Me: Wahoo! You came back!
Toli: This is so exciting!
Me: First, mega-thanks for all of the nice reviews. And now here's Chapter #4!
Toli: And, in case you wondered, Yu-Gi-Oh still doesn't belong to us!
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ATTACK
After his friends walked him home, Yugi immediately went up to his room and collapsed on the bed. He took a three-hour nap. The day's adventure had completely worn him out as well as scared him out of his mind.
When he woke up, his head was very, very sore. It took a moment for him to remember why. He had hit his head on the asphalt when he fell.
You didn't "fall",Yami's voice interrupted his slow thoughts, Joey pushed you.Yami still sounded ticked.
Yami, I really don't believe Joey did it on purpose, Yugi defended. It had to have been an accident. I mean, what other explanation could there be?
Yami didn't say anything, but Yugi could sense that the spirit still wholeheartedly believed Joey pushed Yugi on purpose. Before Yami could say another word, Yugi had sat up.
"You can believe what you want," Yugi said aloud, knowing Yami was still listening, "but I know Joey would never hurt me on purpose."
Yami didn't reply. Yugi figured that they had both simply agreed to disagree and left his room. He went downstairs to get a drink from the kitchen and found, to his surprise, Tea sitting in the living room.
"Tea?" Yugi questioned.
Tea whirled at his voice. "Yugi! You're finally…you're awake," she said, worry crossing her features. "I was concerned about you so…I stayed to make sure you'd be all right. I hope that doesn't bother you."
"Of course it doesn't!" Yugi replied, smiling even though it hurt his head. "Thanks for caring."
"You're welcome," Tea said, smiling big. Something about her smile looked strange. Like it had been cut out of a magazine and glued over her real mouth. But Yugi didn't really care about that. It didn't seem very important.
"So…did you want something to eat?" Tea asked. "I could cook you something, or—"
"No thanks, Tea, I'll just get a drink," Yugi told her.
A nervous look replaced the concern. "Are you sure? You might not want to neglect eating after…what happened, y'know."
Yugi smiled again. "I'm sure. I mean, even though I nearly got ran over, it's not like I suffered some long illness."
"Right," Tea said, again smiling that fake-looking smile.
Yugi headed for the kitchen. Almost immediately, Tea got up and followed him there. "Maybe you should rest, and I'll get you your drink," she offered hastily.
Yugi looked over his shoulder at her. Tea looked nervous and—it seemed—a little frustrated. Or did he imagine the latter? "No, thanks, Tea, I can get it myself," he assured her.
"But Yugi—" Tea started.
"Tea I can get it myself!" Yugi replied a little too loudly, hurting his head and his friend.
Tea looked wounded. "I just wanted to help," she said.
Yugi felt guilty. "I know. I'm sorry, Tea, I guess I'm still just a little freaked out about everything that's happened."
Tea smiled again. "That's okay. So do you think you'll be okay?" she asked as she leaned against the counter.
Yugi nodded as he looked up to reach for a glass in the high up cupboard. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine," he said. "I can't get spooked that easily."
"That's good to hear," Tea said. Yugi was surprised at how her voice changed. It sounded a little lower, and just a little creepier. "Do you want some help with that, Yugi Moto?"
Yugi looked up at the glass he was trying to reach. His middle finger could barely touch it. "Sure, Tea," he answered, wondering why she used his last name. That wasn't like her. Neither was the glue-on smile, or the low creepy voice.
"Say, Tea," Yugi began as Tea stretched over him to reach the glass, "are you feeling all right?"
"Fine, Yugi," Tea said in the weird voice. "How about you?"
Yugi was confused and a little scared. "Well, I'm okay, but you already asked me—"
Yugi, move!Yami yelled.
Almost at the same moment Yami had spoken, Yugi dodged to the left. He had learned to obey whenever Yami gave him a loud command.
THUD!
Yugi almost fell on the floor but caught himself. He turned to see what had made the thud and gasped.
Tea was standing in front of the counter. She was yanking very hard on the handle of a large butcher's knife that was half embedded in the counter Yugi had just been leaning on.
Yugi was wide-eyed, half in amazement, half in fear. Had Tea just tried to stab him?!
Yugi, you have got to get out of here,Yami said to him. And right now.
Yugi didn't move. He was standing next to Tea, staring first at her face, which had an angry and frustrated glare on it, and then at her hands, which were slowly pulling the knife out of the counter.
Yugi, GO!
Finally Yugi snapped out of it, just as Tea pulled her deadly weapon free. She lunged towards him, the knife gripped tightly in her right hand. Yugi dived out of the way and the knife sliced harmlessly through air.
Yugi ran to the entrance to the kitchen and looked back. Tea wasn't coming after him, but she still brandished the knife, and was still glaring at him.
"Tea, why are you doing this?" Yugi exclaimed, hoping to reason with his friend. "What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong? I think you mean what's right," Tea said in a nasty-sounding voice that seemed so wrong on her. "It's about time I got rid of you and that stupid spirit in your Puzzle!"
Yugi gasped, and he could feel Yami's anger burning inside the Puzzle. "Please, Tea, think about this," Yugi implored.
"There's nothing to think about!" Tea snarled. "Now don't move so this can go faster!"
She lunged again. Yugi turned and bolted. He ran up the stairs, hoping to lock himself in his room. But before he could make it all the way upstairs, he felt something grab his ankle and pull him down. He bounced off the wall and three stairs before coming to rest upside down, sprawled over five steps. Tea's head appeared upside down—to him—with her hair hanging down. She had the knife pointed right at Yugi's chest, and she brought it down with startling speed.
Yami, help me! Yugi screamed through the mind link.
Immediately Yami took over with a flash of the Puzzle. He grabbed Tea's wrist, just before the knife hit his chest, and used his powers to help him throw her off balance. She tripped backwards and fell all the halfway down the stairs she had run up, while Yami flipped over and got to his feet.
Tea glared at him from the bottom of the stairs when she got up. "That's you, Yami, isn't it?" she said. "It's about time you came out of hiding instead of letting Yugi do all the field work for you!" She immediately started back up the stairs. As soon as she was in arm's length of him, Yami shoved her back down the stairs.
"You may be my friend," Yami said as calmly as he could with his building anger, "but unlike Yugi, I have no qualms about hurting you if I have to."
"Why don't you come down here and say that again?" Tea challenged.
Yami wanted to make sure she didn't use that knife, but he knew he couldn't let anything happen to him or Yugi would suffer the most. So he turned and ran back upstairs. Instead of going to Yugi's room, he turned the other way and headed for the bathroom. Whirling, he slammed the door shut just as Tea drove the knife at him. She embedded the knife so far in the door that Yami could see the point of it on the other side.
Yami wanted to check on Yugi to see if he was all right, but Tea was already yanking the knife out of the door and would soon open it and come for him. Her super strength was unexplainable and very dangerous. Yami looked for a solution-—and found one.
Tea pulled the knife out all the way and threw open the now slashed door. "All right, now I have you in a corner," she said to Yami, and ran at him. At the last second, Yami stepped aside and she crashed into the sink.
Instantly Yami mashed her head down into the sinkful of waiting water. While she thrashed and tried to come up for air, Yami pried the knife out of her hands and tossed it in the toilet to hide it. He dropped the lid and let Tea's head up.
Tea was soaking wet from neck up. Her hair dripped continually, and water even dripped off her eyelashes. She stared at Yami with a confused expression. "Yami? What are we doing in the bathroom? And why is my head wet?"
Yami didn't answer He just crossed his arms over his chest.
END CHAPTER
Me: Thank you for reading the chapter!
Toli: We really appreciate it!
Me: And a note. You may wonder why Yami shoved Tea's head into the sink instead of just using some of his powers on her. Well, he would have gladly hurt Tea to protect Yugi's body, but he was pretty sure Yugi wouldn't want Tea hurt. Okay, so we have that settled, so…
NEXT IN CHAPTER 5…Yugi decides to become a little distant from Joey and Tea and even Tristan because he does not want another attempt made on his life. But what's really going on?
REVIEW RESPONSES
Me: All right, it's that time again! Saying hello and thanks and answering questions and whatnot. So let's go! First off is the response for Dagger Maxwell. Hi! Thank you very much for liking our story, it's people like you that keep us going. Your nice reviews are the gasoline to our car, the ink to our pen, the legs to our bodies!
Toli: O.o;
Me: Okay, moving on...
Toli: Okay, the next one is to Pharaoh Atemu's Angel. We are, like Mena so strangely said, very glad that you like our story. Most of this is me, y'know, so I appreciate the encouragement! We most definitely hope you'll come back!
Me: My turn again! Next up is Dark mage of sea 13's response. Thank you, thank you. (bow) our goal is to make it spooky enough to scare you, so we're obviously succeeding. Now, onto...
Toli: What happened to Torru?
Me: (grimace) Oh. Toli, you answer him.
Toli: All right. (grin). I hope you know I'm a little hard to impress if you're not being genuine, but just in case you are, my number is--
Me: This is a public website! You can't do that!
Toli: Party pooper.
Me: Okay, next up is Silver Moon Phoenix. See, that's the point, we're trying to keep you guessing! And no, she is not done with him AT ALL. At least you like it!
Toli: Next is the response to BeautyBabe. More encouragement! Just what we need! Thank you very much, and we hope you will keep reading. Don't let anything stop you from reading!
Me: Last but not least is Phoenix727's response. We won't tell you everything, but we'll allay a couple of your fears...no, our bad girl has no Millennium Item. She's doing something else. How's that?
Toli: Wow, six reviews!
Me: That's what I call cool! To everyone, please come back next time and review! Please! Thanks! Okay, seeya!!
