Marik's grin broadened across his tanned face. His violet eyes flashed suddenly as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his khaki cargo pants. White sneakers squealed as they struck they linoleum tiles. Tapping dress shoes followed.

An awkward silence befell the room, only to be broken by the swishing door shutting close. Yami spoke. "What are you doing here, Marik?!" The name was said with such force and anger, it sounded more like 'Mare-ich'.

"Calm down, Pharaoh," he crooned with a maniacal twist of the mouth. "I just dropped by to answer a little notice." He looked at Joey, sneering.

"Joey!" cried Tristan. "You dolt! Why did you ask him?"

Joey reddened. "I didn't think Bakura and Duke would show up, so I did this as a back up plan," he explained, flustered.

"Well," Marik pointed out slyly," It seems that you will now have more than enough people on your . . . ah, crew of babysitters."

Yugi looked troubled. "But, why do you want to do this?"

He smirked. "You'll find out later." Marik paused, then gave Yugi an even more 'angelic' smile. "Where do we sign?"

"We?" repeated Duke. "You mean, he's going to join too?" He acknowledged the stony figure beside Marik.

"Of course!" he replied haughtily. "He's an ideal babysitter. I should know-- he took care of me as a child."

"Wonder where he went wrong?" whispered Tristan to Joey. They both snickered. Marik glared at them. They shut up.

"Now," he said, his voice pleasant," should we now discuss the further plans of this organization?"

"We?!" said Duke again, surprised. He looked at Yugi and Yami. "So they're actually in it?"

In unison, they shrugged helplessly.

Marik's sinister smile grew even more evil.

Just then, Tristan's cellular phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and quickly flipped it open and pressed it in his ear. "Hello?"

His brows knit together and then slowly parted as an excited gleam shone in his eyes. "Really? Tonight?! . . . I'd be happy to! . . . No, I'm not crazy . . . Uh huh . . . 7:00? Can I bring a few friends over? Alright. How many hours? Three? No problem. Ok, bye." He hung up, grinning wolfishly at the gang. "We've got our first job!"

"Who was that?" Duke wanted to know.

"My sister. She wants me to watch her kids tonight," answered Tristan.

"How much is she paying us?" asked Joey, sounding interested.

"Ten dollars. Not much if we split it, but $30 is nice for a start." he replied in a reasonable tone.

"Maybe we should stash it away until the loot becomes bigger to split it," suggested Yugi thoughtfully.

"Good idea," commented Yami.

"How many kids does she have?" inquired Marik as he made himself comfortable on the sofa.

"Two. That means four of us can watch one of them."

"That sounds easy enough," said Yugi brightly.

His eyes seemed to darken. "Just to warn you, these kids are demons! Little hellions!" He shook his head. "I'm just giving you a word of caution: they will tear you from limb to limb."

Duke's green eyes seemed to widen. "Thanks."

"So, how should we pair off?" asked Bakura, unaffected by Tristan's prophesized doom to all.

"How about," said Joey," Me and Tristan, Yugi and Yami, Marik and Odian, and you and Duke?"

"Sounds good . . ." Bakura's voice faltered. He lowered his head.

Yami looked concerned. "Are you feeling ok?"

Bakura smiled as he looked at his shoes. "I'm feeling fine." His voice had deepened to a soft rasp. He slowly lifted his head, grinning as he revealed himself as the darker Bakura. "But what about me?"

Marik frowned. "I didn't know watching after children was of your expertise," he said curtly.

Yami Bakura smiled sweetly. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Yami tensed up, feeling a fight brewing. "That's enough out of both of you," he said coldly. "You two either get together, or get out!"

"And here, I thought we were the babysitters," muttered Marik as Yami separated them.

"I heard that, Ishtar."

Yugi looked at Yami Bakura and Marik. "Not to be offensive, but I don't think parents would like their children to be cared for by two evil maniacs."

"None, taken," answered Yami Bakura, oddly pleased. "That is actually a compliment."

Duke sighed. "I think we'd be better off with them. If Yami Bakura goes, Bakura goes and if Marik goes, Odian goes. It'll just be the five of us then."

Yami sighed, looking uneasy. "I guess we keep them, then." He gulped.