Notes: XD This is a Halloween mystery and tornados can pop up wherever ^__~ But I never said they were in Japan XD I follow the dub, which states very clearly in the episode that introduces Ishizu, "Welcome to America!" I don't feel that I'm detracting from the plot by putting them here in the U.S., so if anyone chooses to complain about it, it won't change anything ^__~ Tee hee!
"TORNADO?!" Téa screamed. "What's a tornado doing here in Oregon?!"
"I doubt very much that it is supposed to be here," Rishid said grimly, meaning that it was probably set up by the enemies instead of coming about naturally. Quickly he grabbed the controls on the copilot's side, trying to assist Marik.
"It's no use!" Marik cried, pulling back hard on the lever and then toppling backward to the floor as the lever and the chair both broke. "We're being forced into the vortex!"
"There are no seatbelts," Ishizu observed. "Everyone, we must gather here in a group hug. There is safety in numbers." No one protested.
"This is worse than a roller coaster!" Téa cried.
"Stay strong," Yami Yugi replied. "I sense they are not attempting to kill us. They only wish to force us somewhere else."
Marik closed his eyes tightly, moving closer to his siblings. He was certain the plane would crash, and he didn't want Ishizu or Rishid to be harmed. He prayed that the Pharaoh was right and that no one would perish.
Rishid struggled to get his arms around Ishizu and Marik. He, being the strongest, felt that he should be the one to protect the other Ishtars. He felt extremely dizzy from the vampyre bites, but he was fighting so very hard to stay conscious.
Mokuba grabbed onto Seto and wouldn't let go. The plane, instead of swirling around in the tornado, was plunging straight downward and Mokuba was feeling a lump of nervousness rising in his throat. The next thing he knew, there was a sickening thump and everything went dark.
****
Yami Bakura awoke first and found Bakura laying next to him. "Wake up, fool," he grunted, shaking him hard. Bakura didn't stir and the thief angrily tried again.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" Tristan scolded, pulling him away. "Be gentle!"
Yami Bakura growled at him in response.
Ishizu, meanwhile, had woken up in Rishid's arms and found that both he and Marik were unconscious. "Brothers!" she whispered urgently. "Brothers, wake up!"
Mokuba was having the same trouble reviving Seto. "Big brother!" he wailed. "Get up, Seto! PLEASE!!" He refused to consider the possibility that Seto wouldn't get up. His brother wouldn't leave him, he told himself, though he was adding somewhere in the back of his mind, Not if he could help it. . . . But of course he could! Seto would fight!
"What's happened here?!" Téa cried in horror. "It looks like everyone who has a brother isn't being able to wake them up!" After looking around, she let out a gasp as she saw Yugi, Serenity, and Grace struggling to rouse Yami Yugi, Joey, and Bruce. Since the Yamis and Hikaris loved each other like brothers, that was why they were affected too.
"This is horrible!" Serenity quavered. Her worst fears were being made manifest. Joey was laying here, so still, and Serenity couldn't help him! It was a nightmare! A terrible nightmare that she wasn't able to wake up from! "Joey!!" she screamed, touching his shoulder. "Oh, I was afraid this would happen!" she wailed. "I was so afraid it would!!"
All of the pleading cries had attracted attention by this time and Duke suddenly appeared in the doorway, the plane having landed right near his shop. "What happened?!" he cried, echoing Téa without knowing it. He wasn't sure what to be most shocked about—that his friends were there in a crashed plane or that half of them were unconscious.
"Something's wrong!" Téa told him, wringing her hands. "Something's horribly wrong!"
Duke looked around and soon found Tristan trying to help Serenity with Joey. Of course he hurried over as well. Tristan was too caught up in worrying and comforting to care at the moment.
Mokuba was in tears by this point. "Seto, you've gotta open your eyes!" he sobbed, tugging on the older boy's arm. "SETO!!"
Ishizu's distress was multiplied since she had two brothers who weren't moving. No matter how she tried, the poor woman couldn't get a response out of either Rishid or Marik.
Yami Bakura and Yugi weren't fairing any better with their counterparts.
It all seemed hopeless!
Abruptly there was a bright light and then the veiled Middle Eastern stranger was standing there.
"You!" Yami Bakura growled.
"Can you help us, sir?" Serenity pleaded, recognizing him from the Boston mystery and remembering that he was on their side.
He shook his head. "No. Only God and your love for your siblings can save them." Slowly he moved forward, looking at the injured with a grim expression in his blue eyes. "This was an evil plot by your enemies to put your love to the test. They do not understand what it is to care for others, nor do they believe love could give someone the will to keep living."
"How do we help our brothers?!" Mokuba demanded, hugging Seto's limp form.
"Just continue loving them," was the reply. "They are not dead, just deeply unconscious. They will eventually sense you and recover, contrary to what your enemies think."
Ishizu looked down, more tears gathering in her eyes as she touched Rishid's cheek and Marik's shoulder. "And you are saying that our enemies hurt them, as opposed to the actual crash doing this?!" She knew the stranger's secret—that he was really Shadi—but she wasn't at liberty to reveal that. Yugi knew this as well, and he was delighted at the news that their loved ones would be alright.
"Yes," Shadi said quietly before vanishing.
It took quite some time, but the man's words did come true and everyone was able to get their loved ones awakened.
"Seto!" Mokuba cried in delight when his brother stirred and then instantly he flew into the surprised teen's arms. "Seto, you're okay!!"
"Joey!" Serenity exclaimed happily, seeing him beginning to revive as well.
Ishizu embraced her precious brothers joyously, breathing prayers of thanksgiving. Marik and Rishid smiled at her, returning the hugs.
"Well, it's about time you woke up," Yami Bakura grunted at Bakura. Oreo meowed her bliss and rubbed against the boy, who chuckled.
Yugi had a reunion with his Yami as well, and Grace with Bruce, while Téa, Tristan, Duke—and even Bernard—looked on in relief, and Duke in confusion as well.
"So I'm guessing this is part of a new mystery," the emerald-eyed boy remarked.
"You've guessed right," Yami Yugi grunted.
****
After the reunions were over, everyone stumbled into Duke's shop to discuss the case.
"What we're assuming is that a record pirating business was operating at KETY," Seto began, his eyes narrowed. "They abducted Marik, apparently because they wanted the Rod."
"And they seem to be teamed up with Franceska or somethin'," Joey put in.
Seto grunted, not wanting to address that angle.
"But WHO is doing this??!!" Bruce yelled indignantly. "THAT'S what I want to know!! WHO!!!!"
"Let's list our suspects," Yugi said firmly, spreading out a piece of paper. Then suddenly he didn't know how to begin, since two of theirs suspects—Phil Court and Bernard—were right there.
Duke glanced at the blank list. "Good going," he said wryly.
"Hey, we have suspects!" Tristan said defensively.
Duke blinked at him. "Oh?" he said calmly.
"Put it this way," Tristan replied, crossing his arms. "Everyone we've met on this case is a suspect!"
"Even me?" Grace exclaimed.
"What motive would you have?" Yami Yugi asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"None, of course," Grace said, flustered.
Seto grunted to himself, hoping that they wouldn't find themselves dealing with another sibling against sibling case, such as they'd had with the last KETY mystery.
"We're not talking about Lila Palmer here!" Bruce said indignantly. "Grace isn't a crook!"
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Joey snapped. "Man, that's all we need—to start arguing!"
"When did all this start?" Duke asked with interest.
"Well, we got involved last night," Téa told him, wondering how everything could have really happened in just over twenty-four hours, "but I think it's probably been going on longer than that."
"I don't doubt it!!" Bruce growled.
Suddenly remembering something that JP had told them, Marik spoke up now. "Were you walking around carrying a pack of matches some time ago and muttering something about 'I'll show them'?" he asked of Bruce, who started in surprise.
"Who told you that?!" he growled.
"JP," Yugi said, remembering this as well.
"To be honest," Téa said slowly, "we were called in yesterday because . . ."
"He suspected me, right?" Bruce grumped.
Yugi went entirely pink. "Well . . . yes, he did," he admitted.
"Doesn't surprise me," Bruce muttered.
"Well, in light of the fire that took place in the studio, I think we're justified in asking just what you meant by saying 'I'll show them' and carrying matches," Yami Yugi said now. He was anxious for this whole mystery business to end.
Bruce looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I wasn't going to burn anything!" he insisted.
Duke looked completely baffled. "Would someone like to explain exactly *what's* going on?!" he cried.
"No, we would not!" Bruce snapped.
A cold chill swept through the room and everyone froze.
"Joey, what is it?!" Serenity screamed, clinging to her brother tightly and not wanting something else to happen to him.
"I'm not sure," Joey replied slowly, keeping his arms firmly around Serenity. "But I sure as heck don't like it!"
Ishizu looked down. "I know what it is," she said quietly. "The evil spirits that have been plaguing us since this mystery began. And . . . this Franceska as well."
Bakura went pale. "No . . . no, not her . . . please . . ."
A cold hand brushed against his cheek and he screamed.
"Now, really, Bakura," a feminine voice purred, "is that any way to greet me?"
"Leave the boy alone," Yami Bakura growled, squinting in the sudden fog to see Franceska's voluptuous figure and keep Bakura away from her.
"Didn't you get sent to the Shadow Realm?!" Tristan cried.
"Maybe," Franceska smiled, slinking through the fog.
"Hey, lady," Duke yelled, "I don't appreciate this going on in my shop!"
"Oh, poor Dukie," Franceska sneered. "Well, I'm sorry, but you'll just have to deal with it." She snapped her fingers and vampyres, werewolves, zombies, and even some nondescript creatures began rising from the woodwork and surrounding the hapless group. "I do hope you all have fun!" She started to laugh maniacally.
"Oh yeah," Tristan remarked, "we'll have a regular party!" He backed up in annoyance as a werewolf started to move closer.
Bakura cried out in alarm as several vampyres grabbed him and tried to drag him away. Instantly Yami Bakura was there, ready to blast them all away.
"Harm the boy and you shall pay," he hissed.
Téa screamed as she was bowled over by one of the nondescript creatures. Mokuba was attacked next, much to Seto's horror and Marik's outrage. Seto immediately pounced on the beast, trying to drag it away from his precious brother, while Yugi and Yami Yugi tried to save Téa.
Rishid was assaulted by a female vampyre who seemed to find him quite handsome. He struggled against her, trying not to harm her until she moved too close and attempted to bite his neck. Instantly he shoved her backwards into another one and watched them both crash on the floor.
Marik was struggling to protect Ishizu from an onslaught of the villainous creatures and wound up being attacked by at least half a dozen of them. Rishid and Ishizu both hastened to their brother's aid.
"I've had enough of this!" Duke yelled angrily, running forward to Franceska. "Just cut this out!!" It angered him to no end that the vampyre was using his shop for such atrocities!
Franceska smiled dangerously at him. "How about I cut you out of the picture?" she replied, using her powers to throw him back against a shelf. Duke collapsed to the floor in a daze, the shelf crashing on top of him!
"TORNADO?!" Téa screamed. "What's a tornado doing here in Oregon?!"
"I doubt very much that it is supposed to be here," Rishid said grimly, meaning that it was probably set up by the enemies instead of coming about naturally. Quickly he grabbed the controls on the copilot's side, trying to assist Marik.
"It's no use!" Marik cried, pulling back hard on the lever and then toppling backward to the floor as the lever and the chair both broke. "We're being forced into the vortex!"
"There are no seatbelts," Ishizu observed. "Everyone, we must gather here in a group hug. There is safety in numbers." No one protested.
"This is worse than a roller coaster!" Téa cried.
"Stay strong," Yami Yugi replied. "I sense they are not attempting to kill us. They only wish to force us somewhere else."
Marik closed his eyes tightly, moving closer to his siblings. He was certain the plane would crash, and he didn't want Ishizu or Rishid to be harmed. He prayed that the Pharaoh was right and that no one would perish.
Rishid struggled to get his arms around Ishizu and Marik. He, being the strongest, felt that he should be the one to protect the other Ishtars. He felt extremely dizzy from the vampyre bites, but he was fighting so very hard to stay conscious.
Mokuba grabbed onto Seto and wouldn't let go. The plane, instead of swirling around in the tornado, was plunging straight downward and Mokuba was feeling a lump of nervousness rising in his throat. The next thing he knew, there was a sickening thump and everything went dark.
****
Yami Bakura awoke first and found Bakura laying next to him. "Wake up, fool," he grunted, shaking him hard. Bakura didn't stir and the thief angrily tried again.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" Tristan scolded, pulling him away. "Be gentle!"
Yami Bakura growled at him in response.
Ishizu, meanwhile, had woken up in Rishid's arms and found that both he and Marik were unconscious. "Brothers!" she whispered urgently. "Brothers, wake up!"
Mokuba was having the same trouble reviving Seto. "Big brother!" he wailed. "Get up, Seto! PLEASE!!" He refused to consider the possibility that Seto wouldn't get up. His brother wouldn't leave him, he told himself, though he was adding somewhere in the back of his mind, Not if he could help it. . . . But of course he could! Seto would fight!
"What's happened here?!" Téa cried in horror. "It looks like everyone who has a brother isn't being able to wake them up!" After looking around, she let out a gasp as she saw Yugi, Serenity, and Grace struggling to rouse Yami Yugi, Joey, and Bruce. Since the Yamis and Hikaris loved each other like brothers, that was why they were affected too.
"This is horrible!" Serenity quavered. Her worst fears were being made manifest. Joey was laying here, so still, and Serenity couldn't help him! It was a nightmare! A terrible nightmare that she wasn't able to wake up from! "Joey!!" she screamed, touching his shoulder. "Oh, I was afraid this would happen!" she wailed. "I was so afraid it would!!"
All of the pleading cries had attracted attention by this time and Duke suddenly appeared in the doorway, the plane having landed right near his shop. "What happened?!" he cried, echoing Téa without knowing it. He wasn't sure what to be most shocked about—that his friends were there in a crashed plane or that half of them were unconscious.
"Something's wrong!" Téa told him, wringing her hands. "Something's horribly wrong!"
Duke looked around and soon found Tristan trying to help Serenity with Joey. Of course he hurried over as well. Tristan was too caught up in worrying and comforting to care at the moment.
Mokuba was in tears by this point. "Seto, you've gotta open your eyes!" he sobbed, tugging on the older boy's arm. "SETO!!"
Ishizu's distress was multiplied since she had two brothers who weren't moving. No matter how she tried, the poor woman couldn't get a response out of either Rishid or Marik.
Yami Bakura and Yugi weren't fairing any better with their counterparts.
It all seemed hopeless!
Abruptly there was a bright light and then the veiled Middle Eastern stranger was standing there.
"You!" Yami Bakura growled.
"Can you help us, sir?" Serenity pleaded, recognizing him from the Boston mystery and remembering that he was on their side.
He shook his head. "No. Only God and your love for your siblings can save them." Slowly he moved forward, looking at the injured with a grim expression in his blue eyes. "This was an evil plot by your enemies to put your love to the test. They do not understand what it is to care for others, nor do they believe love could give someone the will to keep living."
"How do we help our brothers?!" Mokuba demanded, hugging Seto's limp form.
"Just continue loving them," was the reply. "They are not dead, just deeply unconscious. They will eventually sense you and recover, contrary to what your enemies think."
Ishizu looked down, more tears gathering in her eyes as she touched Rishid's cheek and Marik's shoulder. "And you are saying that our enemies hurt them, as opposed to the actual crash doing this?!" She knew the stranger's secret—that he was really Shadi—but she wasn't at liberty to reveal that. Yugi knew this as well, and he was delighted at the news that their loved ones would be alright.
"Yes," Shadi said quietly before vanishing.
It took quite some time, but the man's words did come true and everyone was able to get their loved ones awakened.
"Seto!" Mokuba cried in delight when his brother stirred and then instantly he flew into the surprised teen's arms. "Seto, you're okay!!"
"Joey!" Serenity exclaimed happily, seeing him beginning to revive as well.
Ishizu embraced her precious brothers joyously, breathing prayers of thanksgiving. Marik and Rishid smiled at her, returning the hugs.
"Well, it's about time you woke up," Yami Bakura grunted at Bakura. Oreo meowed her bliss and rubbed against the boy, who chuckled.
Yugi had a reunion with his Yami as well, and Grace with Bruce, while Téa, Tristan, Duke—and even Bernard—looked on in relief, and Duke in confusion as well.
"So I'm guessing this is part of a new mystery," the emerald-eyed boy remarked.
"You've guessed right," Yami Yugi grunted.
****
After the reunions were over, everyone stumbled into Duke's shop to discuss the case.
"What we're assuming is that a record pirating business was operating at KETY," Seto began, his eyes narrowed. "They abducted Marik, apparently because they wanted the Rod."
"And they seem to be teamed up with Franceska or somethin'," Joey put in.
Seto grunted, not wanting to address that angle.
"But WHO is doing this??!!" Bruce yelled indignantly. "THAT'S what I want to know!! WHO!!!!"
"Let's list our suspects," Yugi said firmly, spreading out a piece of paper. Then suddenly he didn't know how to begin, since two of theirs suspects—Phil Court and Bernard—were right there.
Duke glanced at the blank list. "Good going," he said wryly.
"Hey, we have suspects!" Tristan said defensively.
Duke blinked at him. "Oh?" he said calmly.
"Put it this way," Tristan replied, crossing his arms. "Everyone we've met on this case is a suspect!"
"Even me?" Grace exclaimed.
"What motive would you have?" Yami Yugi asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"None, of course," Grace said, flustered.
Seto grunted to himself, hoping that they wouldn't find themselves dealing with another sibling against sibling case, such as they'd had with the last KETY mystery.
"We're not talking about Lila Palmer here!" Bruce said indignantly. "Grace isn't a crook!"
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Joey snapped. "Man, that's all we need—to start arguing!"
"When did all this start?" Duke asked with interest.
"Well, we got involved last night," Téa told him, wondering how everything could have really happened in just over twenty-four hours, "but I think it's probably been going on longer than that."
"I don't doubt it!!" Bruce growled.
Suddenly remembering something that JP had told them, Marik spoke up now. "Were you walking around carrying a pack of matches some time ago and muttering something about 'I'll show them'?" he asked of Bruce, who started in surprise.
"Who told you that?!" he growled.
"JP," Yugi said, remembering this as well.
"To be honest," Téa said slowly, "we were called in yesterday because . . ."
"He suspected me, right?" Bruce grumped.
Yugi went entirely pink. "Well . . . yes, he did," he admitted.
"Doesn't surprise me," Bruce muttered.
"Well, in light of the fire that took place in the studio, I think we're justified in asking just what you meant by saying 'I'll show them' and carrying matches," Yami Yugi said now. He was anxious for this whole mystery business to end.
Bruce looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I wasn't going to burn anything!" he insisted.
Duke looked completely baffled. "Would someone like to explain exactly *what's* going on?!" he cried.
"No, we would not!" Bruce snapped.
A cold chill swept through the room and everyone froze.
"Joey, what is it?!" Serenity screamed, clinging to her brother tightly and not wanting something else to happen to him.
"I'm not sure," Joey replied slowly, keeping his arms firmly around Serenity. "But I sure as heck don't like it!"
Ishizu looked down. "I know what it is," she said quietly. "The evil spirits that have been plaguing us since this mystery began. And . . . this Franceska as well."
Bakura went pale. "No . . . no, not her . . . please . . ."
A cold hand brushed against his cheek and he screamed.
"Now, really, Bakura," a feminine voice purred, "is that any way to greet me?"
"Leave the boy alone," Yami Bakura growled, squinting in the sudden fog to see Franceska's voluptuous figure and keep Bakura away from her.
"Didn't you get sent to the Shadow Realm?!" Tristan cried.
"Maybe," Franceska smiled, slinking through the fog.
"Hey, lady," Duke yelled, "I don't appreciate this going on in my shop!"
"Oh, poor Dukie," Franceska sneered. "Well, I'm sorry, but you'll just have to deal with it." She snapped her fingers and vampyres, werewolves, zombies, and even some nondescript creatures began rising from the woodwork and surrounding the hapless group. "I do hope you all have fun!" She started to laugh maniacally.
"Oh yeah," Tristan remarked, "we'll have a regular party!" He backed up in annoyance as a werewolf started to move closer.
Bakura cried out in alarm as several vampyres grabbed him and tried to drag him away. Instantly Yami Bakura was there, ready to blast them all away.
"Harm the boy and you shall pay," he hissed.
Téa screamed as she was bowled over by one of the nondescript creatures. Mokuba was attacked next, much to Seto's horror and Marik's outrage. Seto immediately pounced on the beast, trying to drag it away from his precious brother, while Yugi and Yami Yugi tried to save Téa.
Rishid was assaulted by a female vampyre who seemed to find him quite handsome. He struggled against her, trying not to harm her until she moved too close and attempted to bite his neck. Instantly he shoved her backwards into another one and watched them both crash on the floor.
Marik was struggling to protect Ishizu from an onslaught of the villainous creatures and wound up being attacked by at least half a dozen of them. Rishid and Ishizu both hastened to their brother's aid.
"I've had enough of this!" Duke yelled angrily, running forward to Franceska. "Just cut this out!!" It angered him to no end that the vampyre was using his shop for such atrocities!
Franceska smiled dangerously at him. "How about I cut you out of the picture?" she replied, using her powers to throw him back against a shelf. Duke collapsed to the floor in a daze, the shelf crashing on top of him!