Salutations and greetings to all! First, before anything else, I just want to comment on the fact that my story now has more then 50 REVIEWS! I can't even begin to comprehend this, you guys do know that right? I can't believe the love for this story that you people are showing to me in this particularly great method! No greater would you have affected me if you tried anything else, (excluding money) seriously. Another thing is, that out of 50 there are no flames at all, I haven't gotten anything worse then an 'It's ok', which is really great! I am actually tearful as I write this... I'd like to thank the academy...no, not gonna start that! RANDOM PERSON! I WANT TO YELL ALSO! I appreciate that you do in many many more reviews! But, I digress, you people don't want a longwinded speech, you want the story don't you? Right then.

Recommendations of the month: Penny Arcade, if you've seen the site then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't it's a really funny gaming -based web cartoon. Oh! And also if you people have any real knowledge of anime in general then you all know what full metal alchemist is! If you don't then go and die. I mean it. Big recommendation on it though! (I love the series and I am currently listening to the soundtrack at this very moment!)

Yami to Yugi

-Ryou to Bakura-

Marik to Malik

Seto to Kaiba

((Youko to Shuicci))

Numbers in the text match up at the bottom of the page, I feel it is more convenient this way then others I've tried.

Chapter 15: Running and running

Isis had a certain feeling as of late, not the feeling of contentment that she usually had when she had Malik out of her hair and time to herself. The nagging feeling that something was terribly terribly wrong! Not surprisingly, she also had a feeling that Malik was most definitely involved with whatever was causing the other sense of wrong. Usually, when these two feelings were coupled together it meant that she would be quite busy opening a can of whoop-ass coupled with a side of pain on Malik very very soon.

As if Ra himself was listening in on what she was thinking, a soon to be infamous news report came on the television that happen to be in the salon. The news report depicted the infamous group (with a couple of extras) being idiots in the middle of the road. Isis knew that she would soon be having a lot if work to do, but she was resigned to it. Putting out the proverbial and literal fires that Malik or Marik started every day with the good people of Domino was Isis's work, however grudging and hopeless it seemed to be. She gathered that the influence of the three senior idiots (which was what she happened to call the Yami population when they weren't around, yes, even the pharaoh) had roped the others that she could not identify into their stupidity, though she did recognize Hiei in the mess, he didn't look too right in the head at the moment, but who was she to judge? He had been sleeping in the oak tree in the front of her yard for the past few days. She wondered how Hiei and Malik had escaped the insane asylum in the first place, that particular one she instated them both in was famous for needlessly injecting their patients with a government grade strength tranquilizer every few hours. Or when, in their eyes, the patient was not cooperating to the best of their ability. Malik should have been so juiced with drugs he shouldn't have been able to coordinate the beating of his heart, let alone escape from an asylum that was also famous for its over-zealous security system. Yet there he was, crossing an eight lane highway with ancient Egyptian spirits, rowdy teens, and what looked suspiciously like a duel monster cheering him on. Isis shook her head sadly, contemplating the whole time why Malik wasn't dead yet.

Meanwhile, at the place depicted on the news, Yusuke was having a great time, these people were completely crazy, and he liked it! Malik, was halfway through the moving highway maze of cars and he wasn't dead yet. That albino Bakura was chatting with Youko who happened to be sitting partially up a tree. Yami was looking at Youko and commenting that he looked like a duel monster (to Youko's ire). And finally Hiei was curled up in a ball screaming about scorpions eating his face. (Apparetly his high was taking a small turn for the worse). While he looked around Malik had crossed the road and was waving smugly for the others to follow. Yami was apparently up next, vaulting over the guard rail he raced across the lanes, dodging with the ease of long practice. It looked to Yusuke like those guys did this kind of thing a lot, he didn't know whether this was a good or bad thing but frankly he didn't really care. Yusuke sat down, no use standing when you can sit in his opinion. He thought about how those Yami guys were so accepting of him, Hiei, and even Youko. It's like they didn't even care! They even liked it when Yusuke blasted that camera to bits in the insane asylum. They didn't question why Hiei was acting so weird, but they did theorize about Hiei and the shadow realm in the first place so maybe they knew already. Or also why red-haired Shuicci all of a sudden looked like an albino genetic anomaly with an intense like of foliage, but he had a suspicion that that Bakura already knew about Youko, and Yami didn't know, but all he was was curious why Youko looked like a duel monster or whatever that was. Yusuke on the other hand was accepting of them mostly because he had seen things much weirder on the meter then this, but he had to admit this WAS a pretty screwed up case. If Yusuke was a regular person who had an intense belief that magic and powers that were not assessable to humans and completely fake he could have maybe believed that these people had advanced delusinary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage (he only knew that term because he had read it on one of the documents on the late Dr. Imawato's desk before they all left). With the displays of magic though, and the fact that he was in the company of Shuicci made it plausible that their very far fetched story was true. If it was, Koenma was an idiot who could not see power that threatened the world if it bit him, but he suspected that already. Yusuke crossed his arms and nodded with assertion that these guys were A-OK in his book. He looked up and saw that no one was going. Well, it would just have to be his turn then, wouldn't it? Yusuke hurdled over the guard rail and did a series of insane flips and turns that left Yami balking and Bakura yelling that he could do that too with of course some expletives shot here and there in the challenge.

Just then, the sound of police sirens wafted to their collective ears, they were far off but that was absolutely no reason to relax. The highway was now too crowded for them to shout to each other so Bakura used some rudimentary sign language to tell Malik to meet at Kaiba's house as soon as possible. Kaiba, he reasoned, would be more accepting of complete weirdoes running from the law then most people and also everyone smart enough to balance an egg in a bowl realized long ago that Seto had the police in his pocket. Which then intern meant that Kaiba did also. Good for him. Malik and his group (Yusuke and Yami) on the other side of the highway had started making their way through the woods at a fast run; it was now time for Bakura and his group to do the same. If Youko would get out of the damn tree first.

Kaiba meanwhile sat in a lawn chair in the spacious back yard of Kaiba corp. estates laughing to himself and sipping an import alcoholic beverage with glee. Positioned between a cooler and a large plate of finger food he replayed the day's hours in his mind grinning with satisfaction.

After getting in the limo to bring Seto, the little brother (he had forgotten his name), and ultimately himself to the private hotel he began stewing in his own innovative juices. After a few minutes in the limousine Seto had begun to do some stock portfolio file sharing on his laptop and Mokuba, looking like he was in the shallow end of thought, slumped against the window in a stupor with a game boy, leaving Kaiba to fully realize something his thoughts had been playing around with. These 'fans' of Seto's where somewhat of a cross between an assassin and an underling or toady of some sort. The toady half was simpering and insanely loyal to the point of worship, while the assassin was always calculating and selflessly guarding the predator/prey aspect of their so called relationship with Seto. While he mulled over this (chin scratching gesture and all in his soul room) his thoughts wandered to the brother of Seto. That little thing was on to him again, more then ever, so now, more then ever, he would have to be careful and mask his actions with the precision that he prided himself in doing most things. So he slipped with the party, a minor mistake was all, now he had to focus on what was best for him in this situation...oh, and not to get Seto killed, that wouldn't be a good thing either. The limo made it to the hotel in good time without any incident, Kaiba was tired with all this thinking that he was doing, exponentially so, so he decided that he was intitled to a small nap. Drifting off to sleep, he contemplated whether this place had anything good to drink; he would have to investigate later.

What he had hoped and wanted to be a small nap was actually a twenty hour coma. It appeared to be the middle of the night as he woke up and immediately possessed Seto's sleeping body. His first reaction was that his mouth tasted sooty for some odd and unexplained reason. As he got up to wash his mouth out with something from the very visible minibar he saw that the convention center that they had come from much earlier that day was in flames. Well...he was sorry that he had missed the state of affairs that had triggered that happenstance of events. He chugged about two mini bottles of what smelled like cheep vodka (he was in a very large and expensive suite, the front desk would hear about this if he had anything to say about it) and sat back down to go over what Seto had witnessed in regards to the enflamed convention hall.

What he found was quite amusing indeed. Apparently, the 'fans' a started a bon fire in reverence to Seto and it spread a bit until it put the convention hall on the category of well done. Seto had spent the sixteen hours before that giving seminars and speeches about random things, nothing much interesting there. But the three hours after the bon fire was full of medical and legal action, Seto seemed to really enjoy suing people at any given time. "Hmm..."Kaiba said out loud, "that was educational, anyway, now to more pressing matters of a stiff drink and a bit of gambling!" (1)

After he had squandered about two-hundred dollars on alcohol and poker Kaiba began to once again feel tired, this was more convenient then anything else anyway, Seto would be waking up soon with a very large hangover and Kaiba would avoid questioning on why he had gotten that way when he was supposed to be sleeping with some well placed sleep of his own. He made his way (a little unsteadily) back the the suite. Before he went back to sleep he went into a room where Mokuba was snoring loudly, feeling a little malicious, he decided he would do something to get back at Mokuba for snooping so annoyingly when he was trying to throw a good party, along with just being plain annoying other times. He snickered as he made his way back to his own bed. Seto would have an extremely rude awakening very soon.

Indeed he did, waking up with a pounding headache to Mokuba screaming bloody murder would absolutely apply to that particular category. He staggered out of bed muttering obscenities as he made his way over to Mokuba's bedroom. Opening the door, he found that Mokuba was in quite a bad situation. Being expertly dangled over the ceiling fan in a cocoon of hotel sample shaving cream, bed sheets and towels upside-down had to be a bad experience. Seto laughed heartily and then regretted it as the signs of a massive hangover settled around him. How the HELL did he get a hangover when all he was doing was sleeping...he was going to kill that- . But as he came to the realization of who actually did it the hangover symptoms came full circle full force. It was either go back and lie down or blow chunks. He groaned low and long and made his way back to bed to sleep a few more hours, completely forgetting that his little brother was trapped in a hanging hell near the ceiling.

He was woken, thankfully without a headache, in what seemed back in the fire, for there was that much screaming to be had. He got up and quizzically opened his blinds to find the convention center crowd five floors below him screaming their voice boxes into hoarseness. How did they find him! He reasoned quickly that it must have been an inside job, but there was no time to devise who the culprit now. He had to save his own skin. But as he realized something he began to panic, he had left his mass riot kit back in the now completely burned down convention center, he knew that he could take at least a few of them in hand to hand combat, but the shear numbers out there would overwhelm him instantly, then their was Mokuba to think of, dead weight that he was. He packed his suitcase very quickly and threw on a trench coat the wasn't covered in soot. He went into Mokuba's room, threw all his stuff into a bag and cut him down from his ceiling prison without much explanation of what hell he was doing and why. His fevered mind veritably stewed with ideas, but all were shot down with either logic or impossibility. As if on some kind of cue Kaiba decided to enter these inner thoughts with the air of having something to sell.

Hey Seto, you know what? You didn't ask me if I could provide my services... I'm hurt.

What the hell could you do anyway?

Well, for a certain price I could get us back to the airport in one piece.

I don't need your help you stupid voice!

Tsk, tsk, tsk, of course you need my help I can here how panicked you are, you can't even make a good insult! Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way hikari, the easy being you let me out and for the one time introductory price of letting me do what I want for a while when we get back I can get us all, including that little brother of yours back to the air port in one piece and UN attacked by fans of any kind. Now-

First of all, do not call me hikari you are just some stupid voice that I have developed out of stress or something. Second, that idea I will never agree to! And finally, third, I do not need your help! (2)

Tut, tut, Seto! Don't be rude! I was not finished you see, now, if you were to disagree like you are currently doing then I will forcibly take over and just do everything anyway.

Meanwhile, braver fans were climbing the sides of the buildings outside. Seto saw this activity but tried to make no sign that he did.

Do we have a deal?

Not on your life

The people who were climbing had made it to his window and were banging on it with such crazed tenacity that they soon were making cracks in the glass.

Hmm?

No!

Any minute they would break through and swarm the room like some kind of bee.

...FINE, FINE! JUST GO!

Seto found himself feeling the mental equivalent of being pushed aside roughly and excitedly, and not into sub consciousness like he had expected. He found that he could see and hear what was going on but he couldn't move or speak out loud. This would usually be acceptable to the others, namely Ryou and Yugi, because, Ryou especially so, liked to at least see when he was committing crimes that he wasn't actually committing. When he was unceremoniously shoved into his soul room (when Bakura found something interesting or was just plain bored) like a forgotten dinner into a plastic tub he worried what Bakura was actually doing out there. But the absolute worst was when Ryou would ask what was happening and Bakura would answer with a quick 'nothing'. Nothing was always something, something that usually was very horrible (3). So, Seto would have been at least a little content with the fact that he could actually see what was going on, but of course he was not. Seto liked everything to be perfect and he himself to be in control of it all, meaning that he liked all the aspects of his life to be at lest partially controllable. This was not his definition of in control.

What the hell is going on?

I thought you would thank me, me being you savior from certain fan mauling and all but I guess that's not the case. Well, I thought that you might want to see me, as great as I am, in action!

Ha, that's comical!

Kaiba did not reply, but what Seto was answered with his body moving across the floor without his direction towards the window where the crazed fans, at his appearance, completely freaked out. Something that was not quite seen issued out of his hands and flung the hyper fans off the window ledge into the waiting fabric of a tarp that their accomplices had ready on the ground.

Shadow power is a lot cooler then corporate conventions isn't it?

Shut up and get going you waste of thought, and more importantly, my time.

Kaiba shouldered the suitcase and small bag that was Mokuba and Seto's luggage and went into Mokuba's room to get the stupid kid. (he would have left him, small children were annoying) Mokuba was sitting in the middle of the room (he got out of the cocoon) continuously asking questions that fell on Kaiba's deaf ears. Kaiba simply judo chopped Mokuba in the back of the neck, caught him, and finally put him in a fireman's carry on his other shoulder. Seto was about to say something but thought better of it when he thought back to how Mokuba had acted on the plane the first time, he really didn't want that to happen again. Kaiba had merely done it because Mokuba couldn't run that fast and he would just slow him down, that was not a good thing when you are running from a large group of mob intensity. He made it through the hotel running like a mad man and hopped into the currently driverless limo that had brought him to the convention center, and ultimately the hotel. Which he wished that he hadn't come to in the first place. Or more correctly the forsaken hotel that Seto wished that he hadn't come to in the first place... it had actually been fun for him anyway. Driving came easy to him, once he had thrown Mokuba in the back seat it took him exactly two minutes to master the steering and the gas of the the vehicle. It occurred to him that he should really find out what the other pedal did. No time to think about that now. He burst out of the garage with such force that he had startled the group, giving the element of surprise to him. He blasted down the highway towards the airport leaving the collection of insane fans to sulk in his collective dust. (Some where collecting the dust and licking it) Now, he had to actually get to the airport... Oh yeah, he knew where he was! Sure!

Ha! You don't know where you're even going do you? I guess disembodied voices don't have developed direction senses!

Kaiba only replied by doing a complete screeching three-sixty in the middle of the highway, then sped up to go in the exact same direction he had been going in before. He did make it eventually to the airport and even got in a smallish line for the Boeing that Seto would be traveling home in.

Ha! I told you that I could do it, all in good time too! Now you of course have to hold up your end of the bargain that we made.

Sure, sure, whatever.

Kaiba retreated to his soul room, still on the alert just in case anything else that was fun befell Seto before they got back the the town of Domino. Seto was quite uncomfortable with the fact that he had the feeling of a ticking time bomb in the back of his mind, almost like a countdown. His brow furrowed, he really did not like this whole ordeal, but, to keep up appearances he had to refuse to believe any and all of it. He straightened his collar and regained a smug smirk back on his countenance. At least he could still be in control of some aspects of his life. He got up and went to go tell the plane steward that he was going to sue the airline for all that they had. The plane ride, sadly, was eventless and thourohly boring for Kaiba. Plus, Kaiba had the wait until it was what he liked to call uninterrupted Kaiba time to begin. He was not a very patient spirit. But, due to boredom he eventually conked out in the middle of the ride, not being able to keep awake through the monotony. When he finally woke up, he found that they were nearing Domino and would be there within a half hour. This pleased him. They were even close enough to get reception on the small televisions that peppered the first class seating. His happened to be on, and as he fully possessed Seto with mild interest in the glowing box a certain news report came on. The yami population was at it again! Very good, more fun for him then. He also saw, with further inspection, that he recognized people that came to his party; interesting developments were apparently unfolding without him. He would most definitely have to change that! The plane landed and he got out of the cabin with more then a little relish, smelling the congested air he made his way (with a now conscious Mokuba in tow) back to the estates of which he calls his home.

Bakura ran and ran, feeling more at ease then if he was sitting down at a desk in what Ryou called school and he called unnecessary. Bakura whooped as he jumped another fallen log in the woods. This was the kind of thing that he lived for...uh kind of. Youko ran off to have left looking board with the pace that was set. It became more then evident that Youko, as a demon, was thinking this speed trivial. Bakura may have been able to best Youko at the best of stealing, but at strength feats humans weren't up to par in the least, even drastically weird ones like Bakura. Bakura really didn't care what Youko thought though, because he was the leader so that meant that he was in charge of this expedition admit! Well, now that he felt more energized he sped up a little bit. 'Hmm, where is that small demon, what did Youko say his name was again? Oh yes, Hiei!' "Hey! Youko! Where is that Hiei dude?" "Oh, he is a small bit in front of us in the trees, do not be alarmed, speed is somewhat of his specialty" Youko said in one breath. "I'm not...do you mean the pace or the drug? Because he has seemed to be influenced by some kind of hallucinogenic... oh yes, ever since the shadow realm incident." Bakura laughed out loud, that stupid doctor really had it coming to him.

The estates and territories of Kaiba Corporation were in sight now, Bakura almost looked crestfallen at that fact. He had been half-hoping for the police to corner him and his associates. For that would've have provided at least some amusement. They were all on the grounds now and would be there soon, he wondered how the other three were doing; he hoped that Yami had fallen into one of Kaiba estate's famous pit traps.

Yami had not fallen into a pit trap at least in the literal sense; he did however fall into the proverbial pit trap of boredom. All this running was not fitting for a pharaoh like himself. But he didn't complain, being the demure and reserved spirit that he had trained (with minor lapses) himself to be. At least he didn't have to worry about Yugi for a while at least. He had token the time when they were playing one of his favorite games that involves a highway to lock an unconscious Yugi into not his designated soul room. No, not the light happy one, he had locked him into the one that had the look of a maze coupled with the fact that most of the staircases were sideways or upside-down. He laughed a little, but then his happy mood got a bit of a gloom cloud on the sides of it, he hadn't thought of what would happen if Yugi got out of there earlier then he expected. It wasn't that good when Yugi was pissed off and you happened to be in a room with him but when Yugi was pissed off and you shared a body with him it was a totally different story. The best way he could describe it was utter chaos, and it was bad to be on the receiving end of that. Plus, blocks from a particular hikari's soul room hurt like hell when thrown at your head. But, everything could go perfectly alright too, and he could get out of this unscathed. He really hoped that it would be the latter of the two.

Malik had gone ahead of Yusuke and Yami because he was bored, and his yami was bored and he was hungry and Kaiba was a known harborer of delicious toaster pizzas from the 7-11. That didn't take much thought process on his part. As he made his way through the forest he saw lights from the large mansion and heard the telltale whispering of Bakura telling the others to not screw up the approach of Kaiba. " ...and remember I go first, if it's Seto then you two will spook him and THEN he will set the dogs on us! I don't want the dogs on us! If I see that it's definitely Kaiba I'll call you-Oh, hey Malik" Malik walked out of the bushes and joined the group. "So, did the others fall into a pit trap?" "I am truly sorry, but they didn't, though it would have been hilarious if the pharaoh fell on his ass" said Malik. "It took you long enough to get here! I trust that you heard the tail end of my plan of attack?" asked Bakura. Malik, at this point nodded. "Good, as I was saying, I'll pull a Ryou and approach the target as if I left something here sometime or other, now I will ask some key questions be on guard and stay to the trees." Bakura suddenly cut off and nodded to himself as if this was a good time then cut off and went to go start his plan, in which he was confident in its ability to hold water. As he stalked towards the back yard area he screwed up his face and flattened his hair to look like Ryou, putting a timid walk to his feet instead of a stalk and lightening his voice took care of the rest of the disguise. He prided himself in the ability to act like his host so convincingly but it was somewhat of a double edged sword, he hated acting all friendly and such (it made him sick at times). But it was useful at times like these, he made is way over to Kaiba or Seto with blatant lost ness and bit of a cowering twist on the edges of his expression. "Hey, hey, hey, Ryou! What is an albino like your self doing here? Didja lose something? Well, let an old priest help you! So what did you lose?" asked the guy who was most defiantly proven without a doubt to be Kaiba with that little speech (and a small bit drunk also). "The ability to tell right from wrong...oh wait, I never had that to begin with", said Bakura matter off factly, dropping the now useless act. Kaiba started a bit "Oh! Damn, tomb robber! Don't do that!" Kaiba yelled over dramatically. "Sorry" said Bakura, with to much sarcasm and a smirk to sound sorry in the least. "Now are you going to sit in that damn lawn chair or are you going to tell me were the beer is, you selfish baka priest, we're thirsty!" "What, you finally got Ryou to discover the joys of good alcohol?" "What the hell did you come up with an idea like that? Ryou wouldn't even look at alcohol unless that it was in that bread pudding that he likes so much. Bakura made a face at the thought of bread pudding, then he heard to his immense disappointment the pharaoh ranting about the fact that he, the god touched, had to run. Bakura also thought he was touched...in the head. But who was he to judge? He had been called over time many many synonyms for insane.

"Well, now that were all here and collected now is the time for you Kaiba to meet the associates that I have been working with as of late and by that I don't mean the baka pharoh and tattooed back over there. Oh,did you know that Ishtar is getting into your toaster pizza's?" Kaiba looked up like a rabid dog (growl and all) to find that Malik was very close to eating the large plate of toasted pizzas that he had brought out with him. "Malik! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY FREAKING TOASTER PIZZAS BEFORE I BREAK YOUR FREAKING HANDS!", Kaiba yelled with such threat and savageness that Malik dropped the toaster pizza he was going for and ran for cover. "Hey you guys, get the hell out here and get a beer before Kaiba the selfish # of a priest drinks it all" Bakura yelled at what was seemingly just the stretch of woods going around the sides of Kaiba's property. Youko stared obstinately at Bakura; he did not like to be ordered around by anyone. All the look that Bakura gave back was a look that said something along the lines of 'sit down and shut up or I'll punch you in the head'. He stalked over with a glare and bowed mockingly at Bakura before standing there obstinately. Kaiba blinked and shook his head at Youko who was grabbing a seat on the grass with the air of someone sitting on a throne. Hiei looked disinterested in the conversation but on the other hand very interested in a bug zapper three-thousand that happened to be outside and active in the waning hours of daylight.

As the waning minutes of daylight creped on and the bug population became fiercer they all made their way inside the large mansion but once inside Yami felt something stirring in the back of his head.

YAMI!

"Uh-oh"

(1)Kaiba had seen a casino/bar on the way in from the convention center.

(2) That work together thing at the party had been a one time, I was drunk and my mind was incredibly clouded kind of thing in Seto's mind, after that, he had gone back to being as obstinate as ever.

(3) Which could involve anything from coaching Malik (or Marik) in his arts of life (which could involve any of these things), stealing, messing with the 7-11 guy in the process of buying what he called delicious toaster treats, floor buffers, alcohol, sugar, rampages, harassment, lounging in front of the TV, plotting to take over the world, trying to take over the world, foully consuming someone's soul, sending anything and everything to the shadow realm, bringing something from the shadow realm, dueling, running from the cops, being sent to the shadow realm, killing things, stabbing things, setting things on fire, jumping off high objects, experimenting with various kitchen appliances, playing video games, annoying the hell out of someone, murder attempts, gorging on some kind of food substance, bar fights, getting into illegal bars, getting illegal alcohol into his system, egging things, teasing animals, hunting, egging the other yamis on with any of these tasks, buying things off the internet, or the shopping channel, breaking things, throwing things at people, torturing, auctioning off various possessions of Ryou's, raiding other people's fridge's, drawing on the walls, staining things, destroying the house, licking batteries, getting into apopaylictic battles, and etc.

Well that is it you all! I can't write anymore even if I tried. I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to post up but I made up for it didn't I? And, I even started writing the next chapter. So, until next time, regale me with reviews and I'll reward you back!