. I saw it from up in the airplane during the few seconds when it descended smoothly—and the spot beyond it where we are now was completely bare and devoid of life."
"You're crazy," Seto retorted. "If it wasn't here then, it couldn't be here now."
"We shall see," Ishizu said with a slow nod. "But I would not recommend wandering about alone."
"I have no intention of wandering anywhere," Seto grunted.
****
Bakura paced his room nervously, eventually making his Yami nervous as well.
"Will you stop with the blasted pacing?!" Yami Bakura screamed after about thirty minutes of watching Bakura walk across the floor off and on. "If you don't, you'll wear a hole in the wood!!"
Bakura halted abruptly, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Yami," he apologized, sitting down on the bed. "But I just can't help but feel a bit anxious. This is such a strange situation we've been plunged into. What if we're stranded here for quite some time?"
Yami Bakura laid down on his bed and pulled the quilt up around himself. "Don't worry yourself sick over it. We'll be out of here tomorrow or the next day." To his vexation, Oreo climbed onto his back and rested directly under his hair.
Bakura struggled not to laugh as the thief screamed in anger.
"GET THIS ABSURD CREATURE AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Oreo purred loud enough that she drowned Yami Bakura's voice out and then snuggled closer, placing her front paws on his neck.
"I'm sorry, Yami," Bakura tried to say with a straight face, "but I don't think she's going to leave."
"I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP LIKE THIS!!!" Yami Bakura yelled .
Oreo rubbed against him and then leaned down to lick his cheek. The old tomb raider growled and muttered a stream of words in Egyptian before shifting uncomfortably and eventually starting to doze off.
****
It was late at night when Marik was awakened by a very strange sound.
"Help me!" he heard a soft, unfamiliar female voice cry from far down the hall.
Blinking, the Egyptian boy slowly climbed out of his bed and made his way to the door while trying not to disturb Rishid in the other bed. Inching the door open, he stared into the dark corridor and strained to hear the woman's plea once more.
"Marik . . . help me," the voice whispered now, sounding unbelievably close by.
"Who are you?!" Marik exclaimed, stepping into the hall. "How can I help you?!"
Now he heard the voice no longer. A soft breeze wafted past, tussling his hair and blowing it against his face. After glancing about, he found that an open window was not to blame. What had happened?!