Seto was getting tired of exploring the endless rows of corn. "There has to be a way out of here," he muttered, pushing another stalk aside.
Téa looked uneasy. "Kaiba, is this the same cornfield from last autumn?"
Seto grunted. "I couldn't care less if it is," he replied. "But in honesty, it probably actually is." To his relief, he finally reached the edge and stepped out into another large field, this one devoid of corn.
"Oh great," Téa sighed, having hoped for some civilization.
Seto started walking purposefully through the field and then noted with displeasure that it was familiar too. And he knew why.
"Don't trip over the headstones," he said coldly as Téa approached.
"Wha-?!" Téa looked down, her eyes widening as she saw one of the old, rounded headstones almost directly in front of her. That was the last thing she had been expecting.
"That old house used to be here," Seto muttered.
"But didn't it explode?!" Téa exclaimed.
Seto didn't answer as the eerie abode suddenly materialized on the property once again. To his shock, however, he found Yugi staring out one of the windows.
Téa noticed immediately. "Yugi!!!" she cried, running toward the house.
Hoping that Mokuba would possibly be there as well, Seto immediately followed her.
****
Yugi had almost no sooner announced that the house had teleported before it portaled right back to where it was before.
"That was really weird!" Mokuba cried, seeing the scenery out the window just changing without warning.
"Hey! Téa's out there!!" Yugi gasped. "And Kaiba!!"
Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Seto's here??!" he exclaimed, running to the door. "Come on! Let's get outside before we teleport again!!" With that he flung the door open and leaped into his brother's arms. "BIG BROTHER!!"
Seto smiled, catching Mokuba and pulling him close. "Hey, kid," he said softly. "I'm glad you're safe."
Ishizu, Bakura, and Yugi quickly followed Mokuba, exiting the house just as it vanished again.
"I hope Yami wasn't in there!" Yugi exclaimed after greetings were exchanged all around, his eyes wide.
"What?!" Téa stared at him. "Your Yami's missing?!"
"He seems to be," Yugi said sadly. "I don't know what to do. . . ."
"Meow," Oreo replied, batting at the Millennium Puzzle from where she was perched in Bakura's arms.
"I think she knows something," Bakura said, shaking his head. "If only she could talk. . . ."
Téa sighed. "Well, what are we going to do now?!"
"We should find the others," Yugi replied. "Maybe Yami wound up with some of them!" He smiled hopefully.
****
Marik and Rishid stared at Serenity in shock. "Joey is missing?!" Marik repeated.
"When did this happen?" Rishid asked, narrowing his eyes.
Serenity leaned against Marik sadly. "He . . . he was so upset about . . . you two and all the others disappearing," she said. "He and I vowed that we'd find you again . . . and then he just took off running down the hall, saying something about talking to Phil Court!"
"Phil Court?!" Bruce interrupted, looking confused. "What really is going on?! I'd rather like to know, when it's my station," he said sarcastically.
"We'd all like to know," Marik retorted.
"What happened then, Serenity?" Rishid prodded gently.
Serenity shook her head. "I chased after him," she said, a tear now escaping her eye and trailing down onto Marik's hand. "And . . . this was the worst part. . . . I found this locked studio and I heard the sounds of a fight inside. . . . Joey was in there. I know he was!! I heard him cry out in pain at one point. Then . . . then . . ." She trailed off, unable to continue at the moment. Marik continued to hold her close, offering comfort in whatever small way he could.
At last Serenity felt able to continue her tale. "Everything got quiet," she said shakily. "It just happened all of a sudden. And when I tried the door again, it opened. No one was inside!!"
Marik exchanged a concerned look with Rishid. "Wasn't there any other way to get in and out of the room?" he asked.
"No!" Serenity sobbed. "There wasn't any other way!! But Joey wasn't there when I went in!! Someone would've had to have taken him!!"
"We will find him, Serenity," Marik whispered. He could understand how horrible the girl was feeling, as he was still so worried about Ishizu's whereabouts.
"Can you take us to this room?" Rishid wanted to know.
Serenity took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "Of course," she managed to say. Soberly she led the Ishtar brothers down the hall from whence she had come a few minutes earlier. An annoyed Bruce trailed behind them, wanting to get out of the Wolfman costume but also wanting to get to the bottom of what was happening to his station.
****
When they got to the studio in question, Phil Court was in there, setting things up for Mandy's show the next morning.
"Now what's going on?" he grumped, seeing Marik enter first and remembering him from earlier.
"Serenity's brother was fighting with someone in here," Marik replied, narrowing his eyes. "Interestingly, he was coming to talk with you."
Phil grunted. "I never saw him."
"Hey! What's going on, Phil?"
Everyone turned at the voice. A perky redhead was standing in the door, blinking at them all.
"Who are you?" Rishid asked.
"Rikki!" the girl chirped.
Phil didn't look all that happy to see this Rikki. "Look, there's nothing going on here to concern yourself with," he growled. "I'm setting things up for Mandy. I'm sure you have errands to run and such."
"Aww." Rikki crossed her arms and turned to Rishid and the others. "So what're you guys up to?" she asked. "I've heard about your mysteries and stuff."
"Right now we're looking for one of our number—actually, several—who have gone missing." Marik didn't think any of the others were still at the station, but they were still looking for them all—not just Joey—and he wanted to make it clear that they hadn't forgotten any of them.
"Whoa, serious?" Rikki blinked at him.
"My brother's missing!" Serenity cried, running to her. "Please, have you seen him?!" Tearfully she described Joey, but Rikki had to admit that she hadn't seen anyone like that.
Phil looked irritated. "I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance," he snapped. "Stupid kid."
"Joey is not stupid!" Serenity yelled angrily, turning to Phil with fire in her eyes. "He's always brave and strong!!"
"Hey," Rikki said, taking notice of Bruce for the first time, "why are you wearing a wolf suit, Mr. Von Wilkenson?!"
Bruce glowered. "THAT'S WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW!!!" he screamed.
"No need to get touchy," Rikki exclaimed. "Sheesh."
Marik and Rishid had been poking around the room while all of these exchanges went on. So far, they hadn't turned up anything.
"There's some loudspeakers in here," Marik observed. "What if Joey wasn't in here at all, but it was being broadcast over those from where he actually was?"
Rishid looked at the sound devices thoughtfully. "It's quite possible, I suppose," he admitted.
"But if that is the case, then he could be anywhere in the station," Marik sighed. He just wished that they could find everyone and know that they were alright. Things had been so hectic lately that he hadn't really had much time to think, but he was keeping constant prayers for Ishizu's and the others' safety in his heart. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he'd do if something happened to his precious sister, and he didn't want to ever consider the possibility that it would. They would always come through their predicaments safely, he tried to reassure himself. After all, they always had before.
Except for back at the Black Diamond Ranch. Ishizu had been so heartbroken at the loss of Shadi. . . . And yet . . . after their Boston experience, she had seemed . . . so much at peace—almost as if she had seen Shadi or had had some sort of closure. Could she have? Marik remembered her saying something about an "old friend" when they were about to depart for home.
He jerked back to the present. He couldn't dwell on these things if he wanted to get Ishizu and Joey and Mokuba and all of them found. Thinking about the past wouldn't help, not now—unless he could think of a clue that would point to where they were.
"Hey!" Rikki called, breaking into his thoughts. "Is that blood?!"
Everyone whirled to look where she was pointing. Splashes of red were all over the carpet and the nearest wall.
Marik narrowed his eyes and walked over to examine it. Serenity gave a cry of alarm and felt frozen to the spot. Rishid put his arm around the girl kindly.
At last Marik looked up, not wanting to say it but knowing he needed to. "Yes," he said quietly. "It's blood."
Rikki's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Really?! Cool!" she declared instead of recoiling, as Serenity was.
Rishid turned to look at this strange new girl, a serious look in his deep golden eyes. "There is nothing 'cool' about it," he scolded. "It could belong to Joseph."
Before Rikki could reply, Bernard and Elsa appeared on the scene.
"Bruce is a werewolf!!!" Elsa shrieked.
"IT'S A COSTUME!!" Bruce screamed.
"It couldn't be!" Bernard retorted.
"ENOUGH!!!" Marik yelled, having had all he could take of the nonsense. "There are many peoples' lives at stake here. We don't have time to be arguing over such trivial matters as whether Bruce is running around as a creature that doesn't even exist." His temper was wearing extremely thin by now.
Both Bernard and Elsa turned to glare at him. "Werewolves exist!" Bernard said indignantly. "The others even thought you'd turned into one!"
Marik raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?" he demanded.
Instantly Bernard went beet red. "I heard something about it from Phil," he said vaguely.
"I don't believe you," Rishid said coldly. "Were you involved with that?"
Elsa turned to stare at Bernard as well. "Were you?!" she wanted to know.
Bernard threw his hands into the air. "No one trusts me!" he growled. "Not even you!" He fixed Elsa with a dagger look.
"Should I?" Elsa crossed her arms. "I've always got along better without you!"
"Just answer Rishid's question," Marik said irritably.
Bernard, in response, turned to run. Instantly Marik reached out and grabbed him by the belt, pulling him back.
"You're not going anywhere, my friend," the Egyptian boy said in a low tone, not using the term in the friendly way he always did with Mokuba.
Bernard glared at him. "Let me go!! Let me go, you stupid Egyptian!!" He lashed out, kicking Marik hard in the leg.
Outraged, Rishid ran forward and snatched Bernard by his shirt. "Do not insult my brother," he hissed.
"I'll do whatever I please," Bernard growled. "Both of you, let go of me!!" He opened his mouth wide, revealing the abnormally long canine teeth, and then sank them into Rishid's hand. The man cried out in pain but only clutched at Bernard tighter.
"Rishid!!!" Marik yelled, his eyes widening.
"I could turn him into a vampyre if I bite him the right way," Bernard hissed. "Now—are you going to let me go or not?"
Téa looked uneasy. "Kaiba, is this the same cornfield from last autumn?"
Seto grunted. "I couldn't care less if it is," he replied. "But in honesty, it probably actually is." To his relief, he finally reached the edge and stepped out into another large field, this one devoid of corn.
"Oh great," Téa sighed, having hoped for some civilization.
Seto started walking purposefully through the field and then noted with displeasure that it was familiar too. And he knew why.
"Don't trip over the headstones," he said coldly as Téa approached.
"Wha-?!" Téa looked down, her eyes widening as she saw one of the old, rounded headstones almost directly in front of her. That was the last thing she had been expecting.
"That old house used to be here," Seto muttered.
"But didn't it explode?!" Téa exclaimed.
Seto didn't answer as the eerie abode suddenly materialized on the property once again. To his shock, however, he found Yugi staring out one of the windows.
Téa noticed immediately. "Yugi!!!" she cried, running toward the house.
Hoping that Mokuba would possibly be there as well, Seto immediately followed her.
****
Yugi had almost no sooner announced that the house had teleported before it portaled right back to where it was before.
"That was really weird!" Mokuba cried, seeing the scenery out the window just changing without warning.
"Hey! Téa's out there!!" Yugi gasped. "And Kaiba!!"
Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Seto's here??!" he exclaimed, running to the door. "Come on! Let's get outside before we teleport again!!" With that he flung the door open and leaped into his brother's arms. "BIG BROTHER!!"
Seto smiled, catching Mokuba and pulling him close. "Hey, kid," he said softly. "I'm glad you're safe."
Ishizu, Bakura, and Yugi quickly followed Mokuba, exiting the house just as it vanished again.
"I hope Yami wasn't in there!" Yugi exclaimed after greetings were exchanged all around, his eyes wide.
"What?!" Téa stared at him. "Your Yami's missing?!"
"He seems to be," Yugi said sadly. "I don't know what to do. . . ."
"Meow," Oreo replied, batting at the Millennium Puzzle from where she was perched in Bakura's arms.
"I think she knows something," Bakura said, shaking his head. "If only she could talk. . . ."
Téa sighed. "Well, what are we going to do now?!"
"We should find the others," Yugi replied. "Maybe Yami wound up with some of them!" He smiled hopefully.
****
Marik and Rishid stared at Serenity in shock. "Joey is missing?!" Marik repeated.
"When did this happen?" Rishid asked, narrowing his eyes.
Serenity leaned against Marik sadly. "He . . . he was so upset about . . . you two and all the others disappearing," she said. "He and I vowed that we'd find you again . . . and then he just took off running down the hall, saying something about talking to Phil Court!"
"Phil Court?!" Bruce interrupted, looking confused. "What really is going on?! I'd rather like to know, when it's my station," he said sarcastically.
"We'd all like to know," Marik retorted.
"What happened then, Serenity?" Rishid prodded gently.
Serenity shook her head. "I chased after him," she said, a tear now escaping her eye and trailing down onto Marik's hand. "And . . . this was the worst part. . . . I found this locked studio and I heard the sounds of a fight inside. . . . Joey was in there. I know he was!! I heard him cry out in pain at one point. Then . . . then . . ." She trailed off, unable to continue at the moment. Marik continued to hold her close, offering comfort in whatever small way he could.
At last Serenity felt able to continue her tale. "Everything got quiet," she said shakily. "It just happened all of a sudden. And when I tried the door again, it opened. No one was inside!!"
Marik exchanged a concerned look with Rishid. "Wasn't there any other way to get in and out of the room?" he asked.
"No!" Serenity sobbed. "There wasn't any other way!! But Joey wasn't there when I went in!! Someone would've had to have taken him!!"
"We will find him, Serenity," Marik whispered. He could understand how horrible the girl was feeling, as he was still so worried about Ishizu's whereabouts.
"Can you take us to this room?" Rishid wanted to know.
Serenity took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "Of course," she managed to say. Soberly she led the Ishtar brothers down the hall from whence she had come a few minutes earlier. An annoyed Bruce trailed behind them, wanting to get out of the Wolfman costume but also wanting to get to the bottom of what was happening to his station.
****
When they got to the studio in question, Phil Court was in there, setting things up for Mandy's show the next morning.
"Now what's going on?" he grumped, seeing Marik enter first and remembering him from earlier.
"Serenity's brother was fighting with someone in here," Marik replied, narrowing his eyes. "Interestingly, he was coming to talk with you."
Phil grunted. "I never saw him."
"Hey! What's going on, Phil?"
Everyone turned at the voice. A perky redhead was standing in the door, blinking at them all.
"Who are you?" Rishid asked.
"Rikki!" the girl chirped.
Phil didn't look all that happy to see this Rikki. "Look, there's nothing going on here to concern yourself with," he growled. "I'm setting things up for Mandy. I'm sure you have errands to run and such."
"Aww." Rikki crossed her arms and turned to Rishid and the others. "So what're you guys up to?" she asked. "I've heard about your mysteries and stuff."
"Right now we're looking for one of our number—actually, several—who have gone missing." Marik didn't think any of the others were still at the station, but they were still looking for them all—not just Joey—and he wanted to make it clear that they hadn't forgotten any of them.
"Whoa, serious?" Rikki blinked at him.
"My brother's missing!" Serenity cried, running to her. "Please, have you seen him?!" Tearfully she described Joey, but Rikki had to admit that she hadn't seen anyone like that.
Phil looked irritated. "I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance," he snapped. "Stupid kid."
"Joey is not stupid!" Serenity yelled angrily, turning to Phil with fire in her eyes. "He's always brave and strong!!"
"Hey," Rikki said, taking notice of Bruce for the first time, "why are you wearing a wolf suit, Mr. Von Wilkenson?!"
Bruce glowered. "THAT'S WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW!!!" he screamed.
"No need to get touchy," Rikki exclaimed. "Sheesh."
Marik and Rishid had been poking around the room while all of these exchanges went on. So far, they hadn't turned up anything.
"There's some loudspeakers in here," Marik observed. "What if Joey wasn't in here at all, but it was being broadcast over those from where he actually was?"
Rishid looked at the sound devices thoughtfully. "It's quite possible, I suppose," he admitted.
"But if that is the case, then he could be anywhere in the station," Marik sighed. He just wished that they could find everyone and know that they were alright. Things had been so hectic lately that he hadn't really had much time to think, but he was keeping constant prayers for Ishizu's and the others' safety in his heart. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he'd do if something happened to his precious sister, and he didn't want to ever consider the possibility that it would. They would always come through their predicaments safely, he tried to reassure himself. After all, they always had before.
Except for back at the Black Diamond Ranch. Ishizu had been so heartbroken at the loss of Shadi. . . . And yet . . . after their Boston experience, she had seemed . . . so much at peace—almost as if she had seen Shadi or had had some sort of closure. Could she have? Marik remembered her saying something about an "old friend" when they were about to depart for home.
He jerked back to the present. He couldn't dwell on these things if he wanted to get Ishizu and Joey and Mokuba and all of them found. Thinking about the past wouldn't help, not now—unless he could think of a clue that would point to where they were.
"Hey!" Rikki called, breaking into his thoughts. "Is that blood?!"
Everyone whirled to look where she was pointing. Splashes of red were all over the carpet and the nearest wall.
Marik narrowed his eyes and walked over to examine it. Serenity gave a cry of alarm and felt frozen to the spot. Rishid put his arm around the girl kindly.
At last Marik looked up, not wanting to say it but knowing he needed to. "Yes," he said quietly. "It's blood."
Rikki's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Really?! Cool!" she declared instead of recoiling, as Serenity was.
Rishid turned to look at this strange new girl, a serious look in his deep golden eyes. "There is nothing 'cool' about it," he scolded. "It could belong to Joseph."
Before Rikki could reply, Bernard and Elsa appeared on the scene.
"Bruce is a werewolf!!!" Elsa shrieked.
"IT'S A COSTUME!!" Bruce screamed.
"It couldn't be!" Bernard retorted.
"ENOUGH!!!" Marik yelled, having had all he could take of the nonsense. "There are many peoples' lives at stake here. We don't have time to be arguing over such trivial matters as whether Bruce is running around as a creature that doesn't even exist." His temper was wearing extremely thin by now.
Both Bernard and Elsa turned to glare at him. "Werewolves exist!" Bernard said indignantly. "The others even thought you'd turned into one!"
Marik raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?" he demanded.
Instantly Bernard went beet red. "I heard something about it from Phil," he said vaguely.
"I don't believe you," Rishid said coldly. "Were you involved with that?"
Elsa turned to stare at Bernard as well. "Were you?!" she wanted to know.
Bernard threw his hands into the air. "No one trusts me!" he growled. "Not even you!" He fixed Elsa with a dagger look.
"Should I?" Elsa crossed her arms. "I've always got along better without you!"
"Just answer Rishid's question," Marik said irritably.
Bernard, in response, turned to run. Instantly Marik reached out and grabbed him by the belt, pulling him back.
"You're not going anywhere, my friend," the Egyptian boy said in a low tone, not using the term in the friendly way he always did with Mokuba.
Bernard glared at him. "Let me go!! Let me go, you stupid Egyptian!!" He lashed out, kicking Marik hard in the leg.
Outraged, Rishid ran forward and snatched Bernard by his shirt. "Do not insult my brother," he hissed.
"I'll do whatever I please," Bernard growled. "Both of you, let go of me!!" He opened his mouth wide, revealing the abnormally long canine teeth, and then sank them into Rishid's hand. The man cried out in pain but only clutched at Bernard tighter.
"Rishid!!!" Marik yelled, his eyes widening.
"I could turn him into a vampyre if I bite him the right way," Bernard hissed. "Now—are you going to let me go or not?"