Seto stared in frustrated disbelief, struggling to stand upright. This was definitely not the kind of surprise he looked forward to.
Lou, Alyson's wicked uncle from the ranch, grinned evilly. "It certainly is me, child," he replied, reaching for Alyson. "And it's been so long, hasn't it?"
"Stay away from me!" the little girl screamed, raising the Ankh.
Lou didn't look impressed. "That trinket won't stop me, foolish girl!"
"Oh yeah? Well, Shadi entrusted it to me!" Alyson retorted. "I'll triumph over you any day!"
"Shadi?" Lou grunted. "That washed-up Egyptian guardian is dead! His Ankh didn't protect him, and it won't protect you!"
Tears filled Alyson's eyes but she struggled to keep her cool. She knew Shadi was alive, but he had warned her not to tell anyone. So she knew she couldn't, no matter how much she might like to.
While this was going on, Seto was pulling at the spear again, trying desperately to dislodge it. He knew that if he didn't remove it soon, he would pass out—and he couldn't let that happen.
Lou turned to look at him. "Don't expect to be getting that out anytime soon," he grinned.
Seto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked, ignoring the blood spilling over his hands as he gave the weapon another tug.
"Oh, I'm sure the poison will take over first," Lou informed him.
That didn't improve Seto's mood any. "Poison again, huh?" he said, his blue eyes icy and cold. "That seems to be your preferred method of dealing with things."
"It gets the job done," Lou shrugged. "Once you're dead, half our problems will be over!"
"You'll never have the pleasure of killing me," Seto snapped, already feeling himself beginning to weaken. Idly he wondered how Lou had escaped the ranch wraiths' wrath.
"I beg to differ," Lou sneered. "It should happen fairly soon now."
"Stop it!!" Alyson screamed. "Just stop it!! You're a horrible, evil man and you're gonna be sorry for hurting all those people!! I'm not gonna let you kill Mr. Kaiba!!"
Lou crossed his arms. "Well, I'd be interested to know how you plan to stop me," he taunted.
Alyson bit her lip, searching her young mind for any possible ideas on how to do so.
While she was trying, Seto suddenly felt someone else take hold of the spear and promptly yank it out. His eyes widened, partially from the pain but mostly from the shock of having someone come to help him . . . someone he couldn't even see.
Lou seemed not to notice, at least not at first. But after a moment he turned to Seto in irritation. "Why haven't you collapsed yet?" he demanded, and then noticed the bloodied spear laying on the ground. "What the . . ."
Seto smirked. "I don't think the sac of poison was released into my system," he said, pointing to the tip of the javelin. "So you won't be poisoning me today."
Alyson let out a sigh of relief and smiled widely. She knew who had came to help Seto.
Lou clenched his fists, angry that his plans had been thwarted. "Well, at any rate, you must have lost a lot of blood by now," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I'd say you'll most likely lose consciousness from that before long. And meanwhile . . ." Abruptly he grabbed the javelin and whirled on Alyson, who screamed and backed up against the wall in horror.
Furious, Seto grabbed the spear with the last remaining bits of his strength. "You monster," he hissed. "She's only a kid." Hatred for his adopted father, Gozaburo, burned within him as he clutched the weapon tighter in his hand. He almost fantasized that he saw Gozaburo in Lou's place, but before he could do anything more the boy slumped over, rendered unconscious by the severity of his wound—just as Lou had predicted.
Alyson turned to look at his motionless body, horrified. "Mr. Kaiba?! MR. KAIBA??!!" she shrieked, obviously terrified that someone else was going to die right in front of her eyes.
Lou laughed. "This is going well," he said. "And I've just gotten word that the Ishtar boy has entered our dimension. He should be here before long. And when he comes, there's gonna be fireworks!" He drew his finger across his neck in the "someone will die" motion.
"No!!" Alyson protested as Lou unmercifully grabbed Seto and began dragging him along. "No, you're gonna be stopped!"
"Take courage, Alyson," Shadi's voice whispered near her. "Everything will be alright."
Tears slipped from the little girl's eyes. "I hope so," she said softly.
****
In the meantime, everyone else was passing through the door that had opened for them.
"So, uh, where do you think we're going?" Joey asked, glancing around uncomfortably as they began wandering down a long corridor that started bright but grew darker as they advanced through it.
"I couldn't even begin to guess," Yami Yugi replied.
"Well, that's certainly reassuring," Mai said sarcastically.
"I believe we've passed into another dimension," Martin spoke up.
"You mean like the Shadow Realm?" Téa exclaimed.
"Something like that, but not exactly," Martin answered. "But it is another realm inside our own. In order to defeat the evil, we must journey through this realm until we come to the Cave of Despair."
"What a nice name," Marik remarked cynically.
Viper, meanwhile, hadn't given up on Rishid. She was walking alongside the man and occasionally shooting glances up at him, though she hadn't said anything for a while. She knew that Rishid wasn't interested in her, but that only made her more attracted to him. She didn't like it when the men just blindly fell all over her. Rishid, she could tell, was someone very level-headed and serious, and not one to go nuts over a pretty girl flirting with him.
Up ahead, Bakura gave a horrible cry of panic and everyone came to attention.
"What's wrong with that moron now?!" Yami Bakura grumped.
They soon found out as Bakura came tearing out of the shadows, his face pale and his eyes wide as several bony hands hung from his long, silvery hair. "It's horrible!!" he screamed, shaking all over. "Oh dear . . . oh . . ."
"Man, Bakura, what have you been getting into?!" Tristan gasped.
Yami Bakura walked up to the rattled teenager and removed one of the hands from his locks. "It would appear that you have had an encounter with several skeletons," the tomb raider said with a raised eyebrow. "Hardly a reason to go into a frenzy."
Bakura leaned back against the dark wall, willing his heart to slow down to its normal pace. "It was terrible," he choked out. "They . . . they're everywhere . . . reaching out to grab you . . . wanting you to become one of them. . . ."
Ishizu looked concerned. "The undead," she said quietly.
"The WHAT??!!" Joey yelped. "You mean, like, zombies and stuff?!"
"Something like that," Ishizu replied calmly, though inwardly she was growing quite concerned. "We must proceed with the utmost caution. They want to recruit anyone still living to be part of their army, for they are intensely jealous of those who still are free to walk the earth of their own volition."
"Oh, well that's just wonderful," Duke grumbled. "Any one of us might be turned into a zombie and come attacking the others."
"Yes," Yami Yugi said grimly, "and we can't allow it to happen. There's too much else at stake."
Mokuba shuddered as they went deeper into the hallway, the mention of zombies having a personal effect on him. Unconsciously he tightly grabbed his best friend's hand, not wanting to get separated and grabbed by one of the wandering creatures. As they went deeper into the corridor, he found that he could hardly stand to be there at all.
Marik noticed his actions and looked at him with concern. "What is it, my friend?" he asked kindly, certain that this was more than simple fear.
Mokuba looked away, not wanting to answer at first. "I was controlled by a zombie once," he admitted softly. "Last Halloween."
Marik was shocked, to say the least. "I see," he replied finally, not sure what to say.
Mokuba gave him a weak smile. "Do you think I'm crazy?"
"No," Marik told him without hesitation. "That . . . must have been hard for you," he said carefully.
Tears filled Mokuba's eyes. "I nearly killed Seto!" he wailed, tensing as he felt bony fingers grab at his shoulder.
Sensing them as well, Marik drew the Rod and whacked at the disembodied hand, then smirked with a certain satisfaction when he heard a clunk behind them.
"Be careful, brother," Ishizu said softly.
Marik nodded in reply before turning his attention back to Mokuba. "You couldn't help what your body was doing, my friend," he said gently.
"I know. . . ." Mokuba gave a sad sigh. "That's what Seto said too. But I can't help feeling upset about it."
Overhearing, Rishid's heart went out to Mokuba. He understood exactly what the poor boy was going through.
"Well . . ." Marik said now, "I've learned that it's better to not dwell on the what ifs and if onlys. The past is past and we have to move on. You were able to stop yourself in time and take control."
"But that's just it, Marik!" Mokuba sobbed. "I couldn't stop myself!! The limo crashed and I went flying out! If that hadn't happened . . ."
Marik didn't know what to say, except to reassure Mokuba that the bond siblings shared was stronger than any villains' power—essentially the same thing he had told Rishid the previous night. The Egyptian boy now hoped that Mokuba—and Rishid—would both take his words to heart and be able to set the past aside.
"YAAAAAA!!!"
Joey's scream suddenly rent the air and everyone turned to see him frantically struggling with a skeleton on the ground.
"Man, how strong are these things?!" the Brooklyn boy yelled.
"Joey!!" Serenity gasped, trying to run forward to help him.
At last Joey received a burst of energy and he was able to throw the skeleton back against the wall, where it smashed into pieces. "Alright!" he grinned, leaping to his feet and smirking. "That'll teach you to mess with Joey Wheeler!"
"I knew you wouldn't let it get the better of you, big brother!" Serenity smiled.
They continued in silence for the next few minutes, the only sounds being that of the skeletons stalking them.
"We are almost through the Tunnel of Endless Misery," Ishizu said finally after Rishid punched a skeleton clear across the hall.
"Man, who named these places anyway?!" Tristan burst out.
"That hardly matters," Yami Yugi retorted.
Throughout all of this, Oreo had been yowling loudly and now the furry feline was curled up in Bakura's shirt, deciding that she was protecting him from the zombies' wrath. "MEROW!!" she hissed, clawing at an approaching hand.
A loud thump up ahead made everyone freeze.
"I don't like the sound of that," Viper said, narrowing her eyes.
Without warning the zombies descended upon Bakura, forcing him up against the wall. The poor boy stared at them with utter terror in his eyes. "HELP!!!" he screamed, being pulled under. "Oh please, someone, HELP!!!"
"We'll get you free, Bakura!" Yugi yelled as he and the others all ran forward.
"Foolish mortals!!" Yami Bakura's irritated voice rang out. "You have no concept of what you are plunging into!!" Furiously he threw a Morphing Jar into the mix, catching all of the zombies neatly and sending them to the Shadow Realm.
Bakura still stayed plastered against the wall, breathing heavily, his brown eyes a picture of horror. Oreo meowed piteously, trying to comfort him.
Suddenly Yami Bakura gave a gasp of pain, his eyes going blank.
"Yami?!" Bakura screamed, coming back to the present. "YAMI??!!"
"What's wrong with him?!" Téa burst out.
"He's been infected!!" Yami Yugi yelled. "They caught him off his guard!"
The thief slumped over, revealing a skeleton tightly clutching onto his back and causing blood to drip down over the creature's bony arms.
"YAMI??!!!" Bakura ran over, frantic. "Yami, no!!!"
Now Yami Bakura straightened up, looking through Bakura and raising a hand to grab for his neck. Horrified, the British boy grabbed his Yami's wrist and held it tightly, struggling to not let go.
"How is this possible?!" Marik cried. "He is already dead, technically. How can they infect him?!"
"Because of Bakura and the Millennium Ring, Yami Bakura can still create a physical body for himself when he wants," Yami Yugi replied. "The zombies are perhaps even more jealous of him than of any mere mortal. With Yami Bakura as their puppet, they could easily destroy us all. And we don't have time to be dealing with this." He narrowed his eyes as blood trickled from the ancient tomb raider's mouth. "There is only one thing we can do to ensure that this evil stops right now so that we can proceed with our mission."
"And what is that?" Rishid asked.
Yami Yugi looked away, knowing that what he had to say would crush Bakura horribly. "We have to destroy the spirit of the Ring."
Lou, Alyson's wicked uncle from the ranch, grinned evilly. "It certainly is me, child," he replied, reaching for Alyson. "And it's been so long, hasn't it?"
"Stay away from me!" the little girl screamed, raising the Ankh.
Lou didn't look impressed. "That trinket won't stop me, foolish girl!"
"Oh yeah? Well, Shadi entrusted it to me!" Alyson retorted. "I'll triumph over you any day!"
"Shadi?" Lou grunted. "That washed-up Egyptian guardian is dead! His Ankh didn't protect him, and it won't protect you!"
Tears filled Alyson's eyes but she struggled to keep her cool. She knew Shadi was alive, but he had warned her not to tell anyone. So she knew she couldn't, no matter how much she might like to.
While this was going on, Seto was pulling at the spear again, trying desperately to dislodge it. He knew that if he didn't remove it soon, he would pass out—and he couldn't let that happen.
Lou turned to look at him. "Don't expect to be getting that out anytime soon," he grinned.
Seto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked, ignoring the blood spilling over his hands as he gave the weapon another tug.
"Oh, I'm sure the poison will take over first," Lou informed him.
That didn't improve Seto's mood any. "Poison again, huh?" he said, his blue eyes icy and cold. "That seems to be your preferred method of dealing with things."
"It gets the job done," Lou shrugged. "Once you're dead, half our problems will be over!"
"You'll never have the pleasure of killing me," Seto snapped, already feeling himself beginning to weaken. Idly he wondered how Lou had escaped the ranch wraiths' wrath.
"I beg to differ," Lou sneered. "It should happen fairly soon now."
"Stop it!!" Alyson screamed. "Just stop it!! You're a horrible, evil man and you're gonna be sorry for hurting all those people!! I'm not gonna let you kill Mr. Kaiba!!"
Lou crossed his arms. "Well, I'd be interested to know how you plan to stop me," he taunted.
Alyson bit her lip, searching her young mind for any possible ideas on how to do so.
While she was trying, Seto suddenly felt someone else take hold of the spear and promptly yank it out. His eyes widened, partially from the pain but mostly from the shock of having someone come to help him . . . someone he couldn't even see.
Lou seemed not to notice, at least not at first. But after a moment he turned to Seto in irritation. "Why haven't you collapsed yet?" he demanded, and then noticed the bloodied spear laying on the ground. "What the . . ."
Seto smirked. "I don't think the sac of poison was released into my system," he said, pointing to the tip of the javelin. "So you won't be poisoning me today."
Alyson let out a sigh of relief and smiled widely. She knew who had came to help Seto.
Lou clenched his fists, angry that his plans had been thwarted. "Well, at any rate, you must have lost a lot of blood by now," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I'd say you'll most likely lose consciousness from that before long. And meanwhile . . ." Abruptly he grabbed the javelin and whirled on Alyson, who screamed and backed up against the wall in horror.
Furious, Seto grabbed the spear with the last remaining bits of his strength. "You monster," he hissed. "She's only a kid." Hatred for his adopted father, Gozaburo, burned within him as he clutched the weapon tighter in his hand. He almost fantasized that he saw Gozaburo in Lou's place, but before he could do anything more the boy slumped over, rendered unconscious by the severity of his wound—just as Lou had predicted.
Alyson turned to look at his motionless body, horrified. "Mr. Kaiba?! MR. KAIBA??!!" she shrieked, obviously terrified that someone else was going to die right in front of her eyes.
Lou laughed. "This is going well," he said. "And I've just gotten word that the Ishtar boy has entered our dimension. He should be here before long. And when he comes, there's gonna be fireworks!" He drew his finger across his neck in the "someone will die" motion.
"No!!" Alyson protested as Lou unmercifully grabbed Seto and began dragging him along. "No, you're gonna be stopped!"
"Take courage, Alyson," Shadi's voice whispered near her. "Everything will be alright."
Tears slipped from the little girl's eyes. "I hope so," she said softly.
****
In the meantime, everyone else was passing through the door that had opened for them.
"So, uh, where do you think we're going?" Joey asked, glancing around uncomfortably as they began wandering down a long corridor that started bright but grew darker as they advanced through it.
"I couldn't even begin to guess," Yami Yugi replied.
"Well, that's certainly reassuring," Mai said sarcastically.
"I believe we've passed into another dimension," Martin spoke up.
"You mean like the Shadow Realm?" Téa exclaimed.
"Something like that, but not exactly," Martin answered. "But it is another realm inside our own. In order to defeat the evil, we must journey through this realm until we come to the Cave of Despair."
"What a nice name," Marik remarked cynically.
Viper, meanwhile, hadn't given up on Rishid. She was walking alongside the man and occasionally shooting glances up at him, though she hadn't said anything for a while. She knew that Rishid wasn't interested in her, but that only made her more attracted to him. She didn't like it when the men just blindly fell all over her. Rishid, she could tell, was someone very level-headed and serious, and not one to go nuts over a pretty girl flirting with him.
Up ahead, Bakura gave a horrible cry of panic and everyone came to attention.
"What's wrong with that moron now?!" Yami Bakura grumped.
They soon found out as Bakura came tearing out of the shadows, his face pale and his eyes wide as several bony hands hung from his long, silvery hair. "It's horrible!!" he screamed, shaking all over. "Oh dear . . . oh . . ."
"Man, Bakura, what have you been getting into?!" Tristan gasped.
Yami Bakura walked up to the rattled teenager and removed one of the hands from his locks. "It would appear that you have had an encounter with several skeletons," the tomb raider said with a raised eyebrow. "Hardly a reason to go into a frenzy."
Bakura leaned back against the dark wall, willing his heart to slow down to its normal pace. "It was terrible," he choked out. "They . . . they're everywhere . . . reaching out to grab you . . . wanting you to become one of them. . . ."
Ishizu looked concerned. "The undead," she said quietly.
"The WHAT??!!" Joey yelped. "You mean, like, zombies and stuff?!"
"Something like that," Ishizu replied calmly, though inwardly she was growing quite concerned. "We must proceed with the utmost caution. They want to recruit anyone still living to be part of their army, for they are intensely jealous of those who still are free to walk the earth of their own volition."
"Oh, well that's just wonderful," Duke grumbled. "Any one of us might be turned into a zombie and come attacking the others."
"Yes," Yami Yugi said grimly, "and we can't allow it to happen. There's too much else at stake."
Mokuba shuddered as they went deeper into the hallway, the mention of zombies having a personal effect on him. Unconsciously he tightly grabbed his best friend's hand, not wanting to get separated and grabbed by one of the wandering creatures. As they went deeper into the corridor, he found that he could hardly stand to be there at all.
Marik noticed his actions and looked at him with concern. "What is it, my friend?" he asked kindly, certain that this was more than simple fear.
Mokuba looked away, not wanting to answer at first. "I was controlled by a zombie once," he admitted softly. "Last Halloween."
Marik was shocked, to say the least. "I see," he replied finally, not sure what to say.
Mokuba gave him a weak smile. "Do you think I'm crazy?"
"No," Marik told him without hesitation. "That . . . must have been hard for you," he said carefully.
Tears filled Mokuba's eyes. "I nearly killed Seto!" he wailed, tensing as he felt bony fingers grab at his shoulder.
Sensing them as well, Marik drew the Rod and whacked at the disembodied hand, then smirked with a certain satisfaction when he heard a clunk behind them.
"Be careful, brother," Ishizu said softly.
Marik nodded in reply before turning his attention back to Mokuba. "You couldn't help what your body was doing, my friend," he said gently.
"I know. . . ." Mokuba gave a sad sigh. "That's what Seto said too. But I can't help feeling upset about it."
Overhearing, Rishid's heart went out to Mokuba. He understood exactly what the poor boy was going through.
"Well . . ." Marik said now, "I've learned that it's better to not dwell on the what ifs and if onlys. The past is past and we have to move on. You were able to stop yourself in time and take control."
"But that's just it, Marik!" Mokuba sobbed. "I couldn't stop myself!! The limo crashed and I went flying out! If that hadn't happened . . ."
Marik didn't know what to say, except to reassure Mokuba that the bond siblings shared was stronger than any villains' power—essentially the same thing he had told Rishid the previous night. The Egyptian boy now hoped that Mokuba—and Rishid—would both take his words to heart and be able to set the past aside.
"YAAAAAA!!!"
Joey's scream suddenly rent the air and everyone turned to see him frantically struggling with a skeleton on the ground.
"Man, how strong are these things?!" the Brooklyn boy yelled.
"Joey!!" Serenity gasped, trying to run forward to help him.
At last Joey received a burst of energy and he was able to throw the skeleton back against the wall, where it smashed into pieces. "Alright!" he grinned, leaping to his feet and smirking. "That'll teach you to mess with Joey Wheeler!"
"I knew you wouldn't let it get the better of you, big brother!" Serenity smiled.
They continued in silence for the next few minutes, the only sounds being that of the skeletons stalking them.
"We are almost through the Tunnel of Endless Misery," Ishizu said finally after Rishid punched a skeleton clear across the hall.
"Man, who named these places anyway?!" Tristan burst out.
"That hardly matters," Yami Yugi retorted.
Throughout all of this, Oreo had been yowling loudly and now the furry feline was curled up in Bakura's shirt, deciding that she was protecting him from the zombies' wrath. "MEROW!!" she hissed, clawing at an approaching hand.
A loud thump up ahead made everyone freeze.
"I don't like the sound of that," Viper said, narrowing her eyes.
Without warning the zombies descended upon Bakura, forcing him up against the wall. The poor boy stared at them with utter terror in his eyes. "HELP!!!" he screamed, being pulled under. "Oh please, someone, HELP!!!"
"We'll get you free, Bakura!" Yugi yelled as he and the others all ran forward.
"Foolish mortals!!" Yami Bakura's irritated voice rang out. "You have no concept of what you are plunging into!!" Furiously he threw a Morphing Jar into the mix, catching all of the zombies neatly and sending them to the Shadow Realm.
Bakura still stayed plastered against the wall, breathing heavily, his brown eyes a picture of horror. Oreo meowed piteously, trying to comfort him.
Suddenly Yami Bakura gave a gasp of pain, his eyes going blank.
"Yami?!" Bakura screamed, coming back to the present. "YAMI??!!"
"What's wrong with him?!" Téa burst out.
"He's been infected!!" Yami Yugi yelled. "They caught him off his guard!"
The thief slumped over, revealing a skeleton tightly clutching onto his back and causing blood to drip down over the creature's bony arms.
"YAMI??!!!" Bakura ran over, frantic. "Yami, no!!!"
Now Yami Bakura straightened up, looking through Bakura and raising a hand to grab for his neck. Horrified, the British boy grabbed his Yami's wrist and held it tightly, struggling to not let go.
"How is this possible?!" Marik cried. "He is already dead, technically. How can they infect him?!"
"Because of Bakura and the Millennium Ring, Yami Bakura can still create a physical body for himself when he wants," Yami Yugi replied. "The zombies are perhaps even more jealous of him than of any mere mortal. With Yami Bakura as their puppet, they could easily destroy us all. And we don't have time to be dealing with this." He narrowed his eyes as blood trickled from the ancient tomb raider's mouth. "There is only one thing we can do to ensure that this evil stops right now so that we can proceed with our mission."
"And what is that?" Rishid asked.
Yami Yugi looked away, knowing that what he had to say would crush Bakura horribly. "We have to destroy the spirit of the Ring."