Hey everyone!
How is you? If you're not feeling good right now, you probably will by the time you get done reading this... I have gotten really upset that my story has gotten so sad and angsty... So I have gone to great lengths to make sure this chapter is funny.
I got several comments in particular about the Bakura ("Misspelled!") POV's ("Misspelled!") being way too sad and torture-filled. So now it's time for Ryou's ("Misspelled!") revenge!!!!! Bakura's ("Misspelled!") POV ("Misspelled!") is really interesting in this chappie... ("Misspelled!")
Ok, now this is getting annoying... We just got this new WordScribe thing uploaded onto our computer and every time you misspell a word, instead of underlining it, it shouts "Misspelled!" at you... This means that every time I type the word Bakura ("Misspelled!") or the word Yugi ("Misspelled!") or Yami ("Misspelled!") or even Daricio ("Misspelled!"), it shouts "Misspelled!" at me. So I end up hearing, "Misspelled!.... Misspelled! Misspelled!....Misspelled!..... MISSPELLED!!!!!!!!!!!" Stupid crazy computer... Almost as bad as Kaiba's ("Misspelled!") stupid, annoying AI. ("Misspelled!") *sigh*
*Shuts off sound on her computer* Much better.
Ok, now that that's done and over with... Let's get on with the fic! ("Misspelled!") STUPID THING!!!! *Turns sound off again*
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: AAAARGH!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") Stupid thing!!!!! *Kills sound* Much better.... Now then... On with the fic...("Misspelled!")
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: AAAARGH!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") Stupid thing!!!!! *Kills sound* Much better.... Now then... On with the fic...("Misspelled!")
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") *Shuts off WordScribe* Now why didn't I think of that before? *Shrugs* Oh, well... Now then... LET'S START THE FIC!!!!("Misspelled!")..........
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: I thought I turned that thing off!.... *Uninstalls it* Ha! ("Misspelled!") ..... *Grumble Grumble* WILL THIS STUPID THING LET ME START MY FIC ("Misspelled!") ALREADY?!?!?!?!? hmmm ("Misspelled!") ...... let me try something... j j j j j j ..... *silence* ok... so "j" is a word? And "ha" ("Misspelled!") is not? Weird..... *Shuts off sound again and duct tapes it off* There!
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: .... That's it... I'm ignoring that.... Maybe then it will shut off...)
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{Joey}
//And that means the answer has got to be... uh... er... the square root of 2 + 8? Or 28? Or...// Joey glanced over at Yugi's desk where he usually turned to get help with his work.
But Yugi wasn't here today. Joey sighed and returned his attention to the problem. Or at least he tried to.
//Why isn't Yuge here today? Did Shells an DVD bring im over and find Daricio? If so, how they going to get her back? What's Yuge going to have to do?// he glanced back at Yugi's empty chair again. In doing so, he caught Tristan's eye, who was also looking at Yugi's empty chair and was probably wondering the same things.
Joey looked slowly around the classroom at everyone. Tristan looked worried. Tea, who had run into class a little late looked worried. Bakura... Wasn't there, for some reason.... Also, he hadn't noticed before, but Kaiba wasn't there either... In fact, Joey couldn't remember seeing him there for a while.
//Where is everyone?// Joey wondered to himself. He would have to go and find them after school. In fact, he decided that that was exactly what he was going to do.
With this conclusion in mind, Joey was able to focus on his math while he waited for school to end, even though it had barely started.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Extremely slowly. Snail pace slowly. Exhaustingly slowly. But it did finally come to an end.
When the last bell rang, Joey was out of his 6th period class as quickly as humanly possible. He ran to his locker... And let out a groan. Somebody had duct taped his locker shut... Again!
He put his bag down and began the horrible chore of peeling off all that tape.
The duct tape, being duct tape, was extremely hard to pull off of the cold metal, and when it finally did release it, it left a sticky film that Joey knew wouldn't come off for weeks.
Finally, after about 20 minutes, he was able to get almost all of the tape off. Enough for his locker to be able to open anyway.
He fumbled with the lock for a moment, and then pulled on the handle. Nothing. It was stuck. He did his combo again, but still, the door held fast.
//Stupid sticky stuff from the tape must be jamming the door! Of all the luck!// Joey thought to himself. He sighed, then gave his locker a good solid kick. It rattled for a few seconds, then creaked slowly open. Joey stared at it.
//Stupid thing...// He muttered to himself, pulling the door open the rest of the way and dumping all of his schoolbooks inside.
Then, with one final glance in the mirror, he slammed the door shut and started down the hall towards the main hall, trying to wipe the sticky goo off of his hands as he went. Behind him, he heard a small crash as his mirror came unstuck from the back of his locker and fell with a bang onto the other miscellaneous items in his locker.
He winced slightly. "I hope that didn't break." He groaned.
"I wouldn't think so." Tea said, coming up behind him and startling him. "We have pretty small lockers, so it didn't fall very far."
He glanced at his locker again and shrugged. "Stupid thing anyway." he told her.
She smiled. "So Joey, what are you doing still here at school on a Friday?" She asked him. Joey gestured over his shoulder in the general direction of the school with a jerk of his thumb.
"Some idiot duct taped my locker shut," he told her, grimacing.
She giggled. "Again?"
"T's not funny."
"Yes it is."
Joey frowned and decided to change the subject before he was embarrassed any further.
"Yuge and Bakura weren't at school today." he commented.
Tea's smile immediately vanished. "Well... I saw Bakura on my way to school this morning. But he was going the wrong way." She said, frowning.
"Where do ya suppose he was goin'?" Joey asked.
"I dunno." Tea said. "He looked like he was headed to the park."
"But what would he want at the park on a school day?" Joey wondered, mostly to himself.
"Who knows?" Tea said, sounding worried as usual. She glanced down at her watch. Then she looked at it more closely. "Oh, no!" She said suddenly.
"What?"
"I'm late for a very important meeting for the Friendship Speech Club! I've got to go, Joey! See ya!" Tea dashed off down the street.
Joey stared after her for a moment, wondering why in the world she would want to go to any friendship speech club, then remembered that this was Tea he was talking about, shook his head, and started off towards his house to drop off his stuff before searching for Yugi and Bakura.
When he reached the bottom of his driveway, he noticed that nobody had gotten the mail for the day. He opened the mailbox and pulled out a bundle of letters.
As he walked up to and inside the front door, he flipped through the letters, checking to see if any of them were for him.
"Bill, bill, bill, ad, junk, ad, bill, ad..." Joey said. "Ad, ad, bill, junk, thing for dad from his cousin, ad, bill,... Hey, what's this?"
He tossed the rest of the letters aside onto the table and took his letter to his room and sat on his bed.
The letter was addressed to a Mr. Joe Seph Wheeeler. It was from KaibaCorp.
Joey stared at the letter for a few moments.
//Joe Seph? // He wondered. //What's with that? Can't ANYBODY ever get my name right? And why am I getting stuff from KaibaCorp, anyhow? //
He sat still staring at it, wondering what in the world Kaiba wanted. Finally, bracing himself for Kaiba's insults letter style, he opened the envelope and read the letter. It read:
"Dear Mr. Wheeeler:
Due to the absence of Mr. Seto Kaiba as our CEO due to medical problems, you have been painstakingly chosen from the millions of eligible people in the world to serve as the head, or CEO in his place until the time he is able to return, though unfortunately, we don't think he'll return for a while.
Translated, this means that Seto Kaiba finally got sent to the nuthouse, and you get to have his job because we are trying to make him as absolutely mad as possible.
If you accept this offer, please report to the top office of KaibaCorp at 10:00 sharp tomorrow morning. If you do not accept the offer, show up at the top office of KaibaCorp at 10:00 sharp tomorrow morning anyway, because you still get the job. We will discuss what kind of work you'll be doing and your pay then. Until tomorrow,
--Weevil Underwood"
Joey stared at the letter. He reread it over and over and over and over. Slowly, a grin slowly formed on his face. His mind was racing with questions such as, why Kaiba had gotten sent to the nuthouse, why Weevil was in charge, and why Weevil had chosen him, but there was one thought that mainly dominated his mind.
//I wonder if Kaiba knows about this? //
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{Daricio}
When the car pulled into a parking spot and the engine shut off, Daricio and Yami returned to Yugi's soul room, though still watching everything that was going on through Yugi's eyes. Yugi chose DVD's pocket for his means of transportation, climbing up DVD's shirt and settling inside the pocket, much to DVD's amusement.
Then they got out of the car and everyone headed up to the hospital. Once they got to Daricio's room, Shells and DVD took their accustomed seats and Yugi peeked his head out of the pocket to get a look around.
//This is weird. // Daricio commented, referring to the fact that she was watching a large version of herself lying knocked out in a hospital room. Yugi and Yami agreed with her.
//Daricio, try the door now! Maybe this is close enough, and we won't have to raise anyone's suspicions by getting any closer! //
//Right. // Daricio replied.
She went over to the door. Then, with encouraging grins from Yugi and Yami, she turned the handle and pulled as hard as she could. It still didn't budge. She sighed, and then pulled even harder.
Yami came over to help her. Then Yugi did. But even with all three of them pulling their hardest, the door refused to move.
//Not working, Shells! We'll have...to get... Closer! // Daricio said.
Shells and DVD got up from their chairs and walked over to Daricio's side. DVD gently but quickly took Yugi out of his pocket and, making sure to keep him out of sight, put him in Daricio's hand.
//Now try! // Shells said.
//We are! It's still not working!// Yugi said.
Finally, exhausted, they stopped their pulling, sat on the floor of the soul room, and glared at the door, trying to figure out what to do next.
Suddenly, Daricio noticed something inscribed on the door very faintly. She got a little closer to it and looked hard at it. She wasn't sure, as she didn't really know what it looked like, but she was pretty sure that it was written in Egyptian. Hoping that Yami remembered enough to read the words, she pointed it out to him.
He stared at the inscription for several minutes, during which Shells and DVD had retreated with Yugi back to their chairs. Slowly, a smile spread over his face and he began to chuckle slightly.
"What does it say, Yami?" Daricio asked.
"Push." Yami said.
There were several moments of silence.
"Oh." Daricio said. "Right. I pulled it to go in, I push to go out. Duh..."
There were several more seconds of silence before Yugi broke it.
"You mean you could have gotten out the whole time?!?" He asked loudly.
Daricio shrugged. "I guess."
//It's times like these I wish I could fall down anime style. // DVD commented. Shells agreed.
Daricio shrugged again, then turned the doorknob and pushed. The door opened. Daricio shook her head.
"I have GOT to learn how to read Egyptian." She muttered to herself. She went through the door and held onto the link.
It had gotten incredibly smaller than last time, and she could already see the door leading into her own soul room from there, not more than 10 feet away.
She closed Yugi's door and took a few steps into the hallway. When she was about 5 feet from her door, she felt, once again, the same pressing, cold feeling that she had felt going the other way. Then, as it had before, it went away. Or at least the pressing did. It was still slightly cold.
She walked the remaining 5 feet to her door and went into her soul room. It looked just like it had before she had left to go into Yugi's mind, except that one shelf was overflowing with sheets of paper.
"Oops. I knew I shouldn't have done that quite like that." She thought to herself. Another piece of paper appeared on the top of the pile. Daricio shrugged. "I'll sort out my thoughts later. Right now, I need to tell everyone I'm all right..."
Then she sighed as yet another sheet appeared.
She noticed that the room had warmed up again, now that she was back in it. She opened her physical eyes and tried to look around. Everything was still a little bleary, but she knew that would clear up soon.
She tried to sit up, then let out a small groan as she fell back down onto the pillow. It seemed like every muscle in her body was sore from having not moved for... How many days? Too long. She felt that pins and needles feeling in her toes and fingers as they came awake again.
Mom looked up and noticed Daricio attempting to get up.
"Daricio!" She cried. She got up and gave Daricio a big hug, causing her aching muscles to cry out.
"Mom. Mom..." Daricio mumbled. "I'm fine, really... ow... Um...Mom..."
"Oh, Daricio!!!!!" Mom sobbed.
It wasn't long before everyone had noticed what had happened and was crowding around Daricio's bed.
Daricio got hugs from Dad, from Mom, from Jrj, from Shells, from DVD, and, (Daricio guessed) a slightly squashed Yugi, judging from the fact that he was still in DVD's pocket.
DVD must have realized this, because he pulled away suddenly and went over to a corner.
He opened the backpack, which was still sitting on a chair, pulled out the Yugi tin, whispered a hurried "Sorry," and a "thanks" and a "see ya" to Yugi, then sent him home.
After that, there was much hugging, happiness, and joy. (Slight exaggeration) Also, Daricio saying over and over, "I'm fine! I'm fine! Really! You can get off now!"
And all the while, the doctor stood in the doorway, looking on with amazement at Daricio's sudden recovery. He looked from her, to his clipboard, to her, to his clipboard again. He left the room and came back holding two clipboards. Then he began looking from one to the other and back again, searching for differences.
It didn't take long before Daricio noticed this, of course.
//Shells, what's the doctor doing over there with TWO clipboards? Doesn't each patient get only one clipboard? // she asked.
Shells suddenly remembered something. //You'll probably want to ask him. I might leave something out. // She said. DVD nodded in agreement. Nobody except him, Shells and Daricio knew what in the world he was nodding about, but they didn't care.
Daricio shrugged slightly, then turned to the doctor. "Whatcha doing?" she asked, her curiosity now at full level.
"Comparing charts." He said, still looking from one to the other.
"Well yeah, obviously, but why?"
He looked up. "You see, before you came in here, there was another person with the same symptoms as you. He's been in here for over two years, though, and nobody knows who he is. Well, your sister there seemed to recognize him, but she wouldn't tell ME anything. But anyway, I'm comparing these charts because-"
"Because you figure that now that I'm better, he might be able to get better also." Daricio said, nodding.
The doctor confirmed that. "Yes, exactly."
//And you are NOT going to believe who it is. // Shells commented.
Daricio pondered this for a moment, before looking up and grinning. "Can I see him?" She asked.
The doctor looked startled, then worried. "I don't know if you should be out of bed yet." He told her.
Daricio put on a face of mock disbelief. "Why not?" she asked. Then she got out of bed, feeling, as she said, just fine.
He nervously bit his lip and gave her another worried look, then sighed and finally agreed. "If you really want to..."
So with the whole family following to make sure she didn't fall or something, ("No, Mom, I don't need to hold your hand. I feel fine, really. I can walk.") The doctor led her down the hall.
When she entered the room and saw who it was, the first thing she did was to contact Yugi.
Running to her mental door, she pulled it open and called, "Yugi, I think you should see this!"
The other door opened and Yugi looked out into the hallway. Daricio could see Yami behind him.
"What?" Yugi asked. He grinned. "Miss me already?"
"No... You should see this." Daricio told him again.
Yugi turned and told Yami to take over for a moment, then jogged across the hallway and into Daricio's soul room.
"What?" He asked again.
"Look. Through my eyes, I mean." Daricio instructed him.
He did. And he, like Daricio, was amazed by what he saw.
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{Bakura}
Bakura was exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. He had been pretty much walking around Domino City in circles for the past few hours. Now he was coming up to the park again. He entered it and sat down under a big oak tree.
He curled up into a ball, folding his arms on top of his knees.
He had been holding back all day, but now he just couldn't stop the tears from running down his face. He buried his face in his arms to hide the fact that he was crying, but unfortunately, the one person he really wanted to hide his tears from could see it all no matter what he did.
As he sat there in the grass under the great oak tree with the sun just starting to set behind the blue hills in the distance, his yami ridiculed him. Tortured him. Hated him.
Suddenly, Bakura grew determined. He had had enough. In his soul room, he stood and faced the spirit.
"Shut. Up. Now." He said slowly, fire burning in his eyes. His yami looked at him curiously. Then he laughed.
"And what are you going to do about it little Ryou?" he asked. Then he sneered. "You gunna hit me or something?"
Bakura got an idea. Ignoring his yami's question, he did something he had never before dared to do. He confidently strode over to the door in his soul room, the one that led into the depths of the ring, and went inside.
The spirit narrowed his eyes at him. "Now where in the world do you think you're going?" He asked. He followed him closely into the room.
Again, Bakura simply ignored him and walked to the center of the room. Then he turned to face his crazed yami, who was giving him a mixed look of hatred, confusion, and curiosity.
"You know, you're not the only one who can use the powers of this ring." He commented. He let his words sink in for a moment before adding, "I can too."
Before the spirit had a chance to react, Bakura closed his eyes and concentrated on the mystical energies he had been able to sense when he entered the room. Immediately, it seemed that he was filled with power! It felt almost as if he could do anything! It was a good feeling.
Even though he had his eyes closed, he could feel his yami just about to tackle him. Barely even needing to put any effort into it, he quickly formed a thick force shield between them.
The spirit ran into it, then glared at him, pounding his fists against it. Bakura opened his eyes.
"Stop this at once, Ryou Kayoto! You don't know what you're doing!" the spirit raged.
Bakura winced slightly at the use of his old name, but brushed it off. He did not weaken the force shield one bit. In fact, he made it a lot stronger. It shoved the spirit away from it hard, slamming him into a wall of the room.
"Ryou!" The spirit yelled.
Bakura gave him an innocent look. //What's your real name? What were you like when you were little? // he asked softly, using the link instead of spoken words.
"What does THAT have to do with anything? Stop this, Ryou! You have absolutely NO clue what you're doing! You're going to end up hurting someone!"
"Like YOU really care if anyone but you gets hurt." Bakura shot at him. "You're a cruel, cold hearted-"
The spirit sank to his knees, knowing he couldn't get at Bakura, and glared at him. "I wasn't always..." He muttered, looking away.
"So, what were you like when you were little?" Bakura asked again.
The spirit exploded, throwing himself at the shield that was now separating them. "That is of no importance!! It means nothing! Why must you be so blasted irritating?"
The barrier forced him away, and he was thrown heavily into the wall once again.
"I want to know." Bakura said calmly. "That makes it perfectly relevant, I would think. But, seeing as you're not going to answer any of my questions, I'll have to answer them myself."
"What in tarnation are you babbling about? Get rid of this stupid shield!" Roared the spirit.
Bakura nodded. "Ok." He said. "But first..."
Bakura closed his eyes once again so as to be able to focus the powers of the ring once again. Suddenly, the park outside swirled.
//You know as well as I do that I hate going to the Shadow Realm, but in order to do this, I have to. So...//
Sure enough, when the swirling stopped, they were in the Shadow Realm.
By now the spirit had figured out what Bakura was doing. "No." he whispered. "No, not this...Ryou..."
Bakura grinned. The Shadow Realm swirled according to his slightest whims, and soon, they were standing in a simple, dusty room with a small window. Out that window was a small village, and beyond that, desert.
It was a memory. Only now, it wasn't Bakura's memory. This memory belonged to the Spirit of the Ring.
//Ok, where to first? // Bakura said. He smiled at his yami's frustrated growl and continued. //How about answering my first question that you never answered. What's your name? //
The room swirled, and now they were standing in a road in the village. There was a man standing there talking to a younger version of the Spirit of the Ring. Or whatever his name was.
"I've never seen you around here before. What would your name be? And where are your parents?" The man asked.
Bakura paused the scene there for a moment, shocked. The man was speaking Ancient Egyptian, but he could still understand him! //Since when did I learn how to speak Egyptian? // he wondered to himself.
//Since I grew up knowing only that language. // The spirit grumbled. //Don't you know anything? This is MY memory, so of course you'll be able to understand what people say. I understand, so you understand. //
Bakura nodded. //Oh. Ok, thanks. //
//Your welco-. Shut up. //
Bakura grinned. //Resume! //
Everything started up again. The young Spirit answered the man.
"We just moved here. My name is Radley! Radley Bakurna! My parents are over there." He said cheerfully, pointing to a large group of people gathered around one of the many shop stands.
The man nodded. "Thank you, Radley!"
"Your welcome!" Radley said, turning to go.
"Say, do you have a nickname?" The man asked suddenly. "Radley Bakurna is a pretty hard thing to say sometimes."
Radley turned back and grinned a cute boyish grin; surprising Bakura with how much he wound up looking like him, and replied, "Yup! Everyone just calls me Roo! See ya!"
The man nodded. "Goodbye Roo."
Bakura paused the scene, laughing hard. //Roo? // He asked between laughs. //Roo?!? //
//Shut. Up. // Radley said grumpily.
//Why? //
//You are going to pay for this. Just as SOON as I figure out how to counter...// Radley growled.
//Not before I have some more fun, Roo. Let's answer some more questions, shall we? What were you like when you were little? Let's just see! //
//Don't you dare, Ryou! // Radley warned.
//Or you'll do what? // Bakura asked, using the words the Sprit had just recently used. //You gunna hit me or something? //
//I just might as soon as we get out of here. // Radley growled.
Bakura shrugged. //Somehow, I think not. Things are going to be VERY different around here, ROO...//
Radley glared at Bakura. //I. Don't. Think. So.//
Bakura just laughed. //Let's go, Roo! // He said.
The Shadow Realm shifted once again, and this time, it was Radley "Roo" who was forced to sink into a wave of sorrow, terror, and despair.
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{Interlude: Seto Kaiba} (Of course)
It was dark. Or at least Seto thought so. He was back in his padded cell, which had no outside windows, so he couldn't be sure.
He paced the length of the room and back, waiting.
During breakfast that morning, Mokuba had managed to get a map of the place. He showed Seto where his cell was, while Mr. Gice showed Mr. Thedoor where his cell was. This, of course, was very annoying.
Although, Mr. Gice had proved to be of more use to him than Seto had initially thought. In one of his pockets, he had a sheet of paper that had calculations of when there were no guards in certain areas between shifts. The earliest they could get out was 6:00. So Seto was waiting.
Mr. Gice had also helped in another way, though Seto thought that this help wasn't intentional. He and Mokuba had been writing up plans on a sheet of paper that Mr. Gice had magically pulled from his pocket.
("Ta da!")
Mr. Gice had then pulled out another sheet of paper and a blue crayon and began coloring on the back of it. Seto had just ignored him, figuring that he had gone into one of his crazy moments and deciding that the best thing to do was to try not to make him yell at anyone.
This was all fine and good, until Mr. Gice reached out, grabbed Seto's plans, turned them over and scribbled in blue all over the back. Then he calmly handed it back to Seto and commented loudly, "Gee, Mr. Thedoor, you sure can color well!"
Seto had then looked around and noticed that one of the guards was staring at him. When Mr. Gice made this comment, the guard shrugged and went back to his work. They would have been caught making plans if Mr. Gice hadn't done that. Seto had looked back at Mr. Gice to see if that was what he had intended to do, but he had gone back to drawing a bright blue duck on yet another sheet of paper.
Seto paced the room some more, thinking. He glanced at his watch. 5:50. He still had some time. He pulled the plans out of a pocket in his coat, which they had let him keep. (He had no clue why, but it was awfully nice of them. He had hidden pockets in it and they were stuffed with equipment)
He studied the plans. At 6:00, he was going to go and unlock Mr. Gice. (Although, he had a suspicion that Mr. Gice would end up letting himself out first.) Then they were going to go and get Mokuba, whose cell was on the opposite side of the building. By then, the next shift of guards would have started, so they were going to head for the nearby opening to the ventilation systems and hang out in there being as quiet as possible until the next guard shift at 7:00. Then, they would go out the front door and make a break for the fence.
It seemed like a good plan. Seto just hoped it would work.
So now Seto was waiting for 6:00. The area would be guard-free until 6:30, when the next shift got there. They would have to hurry.
He put the plans away into a hidden pocket and looked at his watch again. 5:55. Close enough.
He unlocked his door using a spare card that Mr. Gice had supplied him with, and started down the hallway towards Mr. Gice's room. He was contemplating how he was going to open the door without startling Mr. Gice, when he rounded the corner and realized that his original suspicions were correct. He wouldn't have to let Mr. Gice out. He was already standing outside his cell with his arms crossed, waiting for Seto.
"Well, there you are! Took you long enough to get over here! I was thinking of simply going and getting Mokuba and getting out of here without you..." Mr. Gice informed him. Seto sighed.
"Let's go." He said.
They started down the hallway towards Mokuba's room. They walked quietly for a while, before Mr. Gice broke the silence.
"You know, there's something you should know... It wasn't a coincidence that we met..."
Seto gave him a strange look. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. "You aren't one of those weirdos who believe in Destiny, are you?"
Mr. Gice smiled and shook his head. "No. We met because I wanted to!"
"Great. Lovely. Any particular reason why?"
"Who wouldn't?"
"What?"
"Want to meet you."
"Huh?"
Mr. Gice sighed. "Let me put that into ONE sentence... Then it will make sense."
"What?"
"Who wouldn't want to meet YOU?"
"What do you mean?"
Mr. Gice laughed slightly. "Because I would have to be pretty crazy to not want to meet you."
"Well, you ARE pretty crazy." Seto pointed out.
"That's a nice thing to say to an old scientist like me." Mr. Gice said, beaming. "Crazy... I wish. If I were half as crazy as I pretend to be, I wouldn't be here."
"Even if you were only half as crazy, you'd still be... Pretend?"
Mr. Gice nodded. Seto stopped walking and stared. Mr. Gice turned around.
"I am Mr. Thomas S. Gice." He stated. "I am sometimes called Dr. S because of my middle name. But you can just call me Tom. Or you can-"
"Don't start THAT again."
Mr. Gice laughed. Then his face grew serious. "Now, then. I want you to get just ONE thing straight Mr. Seto Kaiba."
Seto stared. It was the first time he had gotten his name right.
"I am not crazy. I am not nuts. I am not a loony. And I do not belong here in this loony bin. And I know that neither do you. Because of this, we are getting out of here TONIGHT. That is, unless we continue to stand here chatting. So, if we could kindly keep moving?"
Seto stared some more, then nodded slowly and continued walking. "A scientist?" He said, referring to something Mr. Gice had said.
Mr. Gice nodded.
"What kind of science?"
"Observations mostly. Lately, just before those idiots stashed me in here, I was trying to find out as much as I could about something I called FWC's and the FWC Pic. Tech."
Seto's confusion must have shown on his face, because he elaborated.
"FWC's are Freaky World Cameras. The FWC Pic Tech is the Freaky World Company Picture Technology. That stuff is advanced. Really advanced. Even more so than your duel disk systems, Kaiba."
"I could always update the duel disk systems, you know... Hmm... Pic Tech... I think I had to do a book report on that once..." Kaiba mumbled to himself.
Mr. Gice grinned. "Book? They published it?"
Kaiba nodded. "It was kind of one sided though. It presented your ideas, then it immediately followed them up with reasons why it couldn't be true... "
Mr. Gice frowned. "Well, they obviously didn't believe the theory, but what do you think?"
Seto was about to answer no, when he thought back on the events of the past week. "Maybe." He said slowly.
Mr. Gice grinned again. "In other words, Yes!" He began skipping down the halls rather than walking. Seto sighed then jogged to keep up with him.
"Mr. Gice?"
"Thomas."
"Thomas, then."
"What?"
"Why were you "pretending" to be nuts? And why didn't you tell me this earlier so you could stop calling me Mr. Thedoor?"
"I was pretending to be crazy because, people don't expect the really crazy people to try and get out... so they have less security... Right? So now I have almost no security watching me, and it's easier for me to leave. That, and the fact that I thought our audience would like it... Also, frankly, it's fun. It makes the little kids laugh." Thomas told him. "Speaking of which, don't tell Mokuba about any of this... I don't want HIM to think of me as a normal boring person."
They finally reached Mokuba's cell. Seto checked his watch. It said 6:25. They would have to hurry. But first, Seto wanted some of his questions answered.
"I don't keep secrets from my little brother. And what do you mean, Audience?"
Thomas fiddled with the door some more. "You've got yourself an FWC, Mr. Thedoor!" he said.
Seto looked around quickly, searching for it. Thomas laughed.
"I thought you did a book report, Seto! The FWC's are invisible."
"Oh. Then how in the world do you know I've got one?"
"FWC's aren't from this world, Kaiba." He answered without really answering the question.
He pressed a few more switches on the door. "Why won't this thing open?!?!..... Oh... I See...." He stopped trying to press buttons and instead just pulled on the 'spiffy little door handle.' The door opened. "There!"
Thomas looked at his watch as Mokuba ran out of the cell. "We've got to hurry. They'll be here any minute..." He muttered to himself. The three ran for the opening to the ventilation shaft.
Seto tried a few times on the way to get Thomas to tell him more about the FWC's but he refused to say another word on the subject while Mokuba was there, and Mokuba finally told Seto to stop bugging Mr. Gice. They went mostly in silence.
They got to the opening and found that it was barred shut. "No problem." Seto said. He pulled a small kit out of his pocket and set it on the floor. Pressing a button on it, he stepped back as a mini saw popped out and began slicing through the bars with a semi-loud whirring sound.
When it was done, Seto packed it away again and Mokuba climbed into the shaft. Thomas was impressed.
"They let you keep that?" He asked.
"Sorta. They let me have my coat. It has a lot of pockets..."
"Ah." He had just started climbing inside, when Seto heard footsteps from down the hall. He tensed. Soon, a security guard rounded the corner.
"Hello." The guard said as he walked past Seto. "My shift's over, so you're free to take over." he commented, thinking Seto was another guard. Seto just nodded, his mouth dry.
The guard went around another corner. Two seconds went by. "Wait a second... Hey, You!"
The guard came running back into the hall.
"Oh, no..." Thomas said, trying to pull Seto into the shaft.
"I can take him." Seto growled.
"Take him later! Hurry, or they'll be all over! It doesn't take the guards long to gather into large groups!" He pulled hard on Seto's coat, making him fall into the shaft. "Come on!"
"Wait one second." Seto said, turning around and clamping two metal strips onto the opening. Then he dashed after his brother and the strange scientist.
"What were those?" Thomas asked as he ran.
"Electromagnetic Magnesium-Carbohydrate strips." Seto replied.
Thomas shook his head. "And you just happened to have some of those in your pocket?" He asked.
Seto nodded. "Very lucky for us. What they do is-"
"I know, I know. I'm a scientist, remember? You can program them so that only one person can touch them. Everyone else gets a huge electroshockwave. Very painful."
(A/N: I don't think there really is such a thing, but if there is, I need some for my room...)
Seto nodded. "But there are counter-methods. We've got to go through these systems instead of through the halls. Mokuba, where's that map?" He called to Mokuba, who had run far ahead.
"We won't need a map! Look!" Mokuba cried.
Seto and Thomas caught up with him. The shaft had just happened to lead right outside.
Thomas smiled. "What luck!" He exclaimed.
Mokuba nodded, a huge grin on his face. "This is perfect! Let's go! We have to make a run for it!"
At this, they all ran. The outside fence was Ten meters away... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... An alarm went off in the building!... Four... Three... Two... One... They were over the fence!
Seto quickly lined it with a few more Electromagnetic Magnesium- Carbohydrate strips, then they were home free!
That is, they were.... Until they ran right into what seemed like a wall of security guards going the other way.
They all stopped and tried to go around them, but then the guards from inside the building caught up with them. They were surrounded.
Thomas suddenly fell to his knees onto the sidewalk. "No!" He screamed. "No No No No No No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Seto stared at him. He didn't see what the big deal was. They could always try again later...
Thomas sobbed loudly. "Don't make me go back there! No! NO!!!!!!!!! FRANCHILINANICANTA!!!!!! AAAAIIEE!!!!!!!!"
Seto suddenly understood. He was putting on his act again. Or was he?
"Come on, you three. I can already see we're going to have to raise security a whole lot more." One guard said, dragging Thomas and leading Seto and Mokuba back into the building.
//Back to the drawing board...//
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{Tea} (First Tea POV!) (Very short...)
"Alright, I'll be sure and do that! See you next meeting!" Tea called. The meeting was now officially over and she was free to go home. But, somehow, even though it was getting very dark, she had a feeling that she shouldn't go home just yet.
//If I know Joey as well as I think I do, then he's probably somewhere around the park searching for Bakura. // She said. //So now, I need to find him so that I can tell him to go home. It's too late for doing any of that kind of thing now, and I don't think he has a flashlight...But first, I have to find him. //
She pulled her own flashlight out of he backpack and switched it on, heading for the park. By the time she arrived there, it was really dark. She started off down the path that led through the trees looking from side to side hoping to spot Joey.
//Wait. If he does have a flashlight, or any kind of light, then if I turn my light off, I should be able to see his.// She switched off her light, then stood on the path waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark.
When they did, she continued her search, now keeping an eye out for a light source.
Suddenly, she saw one. It was by the big oak tree in the center of the park. It had to be Joey! She jogged over there and went around to the other side of the tree.
Instead of Joey, she saw Bakura, sitting leaned up against the tree, fast asleep. There was a dark purple and black mist completely surrounding him, and the Ring around his neck was glowing brightly. The combination of the mist and the light of the Ring created an eerie glow that illuminated the area around him.
"Bakura?" She asked softly. She reached out her hand to try and wake him up, but hesitated when her hand got too close to the mist.
"Bakura?" She asked again. Then she realized something. "The ring... Tristan threw that thing away! That can only mean... Oh, no! This mist must mean the Shadow Realm!"
"The person who will know the most about the spirit of that Ring and the Shadow Realm will be the spirit of Yugi's puzzle!" She concluded, switching her light on again and running for Yugi's game shop.
//I have to hurry! //
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{Yugi}
"Yugi! Yugi!" Yugi was woken from another crazy Dark Magician chasing dream by Tea's voice from outside his window.
He got out of bed, still fully dressed because he hadn't bothered to change the night before, and opened his window. Tea came in through it.
"What is it, Tea?" He asked sleepily.
"Bakura...Shadow Realm... Terrible..." Tea was really out of breath.
"Wait a moment and catch your breath. Now, what about Bakura and the Shadow Realm?"
"I was in the park looking for Joey, when-"
"Why were you looking for Joey?"
"Oh, right. Well, on my way to school, I ran into Bakura, who was going the other direction! You know, away from school! He was headed towards the park. So then, after school, I told Joey about it and then I had to go to my meeting."
"And now you think he's still out there looking for Bakura?"
"Well, I did, so I went looking for Joey and I found Bakura! He's in the park, asleep by the big oak tree. But he's wearing that Ring and it's glowing... Something's happening to him, Yugi!"
Yugi quickly pulled his shoes on and went out the window, followed by Tea. They ran towards the park and to the oak tree.
There was nothing there.
"He...he must have woken up..." Tea said. "And left already."
Yugi yawned. "I dunno, Tea..." He said. "Erm, I have to go home now, okay?"
"Ok... But I was sure that he was right here..."
Yugi and Tea both went to their respective homes. When Yugi climbed back into his room, however, he was not ready to sleep. He was wide awake.
//What do you think, Yami? // He asked.
//I don't really know. // Yami answered. //Perhaps you should call Joey and ask him what happened when he went looking for Bakura. //
//Good idea. Think we should tell Daricio about this? //
//That would probably be a good idea too. How about you call Joey, and I'll tell Daricio. //
//Ok. //
Yugi went quietly down the stairs, trying not to wake Grandpa, and picked up the phone, dialing Joey's number.
It rang. And rang. And rang. Finally there was a sleepy "Lo?" on the other end.
"Hi, Joey?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah... Yuge?"
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I've got to ask you something."
"What?" Joey sounded more alert now.
"Did you go looking for Bakura after school today?"
"Nooo... I was gonna... But I got distracted."
Yugi let out a small sigh.
"Joey, There's something you should know... Tea thought that you would go and search for Bakura, and she went searching for you. But instead, she found Bakura. When she ran to tell me, by the time we got back out there, he was gone."
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then, "Uh Oh. That can't be good... Wonder what's up with Bakura?"
"I don't know. That's why I called you."
"Oh. Sorry, I'm really not going to be much help here, unless... Wait... Is Tea still there?"
"No, she went home."
"Ok, I'm gonna come over and we can both look for him."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea..." Yugi said, worried about what the spirit of the ring would do if they found him. He needed a better excuse than that, though, so he said, "It's really dark."
"Well, ok... But you cannot tell me not to look for him tomorrow when it's light out."
"All right." Yugi agreed. "In the morning, come here, then we'll look."
"Alright. See ya then."
"Bye."
The phones were hung up.
Yugi snuck back up to his room and went into his soul room. Yami was just saying, "And Yugi's just gone to call Joey."
"And Joey didn't go searching for Bakura today, so he didn't see anything." Yugi said.
"Well, this is definitely strange." Daricio said from her side of the hallway where she was sitting.
"Definitely. I guess we are going to go see Bakura tomorrow?" Yami said.
"Yeah. Joey's coming with us. He insisted." Yugi replied.
"Do you think this ties in somehow with him being there at the hospital?" Daricio asked.
"I'm really not sure. What should we do?" Yugi wondered.
"Personally, I think that we should get some sleep. It's late." Yami said, yawning.
He went to his soul room.
Yugi sighed, looking after him. "You know, Daricio, If there's something going on with Bakura, it's gotta be because of that evil side of him, the spirit of the Millennium Ring. That Spirit has got to be from Egypt. And if he's from Egypt, and Yami's from Egypt, then if Yami can finally remember his past, then this will all be a whole lot easier to figure out."
"Yeah, I know. But how is he going to be able to remember?"
"Maybe I can get Tea to take him to that new Egyptian exhibit at the museum."
"There's an Egyptian exhibit at the museum?"
"Yeah. Maybe it will help."
"I bet it would. Talk to Tea tomorrow, Ok? But let's make it a surprise for Yami! Don't tell him."
"All right. I will. I'll see you later then."
"Bye."
Daricio closed her door and Yugi was left to ponder what was happening.
***********************************************************
{Seto Kaiba: The next morning} (No, not an interlude this time.For once.)
When Seto awoke the next morning, it was to the strange little man gesturing for him to get out of bed and come to Social Breakfast once again. Seto looked at his watch. It was early. Way too early.
"What's with breakfast being at 4:30?" He asked, succeeding in sounding sleepy yet sharp.
The man looked confused. "It's not 4:30." he said. He looked at his own watch. "It's...Ok, maybe it IS 4:30... Sorry. I'll come back at the normal 6:00, alright?"
Seto groaned slightly and the man left.
He tried to go back to sleep. He tried. Then he gave up and just sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the floor, thinking. Now that he had been woken up, he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. It just wasn't in his nature to get up and go to bed constantly. He got up at 6, and slept again at 9. That's just how it worked.
It was a good thing he didn't go back to sleep, or he would have been woken up yet again by another person entering his room. He looked up to see who it was.
He didn't recognize the woman who entered the room. She had long dark hair with two shining golden hoops holding it back partially. The rest of it was held up by an equally shining golden headband with a bright jewel on it that she wore on her forehead. She wore a long dress with so many intricate, twisting, confusing designs woven into it that it almost looked brown if you weren't looking at it hard enough. And then there was that strange looking, also golden necklace that she wore.
"Who are you?" He asked, standing up and looking her in the eye.
"You will learn my name later." She said, bowing to him slightly. "For now, all that you need to know is that you should come with me."
He looked at her curiously, then followed her out of the room. Mokuba was already out there, looking just as confused as Seto felt. The woman continued down the hallway, almost gliding rather than walking, and Mokuba and Seto just followed her.
She walked up to the front desk and announced, "We are ready to go."
The head guard looked Seto and Mokuba over, then returned his gaze to the woman, narrowing his eyes. His voice had a definite threatening tone to it. "Alright, lady, I don't see how it is you think you can just barge in here and take people out of here..."
The necklace around the woman's neck caught a glint of light, causing it to shine slightly, and the guard let out a small gulp.
"But, seein' as you are so persuasive and all, I'll let you go right through. Goodbye, an have a nice day." He said, returning to his work with a nervous glance at the necklace.
"Thank you." The woman said, allowing only the slightest smile to come across her face. She turned and glided out the front doors.
Shaking himself out of his stunned silence, Seto took Mokuba by the hand and followed the woman, staring at the guard the whole way out.
Outside, he jogged forward and caught up with her. "What did you do?" He asked.
"As he said, I am a very persuasive person." She said simply.
She went to the street corner and called a Taxi. "Take them to KaibaCorp." She said to the driver. He gave her a strange look, then nodded.
She turned to Seto. "You shall see me later. I have forseen it." she said, bowing slightly once again and turning away towards a limo that was parked not too far away.
"But.."
"Later." She said.
Seto and Mokuba got into the Taxi and it drove off in the direction of KaibaCorp.
"She's strange." Mokuba commented.
"Strange, yes. But definitly very nice... I wonder if..." His voice trailed off.
They rode in silence, comtemplating the weirdness of the woman.
When they got to KaibaCorp, Seto and Mokuba got out of the taxi. Seto turned back and was contemplating how he was going to pay the man when his money was not with him at the time, when the taxi simply drove away.
Seto shook his head and turned to the building. Right that moment he had absoulutly no time for trying to explain the mysteries of human behavior. There was a LOT of work to be done. They went up in the elevator to Kaiba's office, surprising quite a few workers, then, after kicking Weevil out and making a few phone calls, Seto got right to work, pulling up a TV in the room for Mokuba to watch.
Kaiba pulled up his graphs, tables, and other assorted work items, being especially careful NOT to turn on the AI. Well, he tried to anyway. The AI turned itself on.
"Good morning, Seto Kaiba!" The AI called. "Did you miss me?"
Seto sighed. "Listen." He said. "I have a lot to do right now, and frankly, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now. Go away."
The AI grumbled at him for a moment, causing a smile to form on Mokuba's face, who was looking at the television but wasn't really paying attention to it.
"That isn't the way you're supposed to talk to someone like me! Where've you been? What's up? Talk to me!"
"Not now." Seto said, raising his voice. He noticed at the edges of his vision that Mokuba mouthed the AI's answer along with it, then breaking into a small fit of giggles.
"Aw... But why ever not, Kaiba?"
After a whole lot of persuading and even some yelling,(And Mokuba laughing) it decided to go ahead and shut down with one final, "Fine, have it your way, Kaiba..."
Seto turned to Mokuba who was now fighting to keep a guilty smirk off his face. "Have you been reprogramming my AI?" He asked.
Mokuba shook his head firmly no, but the grin on his face said otherwise.
"Uh huh. Don't do that anymore, Mokuba." Seto said, turning back to his work.
"Ok, Seto." Mokuba said. There was silence in the room that was only broken by the sound of Kaiba's keyboard and the occasional outburst of canned laughter from the television.
A commercial popped up on the TV saying something about an Egyptian Exhibit at the local museum, but Seto wasn't really paying attention to it. Information sped by on his screen and he only looked up from it when Mokuba addressed him.
"Seto, with all that's been going on, we really have been needing a break. How about we visit that new exhibit. It would be very fun and educational." He said, quoting the man on the screen.
"No, Mokuba. Because of all that's been going on, I don't have time to take a break right now. Maybe some other time."
"But Seto!"
"No. Maybe some other time." He said again.
The picture on the screen changed, shifting it to the owner of the exhibit. Mokuba gasped, drawing Seto's attention to the screen.
"Seto, isn't that?!?"
It was! It was the woman that had saved him from the nut house!
"I have personally invited Seto Kaiba to come to my exhibit..."
***************************************************************
Can everyone see where I'm going with this? This story takes place after that fire, (Obviously... Daricio was talking about it, so it couldn't be before then.) and before Battle City. (Because I haven't seen all the Battle City episodes, and I can't have them referring to things that I don't know what happens, right?) So... Now that they've started showing us the Battle City tournament... That's right... I'm starting Battle City! Daricio ("Misspelled!") style! Isn't that going to be fun? It's going to basically be Battle City, but with my own little plot twists and additions. I hope this works out!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one might be soon and it might not.... So, I'll see you next chappie! ("Misspelled!") After I destroy this WordScribe thing... Hmm... ("Misspelled!") Maybe me and Kaiba ("Misspelled!") can work together... Take his AI ("Misspelled!") and my WordScribe down to the shooting pit. *Dreams* hehehehe....("Misspelled!")
Also, in case anyone noticed, sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. I had some problems... First off, there was writers block that was solved by putting Battle City into the story. Then, while I was writing the Joey ("Misspelled!") part, I was ALMOST done with it when.... Word performed an illegal operation and had to shut down, meaning I had no chance to save my work, meaning that I had to start over... grrr...("Misspelled!") So, anyways, ("Misspelled!") Now I know how Kaiba ("Misspelled!") felt when all of his information got dumped... X~X ("Misspelled!")
So, anyway, I'll see you next time. I must go and speak to Kaiba ("Misspelled!") about that shooting thing. I wonder how good his aim is?... See ya.("Misspelled!")
--Daricio ("Misspelled!")
How is you? If you're not feeling good right now, you probably will by the time you get done reading this... I have gotten really upset that my story has gotten so sad and angsty... So I have gone to great lengths to make sure this chapter is funny.
I got several comments in particular about the Bakura ("Misspelled!") POV's ("Misspelled!") being way too sad and torture-filled. So now it's time for Ryou's ("Misspelled!") revenge!!!!! Bakura's ("Misspelled!") POV ("Misspelled!") is really interesting in this chappie... ("Misspelled!")
Ok, now this is getting annoying... We just got this new WordScribe thing uploaded onto our computer and every time you misspell a word, instead of underlining it, it shouts "Misspelled!" at you... This means that every time I type the word Bakura ("Misspelled!") or the word Yugi ("Misspelled!") or Yami ("Misspelled!") or even Daricio ("Misspelled!"), it shouts "Misspelled!" at me. So I end up hearing, "Misspelled!.... Misspelled! Misspelled!....Misspelled!..... MISSPELLED!!!!!!!!!!!" Stupid crazy computer... Almost as bad as Kaiba's ("Misspelled!") stupid, annoying AI. ("Misspelled!") *sigh*
*Shuts off sound on her computer* Much better.
Ok, now that that's done and over with... Let's get on with the fic! ("Misspelled!") STUPID THING!!!! *Turns sound off again*
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: AAAARGH!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") Stupid thing!!!!! *Kills sound* Much better.... Now then... On with the fic...("Misspelled!")
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: AAAARGH!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") Stupid thing!!!!! *Kills sound* Much better.... Now then... On with the fic...("Misspelled!")
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! ("Misspelled!") *Shuts off WordScribe* Now why didn't I think of that before? *Shrugs* Oh, well... Now then... LET'S START THE FIC!!!!("Misspelled!")..........
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: I thought I turned that thing off!.... *Uninstalls it* Ha! ("Misspelled!") ..... *Grumble Grumble* WILL THIS STUPID THING LET ME START MY FIC ("Misspelled!") ALREADY?!?!?!?!? hmmm ("Misspelled!") ...... let me try something... j j j j j j ..... *silence* ok... so "j" is a word? And "ha" ("Misspelled!") is not? Weird..... *Shuts off sound again and duct tapes it off* There!
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{Joey} ("Misspelled!") (A/N: .... That's it... I'm ignoring that.... Maybe then it will shut off...)
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{Joey}
//And that means the answer has got to be... uh... er... the square root of 2 + 8? Or 28? Or...// Joey glanced over at Yugi's desk where he usually turned to get help with his work.
But Yugi wasn't here today. Joey sighed and returned his attention to the problem. Or at least he tried to.
//Why isn't Yuge here today? Did Shells an DVD bring im over and find Daricio? If so, how they going to get her back? What's Yuge going to have to do?// he glanced back at Yugi's empty chair again. In doing so, he caught Tristan's eye, who was also looking at Yugi's empty chair and was probably wondering the same things.
Joey looked slowly around the classroom at everyone. Tristan looked worried. Tea, who had run into class a little late looked worried. Bakura... Wasn't there, for some reason.... Also, he hadn't noticed before, but Kaiba wasn't there either... In fact, Joey couldn't remember seeing him there for a while.
//Where is everyone?// Joey wondered to himself. He would have to go and find them after school. In fact, he decided that that was exactly what he was going to do.
With this conclusion in mind, Joey was able to focus on his math while he waited for school to end, even though it had barely started.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Extremely slowly. Snail pace slowly. Exhaustingly slowly. But it did finally come to an end.
When the last bell rang, Joey was out of his 6th period class as quickly as humanly possible. He ran to his locker... And let out a groan. Somebody had duct taped his locker shut... Again!
He put his bag down and began the horrible chore of peeling off all that tape.
The duct tape, being duct tape, was extremely hard to pull off of the cold metal, and when it finally did release it, it left a sticky film that Joey knew wouldn't come off for weeks.
Finally, after about 20 minutes, he was able to get almost all of the tape off. Enough for his locker to be able to open anyway.
He fumbled with the lock for a moment, and then pulled on the handle. Nothing. It was stuck. He did his combo again, but still, the door held fast.
//Stupid sticky stuff from the tape must be jamming the door! Of all the luck!// Joey thought to himself. He sighed, then gave his locker a good solid kick. It rattled for a few seconds, then creaked slowly open. Joey stared at it.
//Stupid thing...// He muttered to himself, pulling the door open the rest of the way and dumping all of his schoolbooks inside.
Then, with one final glance in the mirror, he slammed the door shut and started down the hall towards the main hall, trying to wipe the sticky goo off of his hands as he went. Behind him, he heard a small crash as his mirror came unstuck from the back of his locker and fell with a bang onto the other miscellaneous items in his locker.
He winced slightly. "I hope that didn't break." He groaned.
"I wouldn't think so." Tea said, coming up behind him and startling him. "We have pretty small lockers, so it didn't fall very far."
He glanced at his locker again and shrugged. "Stupid thing anyway." he told her.
She smiled. "So Joey, what are you doing still here at school on a Friday?" She asked him. Joey gestured over his shoulder in the general direction of the school with a jerk of his thumb.
"Some idiot duct taped my locker shut," he told her, grimacing.
She giggled. "Again?"
"T's not funny."
"Yes it is."
Joey frowned and decided to change the subject before he was embarrassed any further.
"Yuge and Bakura weren't at school today." he commented.
Tea's smile immediately vanished. "Well... I saw Bakura on my way to school this morning. But he was going the wrong way." She said, frowning.
"Where do ya suppose he was goin'?" Joey asked.
"I dunno." Tea said. "He looked like he was headed to the park."
"But what would he want at the park on a school day?" Joey wondered, mostly to himself.
"Who knows?" Tea said, sounding worried as usual. She glanced down at her watch. Then she looked at it more closely. "Oh, no!" She said suddenly.
"What?"
"I'm late for a very important meeting for the Friendship Speech Club! I've got to go, Joey! See ya!" Tea dashed off down the street.
Joey stared after her for a moment, wondering why in the world she would want to go to any friendship speech club, then remembered that this was Tea he was talking about, shook his head, and started off towards his house to drop off his stuff before searching for Yugi and Bakura.
When he reached the bottom of his driveway, he noticed that nobody had gotten the mail for the day. He opened the mailbox and pulled out a bundle of letters.
As he walked up to and inside the front door, he flipped through the letters, checking to see if any of them were for him.
"Bill, bill, bill, ad, junk, ad, bill, ad..." Joey said. "Ad, ad, bill, junk, thing for dad from his cousin, ad, bill,... Hey, what's this?"
He tossed the rest of the letters aside onto the table and took his letter to his room and sat on his bed.
The letter was addressed to a Mr. Joe Seph Wheeeler. It was from KaibaCorp.
Joey stared at the letter for a few moments.
//Joe Seph? // He wondered. //What's with that? Can't ANYBODY ever get my name right? And why am I getting stuff from KaibaCorp, anyhow? //
He sat still staring at it, wondering what in the world Kaiba wanted. Finally, bracing himself for Kaiba's insults letter style, he opened the envelope and read the letter. It read:
"Dear Mr. Wheeeler:
Due to the absence of Mr. Seto Kaiba as our CEO due to medical problems, you have been painstakingly chosen from the millions of eligible people in the world to serve as the head, or CEO in his place until the time he is able to return, though unfortunately, we don't think he'll return for a while.
Translated, this means that Seto Kaiba finally got sent to the nuthouse, and you get to have his job because we are trying to make him as absolutely mad as possible.
If you accept this offer, please report to the top office of KaibaCorp at 10:00 sharp tomorrow morning. If you do not accept the offer, show up at the top office of KaibaCorp at 10:00 sharp tomorrow morning anyway, because you still get the job. We will discuss what kind of work you'll be doing and your pay then. Until tomorrow,
--Weevil Underwood"
Joey stared at the letter. He reread it over and over and over and over. Slowly, a grin slowly formed on his face. His mind was racing with questions such as, why Kaiba had gotten sent to the nuthouse, why Weevil was in charge, and why Weevil had chosen him, but there was one thought that mainly dominated his mind.
//I wonder if Kaiba knows about this? //
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{Daricio}
When the car pulled into a parking spot and the engine shut off, Daricio and Yami returned to Yugi's soul room, though still watching everything that was going on through Yugi's eyes. Yugi chose DVD's pocket for his means of transportation, climbing up DVD's shirt and settling inside the pocket, much to DVD's amusement.
Then they got out of the car and everyone headed up to the hospital. Once they got to Daricio's room, Shells and DVD took their accustomed seats and Yugi peeked his head out of the pocket to get a look around.
//This is weird. // Daricio commented, referring to the fact that she was watching a large version of herself lying knocked out in a hospital room. Yugi and Yami agreed with her.
//Daricio, try the door now! Maybe this is close enough, and we won't have to raise anyone's suspicions by getting any closer! //
//Right. // Daricio replied.
She went over to the door. Then, with encouraging grins from Yugi and Yami, she turned the handle and pulled as hard as she could. It still didn't budge. She sighed, and then pulled even harder.
Yami came over to help her. Then Yugi did. But even with all three of them pulling their hardest, the door refused to move.
//Not working, Shells! We'll have...to get... Closer! // Daricio said.
Shells and DVD got up from their chairs and walked over to Daricio's side. DVD gently but quickly took Yugi out of his pocket and, making sure to keep him out of sight, put him in Daricio's hand.
//Now try! // Shells said.
//We are! It's still not working!// Yugi said.
Finally, exhausted, they stopped their pulling, sat on the floor of the soul room, and glared at the door, trying to figure out what to do next.
Suddenly, Daricio noticed something inscribed on the door very faintly. She got a little closer to it and looked hard at it. She wasn't sure, as she didn't really know what it looked like, but she was pretty sure that it was written in Egyptian. Hoping that Yami remembered enough to read the words, she pointed it out to him.
He stared at the inscription for several minutes, during which Shells and DVD had retreated with Yugi back to their chairs. Slowly, a smile spread over his face and he began to chuckle slightly.
"What does it say, Yami?" Daricio asked.
"Push." Yami said.
There were several moments of silence.
"Oh." Daricio said. "Right. I pulled it to go in, I push to go out. Duh..."
There were several more seconds of silence before Yugi broke it.
"You mean you could have gotten out the whole time?!?" He asked loudly.
Daricio shrugged. "I guess."
//It's times like these I wish I could fall down anime style. // DVD commented. Shells agreed.
Daricio shrugged again, then turned the doorknob and pushed. The door opened. Daricio shook her head.
"I have GOT to learn how to read Egyptian." She muttered to herself. She went through the door and held onto the link.
It had gotten incredibly smaller than last time, and she could already see the door leading into her own soul room from there, not more than 10 feet away.
She closed Yugi's door and took a few steps into the hallway. When she was about 5 feet from her door, she felt, once again, the same pressing, cold feeling that she had felt going the other way. Then, as it had before, it went away. Or at least the pressing did. It was still slightly cold.
She walked the remaining 5 feet to her door and went into her soul room. It looked just like it had before she had left to go into Yugi's mind, except that one shelf was overflowing with sheets of paper.
"Oops. I knew I shouldn't have done that quite like that." She thought to herself. Another piece of paper appeared on the top of the pile. Daricio shrugged. "I'll sort out my thoughts later. Right now, I need to tell everyone I'm all right..."
Then she sighed as yet another sheet appeared.
She noticed that the room had warmed up again, now that she was back in it. She opened her physical eyes and tried to look around. Everything was still a little bleary, but she knew that would clear up soon.
She tried to sit up, then let out a small groan as she fell back down onto the pillow. It seemed like every muscle in her body was sore from having not moved for... How many days? Too long. She felt that pins and needles feeling in her toes and fingers as they came awake again.
Mom looked up and noticed Daricio attempting to get up.
"Daricio!" She cried. She got up and gave Daricio a big hug, causing her aching muscles to cry out.
"Mom. Mom..." Daricio mumbled. "I'm fine, really... ow... Um...Mom..."
"Oh, Daricio!!!!!" Mom sobbed.
It wasn't long before everyone had noticed what had happened and was crowding around Daricio's bed.
Daricio got hugs from Dad, from Mom, from Jrj, from Shells, from DVD, and, (Daricio guessed) a slightly squashed Yugi, judging from the fact that he was still in DVD's pocket.
DVD must have realized this, because he pulled away suddenly and went over to a corner.
He opened the backpack, which was still sitting on a chair, pulled out the Yugi tin, whispered a hurried "Sorry," and a "thanks" and a "see ya" to Yugi, then sent him home.
After that, there was much hugging, happiness, and joy. (Slight exaggeration) Also, Daricio saying over and over, "I'm fine! I'm fine! Really! You can get off now!"
And all the while, the doctor stood in the doorway, looking on with amazement at Daricio's sudden recovery. He looked from her, to his clipboard, to her, to his clipboard again. He left the room and came back holding two clipboards. Then he began looking from one to the other and back again, searching for differences.
It didn't take long before Daricio noticed this, of course.
//Shells, what's the doctor doing over there with TWO clipboards? Doesn't each patient get only one clipboard? // she asked.
Shells suddenly remembered something. //You'll probably want to ask him. I might leave something out. // She said. DVD nodded in agreement. Nobody except him, Shells and Daricio knew what in the world he was nodding about, but they didn't care.
Daricio shrugged slightly, then turned to the doctor. "Whatcha doing?" she asked, her curiosity now at full level.
"Comparing charts." He said, still looking from one to the other.
"Well yeah, obviously, but why?"
He looked up. "You see, before you came in here, there was another person with the same symptoms as you. He's been in here for over two years, though, and nobody knows who he is. Well, your sister there seemed to recognize him, but she wouldn't tell ME anything. But anyway, I'm comparing these charts because-"
"Because you figure that now that I'm better, he might be able to get better also." Daricio said, nodding.
The doctor confirmed that. "Yes, exactly."
//And you are NOT going to believe who it is. // Shells commented.
Daricio pondered this for a moment, before looking up and grinning. "Can I see him?" She asked.
The doctor looked startled, then worried. "I don't know if you should be out of bed yet." He told her.
Daricio put on a face of mock disbelief. "Why not?" she asked. Then she got out of bed, feeling, as she said, just fine.
He nervously bit his lip and gave her another worried look, then sighed and finally agreed. "If you really want to..."
So with the whole family following to make sure she didn't fall or something, ("No, Mom, I don't need to hold your hand. I feel fine, really. I can walk.") The doctor led her down the hall.
When she entered the room and saw who it was, the first thing she did was to contact Yugi.
Running to her mental door, she pulled it open and called, "Yugi, I think you should see this!"
The other door opened and Yugi looked out into the hallway. Daricio could see Yami behind him.
"What?" Yugi asked. He grinned. "Miss me already?"
"No... You should see this." Daricio told him again.
Yugi turned and told Yami to take over for a moment, then jogged across the hallway and into Daricio's soul room.
"What?" He asked again.
"Look. Through my eyes, I mean." Daricio instructed him.
He did. And he, like Daricio, was amazed by what he saw.
***************************************************************************
{Bakura}
Bakura was exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. He had been pretty much walking around Domino City in circles for the past few hours. Now he was coming up to the park again. He entered it and sat down under a big oak tree.
He curled up into a ball, folding his arms on top of his knees.
He had been holding back all day, but now he just couldn't stop the tears from running down his face. He buried his face in his arms to hide the fact that he was crying, but unfortunately, the one person he really wanted to hide his tears from could see it all no matter what he did.
As he sat there in the grass under the great oak tree with the sun just starting to set behind the blue hills in the distance, his yami ridiculed him. Tortured him. Hated him.
Suddenly, Bakura grew determined. He had had enough. In his soul room, he stood and faced the spirit.
"Shut. Up. Now." He said slowly, fire burning in his eyes. His yami looked at him curiously. Then he laughed.
"And what are you going to do about it little Ryou?" he asked. Then he sneered. "You gunna hit me or something?"
Bakura got an idea. Ignoring his yami's question, he did something he had never before dared to do. He confidently strode over to the door in his soul room, the one that led into the depths of the ring, and went inside.
The spirit narrowed his eyes at him. "Now where in the world do you think you're going?" He asked. He followed him closely into the room.
Again, Bakura simply ignored him and walked to the center of the room. Then he turned to face his crazed yami, who was giving him a mixed look of hatred, confusion, and curiosity.
"You know, you're not the only one who can use the powers of this ring." He commented. He let his words sink in for a moment before adding, "I can too."
Before the spirit had a chance to react, Bakura closed his eyes and concentrated on the mystical energies he had been able to sense when he entered the room. Immediately, it seemed that he was filled with power! It felt almost as if he could do anything! It was a good feeling.
Even though he had his eyes closed, he could feel his yami just about to tackle him. Barely even needing to put any effort into it, he quickly formed a thick force shield between them.
The spirit ran into it, then glared at him, pounding his fists against it. Bakura opened his eyes.
"Stop this at once, Ryou Kayoto! You don't know what you're doing!" the spirit raged.
Bakura winced slightly at the use of his old name, but brushed it off. He did not weaken the force shield one bit. In fact, he made it a lot stronger. It shoved the spirit away from it hard, slamming him into a wall of the room.
"Ryou!" The spirit yelled.
Bakura gave him an innocent look. //What's your real name? What were you like when you were little? // he asked softly, using the link instead of spoken words.
"What does THAT have to do with anything? Stop this, Ryou! You have absolutely NO clue what you're doing! You're going to end up hurting someone!"
"Like YOU really care if anyone but you gets hurt." Bakura shot at him. "You're a cruel, cold hearted-"
The spirit sank to his knees, knowing he couldn't get at Bakura, and glared at him. "I wasn't always..." He muttered, looking away.
"So, what were you like when you were little?" Bakura asked again.
The spirit exploded, throwing himself at the shield that was now separating them. "That is of no importance!! It means nothing! Why must you be so blasted irritating?"
The barrier forced him away, and he was thrown heavily into the wall once again.
"I want to know." Bakura said calmly. "That makes it perfectly relevant, I would think. But, seeing as you're not going to answer any of my questions, I'll have to answer them myself."
"What in tarnation are you babbling about? Get rid of this stupid shield!" Roared the spirit.
Bakura nodded. "Ok." He said. "But first..."
Bakura closed his eyes once again so as to be able to focus the powers of the ring once again. Suddenly, the park outside swirled.
//You know as well as I do that I hate going to the Shadow Realm, but in order to do this, I have to. So...//
Sure enough, when the swirling stopped, they were in the Shadow Realm.
By now the spirit had figured out what Bakura was doing. "No." he whispered. "No, not this...Ryou..."
Bakura grinned. The Shadow Realm swirled according to his slightest whims, and soon, they were standing in a simple, dusty room with a small window. Out that window was a small village, and beyond that, desert.
It was a memory. Only now, it wasn't Bakura's memory. This memory belonged to the Spirit of the Ring.
//Ok, where to first? // Bakura said. He smiled at his yami's frustrated growl and continued. //How about answering my first question that you never answered. What's your name? //
The room swirled, and now they were standing in a road in the village. There was a man standing there talking to a younger version of the Spirit of the Ring. Or whatever his name was.
"I've never seen you around here before. What would your name be? And where are your parents?" The man asked.
Bakura paused the scene there for a moment, shocked. The man was speaking Ancient Egyptian, but he could still understand him! //Since when did I learn how to speak Egyptian? // he wondered to himself.
//Since I grew up knowing only that language. // The spirit grumbled. //Don't you know anything? This is MY memory, so of course you'll be able to understand what people say. I understand, so you understand. //
Bakura nodded. //Oh. Ok, thanks. //
//Your welco-. Shut up. //
Bakura grinned. //Resume! //
Everything started up again. The young Spirit answered the man.
"We just moved here. My name is Radley! Radley Bakurna! My parents are over there." He said cheerfully, pointing to a large group of people gathered around one of the many shop stands.
The man nodded. "Thank you, Radley!"
"Your welcome!" Radley said, turning to go.
"Say, do you have a nickname?" The man asked suddenly. "Radley Bakurna is a pretty hard thing to say sometimes."
Radley turned back and grinned a cute boyish grin; surprising Bakura with how much he wound up looking like him, and replied, "Yup! Everyone just calls me Roo! See ya!"
The man nodded. "Goodbye Roo."
Bakura paused the scene, laughing hard. //Roo? // He asked between laughs. //Roo?!? //
//Shut. Up. // Radley said grumpily.
//Why? //
//You are going to pay for this. Just as SOON as I figure out how to counter...// Radley growled.
//Not before I have some more fun, Roo. Let's answer some more questions, shall we? What were you like when you were little? Let's just see! //
//Don't you dare, Ryou! // Radley warned.
//Or you'll do what? // Bakura asked, using the words the Sprit had just recently used. //You gunna hit me or something? //
//I just might as soon as we get out of here. // Radley growled.
Bakura shrugged. //Somehow, I think not. Things are going to be VERY different around here, ROO...//
Radley glared at Bakura. //I. Don't. Think. So.//
Bakura just laughed. //Let's go, Roo! // He said.
The Shadow Realm shifted once again, and this time, it was Radley "Roo" who was forced to sink into a wave of sorrow, terror, and despair.
**************************************************************************** *
{Interlude: Seto Kaiba} (Of course)
It was dark. Or at least Seto thought so. He was back in his padded cell, which had no outside windows, so he couldn't be sure.
He paced the length of the room and back, waiting.
During breakfast that morning, Mokuba had managed to get a map of the place. He showed Seto where his cell was, while Mr. Gice showed Mr. Thedoor where his cell was. This, of course, was very annoying.
Although, Mr. Gice had proved to be of more use to him than Seto had initially thought. In one of his pockets, he had a sheet of paper that had calculations of when there were no guards in certain areas between shifts. The earliest they could get out was 6:00. So Seto was waiting.
Mr. Gice had also helped in another way, though Seto thought that this help wasn't intentional. He and Mokuba had been writing up plans on a sheet of paper that Mr. Gice had magically pulled from his pocket.
("Ta da!")
Mr. Gice had then pulled out another sheet of paper and a blue crayon and began coloring on the back of it. Seto had just ignored him, figuring that he had gone into one of his crazy moments and deciding that the best thing to do was to try not to make him yell at anyone.
This was all fine and good, until Mr. Gice reached out, grabbed Seto's plans, turned them over and scribbled in blue all over the back. Then he calmly handed it back to Seto and commented loudly, "Gee, Mr. Thedoor, you sure can color well!"
Seto had then looked around and noticed that one of the guards was staring at him. When Mr. Gice made this comment, the guard shrugged and went back to his work. They would have been caught making plans if Mr. Gice hadn't done that. Seto had looked back at Mr. Gice to see if that was what he had intended to do, but he had gone back to drawing a bright blue duck on yet another sheet of paper.
Seto paced the room some more, thinking. He glanced at his watch. 5:50. He still had some time. He pulled the plans out of a pocket in his coat, which they had let him keep. (He had no clue why, but it was awfully nice of them. He had hidden pockets in it and they were stuffed with equipment)
He studied the plans. At 6:00, he was going to go and unlock Mr. Gice. (Although, he had a suspicion that Mr. Gice would end up letting himself out first.) Then they were going to go and get Mokuba, whose cell was on the opposite side of the building. By then, the next shift of guards would have started, so they were going to head for the nearby opening to the ventilation systems and hang out in there being as quiet as possible until the next guard shift at 7:00. Then, they would go out the front door and make a break for the fence.
It seemed like a good plan. Seto just hoped it would work.
So now Seto was waiting for 6:00. The area would be guard-free until 6:30, when the next shift got there. They would have to hurry.
He put the plans away into a hidden pocket and looked at his watch again. 5:55. Close enough.
He unlocked his door using a spare card that Mr. Gice had supplied him with, and started down the hallway towards Mr. Gice's room. He was contemplating how he was going to open the door without startling Mr. Gice, when he rounded the corner and realized that his original suspicions were correct. He wouldn't have to let Mr. Gice out. He was already standing outside his cell with his arms crossed, waiting for Seto.
"Well, there you are! Took you long enough to get over here! I was thinking of simply going and getting Mokuba and getting out of here without you..." Mr. Gice informed him. Seto sighed.
"Let's go." He said.
They started down the hallway towards Mokuba's room. They walked quietly for a while, before Mr. Gice broke the silence.
"You know, there's something you should know... It wasn't a coincidence that we met..."
Seto gave him a strange look. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. "You aren't one of those weirdos who believe in Destiny, are you?"
Mr. Gice smiled and shook his head. "No. We met because I wanted to!"
"Great. Lovely. Any particular reason why?"
"Who wouldn't?"
"What?"
"Want to meet you."
"Huh?"
Mr. Gice sighed. "Let me put that into ONE sentence... Then it will make sense."
"What?"
"Who wouldn't want to meet YOU?"
"What do you mean?"
Mr. Gice laughed slightly. "Because I would have to be pretty crazy to not want to meet you."
"Well, you ARE pretty crazy." Seto pointed out.
"That's a nice thing to say to an old scientist like me." Mr. Gice said, beaming. "Crazy... I wish. If I were half as crazy as I pretend to be, I wouldn't be here."
"Even if you were only half as crazy, you'd still be... Pretend?"
Mr. Gice nodded. Seto stopped walking and stared. Mr. Gice turned around.
"I am Mr. Thomas S. Gice." He stated. "I am sometimes called Dr. S because of my middle name. But you can just call me Tom. Or you can-"
"Don't start THAT again."
Mr. Gice laughed. Then his face grew serious. "Now, then. I want you to get just ONE thing straight Mr. Seto Kaiba."
Seto stared. It was the first time he had gotten his name right.
"I am not crazy. I am not nuts. I am not a loony. And I do not belong here in this loony bin. And I know that neither do you. Because of this, we are getting out of here TONIGHT. That is, unless we continue to stand here chatting. So, if we could kindly keep moving?"
Seto stared some more, then nodded slowly and continued walking. "A scientist?" He said, referring to something Mr. Gice had said.
Mr. Gice nodded.
"What kind of science?"
"Observations mostly. Lately, just before those idiots stashed me in here, I was trying to find out as much as I could about something I called FWC's and the FWC Pic. Tech."
Seto's confusion must have shown on his face, because he elaborated.
"FWC's are Freaky World Cameras. The FWC Pic Tech is the Freaky World Company Picture Technology. That stuff is advanced. Really advanced. Even more so than your duel disk systems, Kaiba."
"I could always update the duel disk systems, you know... Hmm... Pic Tech... I think I had to do a book report on that once..." Kaiba mumbled to himself.
Mr. Gice grinned. "Book? They published it?"
Kaiba nodded. "It was kind of one sided though. It presented your ideas, then it immediately followed them up with reasons why it couldn't be true... "
Mr. Gice frowned. "Well, they obviously didn't believe the theory, but what do you think?"
Seto was about to answer no, when he thought back on the events of the past week. "Maybe." He said slowly.
Mr. Gice grinned again. "In other words, Yes!" He began skipping down the halls rather than walking. Seto sighed then jogged to keep up with him.
"Mr. Gice?"
"Thomas."
"Thomas, then."
"What?"
"Why were you "pretending" to be nuts? And why didn't you tell me this earlier so you could stop calling me Mr. Thedoor?"
"I was pretending to be crazy because, people don't expect the really crazy people to try and get out... so they have less security... Right? So now I have almost no security watching me, and it's easier for me to leave. That, and the fact that I thought our audience would like it... Also, frankly, it's fun. It makes the little kids laugh." Thomas told him. "Speaking of which, don't tell Mokuba about any of this... I don't want HIM to think of me as a normal boring person."
They finally reached Mokuba's cell. Seto checked his watch. It said 6:25. They would have to hurry. But first, Seto wanted some of his questions answered.
"I don't keep secrets from my little brother. And what do you mean, Audience?"
Thomas fiddled with the door some more. "You've got yourself an FWC, Mr. Thedoor!" he said.
Seto looked around quickly, searching for it. Thomas laughed.
"I thought you did a book report, Seto! The FWC's are invisible."
"Oh. Then how in the world do you know I've got one?"
"FWC's aren't from this world, Kaiba." He answered without really answering the question.
He pressed a few more switches on the door. "Why won't this thing open?!?!..... Oh... I See...." He stopped trying to press buttons and instead just pulled on the 'spiffy little door handle.' The door opened. "There!"
Thomas looked at his watch as Mokuba ran out of the cell. "We've got to hurry. They'll be here any minute..." He muttered to himself. The three ran for the opening to the ventilation shaft.
Seto tried a few times on the way to get Thomas to tell him more about the FWC's but he refused to say another word on the subject while Mokuba was there, and Mokuba finally told Seto to stop bugging Mr. Gice. They went mostly in silence.
They got to the opening and found that it was barred shut. "No problem." Seto said. He pulled a small kit out of his pocket and set it on the floor. Pressing a button on it, he stepped back as a mini saw popped out and began slicing through the bars with a semi-loud whirring sound.
When it was done, Seto packed it away again and Mokuba climbed into the shaft. Thomas was impressed.
"They let you keep that?" He asked.
"Sorta. They let me have my coat. It has a lot of pockets..."
"Ah." He had just started climbing inside, when Seto heard footsteps from down the hall. He tensed. Soon, a security guard rounded the corner.
"Hello." The guard said as he walked past Seto. "My shift's over, so you're free to take over." he commented, thinking Seto was another guard. Seto just nodded, his mouth dry.
The guard went around another corner. Two seconds went by. "Wait a second... Hey, You!"
The guard came running back into the hall.
"Oh, no..." Thomas said, trying to pull Seto into the shaft.
"I can take him." Seto growled.
"Take him later! Hurry, or they'll be all over! It doesn't take the guards long to gather into large groups!" He pulled hard on Seto's coat, making him fall into the shaft. "Come on!"
"Wait one second." Seto said, turning around and clamping two metal strips onto the opening. Then he dashed after his brother and the strange scientist.
"What were those?" Thomas asked as he ran.
"Electromagnetic Magnesium-Carbohydrate strips." Seto replied.
Thomas shook his head. "And you just happened to have some of those in your pocket?" He asked.
Seto nodded. "Very lucky for us. What they do is-"
"I know, I know. I'm a scientist, remember? You can program them so that only one person can touch them. Everyone else gets a huge electroshockwave. Very painful."
(A/N: I don't think there really is such a thing, but if there is, I need some for my room...)
Seto nodded. "But there are counter-methods. We've got to go through these systems instead of through the halls. Mokuba, where's that map?" He called to Mokuba, who had run far ahead.
"We won't need a map! Look!" Mokuba cried.
Seto and Thomas caught up with him. The shaft had just happened to lead right outside.
Thomas smiled. "What luck!" He exclaimed.
Mokuba nodded, a huge grin on his face. "This is perfect! Let's go! We have to make a run for it!"
At this, they all ran. The outside fence was Ten meters away... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... An alarm went off in the building!... Four... Three... Two... One... They were over the fence!
Seto quickly lined it with a few more Electromagnetic Magnesium- Carbohydrate strips, then they were home free!
That is, they were.... Until they ran right into what seemed like a wall of security guards going the other way.
They all stopped and tried to go around them, but then the guards from inside the building caught up with them. They were surrounded.
Thomas suddenly fell to his knees onto the sidewalk. "No!" He screamed. "No No No No No No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Seto stared at him. He didn't see what the big deal was. They could always try again later...
Thomas sobbed loudly. "Don't make me go back there! No! NO!!!!!!!!! FRANCHILINANICANTA!!!!!! AAAAIIEE!!!!!!!!"
Seto suddenly understood. He was putting on his act again. Or was he?
"Come on, you three. I can already see we're going to have to raise security a whole lot more." One guard said, dragging Thomas and leading Seto and Mokuba back into the building.
//Back to the drawing board...//
**************************************
{Tea} (First Tea POV!) (Very short...)
"Alright, I'll be sure and do that! See you next meeting!" Tea called. The meeting was now officially over and she was free to go home. But, somehow, even though it was getting very dark, she had a feeling that she shouldn't go home just yet.
//If I know Joey as well as I think I do, then he's probably somewhere around the park searching for Bakura. // She said. //So now, I need to find him so that I can tell him to go home. It's too late for doing any of that kind of thing now, and I don't think he has a flashlight...But first, I have to find him. //
She pulled her own flashlight out of he backpack and switched it on, heading for the park. By the time she arrived there, it was really dark. She started off down the path that led through the trees looking from side to side hoping to spot Joey.
//Wait. If he does have a flashlight, or any kind of light, then if I turn my light off, I should be able to see his.// She switched off her light, then stood on the path waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark.
When they did, she continued her search, now keeping an eye out for a light source.
Suddenly, she saw one. It was by the big oak tree in the center of the park. It had to be Joey! She jogged over there and went around to the other side of the tree.
Instead of Joey, she saw Bakura, sitting leaned up against the tree, fast asleep. There was a dark purple and black mist completely surrounding him, and the Ring around his neck was glowing brightly. The combination of the mist and the light of the Ring created an eerie glow that illuminated the area around him.
"Bakura?" She asked softly. She reached out her hand to try and wake him up, but hesitated when her hand got too close to the mist.
"Bakura?" She asked again. Then she realized something. "The ring... Tristan threw that thing away! That can only mean... Oh, no! This mist must mean the Shadow Realm!"
"The person who will know the most about the spirit of that Ring and the Shadow Realm will be the spirit of Yugi's puzzle!" She concluded, switching her light on again and running for Yugi's game shop.
//I have to hurry! //
***************************************************************************
{Yugi}
"Yugi! Yugi!" Yugi was woken from another crazy Dark Magician chasing dream by Tea's voice from outside his window.
He got out of bed, still fully dressed because he hadn't bothered to change the night before, and opened his window. Tea came in through it.
"What is it, Tea?" He asked sleepily.
"Bakura...Shadow Realm... Terrible..." Tea was really out of breath.
"Wait a moment and catch your breath. Now, what about Bakura and the Shadow Realm?"
"I was in the park looking for Joey, when-"
"Why were you looking for Joey?"
"Oh, right. Well, on my way to school, I ran into Bakura, who was going the other direction! You know, away from school! He was headed towards the park. So then, after school, I told Joey about it and then I had to go to my meeting."
"And now you think he's still out there looking for Bakura?"
"Well, I did, so I went looking for Joey and I found Bakura! He's in the park, asleep by the big oak tree. But he's wearing that Ring and it's glowing... Something's happening to him, Yugi!"
Yugi quickly pulled his shoes on and went out the window, followed by Tea. They ran towards the park and to the oak tree.
There was nothing there.
"He...he must have woken up..." Tea said. "And left already."
Yugi yawned. "I dunno, Tea..." He said. "Erm, I have to go home now, okay?"
"Ok... But I was sure that he was right here..."
Yugi and Tea both went to their respective homes. When Yugi climbed back into his room, however, he was not ready to sleep. He was wide awake.
//What do you think, Yami? // He asked.
//I don't really know. // Yami answered. //Perhaps you should call Joey and ask him what happened when he went looking for Bakura. //
//Good idea. Think we should tell Daricio about this? //
//That would probably be a good idea too. How about you call Joey, and I'll tell Daricio. //
//Ok. //
Yugi went quietly down the stairs, trying not to wake Grandpa, and picked up the phone, dialing Joey's number.
It rang. And rang. And rang. Finally there was a sleepy "Lo?" on the other end.
"Hi, Joey?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah... Yuge?"
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I've got to ask you something."
"What?" Joey sounded more alert now.
"Did you go looking for Bakura after school today?"
"Nooo... I was gonna... But I got distracted."
Yugi let out a small sigh.
"Joey, There's something you should know... Tea thought that you would go and search for Bakura, and she went searching for you. But instead, she found Bakura. When she ran to tell me, by the time we got back out there, he was gone."
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then, "Uh Oh. That can't be good... Wonder what's up with Bakura?"
"I don't know. That's why I called you."
"Oh. Sorry, I'm really not going to be much help here, unless... Wait... Is Tea still there?"
"No, she went home."
"Ok, I'm gonna come over and we can both look for him."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea..." Yugi said, worried about what the spirit of the ring would do if they found him. He needed a better excuse than that, though, so he said, "It's really dark."
"Well, ok... But you cannot tell me not to look for him tomorrow when it's light out."
"All right." Yugi agreed. "In the morning, come here, then we'll look."
"Alright. See ya then."
"Bye."
The phones were hung up.
Yugi snuck back up to his room and went into his soul room. Yami was just saying, "And Yugi's just gone to call Joey."
"And Joey didn't go searching for Bakura today, so he didn't see anything." Yugi said.
"Well, this is definitely strange." Daricio said from her side of the hallway where she was sitting.
"Definitely. I guess we are going to go see Bakura tomorrow?" Yami said.
"Yeah. Joey's coming with us. He insisted." Yugi replied.
"Do you think this ties in somehow with him being there at the hospital?" Daricio asked.
"I'm really not sure. What should we do?" Yugi wondered.
"Personally, I think that we should get some sleep. It's late." Yami said, yawning.
He went to his soul room.
Yugi sighed, looking after him. "You know, Daricio, If there's something going on with Bakura, it's gotta be because of that evil side of him, the spirit of the Millennium Ring. That Spirit has got to be from Egypt. And if he's from Egypt, and Yami's from Egypt, then if Yami can finally remember his past, then this will all be a whole lot easier to figure out."
"Yeah, I know. But how is he going to be able to remember?"
"Maybe I can get Tea to take him to that new Egyptian exhibit at the museum."
"There's an Egyptian exhibit at the museum?"
"Yeah. Maybe it will help."
"I bet it would. Talk to Tea tomorrow, Ok? But let's make it a surprise for Yami! Don't tell him."
"All right. I will. I'll see you later then."
"Bye."
Daricio closed her door and Yugi was left to ponder what was happening.
***********************************************************
{Seto Kaiba: The next morning} (No, not an interlude this time.For once.)
When Seto awoke the next morning, it was to the strange little man gesturing for him to get out of bed and come to Social Breakfast once again. Seto looked at his watch. It was early. Way too early.
"What's with breakfast being at 4:30?" He asked, succeeding in sounding sleepy yet sharp.
The man looked confused. "It's not 4:30." he said. He looked at his own watch. "It's...Ok, maybe it IS 4:30... Sorry. I'll come back at the normal 6:00, alright?"
Seto groaned slightly and the man left.
He tried to go back to sleep. He tried. Then he gave up and just sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the floor, thinking. Now that he had been woken up, he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. It just wasn't in his nature to get up and go to bed constantly. He got up at 6, and slept again at 9. That's just how it worked.
It was a good thing he didn't go back to sleep, or he would have been woken up yet again by another person entering his room. He looked up to see who it was.
He didn't recognize the woman who entered the room. She had long dark hair with two shining golden hoops holding it back partially. The rest of it was held up by an equally shining golden headband with a bright jewel on it that she wore on her forehead. She wore a long dress with so many intricate, twisting, confusing designs woven into it that it almost looked brown if you weren't looking at it hard enough. And then there was that strange looking, also golden necklace that she wore.
"Who are you?" He asked, standing up and looking her in the eye.
"You will learn my name later." She said, bowing to him slightly. "For now, all that you need to know is that you should come with me."
He looked at her curiously, then followed her out of the room. Mokuba was already out there, looking just as confused as Seto felt. The woman continued down the hallway, almost gliding rather than walking, and Mokuba and Seto just followed her.
She walked up to the front desk and announced, "We are ready to go."
The head guard looked Seto and Mokuba over, then returned his gaze to the woman, narrowing his eyes. His voice had a definite threatening tone to it. "Alright, lady, I don't see how it is you think you can just barge in here and take people out of here..."
The necklace around the woman's neck caught a glint of light, causing it to shine slightly, and the guard let out a small gulp.
"But, seein' as you are so persuasive and all, I'll let you go right through. Goodbye, an have a nice day." He said, returning to his work with a nervous glance at the necklace.
"Thank you." The woman said, allowing only the slightest smile to come across her face. She turned and glided out the front doors.
Shaking himself out of his stunned silence, Seto took Mokuba by the hand and followed the woman, staring at the guard the whole way out.
Outside, he jogged forward and caught up with her. "What did you do?" He asked.
"As he said, I am a very persuasive person." She said simply.
She went to the street corner and called a Taxi. "Take them to KaibaCorp." She said to the driver. He gave her a strange look, then nodded.
She turned to Seto. "You shall see me later. I have forseen it." she said, bowing slightly once again and turning away towards a limo that was parked not too far away.
"But.."
"Later." She said.
Seto and Mokuba got into the Taxi and it drove off in the direction of KaibaCorp.
"She's strange." Mokuba commented.
"Strange, yes. But definitly very nice... I wonder if..." His voice trailed off.
They rode in silence, comtemplating the weirdness of the woman.
When they got to KaibaCorp, Seto and Mokuba got out of the taxi. Seto turned back and was contemplating how he was going to pay the man when his money was not with him at the time, when the taxi simply drove away.
Seto shook his head and turned to the building. Right that moment he had absoulutly no time for trying to explain the mysteries of human behavior. There was a LOT of work to be done. They went up in the elevator to Kaiba's office, surprising quite a few workers, then, after kicking Weevil out and making a few phone calls, Seto got right to work, pulling up a TV in the room for Mokuba to watch.
Kaiba pulled up his graphs, tables, and other assorted work items, being especially careful NOT to turn on the AI. Well, he tried to anyway. The AI turned itself on.
"Good morning, Seto Kaiba!" The AI called. "Did you miss me?"
Seto sighed. "Listen." He said. "I have a lot to do right now, and frankly, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now. Go away."
The AI grumbled at him for a moment, causing a smile to form on Mokuba's face, who was looking at the television but wasn't really paying attention to it.
"That isn't the way you're supposed to talk to someone like me! Where've you been? What's up? Talk to me!"
"Not now." Seto said, raising his voice. He noticed at the edges of his vision that Mokuba mouthed the AI's answer along with it, then breaking into a small fit of giggles.
"Aw... But why ever not, Kaiba?"
After a whole lot of persuading and even some yelling,(And Mokuba laughing) it decided to go ahead and shut down with one final, "Fine, have it your way, Kaiba..."
Seto turned to Mokuba who was now fighting to keep a guilty smirk off his face. "Have you been reprogramming my AI?" He asked.
Mokuba shook his head firmly no, but the grin on his face said otherwise.
"Uh huh. Don't do that anymore, Mokuba." Seto said, turning back to his work.
"Ok, Seto." Mokuba said. There was silence in the room that was only broken by the sound of Kaiba's keyboard and the occasional outburst of canned laughter from the television.
A commercial popped up on the TV saying something about an Egyptian Exhibit at the local museum, but Seto wasn't really paying attention to it. Information sped by on his screen and he only looked up from it when Mokuba addressed him.
"Seto, with all that's been going on, we really have been needing a break. How about we visit that new exhibit. It would be very fun and educational." He said, quoting the man on the screen.
"No, Mokuba. Because of all that's been going on, I don't have time to take a break right now. Maybe some other time."
"But Seto!"
"No. Maybe some other time." He said again.
The picture on the screen changed, shifting it to the owner of the exhibit. Mokuba gasped, drawing Seto's attention to the screen.
"Seto, isn't that?!?"
It was! It was the woman that had saved him from the nut house!
"I have personally invited Seto Kaiba to come to my exhibit..."
***************************************************************
Can everyone see where I'm going with this? This story takes place after that fire, (Obviously... Daricio was talking about it, so it couldn't be before then.) and before Battle City. (Because I haven't seen all the Battle City episodes, and I can't have them referring to things that I don't know what happens, right?) So... Now that they've started showing us the Battle City tournament... That's right... I'm starting Battle City! Daricio ("Misspelled!") style! Isn't that going to be fun? It's going to basically be Battle City, but with my own little plot twists and additions. I hope this works out!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one might be soon and it might not.... So, I'll see you next chappie! ("Misspelled!") After I destroy this WordScribe thing... Hmm... ("Misspelled!") Maybe me and Kaiba ("Misspelled!") can work together... Take his AI ("Misspelled!") and my WordScribe down to the shooting pit. *Dreams* hehehehe....("Misspelled!")
Also, in case anyone noticed, sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. I had some problems... First off, there was writers block that was solved by putting Battle City into the story. Then, while I was writing the Joey ("Misspelled!") part, I was ALMOST done with it when.... Word performed an illegal operation and had to shut down, meaning I had no chance to save my work, meaning that I had to start over... grrr...("Misspelled!") So, anyways, ("Misspelled!") Now I know how Kaiba ("Misspelled!") felt when all of his information got dumped... X~X ("Misspelled!")
So, anyway, I'll see you next time. I must go and speak to Kaiba ("Misspelled!") about that shooting thing. I wonder how good his aim is?... See ya.("Misspelled!")
--Daricio ("Misspelled!")