Marik gasped, the color draining from his face. "What?!" he cried. "When did this happen?!"

"I don't know," Tristan admitted. "Ishizu said he'd just disappeared."

"Maybe he went out to find the man who's impersonating him," Bakura suggested.

"Perhaps," Marik agreed slowly. "But wherever he is, I must find him!" With that he turned around to run off—but he was intercepted by Ishizu.

"We must proceed with caution, dear brother," the older woman told him gently. "I fear that the danger in this ranch is now beginning to manifest itself."

"What do you mean, sister?" Marik demanded. "Is Rishid in terrible trouble?!"

"He may be, I'm afraid," Ishizu replied softly.

"When did you last see him?" Yugi asked her.

Ishizu hesitated, then lowered her eyes. "Not long after Linda Owens made her accusation," she told him. "We finished righting the calamities Lonestar caused and then prepared to go into the house again—but Rishid did not accompany us. He had vanished."

"He wouldn't have just left for no reason!" Marik cried.

"Maybe he was really shook up about being accused and everything," Joey suggested. "Heck, I know I'd be."

"But where would he even go?" Tea pointed out. "We're out in the sticks!"

"Have you searched everywhere?" Marik asked of Tristan, who nodded.

"We've been all over the house, the ranch . . . everywhere!" the hazel-eyed boy replied. "He's just nowhere around!"

Marik's eyes narrowed as he tried not to look as stricken as he felt. "He has to be somewhere," he said evenly, "and I promise you all, I am going to find him."

"Find who?"

The new voice wafted in to the gang as the door opened and a tall, red-headed woman stepped in, removing her Stetson hat and setting it on the table.

"My adopted brother," Marik replied, proceeding to give the newcomer a description of Rishid and asking if she had seen him.

"The only person I saw like that was ridin' one of my horses," the woman retorted, "but I couldn't actually see his face." She paused. "I'm Lorelei, and I own this here ranch. Bart told me about all of you and your plane crash." Lorelei stepped back and seemed to be studying each and every one of her new guests, trying to determine if they were on the up-and-up.

Tristan nodded. "Yeah, that was something else," he declared.

"If it hadn't been for Kaiba, we probably would've all been killed in the crash," Tea remarked.

Marik looked at Lorelei, his lavender eyes bespeaking the immense worry and concern he felt for his missing brother. "I have reason to believe that the man you saw was impersonating Rishid," he said quietly, "because someone has been going about trying to frame him all afternoon."

Lorelei stared, narrowing her eyes. "What?! What kind of nonsense has been goin' on here while I've been gone?!"

The teens took turns explaining everything that had happened to them since their stay had began while Lorelei listened and became angrier by the minute.

"I can't believe all this has been allowed to go on!" she growled, crossing her arms. "Can't Bart be responsible for just a couple of days while I'm off somewhere else?! It's not like I can be here for the ranch twenty four-seven!"

"Well," Yugi said slowly, stepping forward, "Bart *did* bring us all here safely. . . ."

"Heh, that's probably the only thing he's done right," Lorelei retorted.

Marik turned away. "Pardon me for not staying to continue this discussion, but I must go find my brother," he said quietly, disappearing down a hall.

Yugi looked after him worriedly. "He shouldn't go alone," he declared.

"Yeah!" Joey agreed. "He might go missin' too!"

"I will go with him," Ishizu announced calmly as she headed off down the corridor after her younger brother.

Lorelei shook her head. "I can't imagine where he'd be, nor can I comprehend anyone trying to frame him," she declared. "But right now I know I'm gonna find Bart." And with that she marched off without another word.

Bakura watched worriedly. "I wish there was something we could do," he said sadly. "Poor Marik and Ishizu . . . they must be so terribly upset. . . ."

That was when the rest of the teenage gang finally joined them.

"What have you guys been up to?" Mai asked as she approached. "And Yugi, why are you dripping wet?!"

Yugi blinked. With all the action and the concern about Rishid, he had completely forgotten that he was still drenched from his fall into the creek. "Oh," he said now, "it's kinda a long story."

"Where's Marik?!" Mokuba burst out. "I want to help him find Rishid!"

"Marik left to go looking a while ago," Tea told him. "I'm not sure where he was going to look."

Seto, who had been silent all this time—as usual—now turned abruptly, and a small, brass object fell out of his pocket.

"Hey," Joey said, blinking, "what the heck?!" Quickly he bent down to pick it up before Seto could stop him. "'Lonestar, Son of Wildfire'?" he read in confusion.

"Give me that," Seto growled, grabbing it away.

"Wildfire?!" Mokuba cried, gawking in disbelief.

"What is that thing?!" Joey demanded.

"It must be the plaque from Lonestar's stall," Yugi decided, looking at Seto for the explanation as to why he was carrying it around.

"I found it in the dirt," Seto grunted, heading for the stairs.

Yugi and the others stared after him, but only for a moment. While that was intriguing, there were more important things that needed to be puzzled over at the moment.

"Alright," Yugi spoke up then, "let's brainstorm. Where was the last place anyone saw Rishid?" He looked up at Mai, Mokuba, and Tristan, hoping they would remember something.

"Well," Mai said slowly, "I saw him over by the fence leading out to the pastures. That was after Linda made her accusation."

"I saw him there too!" Mokuba chimed in. "He looked really sad!"

Yugi nodded slowly. "I can imagine," he said.

"Being framed for crimes you didn't commit is so uncool," Tea remarked angrily.

"Did anyone see him after that?" Bakura wanted to know. "I . . . I believe I saw his imposter. . . ."

All eyes turned to him and he quickly relayed the story of what had happened earlier when he and his Yami had been riding Firefly.

"I'm certain it wasn't our Rishid," Bakura concluded. "I can't imagine he would purposely get a black horse and pull the hood up on his cloak once he knew that was what his impersonator was doing."

"You're right, Bakura," Yugi said with a nod.

"Hey," Mai spoke up suddenly, "aren't we forgetting someone?"

Everyone looked around, blinking.

"Hey yeah!" Joey exclaimed. "Where the heck is Mako?!?!"

"Oh no," Tea moaned. "Don't tell me he's missing too!"

"It looks like he just may be," Tristan sighed.

"No, my friends, I am still here."

All the teens turned at the sound of his voice. Mako was standing in the doorway, several fish in hand and a dark cloth draped over his arm.

"I was searching for Rishid, but I could find no trace of him at first," the dark-haired boy said regretfully. "I did manage to catch a few fish down at the creek, and . . ." He paused, setting the fish down and holding out the arm with the cloth. "I found this. I don't know whether it belongs to the double or to the genuine Rishid, but in any case I brought it back."

Bakura took the cloth from Mako and spread it out. "It's a cloak," he realized, blinking.

"And it's missing this," Yugi pointed out, holding up the gold chain. "This is the double's cloak. But how did it get down by the creek?! It wasn't there when Tea and I were looking around!"

"I suppose he must have gone back," Bakura replied slowly.

"But why?!" Tea wondered.

Yugi shook his head in confusion. "Well, at any rate, we should all split up and keep looking for Rishid," he declared. "Even though you guys already looked all over," he said to Tristan and his group, "he couldn't have gone that far. We have to keep looking!" The short boy paused, looking sad. "After all," he continued slowly, "he could be laying hurt somewhere."

The other teens nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Where are the other adult members of our group, anyway?" Tea asked suddenly. "I haven't seen anything of Linda, Joan, Ms. Myrvyn, or Marie at all since we've been back!"

Mai shrugged. "Oh—most all of them are holed up in their rooms," she replied. "Except for Marie. She agreed to help look for Rishid and the poor gal's probably still out looking."

"And none of the others would help?" Bakura said in surprise.

Tristan shook his head. "Mr. O'Dover is checking around outside, but Ms. Myrvyn, Linda, and Joan aren't gonna help out, at least not that I know of."

"Well, *I* am!"

Everyone looked up to see Ms. Myrvyn standing indignantly at the top of the stairs, obviously having overheard things. "Linda and Joan are the ones who really don't want to. They're afraid that he's just hiding and waiting for someone to go after him, and that he'd get rid of them if they did find him. Of course I told them that was all absolutely preposterous."

Yugi smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're going to help, Ms. Myrvyn," he said. "We need all the help we can get."

Seto soon came back downstairs and also agreed to assist in the search, and everyone split up into three groups of four each—Yugi, his Yami, Tristan, and Joey in group one, Bakura, his Yami, Mai, and Ms. Myrvyn in group two, and Seto, Mokuba, Tea, and Mako in group three.

"We'll all meet back here in two hours," Yami Yugi directed.

Everyone nodded. That was the standard time they allotted to their groups during a search of any kind on their mysteries. Of course, if someone didn't make it back within the time given, then they would also be classified as missing, lost, or in some other big trouble.

"Wait just a minute, kiddo," Mai suddenly said to Yugi before they started out.

"Huh?" The short boy blinked in confusion.

"You have to change into something dry and warm," Mai directed him, "or else you'll probably wind up with a cold."

Again Yugi had forgotten about his damp clothes, but he felt that there were much much important things to worry about now. "Oh, it's okay," he protested.

Yami Yugi shook his head. "No, she's right, Yugi," he replied. "Everyone else start out. Yugi and I will catch up in a few moments."

****

Ishizu hurried to keep up with her brother as he walked determinedly down the long corridors of the ranch house.

"Marik," she called to him when he got too far ahead, "you must stop and allow us to think things through."

The younger boy paused and waited for her to catch up. "But Rishid is probably already in danger, sister!" he exploded in frustration.

Ishizu laid a hand on his shoulder. "I am worried about him too," she said softly, brushing some of his long, blonde hair aside. "But I do not want something to happen to you as well, brother."

Marik sighed and then clenched his fists angrily as thoughts of the imposter returned to him again. "That simply burns me up," he snarled. "To think that someone would pretend to be Rishid and go around terrorizing the other guests!"

"I know it is terrible," Ishizu said soothingly. She paused. "If he went looking for his imposter, perhaps he decided to investigate the areas where the mysterious rider was seen," the Egyptian woman suggested.

Marik nodded. "It is worth a try," he said, heading off in the direction of the pasture.

As the two siblings swung the gate open and wandered into the meadowy area, gunfire suddenly exploded overhead.

"Look out!" Marik screamed, pulling Ishizu to the ground just as a bullet hit the spot where she had been standing. Someone was shooting at them!