Disclaimer: Jeez, read Chapter 8 if you don't get it by now. H: I feel so happy that at least SOME people like my story! *glares at evil friend who shall not be named but never reviews* Ya poo-head! I'm never forgiving you for what you said!!! (She said something really nasty; I'm not putting it here, for the sake of my rating.) HH: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: *cheesy announcer voice* In this chapter, we will have a few lines from a song. The first person to name what song it is and who sings it wins a fablulous prize! Tell 'em what it is, Hera! H: *cheesy announcer voice* Thanks, 'Het! Well, folks, you could win your very own Chapter! That's right folks, your very own Chapter, complete with your name, your interests, and, of course, YOU! So start guessin', folks, so YOU can be the lucky champion and get a cameo appearance and key role in the story! Well, Herahet, why don't you tell them the lines? HH: Sure thing, Hera! Are you ready? 'Cause here they come!

"You've used up all your coupons

And all you've got left is me
And somehow I'm full of forgiveness
I guess it's meant to be"

GO FOR IT!!! AND HURRY UP!!! *** Note: Sometimes Ryou will refer to Bakura as Yami.

*** CHAPTER 10: Pizza Yai's POV: Two hours later found us in the Domino City library, diligently poring over old scriptures.

I was, at any rate.

Joey and Meg were lounging in chairs, trying to count how many tiles were on the ceiling, and Ryou kept wandering off to "search in other sections". I later spotted him curled up on the floor, appearing to take a nap. I left him be.

My work was in vain, however, and by one o' clock, I had gone through every likely lead the books had to offer, and we were all getting a bit hungry. We headed over to the pizza parlor a few blocks down and discussed our next move.

"So we basically have no idea where Bakura is or how to stop him," Meg summed it up nicely after a lengthy dialogue.

"Yeah, that sounds about ri-" Joey began to say, then saw Ryou looking antsy to say something and stopped. "Gowan, Ryou."

"Thanks, Joey," the almost-albino smiled gratefully. "While in the library, I tried to dig through Bakura's memories. He can do it to me, so I tried it on him." He looked around at us, dead serious. "Before I tell you anything, I need to ask all of you a question. The information I am sharing is very important. I will only tell you it if you agree to allow me to use magic on you to make you forget it if Bakura tries to tortu-, I mean, get it out of you."

"Don't stop yourself from saying stuff like 'torture', Ryou," I told him. "We know the danger. And in any case, I agree to let you use magic."

"Me too," Joey and Meg said at the same time, causing both to blush. I looked on in amused silence. Meg had never actually told me about her crush on Joey, but I had figured it out pretty quickly.

Well, that settles it," Ryou broke in, smiling gratefully. "Now, I was sifting through some recent memories and I found something very.strange. There was a large memory of Bakura in a glowing red, blue, green, and yellow cave, doing a spell, but not just any spell. I felt he was tapping into something far beyond even him. There was a powerful anger, not Yami's, but something.bigger, if you get my sense. It was unimaginable intensity, all aimed at Yami. I really thought he was going to be killed or something. But.he just laughed." Ryou shuddered visibly. "I know his regular laugh can be pretty scary, but this.it made my blood run cold, and I've never felt that before. He was laughing at this god or deity or force or whatever he was stealing the power from, and I felt deep in my bones that what he was doing was really wrong. Like breaking the laws of the universe kind of wrong. Another wave of anger washed out, but Bakura just laughed harder and vanished, and the memory was cut off." He stopped and took a deep breath. "That's all I got to see. Hold on a minute. I need to finish the spell to lock that in your memories."

Us three listeners looked at each other. This was really serious-sounding. What in the world was Bakura doing?

"That part about the four primary colors." Meg said slowly, brow furrowed. "I feel like I've heard something about those before; like, a legend, or something."

"Yeah, me too," Joey added. He thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and leaned back. "Ah, well, don't think about it right now. It'll come to ya." Meg nodded but didn't look convinced.

"Done," announced Ryou, startling us. "What are we going to do now?"

"The only logical thing we can," I grinned, and all heads turned to me. "Start looking, of course."

Joey and Meg groaned, and Ryou grimaced. "For what?!?" they all chorused.

My grin widened. I love leaving people in suspense. "Haven't you figured it out?" I asked sweetly.

"NO!!!"

"We need to search for a secret base, of course. The sooner we can take care of Bakura, the better. We also need to find Malik. We haven't heard much of him, and that makes me nervous. If he has the Millennium Rod, we have a strong disadvantage."

"Stop talkin' like a dictionary," Meg scolded me. "And where in the world would a secret base be around here?"

"What about the sewer?" Ryou suggested. "It's a dark place that no one ever goes except repairmen, so it's perfect."

"Sounds reasonable," Joey agreed, but Meg looked angry and sickened at the same time.

"I am not going into some disgusting; smelly; feces-, rat-, cockroach-, and God-knows-what-else-infested sewer!" she hissed. "Not for love or money or anything else you can offer!" The people in the table next to ours stared at us.

"You don't have to go down there in just your regular clothes," Joey soothed. "We could get some rubber boots or something."

"Good idea," I nodded. "I want some rubber boots, too."

"But we don't even know if it's in the sewer!" my earth-friend protested. "It could be somewhere completely different!"

"Then we'll split into groups," I grumbled, getting bored and wanting to have some action. I grinned internally and decided to be nice to my childhood friend. "Joey, why don't you and Meg scout around on one half of the park, because the base will probably be close to the door, and Ryou and I will scout the other half."

Meg gave me her extra-special You-jackass-you're-doing-this-just-to- embarrass-me glare, then erased and replaced it with her cheerful smile and turned back to Ryou and Joey. "Well, might as well get started. We'll take east, you guys take west."

Outside the pizza parlor, I called to the pair receding down the block away from Ryou and me, "Meet back here in three hours!"

"Let's start near the yew tree," Ryou suggested, so we headed back to Domino Park, hopefully to find a secret base, preferably Bakura's.

***

H: *sprawled on her chair* Blah.I have writer's block.And I've watched The Goofy Movie about six times now with my li'l bro. Those damn songs get stuck in my head. At least they're really good songs ("After Today", the only Disney song/movie with goths in it, "Stand Out", "Open Road", "Nobody Else", and "I 2 I")! ^^ I wanna get the soundtrack!!! HH: *has the Lester's Possum Park theme song stuck in her head* ARG!!! *singing* It's yodelin' time!!! So don't you wanna be (uh-huh) A-hangin' from a tree (uh-huh) We're mighty glad to see ya and the park is always frEEEeeeeeEEEeeeeEEEee. Here at Lester's Po.Po.Possum Paaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrk!!!! DOO-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. Wayne: *sweatdrop* Help. HH: *insane look* Who's yer favorite possum?! Wayne: o_O Don't.touch.me. HH: Aw, you're so sad.! I know! You need a biiiiiiiiiiiiig hug from Lester! Wayne: o___________O Don't even THINK about i-ERG!!! *is hugged by Herahet* HH: *releases him* There! Now you feel AAAAAALLLLL good inside!!! Wayne: *slaps her* Beat it, doofus! HH: *rubs cheek and glares at him, back to normal* HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME, YOU LITTLE RUNT?!?! Wayne: O_O Oh, crap. *Wayne and Herahet screaming in background (the former in terror, the latter in insane fury)* H: *cheesy commercial grin* That is the conclusion of our program today. *Wayne runs past behind her, being chased by Herahet, who has a hammer* Please join us next week for another installment in our lovely presentation, "Damned Fool". *They run by again from the other direction, this time Herahet with a saw* Thank you and have a wonderful day/night. *they run by again, Herahet with a roaring chainsaw* We hope to see you next time, again, on, "Damned Fool"! Wayne(in the background noise): No! Anything but that! *camera turns to show Herahet slowly backing up a dump truck full of Barney stuffed animals that sing and dumping it on Wayne* *all the Barneys start to sing "I Love You", drowning out Wayne's muffled screams* H: *sweatdrop* I think this should end now. *screen turns staticky, then black* BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....