(A/N: Chapter three! (No really! It is! I'm not kidding about this!) Thanks going out to Marble Angel, darkmetaldragonfangs and Tekli for their awesome reviews! It's nice to feel appreciated! Here's hoping this chapter lives up to standards...)

Chapter 3: Thirty-Six Degrees North, One Hundred Forty Degrees East

"Tell me why it has to be your place, Kaiba." Jounouchi demanded for what must have been the third time.

"Do you have a better location? I doubt your living space is still standing, the same with the two back there." Kaiba gestured to Honda and Ryou, the second of which still unconscious, "Yugi's grandfather's game shop is at least twice the distance from here, and I'm quite certain you don't want to push such a journey on your injured friends." He looked at Yugi, who was very pale and looked like he was going to pass out.

Jounouchi adjusted Yugi's positioning so it was more comfortable for the younger teen before he replied, "Why help us out anyway?"

"Much as I hate to admit it, I'd feel rather guilty if you all died when I could have helped you." Kaiba returned acridly, "Besides that, I need to know how to find Mokuba."

"Mokuba?" Jou sounded surprised, "What's he got to go with us?"

"In case you haven't noticed, that necklace your friend always wears is gone. There's reason to believe that's the cause of all of this."

"You think Yugi knows how get your brother back from wherever he is?"

Kaiba shrugged lightly, though it wasn't a gesture he'd normally resort to, "He has more of a chance of knowing than the rest of us, doesn't he?"

There was nothing Jounouchi could find to say to that, so he kept walking on in silence. After a couple of minutes, they reached Kaiba's mansion, which appeared virtually undamaged save for a tree that had fallen into one of the wings. Kaiba led them inside and brought them into the basement, which had an extremely large computer occupying most of it and furniture strewn haphazardly about the rest. Honda placed Ryou down on a sofa while Jou aided Yugi in finding a comfortable chair to sit in.

Kaiba turned on the computer, seating himself in a large chair before the screen. Honda spoke to Jounouchi for the first time since they'd woken up, "Why are we here?"

"I guess you didn't hear that conversation." Jou replied with a bit of a sigh, "It's because it's the most convenient place, or so Kaiba says."

Honda nodded over his shoulder at Ryou and Yugi, asking, "Shouldn't they see a doctor?"

Jou nodded, then looked around, trying to find a phone. The room was fairly large so he decided to save himself some time and asked Kaiba instead, "Where's the phone?"

"A doctor's already coming. He'll be here in half an hour." Kaiba replied shortly, his fingers flying across the keys, "Keep Yugi awake, if you can."

"Why?" Jounouchi asked suspiciously, though he cast a worried glance at the half-asleep looking teen that was the subject of their conversation.

"I need to ask him something."

"He's not going to stay awake for your needs!" Jou growled angrily, taking a step backwards towards Yugi's chair.

"It's also more than likely he has a concussion, meaning if he goes to sleep he may not wake up." Kaiba spoke of it coolly, as if it wasn't a matter of Yugi passing into a coma but say, going to the store to buy bananas.

Jounouchi glared angrily at him before turning to Yugi, tapping him on the shoulder and asking, "Are you alright?"

Yugi gave him a weak smile that suggested he was half out of it and replied, "Yeah… but Jounouchi, the Puzzle's gone… and so's my other half… I didn't want to wake up… I'm really tired, and my head hurts… I want to go back to sleep, Jounouchi…"

"I know, buddy." Jounouchi said softly, "But the guy on the computer says you have to stay awake." He didn't feel the need to grace Kaiba with a name, figuring Yugi could guess it on his own.

"Oh…" Yugi replied groggily, his eyes drifting slowly shut, "But I'm so tired, Jounouchi…" His head drooped onto his shoulder.

Jou gripped his shoulders and shook him, saying desperately, "No, Yugi, you've got to stay awake, come on, do it for me!" Yugi's head lolled from side to side. Jou's voice grew panicked, "Yugi, no! Wake up! Yugi!"

Interlude 3.1: Cold-town

"Alright, we're here. Do yourself a favour and don't talk unless Kolin talks to you first, he's a bit of a jerk and doesn't like you if you talk too much, so naturally he hates me. Uhm, try not to talk to Jenna until you've been told you can stay, but like I said, she'll probably like you so it's only Kolin we're worried about. Well then, come on in!" Yami swore that boy was talking forty miles a minute, but he nodded and followed José inside the back door, into what seemed to be a kitchen.

José was taking off his hat and parka by a coat rack, and he shook his head before he walked down a short, narrow path between the oven and the serving counter. Yami assumed he was supposed to stay put, so there he stayed, though he did sidle closer to the oven to try and warm himself slightly. The next thing he heard was a very loud, angry-sounding:

"You brought someone off the street in here? Again?"

Then, jovial and somewhat pleading, "He's not a bum, so don't look at me like that, Kolin! Look, he was wearing no sleeves and –don't look at me like that!- and he looked half-frozen." A pause. "You haven't even seen him yet! How can you say something like that?" Another pause. "You don't know that, just because half the people on the street are pot-headed drunks doesn't mean this dude is!"

Yami shifted uncomfortably. It didn't seem like this Kolin person was very partial to those who had no idea where they were. Perhaps he should just leave before he cause anymore trouble…

"Oh no you don't, Kolin's just stubborn, leave him to cool off for a few minutes and it'll all be fine, so long as you can pull your weight a little." A stressed-sounding female voice came from down a hallway to his left; he stopped turning to leave and instead turned to face her. She had blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and sparkly brown eyes that carried a zest for life.

Yami didn't know quite what to say to her, but he tried, "He doesn't sound-"

"Kolin's sounds like an ass, and he is, but surely you've dealt with people like that before?"

Yes, he had. Kaiba. He nodded.

Jenna (for that was the only person it could be) wiped her hands on a faded apron around her waist and replied, "There you go, so you just hang tight and be ready to deal with him whenever he decides to get his butt out here and act like a grown up instead of yelling his lungs out at José."

Yami shifted again. The slang all these people used was confusing, and didn't make any sense to him at all. He found himself hoping this Kolin was more than a bit like Kaiba, educated and stubborn in the way of the proper, literal use of words. Honestly, how was he supposed to 'hang tight' when both feet were planted firmly on the ground?

The reappearance of José brought his attention back to the other end of the room. He cocked his head questioningly at the teen, who ran a hand through his red hair and shrugged, "He's thinking about it."

Yami slumped against the wall next to the door; would he be forced through some sort of initiation program? Would he have to fight for his life with only hot oil as his weapon? Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad but still… it would be so much simpler if he were just allowed to stay until he figured out what was going on.

Ten minutes later the closed door at the end of the hall still hadn't budged and José impatiently tapped his foot against the support of a counter. "Come on Kolin, it doesn't take this much thinking to decide whether you'll come meet a guy or not…"

Yami looked at the closed door and thought that maybe it did.

After another five minutes, José stood up and declared, "That's it, I'm teaching you how to make a beavertail!"

Yami was so shocked the words burst out without him thinking, "I beg your pardon?"

"A beavertail! You know, beavertails… they taste good… people eat them…" José waved his hand as if it were something everyone should know.

People… ate… them? What kind of sick place had he been warped to? And how did José expect him to 'make' a beavertail? He didn't exactly grow them. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing José with a confused but resolute gaze that said, 'And I'm not moving from this spot until I do.'

José looked at him for a moment then broke into peals of laughter. "Oh, I get it! You're from out of town, you don't know. Well, they're not real beavertails, just come over here and I'll show you."

Yami paused for a moment, then cautiously went to Jos's side, as if expecting to be attacked by a chained beaver.

"See, here's our beavertail!" José smiled at him as he whipped what looked like a shapeless lump of dough out from under the counter.

Yami considered it, but found no connection between it and a beaver's tail. He said as much. "That looks nothing like the tail of a beaver."

José chuckled lightly and said in a mysterious manner, "Ah, but watch and be amazed as before your very eyes it changes!" He stretched the dough out until it was in a rough sort of oval shape, then pulled several small containers of spices and jellied fruits towards him. "Now you just look at these and decide which ones you want while I fry this baby up. On second though, smell them if you like 'cause they all look the same." He smiled and walked off with his ovular dough.

Yami looked through the bunches of spices, sniffing occasionally at them and chose nutmeg, cinnamon and something that smelled really good, as well as brown sugar. The containers of fruit were labelled so him simply pulled the one with apples towards him and pushed the rest back to where they'd come from. He was rather curious now as to how this would turn out.

José came back mere moments later with the fried dough, which had gone crispy and turned a lovely shade of golden-brown. He looked at Yami's choices and nodded, no speaking with a French air, "Ah oui mosieur, what excellent taste you 'ave! Now José shall work magic with you selections!" He took a pinch of this and a dash of that, and smeared a hefty spoonful of the apple paste on top. Again his tone of voice changed, now to some sort of annoucer, "And there we have it folks, the one-of-a-kind beavertail!"

Yami didn't think it looked much like a beaver's tail, but he supposed if you cocked your head and squinted it might. He took it when José offered it to him and cautiously took a bite. It was surprisingly good, and very warm.

José grinned at him and asked, "You like it, huh?"

Yami nodded, feeling brown sugar gathering at the corners of his mouth.

"He can stay."

Both José and Yami whirled around, José putting a hand to his chest and gasping, "Jeez Kolin, you nearly gave me a heart attack there."

Yami studied the other boy; he looked to be roughly twenty-two and had dark grey eyes only a few shades lighter than his raven-black hair. He stood with a confident sort of air and was scowling at them. "What's your name?"

It took Yami a moment to realize he was being spoken to, "Uh, it's…"

"Felix! His name's Felix, Kolin, so can he stay, pelase?" José pouted with his bottom lip out, clasping his hands together to look like he was begging.

"Lay off it, I already said he could." Kolin did not appear amused, and seemed more interested in Yami than Jos's antics, "So you, Felix. Just don't do anything stupid while you're here."

"I didn't plan on it." Yami returned delicately.

"Good. You're obviously not as foolish as you look. Wearing short sleeved leather in the middle of winter, what kind of crazies will we get in here next?" Kolin muttered the last phrase to himself, turning away to head into some back room.

Yami held himself a bit higher. It seemed that this Kolin person was more like Kaiba than he'd anticipated. What fun.