Marik awoke slowly, an icy coldness blanketing him. He shivered noticeably, pulling himself up into a sitting position and hugging his knees. I'm in an ice cream freezer! he realized, taking in the endless towers of buckets of the frosty substance and the ice crystals all around him.
Not only that, he found soon that he wasn't there alone. Rishid was laying on his side by the opposite wall of the freezer, still suffering the effects of the gas.
Marik gasped, immediately running over and placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. He understood now—everyone had been separated so that they couldn't continue their investigations, and whoever had done this had apparently thought it would be hilarious to lock two Egyptians—who were used to the heat—in a freezer. Ishizu wasn't there, Marik could see. He prayed that she and the others would be safe—and that he and Rishid would be able to escape their prison.
"Rishid!" he cried frantically, gently shaking him. "Rishid, wake up! Please, my brother. . . . We must find a way out of here! Wake up!!"
Rishid groaned, moving his hand slightly and touching a bucket of strawberry ice cream. Instantly he withdrew his hand again and Marik took it between his own, shivering in his lavender shirt but ignoring the cold as much as he could.
Presently Rishid regained full consciousness and Marik embraced him tightly, seeing that he didn't seem to be hurt. Rishid returned the hug, narrowing his eyes as it dawned on him exactly where they were.
"We must find a way to escape," Rishid remarked, struggling to stand. Marik helped him and then looked for the door. Finding it, he tugged on the handle in frustration and then growled.
"It's locked," he announced, having expected it. An ice crystal settled on his nose and he sneezed violently.
"Bless you," Rishid said now, looking for a ventilation shaft or any possible way to escape.
"There has to be something here," Marik muttered. He wondered idly if he could use the Rod to blast the door off, but then he found it frozen solid in a block of ice. That did not help his mood any.
A low growling sound came to Rishid's attention then and the man froze, trying to determine what was in the freezer with them.
"That doesn't sound like that wolf," Marik said, tensing. He had been going to break his Rod free from the ice, but now he froze as well.
Rishid cried out in pain as a strong hand reached out and grabbed his arm in an unbearable way. "It's not," he tried to say as he struggled.
"Rishid!!!" Marik screamed, running forward to help him.
A grotesque creature came out from the shadows behind Rishid and sneered at them both, much to their shock.
"It's the Frankenstein monster!" Marik yelled.
"Only I'm afraid this one is not wearing a mask," Rishid replied grimly, having already tried to remove the "mask" and failed.
"WHAT?!" Marik burst out in disbelief.
Before Rishid could answer, Marik screamed as he was slashed across the shoulder by the Wolfman.
****
Ishizu stirred, feeling herself being shaken awake.
"Come on, Ishizu!" Mokuba's voice pleaded. "Please!!"
The Egyptian woman struggled to open her eyes. "Mokuba," she said in a slightly slurred, confused voice. "Where . . . where are we?"
"In some big, old, creepy house!" Mokuba replied, relieved that he wouldn't have to be there alone.
Ishizu pulled herself into a sitting position, wondering where her precious brothers were. "Apparently we were not wanted," she said dryly, referring to them all being gassed in Bruce's office.
"It's just the two of us here," Mokuba told her, giving the woman a hug before standing up and crossing to the window. "We're on the top floor."
Ishizu got up as well and walked over. "Perhaps Bruce is here somewhere, being held captive," she suggested. "We should look for him as well as the exit."
"Okay," Mokuba agreed shakily as Ishizu took his hand and headed for the door. He just hoped that Seto, Marik, and the others were alright, wherever they were.
****
The first thing Seto saw when he awoke was an ear of corn laying beside him. He stared at it in disbelief and then groaned as a thought occurred to him. As he pulled himself up, he found his suspicions were confirmed. He was in a cornfield.
The stalks near him rustled loudly, signaling the arrival of someone else. Seto tensed, preparing for a fight, but then relaxed as Téa emerged.
"Kaiba!" she exclaimed, not having expected to find anyone else there.
Seto grunted and stood, looking irritated. "Where's Mokuba?!" he demanded.
"I . . . I haven't seen him," Téa admitted regretfully.
That did not improve Seto's mood any. "I've gotta find him," he said coldly.
"We have to find all of them," Téa declared, staying close beside him. "They're all missing!"
Seto made no reply.
****
Joey had followed Serenity all the way down the hall before actually catching up to her. "Sis, come on! Wait up!" he pleaded.
Serenity turned to face him, tears in her eyes. "Joey . . . let's just stop all this," she whispered. "Let's just stop it and go back to what we were when we were little. Do you remember, Joey? Do you remember how it was then? We didn't have a care in the world. It was just peaceful and quiet, and the evils that exist never bothered to intrude on us."
Joey looked down guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck. "Serenity . . . I . . ."
"I never even get to see you anymore, big brother," Serenity said sadly. "Hardly ever, even though now we finally get to live in the same house again. And . . . and . . . I'm just so scared that . . ." She turned to face the wall. "That you'll go off sometime and I'll never see you again."
Joey didn't know what to say. Hollow promises wouldn't work. He knew he really couldn't promise to never leave her and know fervently that it would never happen.
"You don't know how horrible it was for me in Boston," Serenity said now. "Seeing everyone go through so many horrible things. . . . Duke was beaten and left for dead in a crate! Yugi's Yami had to kill Bakura's when the zombie took him over! And then when Mr. Kaiba and Marik leaped off the ledge into the chasm, and Mokuba was screaming for them . . . I . . . I couldn't help it . . . I pictured myself there, screaming for you, Joey! I pictured you being hurt or . . . or worse. . . ." Joey knew she was crying.
"I'm sorry, Serenity," he said, trying to reach out and touch her shoulder. Serenity flinched but then let him. "I never wanted you to get involved in this. I swear, if I'd known everything that would happen and how it would affect you . . ."
Before he could say more, Serenity was in his arms, hugging him tightly as the tears fell.
"I'm the one who's sorry, Joey," she interrupted in a melancholy tone. "I know I shouldn't be acting like this." She looked up at him. "Because I know the reason why you always get involved in these things. Deep down I know, and I know that I'd do the same thing if I was in your position." A soft smile appeared on the girl's features. "You do it because you want to help others."
Joey blinked in surprise, but then he knew his sister was right. Everything they had gotten involved in, every horrible thing they had come through, it had all been to help someone else.
"And," Serenity continued quietly, "I would never want you to not do things to help others. That's just part of who you are, Joey, and I wouldn't change it for anything." She sighed heavily. "I just worry about you so much. . . ."
Joey held her close. "Yeah. . . . I worry about you, too, sis. That's why I . . . haven't been inviting you along. . . ." he admitted.
"I know," Serenity said softly. "But let's do this together, alright, Joey? The way we did everything else together."
Joey was silent for a time, struggling with his emotions. It was so hard for him to make such a decision. He had tried to agree to this on the previous night, but then he had found that he couldn't go through with it. And the feeling that something was terribly wrong was growing within him.
"Serenity . . . this isn't a good time," he said finally, hating to say it but not regretting it when the words were out. "Somethin's wrong. I need to get back to the others." He knew Serenity wouldn't be happy with this, but he still felt it was the best decision. "I never should've agreed last night to let you come along. It's a promise that . . . I just don't think I can keep." Without waiting for her reply, Joey ran off down the hall and back to Bruce's office.
****
"Hello?" Joey called, pushing the door open. "Hey!! Are you guys still here?!" It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the near darkness inside, but then he realized that no one was there.
Quickly he flipped on the light and stared, aghast, at the disarray that lay before him. Everything that the others had been looking at was strewn about on the floor, and there was a faint odor in the air that made him feel uneasy. Obviously the enemy had gotten to them all and done something with them. The thought that Serenity could have been caught up in whatever it was made Joey's blood run cold.
"Yug, where are you??!!" he yelled frantically, pushing aside chairs and plants in the hope that he would find at least one of them had been left behind. "Tristan?? Téa??!" He called for each friend in turn but never received a reply.
"Oh man . . . this is terrible," he cried then, sinking down onto the desk. "They're gone. . . . All of 'em . . . gone without a trace. . . ."
His hand touched something and he looked down to see what it was. He found himself staring at a piece of cloth torn from what seemed to be a silk cape, most likely belonging to whoever had done this. Joey took the scrap of cloth in his hand and clutched it tightly, his eyes narrowed. "I'll find out who did this," he vowed. "I swear, I'm not gonna let any of you guys down."
"Joey?"
The Brooklyn boy looked up to see Serenity standing in the doorway, along with a concerned JP.
"There was a security camera set up in here," JP said grimly. "I was called in by the head of security to see what was happening. Someone dressed up as a vampyre and apparently gassed everyone in here. I came as quick as I could, but . . ." He looked around, perplexed as how everyone had been taken away so fast. "It looks like I'm too late. . . ."
Joey stared at the piece of cloth blankly. He could imagine Ishizu or Bakura or any of them fighting with the vampyre and frantically tearing at its cape before falling into unconsciousness, left to the demonic person's mercy. . . .
Serenity knelt down in front of him, placing her hand over his. "We'll find them, Joey," she whispered. "I promise, big brother. We'll find them together."
And Joey nodded numbly, feeling completely stricken.
****
Tristan felt a sharp kick in his ribs and groaned, not liking it at all.
"Get up, fool!"
Oh no, he moaned silently as he opened his eyes. I'm with Bakura's Yami!
The old thief didn't look all that happy either. "Of all the things I have to put up with," he muttered.
Tristan glared as he sat up. Idly he wondered where they were and tried to figure it out. It wasn't long before he realized that they were in the canyons on what seemed to be a rock's flat surface.
It also wasn't long before he saw that Yami Bakura was intently staring at something down below. "Hey, what is it?" Tristan demanded, getting up and coming over.
Yami Bakura didn't answer. Instead he continued to gaze down below them, and Tristan soon saw what the attraction was—much to his dismay.
The ghost of the airplane's pilot stood amidst the remaining debris from the crash, glaring up at them!
****
Yugi gasped in horror as he opened his eyes and found that the view was upsidedown. "Hey!!" he cried, realizing he was hanging from a rope. "Someone get me down from here!!!"
"Yugi!!" Bakura exclaimed from directly behind him. "We're tied together!!"
"Oh!!" Yugi tried to turn himself around enough to get a good view of the British boy. "Are you okay, Bakura??!"
"Fine," Bakura said with a weak smile, though he felt rather dizzy from the blood rushing to his head. "But we have to figure out how to get ourselves down!"
"Merow," Oreo called from below them.
"Where did you come from?!" Yugi demanded, his eyes widening.
Oreo continued to meow and then indicated the Millennium Puzzle, which she was wearing around her neck.
"How did she . . . oh never mind! Yami!!" Yugi called desperately. "Help!!!"
To both his and Bakura's horror, there was no answer.
"Something is wrong," Bakura said, his eyes opening wider. The ceiling from which they hung creaked dangerously. "Something else, that is," the boy gulped.
****
Marik gave a cry of alarm as he saw blood drip onto a nearby piece of ice. "Rishid!!" he screamed, realizing it was most likely his brother's blood. Furious, he grabbed the Frankenstein creature and began wrenching its arm around.
"Marik, don't," Rishid rasped worriedly. At last he was released from Frankenstein's grasp and he fell to the floor heavily.
Marik grunted in pain as he was thrown to the floor by the Wolfman. Eerily the beast towered over him, raising a clawed paw to stab into his heart. Before it could, Marik had lashed out and grabbed its wrist, squeezing as hard as he was able. It was then that he found some of the fur easily coming off in his hand. It was fake! Not that he'd ever believed it was real, but still, knowing for a surety that it was just someone in a costume was reassuring.
Now Rishid had come up behind Marik's opponent and was taking hold of the mask it was wearing. In the next instant he yanked it off and Marik stared, appalled.
"Bruce!!!"
Not only that, he found soon that he wasn't there alone. Rishid was laying on his side by the opposite wall of the freezer, still suffering the effects of the gas.
Marik gasped, immediately running over and placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. He understood now—everyone had been separated so that they couldn't continue their investigations, and whoever had done this had apparently thought it would be hilarious to lock two Egyptians—who were used to the heat—in a freezer. Ishizu wasn't there, Marik could see. He prayed that she and the others would be safe—and that he and Rishid would be able to escape their prison.
"Rishid!" he cried frantically, gently shaking him. "Rishid, wake up! Please, my brother. . . . We must find a way out of here! Wake up!!"
Rishid groaned, moving his hand slightly and touching a bucket of strawberry ice cream. Instantly he withdrew his hand again and Marik took it between his own, shivering in his lavender shirt but ignoring the cold as much as he could.
Presently Rishid regained full consciousness and Marik embraced him tightly, seeing that he didn't seem to be hurt. Rishid returned the hug, narrowing his eyes as it dawned on him exactly where they were.
"We must find a way to escape," Rishid remarked, struggling to stand. Marik helped him and then looked for the door. Finding it, he tugged on the handle in frustration and then growled.
"It's locked," he announced, having expected it. An ice crystal settled on his nose and he sneezed violently.
"Bless you," Rishid said now, looking for a ventilation shaft or any possible way to escape.
"There has to be something here," Marik muttered. He wondered idly if he could use the Rod to blast the door off, but then he found it frozen solid in a block of ice. That did not help his mood any.
A low growling sound came to Rishid's attention then and the man froze, trying to determine what was in the freezer with them.
"That doesn't sound like that wolf," Marik said, tensing. He had been going to break his Rod free from the ice, but now he froze as well.
Rishid cried out in pain as a strong hand reached out and grabbed his arm in an unbearable way. "It's not," he tried to say as he struggled.
"Rishid!!!" Marik screamed, running forward to help him.
A grotesque creature came out from the shadows behind Rishid and sneered at them both, much to their shock.
"It's the Frankenstein monster!" Marik yelled.
"Only I'm afraid this one is not wearing a mask," Rishid replied grimly, having already tried to remove the "mask" and failed.
"WHAT?!" Marik burst out in disbelief.
Before Rishid could answer, Marik screamed as he was slashed across the shoulder by the Wolfman.
****
Ishizu stirred, feeling herself being shaken awake.
"Come on, Ishizu!" Mokuba's voice pleaded. "Please!!"
The Egyptian woman struggled to open her eyes. "Mokuba," she said in a slightly slurred, confused voice. "Where . . . where are we?"
"In some big, old, creepy house!" Mokuba replied, relieved that he wouldn't have to be there alone.
Ishizu pulled herself into a sitting position, wondering where her precious brothers were. "Apparently we were not wanted," she said dryly, referring to them all being gassed in Bruce's office.
"It's just the two of us here," Mokuba told her, giving the woman a hug before standing up and crossing to the window. "We're on the top floor."
Ishizu got up as well and walked over. "Perhaps Bruce is here somewhere, being held captive," she suggested. "We should look for him as well as the exit."
"Okay," Mokuba agreed shakily as Ishizu took his hand and headed for the door. He just hoped that Seto, Marik, and the others were alright, wherever they were.
****
The first thing Seto saw when he awoke was an ear of corn laying beside him. He stared at it in disbelief and then groaned as a thought occurred to him. As he pulled himself up, he found his suspicions were confirmed. He was in a cornfield.
The stalks near him rustled loudly, signaling the arrival of someone else. Seto tensed, preparing for a fight, but then relaxed as Téa emerged.
"Kaiba!" she exclaimed, not having expected to find anyone else there.
Seto grunted and stood, looking irritated. "Where's Mokuba?!" he demanded.
"I . . . I haven't seen him," Téa admitted regretfully.
That did not improve Seto's mood any. "I've gotta find him," he said coldly.
"We have to find all of them," Téa declared, staying close beside him. "They're all missing!"
Seto made no reply.
****
Joey had followed Serenity all the way down the hall before actually catching up to her. "Sis, come on! Wait up!" he pleaded.
Serenity turned to face him, tears in her eyes. "Joey . . . let's just stop all this," she whispered. "Let's just stop it and go back to what we were when we were little. Do you remember, Joey? Do you remember how it was then? We didn't have a care in the world. It was just peaceful and quiet, and the evils that exist never bothered to intrude on us."
Joey looked down guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck. "Serenity . . . I . . ."
"I never even get to see you anymore, big brother," Serenity said sadly. "Hardly ever, even though now we finally get to live in the same house again. And . . . and . . . I'm just so scared that . . ." She turned to face the wall. "That you'll go off sometime and I'll never see you again."
Joey didn't know what to say. Hollow promises wouldn't work. He knew he really couldn't promise to never leave her and know fervently that it would never happen.
"You don't know how horrible it was for me in Boston," Serenity said now. "Seeing everyone go through so many horrible things. . . . Duke was beaten and left for dead in a crate! Yugi's Yami had to kill Bakura's when the zombie took him over! And then when Mr. Kaiba and Marik leaped off the ledge into the chasm, and Mokuba was screaming for them . . . I . . . I couldn't help it . . . I pictured myself there, screaming for you, Joey! I pictured you being hurt or . . . or worse. . . ." Joey knew she was crying.
"I'm sorry, Serenity," he said, trying to reach out and touch her shoulder. Serenity flinched but then let him. "I never wanted you to get involved in this. I swear, if I'd known everything that would happen and how it would affect you . . ."
Before he could say more, Serenity was in his arms, hugging him tightly as the tears fell.
"I'm the one who's sorry, Joey," she interrupted in a melancholy tone. "I know I shouldn't be acting like this." She looked up at him. "Because I know the reason why you always get involved in these things. Deep down I know, and I know that I'd do the same thing if I was in your position." A soft smile appeared on the girl's features. "You do it because you want to help others."
Joey blinked in surprise, but then he knew his sister was right. Everything they had gotten involved in, every horrible thing they had come through, it had all been to help someone else.
"And," Serenity continued quietly, "I would never want you to not do things to help others. That's just part of who you are, Joey, and I wouldn't change it for anything." She sighed heavily. "I just worry about you so much. . . ."
Joey held her close. "Yeah. . . . I worry about you, too, sis. That's why I . . . haven't been inviting you along. . . ." he admitted.
"I know," Serenity said softly. "But let's do this together, alright, Joey? The way we did everything else together."
Joey was silent for a time, struggling with his emotions. It was so hard for him to make such a decision. He had tried to agree to this on the previous night, but then he had found that he couldn't go through with it. And the feeling that something was terribly wrong was growing within him.
"Serenity . . . this isn't a good time," he said finally, hating to say it but not regretting it when the words were out. "Somethin's wrong. I need to get back to the others." He knew Serenity wouldn't be happy with this, but he still felt it was the best decision. "I never should've agreed last night to let you come along. It's a promise that . . . I just don't think I can keep." Without waiting for her reply, Joey ran off down the hall and back to Bruce's office.
****
"Hello?" Joey called, pushing the door open. "Hey!! Are you guys still here?!" It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the near darkness inside, but then he realized that no one was there.
Quickly he flipped on the light and stared, aghast, at the disarray that lay before him. Everything that the others had been looking at was strewn about on the floor, and there was a faint odor in the air that made him feel uneasy. Obviously the enemy had gotten to them all and done something with them. The thought that Serenity could have been caught up in whatever it was made Joey's blood run cold.
"Yug, where are you??!!" he yelled frantically, pushing aside chairs and plants in the hope that he would find at least one of them had been left behind. "Tristan?? Téa??!" He called for each friend in turn but never received a reply.
"Oh man . . . this is terrible," he cried then, sinking down onto the desk. "They're gone. . . . All of 'em . . . gone without a trace. . . ."
His hand touched something and he looked down to see what it was. He found himself staring at a piece of cloth torn from what seemed to be a silk cape, most likely belonging to whoever had done this. Joey took the scrap of cloth in his hand and clutched it tightly, his eyes narrowed. "I'll find out who did this," he vowed. "I swear, I'm not gonna let any of you guys down."
"Joey?"
The Brooklyn boy looked up to see Serenity standing in the doorway, along with a concerned JP.
"There was a security camera set up in here," JP said grimly. "I was called in by the head of security to see what was happening. Someone dressed up as a vampyre and apparently gassed everyone in here. I came as quick as I could, but . . ." He looked around, perplexed as how everyone had been taken away so fast. "It looks like I'm too late. . . ."
Joey stared at the piece of cloth blankly. He could imagine Ishizu or Bakura or any of them fighting with the vampyre and frantically tearing at its cape before falling into unconsciousness, left to the demonic person's mercy. . . .
Serenity knelt down in front of him, placing her hand over his. "We'll find them, Joey," she whispered. "I promise, big brother. We'll find them together."
And Joey nodded numbly, feeling completely stricken.
****
Tristan felt a sharp kick in his ribs and groaned, not liking it at all.
"Get up, fool!"
Oh no, he moaned silently as he opened his eyes. I'm with Bakura's Yami!
The old thief didn't look all that happy either. "Of all the things I have to put up with," he muttered.
Tristan glared as he sat up. Idly he wondered where they were and tried to figure it out. It wasn't long before he realized that they were in the canyons on what seemed to be a rock's flat surface.
It also wasn't long before he saw that Yami Bakura was intently staring at something down below. "Hey, what is it?" Tristan demanded, getting up and coming over.
Yami Bakura didn't answer. Instead he continued to gaze down below them, and Tristan soon saw what the attraction was—much to his dismay.
The ghost of the airplane's pilot stood amidst the remaining debris from the crash, glaring up at them!
****
Yugi gasped in horror as he opened his eyes and found that the view was upsidedown. "Hey!!" he cried, realizing he was hanging from a rope. "Someone get me down from here!!!"
"Yugi!!" Bakura exclaimed from directly behind him. "We're tied together!!"
"Oh!!" Yugi tried to turn himself around enough to get a good view of the British boy. "Are you okay, Bakura??!"
"Fine," Bakura said with a weak smile, though he felt rather dizzy from the blood rushing to his head. "But we have to figure out how to get ourselves down!"
"Merow," Oreo called from below them.
"Where did you come from?!" Yugi demanded, his eyes widening.
Oreo continued to meow and then indicated the Millennium Puzzle, which she was wearing around her neck.
"How did she . . . oh never mind! Yami!!" Yugi called desperately. "Help!!!"
To both his and Bakura's horror, there was no answer.
"Something is wrong," Bakura said, his eyes opening wider. The ceiling from which they hung creaked dangerously. "Something else, that is," the boy gulped.
****
Marik gave a cry of alarm as he saw blood drip onto a nearby piece of ice. "Rishid!!" he screamed, realizing it was most likely his brother's blood. Furious, he grabbed the Frankenstein creature and began wrenching its arm around.
"Marik, don't," Rishid rasped worriedly. At last he was released from Frankenstein's grasp and he fell to the floor heavily.
Marik grunted in pain as he was thrown to the floor by the Wolfman. Eerily the beast towered over him, raising a clawed paw to stab into his heart. Before it could, Marik had lashed out and grabbed its wrist, squeezing as hard as he was able. It was then that he found some of the fur easily coming off in his hand. It was fake! Not that he'd ever believed it was real, but still, knowing for a surety that it was just someone in a costume was reassuring.
Now Rishid had come up behind Marik's opponent and was taking hold of the mask it was wearing. In the next instant he yanked it off and Marik stared, appalled.
"Bruce!!!"