Notes: Nothing is as it seems! XD! Keep it in mind! Yes!
Later on, after everyone had managed to get some good sleep, they all met at the Game Shop to discuss things.
"Alright, let's review the case," Joey said, unwrapping a Tootsie Roll absentmindedly. "Someone started a fire at the KETY studios."
"Then we find out a vicious dog has been roaming through the building," Mokuba continued with a shudder.
"And Marik gets abducted on an airplane and nearly killed," Seto grunted, crossing his arms. He wasn't happy in the least to be involved in this case, but since KaibaCorp owned the KETY studios, he knew he had to get to the bottom of things.
"Where is Marik, anyway?" Téa asked in concern.
"Probably sleeping in," Tristan shrugged. "Hey, he sure deserves it."
"No," the familiar odd but endearing voice spoke up. "I'm right here." Marik stood in the doorway to Yugi's living room, Ishizu and Rishid standing beside him.
"Marik!" Mokuba cried happily.
"Are you feeling better?" Yugi asked, surprised to see him up and around already.
"Quite," Marik replied, coming in and sitting on the couch. He blinked sleepily and Ishizu chuckled.
"He just woke up a while ago, actually," the dark-haired woman said, patting her brother's arm. She and Rishid both sat down as well. "To tell the truth, our night was not uneventful after we returned home." Quickly Ishizu told the others of what had happened to Rishid, much to their shock.
"What sort of creature was it?!" Yugi gasped.
Rishid rubbed his arm. "I do not know," he replied. "I have never seen anything like it."
"Okay," Joey groaned, "so now we gotta add creepy mind-controlling creatures to our list of what's been happening?!"
"Not only that," Yami Bakura spoke up from the doorway now, "but you can add the attempted murder of my foolish descendant."
"Oh, Yami, it really wasn't that bad," Bakura protested, not wanting to worry everyone.
"Bakura, what happened?!" Téa exclaimed. "You sounded so rattled on that message you put on my answering machine! I tried to call you back, but the line kept being busy."
Bakura blinked in confusion. "I can't imagine what would have been wrong," he said. "I didn't even use the phone last night after I called you, Téa! You were the last one I called!"
"That's weird," Tristan declared.
"Okay," Joey said impatiently, wanting to make the list of everything that had gone wrong so far, "so then there's that freaky mechanical hand and voice in the canyons, and the snake pit I fell in! And the Frankenstein goin' around stabbing people. . . ."
"By the way, any word on how Bruce is doing?" Téa broke in.
"I haven't heard anything," Bakura said worriedly. "I did try to call the hospital and find out, but they refused to tell me!"
"I'll see if JP knows," Yugi decided.
Joey nodded, then glanced over at Rishid. "You okay, man?" he asked, noticing how the Egyptian had been rubbing at his arm.
"Yes," Rishid replied, grimacing at the pain.
Abruptly Seto's cell phone rang, startling everyone out of their thoughts. "Kaiba," the businessman said coldly, picking it up. He listened in silence for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Oh it did, huh?" he said then.
"What is it, big brother?!" Mokuba cried.
After another minute or two, Seto hung up the phone and leaned back. "Well," he announced, "it seems that our dog has escaped from custody."
"Oh no!" Téa moaned.
"How did it get free?" Yugi wanted to know.
"Apparently it shredded the cage it was in and then bit the person guarding it," Seto replied. "They're treating the person for rabies, but he doesn't seem to have the signs of it. He is behaving rather oddly, though."
"How oddly?" Bakura exclaimed.
"He's become very restless and he seems to be growing a beard all of a sudden," Seto told him.
"What the heck?!" Joey burst out. "It must be a werewolf!!"
"Don't be a moron," Seto said irritably.
"Okay, guys, let's not argue," Yugi said hurriedly as he saw Joey about to retort. "We need to figure out our next course of action!"
Bakura was staring out the window at something down below. "Oh my," he uttered, his brown eyes widening.
"What is it?" Marik asked, seeing the other boy's concerned look.
"That man," Bakura said, pointing down at a man in a trenchcoat and sunglasses leaning against a lamppost. "I know I saw him behind my Yami and I when we were coming here!"
"You were followed here?" Rishid narrowed his eyes in concern.
Yami Bakura went over to the window as well and looked out. "Stupid mortal," he muttered. "Perhaps I should go show him a thing or two."
"No, Yami, don't!" Bakura yelped, grabbing the thief's arm. "What if he's innocent?! He could have just been heading in the same direction as we were!"
"Then why is he continuing to stand outside?" Yami Bakura grunted.
"He could be meeting someone," Bakura insisted.
After a moment the man looked around and then walked on down the street, entering a cab that pulled up to the curb.
"Well, that was definitely weird," Téa declared.
"Perhaps that person truly was innocent, but the knife incident this morning definitely happened for the sole purpose of letting you know that they are on to you," Yami Bakura growled.
"What knife incident?!" Yugi gasped. "Did something else happen?!"
Bakura looked away. He hadn't told anyone what had happened at all, but JP had informed them of the first knife that had been thrown. Now he found his Yami relating the other disasters to them. The thief added something that Bakura hadn't heard about—a threat that had come by telephone, warning Bakura that he would short-circuit if he tried to do his radio show again.
"What on earth does it mean?!" Bakura gasped.
"It means that someone is afraid you're going to blab things on the air and they plan to electrocute you if you attempt it," Yami Bakura growled.
Bakura's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, if only we hadn't gotten into this mess!" he wailed.
"This is awful!" Yugi said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"There's only one thing to do!" Tristan cried, standing up. "You've gotta have a decoy, Bakura!"
The British boy stared. "What on earth do you mean, Tristan?!" he exclaimed.
"Just think about it," Tristan cried. "If you had a decoy, maybe he could corner the bad guys if they tried to attack him!"
"Yes, or else he'd get a body full of buckshot!!" Bakura retorted, shaking his head firmly. "No decoys, Tristan. This is my problem. I won't endanger someone else!"
Tristan sighed. "Alright, never mind. It was just an idea." He couldn't have known the disaster that would happen later on.
****
In spite of everyone's protests, Bakura insisted on going to the radio station that night. "If I don't go, I'll look like a coward," he declared.
"If you don't go, you won't be injured," Yami Bakura grunted angrily.
"I'm not going to hide from my enemies," Bakura declared. "I'm going to confront the person who stabbed Bruce if he tries to come after me again. I want to find out what's going on!"
Nothing anyone could say managed to persuade the boy otherwise, and so that evening they all set out for the KETY studio.
"Sure is dark tonight," Joey said uncomfortably as they exited Seto's limo and walked to the back door under the extremely cloudy sky. "Shouldn't the moon be out?"
"It's out, just behind the clouds," Bakura replied, opening the door. "It's quite big and bright tonight. I saw it a few minutes ago out the limo window."
"JP knows we're coming, doesn't he?" Téa asked as they ventured down the cheerily-lit hallway.
Yugi nodded. "And he knew we wanted to lay low during the day, so he didn't tell anyone. He's spread the word that he's going to host the Mystery Hour tonight to make certain that no one will think Bakura will be here."
Without warning the lights went off, just as they had the previous night right before Bruce had been stabbed.
"Hey!!" Joey yelped, clanking into Seto and knocking them both to the floor. "What gives??!"
Before anyone could do anything, gunshots rang out loudly, peppering the walls to their sides. Growling could also be heard, a sound most likely brought on by the recently escaped dog.
"McGruff is in the house," Tristan muttered.
"Take cover, everyone!!" Yugi screamed, dropping to the floor. The others immediately followed, but someone obviously didn't make it soon enough. A scream of agony rang through the halls, followed by the dog's howls.
"It bit someone!!" Téa shrieked.
"Hey!!" Tristan yelled. "Who was bit?"
No one answered.
"Call off your beast!!" Rishid yelled, hearing someone step down near where he was laying.
An evil laugh echoed above him. "He is not mine," was the answer. "He is a wild werewolf. And it seems that now your young British friend has been infected. Within the hour, he will join the other werewolves roaming through the city and there is nothing you can do to stop it!"
"Bakura's been bitten?!" Yugi cried.
"You shouldn't have come," the man cackled and then suddenly was gone.
Slowly the lights came on again, revealing everyone sprawled in various positions on the floor and all being stunned at these developments.
"Here's Bakura over here!!" Tristan yelled, pointing to the poor boy laying still on the floor.
"Oh!" Téa gasped, hurrying over. "Bakura!!"
To everyone's shock, the boy sat up and looked around, positively baffled. It was obvious there wasn't a scratch on him. "What happened?" he murmured.
"Man, how about telling us?!" Joey shot back. "That crazy guy said you'd been bitten by a werewolf!!"
"Werewolf?!" Bakura gave Joey a funny look. "Why, nothing of the sort has happened to me!"
"But . . . something happened to someone," Ishizu whispered, pointing to a pool of blood on the floor. "Someone was harmed." Her face drained of color. "And . . . I do not see Marik."
Rishid pulled himself up shakily, gazing at the blood in horror. "No," the poor man sobbed, shaking his head. "NO!!!"
"Marik??!!" Mokuba screamed, getting up and looking around frantically.
"He's not here," Seto said grimly.
"We've gotta find him!!" Mokuba declared. "He couldn't have gone far!!"
"Wait a minute!!" Joey burst out. "That guy who was here seemed convinced it was Bakura who'd been hurt. Does that mean he mistook Marik for Bakura in the darkness?!"
"It seems so," Yugi said worriedly. "And of course Marik won't turn into a werewolf, but he's probably hurt bad, wherever they've taken him!!"
"Oh!!" Bakura wailed. "This is my fault!! I should have stayed home. I never meant for someone else to get hurt!! I never wanted that!!!" Tears filled his soft eyes and he ran to the doorway, looking about for any sign of his friend. "If . . . if Marik's . . . oh, I just can't forgive myself!!"
For ages the group went about the area, screaming for Marik, but all in vain. To their shock, they found that they also seemed to be the only ones in the building.
"JP was the only one who knew we were coming," Tristan said slowly. "What if he turned against us?!"
"Now don't start thinking like that!" Yugi scolded.
A low growl suddenly met their ears.
"That wasn't your stomach, was it?" Téa said to Joey.
"No," the Brooklyn boy replied, tensing up. "But heck, I wish it was!"
In the next moment, everyone gasped as a vicious, bloodthirsty wolf sprang from the shadows directly at them.
"Whoa!" Tristan cried in horror. "Please don't tell me that's a werewolf!!"
Joey's eyes widened as a slight jangling sound was heard. When he took a closer look at the wolf, he discovered to his utter shock that Marik's earrings were affixed in the creature's ears!
"Holy Mackerel!" he shouted. "The wolf!! It . . . it must be a werewolf, alright, and not only that, it's . . . it's Marik!!!"
Later on, after everyone had managed to get some good sleep, they all met at the Game Shop to discuss things.
"Alright, let's review the case," Joey said, unwrapping a Tootsie Roll absentmindedly. "Someone started a fire at the KETY studios."
"Then we find out a vicious dog has been roaming through the building," Mokuba continued with a shudder.
"And Marik gets abducted on an airplane and nearly killed," Seto grunted, crossing his arms. He wasn't happy in the least to be involved in this case, but since KaibaCorp owned the KETY studios, he knew he had to get to the bottom of things.
"Where is Marik, anyway?" Téa asked in concern.
"Probably sleeping in," Tristan shrugged. "Hey, he sure deserves it."
"No," the familiar odd but endearing voice spoke up. "I'm right here." Marik stood in the doorway to Yugi's living room, Ishizu and Rishid standing beside him.
"Marik!" Mokuba cried happily.
"Are you feeling better?" Yugi asked, surprised to see him up and around already.
"Quite," Marik replied, coming in and sitting on the couch. He blinked sleepily and Ishizu chuckled.
"He just woke up a while ago, actually," the dark-haired woman said, patting her brother's arm. She and Rishid both sat down as well. "To tell the truth, our night was not uneventful after we returned home." Quickly Ishizu told the others of what had happened to Rishid, much to their shock.
"What sort of creature was it?!" Yugi gasped.
Rishid rubbed his arm. "I do not know," he replied. "I have never seen anything like it."
"Okay," Joey groaned, "so now we gotta add creepy mind-controlling creatures to our list of what's been happening?!"
"Not only that," Yami Bakura spoke up from the doorway now, "but you can add the attempted murder of my foolish descendant."
"Oh, Yami, it really wasn't that bad," Bakura protested, not wanting to worry everyone.
"Bakura, what happened?!" Téa exclaimed. "You sounded so rattled on that message you put on my answering machine! I tried to call you back, but the line kept being busy."
Bakura blinked in confusion. "I can't imagine what would have been wrong," he said. "I didn't even use the phone last night after I called you, Téa! You were the last one I called!"
"That's weird," Tristan declared.
"Okay," Joey said impatiently, wanting to make the list of everything that had gone wrong so far, "so then there's that freaky mechanical hand and voice in the canyons, and the snake pit I fell in! And the Frankenstein goin' around stabbing people. . . ."
"By the way, any word on how Bruce is doing?" Téa broke in.
"I haven't heard anything," Bakura said worriedly. "I did try to call the hospital and find out, but they refused to tell me!"
"I'll see if JP knows," Yugi decided.
Joey nodded, then glanced over at Rishid. "You okay, man?" he asked, noticing how the Egyptian had been rubbing at his arm.
"Yes," Rishid replied, grimacing at the pain.
Abruptly Seto's cell phone rang, startling everyone out of their thoughts. "Kaiba," the businessman said coldly, picking it up. He listened in silence for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Oh it did, huh?" he said then.
"What is it, big brother?!" Mokuba cried.
After another minute or two, Seto hung up the phone and leaned back. "Well," he announced, "it seems that our dog has escaped from custody."
"Oh no!" Téa moaned.
"How did it get free?" Yugi wanted to know.
"Apparently it shredded the cage it was in and then bit the person guarding it," Seto replied. "They're treating the person for rabies, but he doesn't seem to have the signs of it. He is behaving rather oddly, though."
"How oddly?" Bakura exclaimed.
"He's become very restless and he seems to be growing a beard all of a sudden," Seto told him.
"What the heck?!" Joey burst out. "It must be a werewolf!!"
"Don't be a moron," Seto said irritably.
"Okay, guys, let's not argue," Yugi said hurriedly as he saw Joey about to retort. "We need to figure out our next course of action!"
Bakura was staring out the window at something down below. "Oh my," he uttered, his brown eyes widening.
"What is it?" Marik asked, seeing the other boy's concerned look.
"That man," Bakura said, pointing down at a man in a trenchcoat and sunglasses leaning against a lamppost. "I know I saw him behind my Yami and I when we were coming here!"
"You were followed here?" Rishid narrowed his eyes in concern.
Yami Bakura went over to the window as well and looked out. "Stupid mortal," he muttered. "Perhaps I should go show him a thing or two."
"No, Yami, don't!" Bakura yelped, grabbing the thief's arm. "What if he's innocent?! He could have just been heading in the same direction as we were!"
"Then why is he continuing to stand outside?" Yami Bakura grunted.
"He could be meeting someone," Bakura insisted.
After a moment the man looked around and then walked on down the street, entering a cab that pulled up to the curb.
"Well, that was definitely weird," Téa declared.
"Perhaps that person truly was innocent, but the knife incident this morning definitely happened for the sole purpose of letting you know that they are on to you," Yami Bakura growled.
"What knife incident?!" Yugi gasped. "Did something else happen?!"
Bakura looked away. He hadn't told anyone what had happened at all, but JP had informed them of the first knife that had been thrown. Now he found his Yami relating the other disasters to them. The thief added something that Bakura hadn't heard about—a threat that had come by telephone, warning Bakura that he would short-circuit if he tried to do his radio show again.
"What on earth does it mean?!" Bakura gasped.
"It means that someone is afraid you're going to blab things on the air and they plan to electrocute you if you attempt it," Yami Bakura growled.
Bakura's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, if only we hadn't gotten into this mess!" he wailed.
"This is awful!" Yugi said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"There's only one thing to do!" Tristan cried, standing up. "You've gotta have a decoy, Bakura!"
The British boy stared. "What on earth do you mean, Tristan?!" he exclaimed.
"Just think about it," Tristan cried. "If you had a decoy, maybe he could corner the bad guys if they tried to attack him!"
"Yes, or else he'd get a body full of buckshot!!" Bakura retorted, shaking his head firmly. "No decoys, Tristan. This is my problem. I won't endanger someone else!"
Tristan sighed. "Alright, never mind. It was just an idea." He couldn't have known the disaster that would happen later on.
****
In spite of everyone's protests, Bakura insisted on going to the radio station that night. "If I don't go, I'll look like a coward," he declared.
"If you don't go, you won't be injured," Yami Bakura grunted angrily.
"I'm not going to hide from my enemies," Bakura declared. "I'm going to confront the person who stabbed Bruce if he tries to come after me again. I want to find out what's going on!"
Nothing anyone could say managed to persuade the boy otherwise, and so that evening they all set out for the KETY studio.
"Sure is dark tonight," Joey said uncomfortably as they exited Seto's limo and walked to the back door under the extremely cloudy sky. "Shouldn't the moon be out?"
"It's out, just behind the clouds," Bakura replied, opening the door. "It's quite big and bright tonight. I saw it a few minutes ago out the limo window."
"JP knows we're coming, doesn't he?" Téa asked as they ventured down the cheerily-lit hallway.
Yugi nodded. "And he knew we wanted to lay low during the day, so he didn't tell anyone. He's spread the word that he's going to host the Mystery Hour tonight to make certain that no one will think Bakura will be here."
Without warning the lights went off, just as they had the previous night right before Bruce had been stabbed.
"Hey!!" Joey yelped, clanking into Seto and knocking them both to the floor. "What gives??!"
Before anyone could do anything, gunshots rang out loudly, peppering the walls to their sides. Growling could also be heard, a sound most likely brought on by the recently escaped dog.
"McGruff is in the house," Tristan muttered.
"Take cover, everyone!!" Yugi screamed, dropping to the floor. The others immediately followed, but someone obviously didn't make it soon enough. A scream of agony rang through the halls, followed by the dog's howls.
"It bit someone!!" Téa shrieked.
"Hey!!" Tristan yelled. "Who was bit?"
No one answered.
"Call off your beast!!" Rishid yelled, hearing someone step down near where he was laying.
An evil laugh echoed above him. "He is not mine," was the answer. "He is a wild werewolf. And it seems that now your young British friend has been infected. Within the hour, he will join the other werewolves roaming through the city and there is nothing you can do to stop it!"
"Bakura's been bitten?!" Yugi cried.
"You shouldn't have come," the man cackled and then suddenly was gone.
Slowly the lights came on again, revealing everyone sprawled in various positions on the floor and all being stunned at these developments.
"Here's Bakura over here!!" Tristan yelled, pointing to the poor boy laying still on the floor.
"Oh!" Téa gasped, hurrying over. "Bakura!!"
To everyone's shock, the boy sat up and looked around, positively baffled. It was obvious there wasn't a scratch on him. "What happened?" he murmured.
"Man, how about telling us?!" Joey shot back. "That crazy guy said you'd been bitten by a werewolf!!"
"Werewolf?!" Bakura gave Joey a funny look. "Why, nothing of the sort has happened to me!"
"But . . . something happened to someone," Ishizu whispered, pointing to a pool of blood on the floor. "Someone was harmed." Her face drained of color. "And . . . I do not see Marik."
Rishid pulled himself up shakily, gazing at the blood in horror. "No," the poor man sobbed, shaking his head. "NO!!!"
"Marik??!!" Mokuba screamed, getting up and looking around frantically.
"He's not here," Seto said grimly.
"We've gotta find him!!" Mokuba declared. "He couldn't have gone far!!"
"Wait a minute!!" Joey burst out. "That guy who was here seemed convinced it was Bakura who'd been hurt. Does that mean he mistook Marik for Bakura in the darkness?!"
"It seems so," Yugi said worriedly. "And of course Marik won't turn into a werewolf, but he's probably hurt bad, wherever they've taken him!!"
"Oh!!" Bakura wailed. "This is my fault!! I should have stayed home. I never meant for someone else to get hurt!! I never wanted that!!!" Tears filled his soft eyes and he ran to the doorway, looking about for any sign of his friend. "If . . . if Marik's . . . oh, I just can't forgive myself!!"
For ages the group went about the area, screaming for Marik, but all in vain. To their shock, they found that they also seemed to be the only ones in the building.
"JP was the only one who knew we were coming," Tristan said slowly. "What if he turned against us?!"
"Now don't start thinking like that!" Yugi scolded.
A low growl suddenly met their ears.
"That wasn't your stomach, was it?" Téa said to Joey.
"No," the Brooklyn boy replied, tensing up. "But heck, I wish it was!"
In the next moment, everyone gasped as a vicious, bloodthirsty wolf sprang from the shadows directly at them.
"Whoa!" Tristan cried in horror. "Please don't tell me that's a werewolf!!"
Joey's eyes widened as a slight jangling sound was heard. When he took a closer look at the wolf, he discovered to his utter shock that Marik's earrings were affixed in the creature's ears!
"Holy Mackerel!" he shouted. "The wolf!! It . . . it must be a werewolf, alright, and not only that, it's . . . it's Marik!!!"