MG666 Mwahahahahaha! I left it on a cliffhanger. I just had to do that.

Yami MG That was so evil. Keep it up.

MG666 Thank you.

Marik As long as you don't hurt this beautiful face.

Yami MG Arrogant bastard.

MG666 Anyway, I'm sorry if that chapter offended you by hurting poor, already beat-up Joseph. I totally wrote that chapter on a vent of rage. I was mad at a person who shall remain unnamed. I'll just say that that particular person is a teacher at my school who can make me mad just by breathing.

Yami MG She's not kidding. I read her diary and you wouldn't believe what horrible, vile things she writes about said teacher. I do admit, the teacher is indeed a dragon-lady Prune.

MG666 Guess where I got the idea for the character in this story. This teacher just so much as blinks, and I want to strangle her and shove her eyes so far up her ass that they come out her ears!

Yami MG Riiiiiight. Let's do the story after the disclaimer. Marik?

Marik Of course:

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh in any way, shape, or form. I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever own Yu-Gi-Oh, or any of its characters. Quote the title of my story (the only thing that I do own), "Life sucks and then you die." I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, etc. Man, I have problems. -- (Crouches down and makes little circles in the dust on the floor.) Excuse me while I call my therapist. And my shrink. And my psychiatrist. And my neuropsychiatric doctor. I should go now. [Jumps through window]

[][][][][][][]][[][][][][][][]
Chapter 8: Kaiba's Rude Awakening

Darkness. Nothingness. A world of dark. I world without feeling. No senses. No thought. No reality. No pain. Absolute nothingness. No emotion. Unconsciousness. Absolute blissfulness.

Kaiba was slowly being pulled away from the wonders of nothingness. He wanted to hold on to that. He couldn't remember anything, but he felt something terrible was awaiting him in the real world. He tried to go back to the world of senselessness. No such luck.

Kaiba's eyes fluttered open. At first, nothing came to his mind. No feeling came. It was his last few seconds of beloved ignorance and oblivion. Then everything came back in a rush.

Driving home, going really fast. Someone was in the car with him. Stopping, going forward slowly. A humming noise. A bright light. A crash. Being engulfed by darkness. Nothing.

All these images flashed through his head in moments. He still couldn't remember who had been in the car with him.

He sat up abruptly, causing almost unbearable pain. Breathing was really hard; it was coming in short, painful, laborious gasps. He felt like he had to force air into his lungs. If that was so, then his lungs were putting up a good fight. He was in a cold sweat and his skin on his face felt like it was on fire.

His sight wasn't quite working yet, but his hearing was going haywire. Every little thing was magnified 100x for his ears. The ringing in his head was shrill and piercing. He could hear a fly flapping its wings and it the noise was throbbing in his head. Why was everything so loud?

He felt someone push him back down on a cold, hard surface while laughing.

"Mr. Kaiba, are you confused? That's a first. Don't worry; your sight should return soon and your hearing should return to normal, unfortuneatley. You're having trouble breathing? It's painful? Good. You deserve this pain and more."

The man's voice was a dark, malevolent whisper, but to Kaiba, it sounded like the man was shouting as loud as he could in his ears.

Kaiba tried to respond, but his throat was so dry, it was like sandpaper. Trying to talk was excruciating. He forced more air in lungs and it was arduous work.

His eyes were somewhat adjusting. In stead of black, he see could blurry figures in the dark.

He just groaned and was rewarded with more pains in his chest.

The man laughed again.

"Are you in great pain, Mr. Kaiba? Good. I'll leave you to adjust to your surroundings. I'll be back shortly. After that, expect nothing similar to generosity. You'll see what this is all about shortly. Until then, I hope you feel like hell. Good day. Or night, rather."

The figure put something around Kaiba's wrists, ankle, mid-torso, and neck. It felt like metal.

With that, Kaiba saw a blurry figure disappear. His sight was getting a little better and his hearing wasn't as crazy. The ringing in his hears had subsided a bit.

He tried to sit up, not caring how much it hurt him. He knew this was a hostile situation. Plus, he couldn't stand not understanding the situation.

He soon found that he couldn't sit up. The things placed on his wrists, etc. were holding him down to the hard surface that could only be metal.

He just laid back down, feeling exhaustion coming on. Not the overused meaning using of exhaustion, meaning just a little tired. He felt that his body shouldn't work much or else it might give out. The correct meaning of exhaustion.

He shut his eyes tightly and tried to relax his muscles.He made his breathing even and loosened up. He just layed there until his vision adjusted. He was flat on his back on a metal platform, which was kind of like a table. His trenchcoat was nowhere to be seen.

He was alone in the room, and it was very dark. The room was anly illuminated by a lone flickering candle. He had the distinct impression that he was underground. It was so dark that he couldn't see the floor or walls or ceiling, but he felt supressed.

It kind of smelled musty, like dirt. It also felt stuffy, like underground usually feels like.

He tried again to sit up, testing how strong the bonds were that were holding him down. They didn't give way at all. They felt kind of rusty, too.

He could feel congealed blood on his face, and his right ankle felt swollen.

'Damn, what happened after the crash? Who was in the car with me? I wish I could remember everything. That guy's voice sounded kind of familiar. Where am I? Why are they holding us prisoner? Damn it, they have the advantage here. They, whoever they are, know it, too. Damn,' Kaiba thought.

He maneuvered his hands to the pockets of his pants, where there was a pin. He started to work on the locks. It was tedious work, but one by one the locks came off.

By now, his eyes had adjusted to the dark and he could see the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were dirt. He was underground. There were no technical devices to speak of. No security cameras or anything.

'There's were probably guards outside the door,' Kaiba reasoned with himself, looking at the ancient looking door to his right that was rusty and, by the looks of it, solid metal.

Kaiba sat up on the platform, massaging where the binding metal clasps had cut into his skin.

He took a few deep breaths to steady his mind. Kaiba kept his cool and pushed the pain to the back of his mind. He couldn't risk looking weak. Even if he felt so weak.

He got up to examine the door. He looked at the rusty lock, which was easily 4 inches long. He was thinking that he would never be able to open it when the lock clicked in his hand. He inspected it and saw a small button that his grip had pushed.

Cheap lock. He looked in the key-hole of the lock and saw it was blocked off. A key wouldn't even work on it; the button did everything.

He shrugged and, with at least some effort, swung the door wide open and saw ----

[][][][][][][smiles][][][][][][]

MG666 Another cliffie! Next chapter will be 'Joey's Rude Awakening.' Sorry if you didn't like it. Don't worry; there will be an interesting twist in future chappies. But I'm not going to tell you what they are. Mwahahahahahahaha! You'll have to read to find out.

Next chapter: What did Kaiba see? Is Joey okay? What happened to Joey during and after the wreck? Will Kaiba remember that it was Joey with him? Who was the evil man? Will they escape?

Find out. The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update.

PLEAZ R&R!