Me: You're back! Great! We're very sorry for taking so long, but I got grounded for flunking a math test.
Toli: We're so happy to see you! BIG HUGS AND MUSHY THANKS to everybody who reviewed so nicely. You can pick up your BIG HUG AND MUSHY THANKS at the end of the chapter.
Me: So let's get the chapter started!
Toli: And now I have a signed letter from Yami saying we still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, so stop asking already!
CHAPTER SIX: THE REALIZATION
The phone rang. Yugi jumped in surprise and looked at the clock. 10:16 AM. He wasn't expecting a call. Maybe it was Grandpa.
Yugi picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Yugi, it's Tea! Hi!"
Yugi started again. Why was she calling? "Hi, Tea," he replied a little nervously.
"Listen, Yugi, I was just calling to make sure you were all right," Tea went on. "I don't really know what happened last evening, but I'm hoping you're all right."
"You are?" Yugi replied a little disbelievingly. "The last time you asked me that, you tried to kill me!"
There was a short silence. "I did?" Tea questioned. "Are you sure that wasn't a dream?"
"No!" Yugi exclaimed. "You grabbed a butcher's knife and tried to impale me to my own counter!"
Another silence. "But—but Yugi," Tea faltered, "I don't remember ever—"
"I'm sorry you don't remember, but you did!" Yugi interrupted. "You tried to stab me several times until Yami finally shoved your head into a sinkful of water and got the knife away from you!"
"Is that how my head got wet?" Tea asked.
Yugi couldn't even speak. How could she not remember hurling insults at him, trying to kill him, chasing him up the stairs—?
Unless something else—or someone else—did it through her. Sure, at first thought it seemed farfetched, but considering all the hell Yugi went through two years ago, anything was possible now.
"Tea," Yugi said, "what exactly can you remember about yesterday?"
"Well," Tea began, "I remember us going to the arcade. Then Joey shoved you into traffic. Tristan saved you and yelled at Joey. We walked you home. I decided to stay behind and make sure you'd be all right. Then…after that the only thing I remember was standing in your bathroom with my head soaked and staring at Yami who looked very angry."
"Then maybe it wasn't you!" Yugi exclaimed, his heart leaping at the thought of not having to avoid his friends.
"Wha—?" Tea sounded confused. "What do you mean?"
"I…it's…Just come over to my house, Tea, and I'll tell you!"
"…Well, all right, I'll see you there."
They hung up.
"Don't you see, Yami?" Yugi exclaimed, turning and finding a transparent Yami behind him. "Maybe it wasn't them after all! Maybe someone else was controlling them from somewhere else! It would make perfect sense!"
Yami crossed his arms. "Well, if that is true, that turns up a new problem: there's someone out there who wants to kill you and they're doing it through your friends hoping you won't fight back."
Yugi's earlier excitement drained out of him. "Well, at least it wasn't my friends," he said.
"If your theory is correct," Yami answered pessimistically.
"It has to be," Yugi said, partly to himself. "That's the only way this all could make sense."
Tea was at the house in the next twenty minutes. She and Yugi sat on the couch in the living room. Yami, half-transparent, stood right behind the couch.
Carefully Yugi explained his theory to Tea, and to some extent to Yami also. Tea listened but still seemed confused. Yami, however, understood perfectly.
"So let me get this straight," Tea said when Yugi had finished. "You think that someone took over me and Joey and tried to use us to kill you?"
Yugi nodded firmly. "That's exactly what I'm saying," he confirmed. "Think about it, Tea. It's no stranger than what we went through with Marik, right? And if I am right, it would explain a lot of things."
"You're probably right," Tea said. "But that means there's someone out there who we most likely don't know who wants to kill you! What will we do?"
Yugi shrugged. "I honestly have no idea."
The doorbell attached to the side door rang. "I guess I'll get that," Yugi said. He stood up to go to the side door. Tea and Yami followed.
Yugi opened the door and looked out. No one was there. "Hello?" Yugi called out, taking a few steps outside.
The revving of an engine caught his attention. Yugi turned to see what it was, and froze as he saw a motorcycle headed straight for him. He needed to move, he wanted to move, his mind screamed at him to move, but he was frozen as if paralyzed.
"Yugi!" a shrill voice cried.
Yugi felt someone slam into him from behind and knock him several feet forward. The motorbike zipped between them and the door. Yugi felt the wind it caused on his feet.
Tea had knocked Yugi out of the way just in time. They both stood up as the motorcycle made a sharp screeching turn and came to face them. It revved a few times before the rider took off his large helmet and tossed it away.
Yugi gasped. So did Tea.
It was Tristan.
"I hope you both don't mind me coming over!" Tristan said. "By the way, Tea, I was wondering why you didn't get the job done yesterday."
Yugi felt Tea stiffen behind him. "I would never hurt Yugi on purpose!" she shouted at Tristan. "Tristan, you are not in your right mind and you've got to snap out of it!"
Tristan snorted. Yugi noticed out of the corner of his eye that Yami jerked like someone had hit him with an arrow. "Whatever. If you can't do this right, Tea, then I'll do the job and you can join Yugi!"
Tristan revved the engine again.
"Somehow we've got to snap him out of it," Yugi said.
"Forget Tristan!" Tea exclaimed, her voice high with nervousness, "we've got to escape before Tristan mows us down!"
Yugi, don't move and don't let Tea move, Yami instructed suddenly.
Why not?
I don't have time to explain. Just neither of you move.
"Yami says don't move," Yugi relayed the message to Tea.
"What?!" Tea cried.
Yugi gripped her wrist firmly. "I trust Yami. He won't let us get hurt."
Tristan revved the engine once more, and then gunned it and sped towards Yugi and Tea. Yugi could feel Tea shaking in his grip, and, truth be told, he was scared himself. He hoped Yami knew what he was doing.
The motorcycle came closer and closer. Yugi could sense Tea wanted to run, and so did he. But he was sure Yami wouldn't let them down.
Two seconds before Tristan would have hit them, Yugi saw a brief black flash.
One second before Tristan would have hit them, he didn't.
The motorcycle stopped abruptly. But its wheels were still driving forward. A split second later, the motorcycle bounced off an invisible wall and went flying. Tristan came off of the seat and landed in some bushes, while his bike crashed into a conveniently placed Dumpster.
Tea nearly fainted with relief. Yami had used his powers to put up a force field in front of them. Yugi sighed and released Tea's arm.
In the bushes, Tristan struggled to get up. "Eh…what happened?" He looked up. "Yugi? Tea? What am I doing here?"
"Well—er—that's kind of hard to explain," Tea said, only beginning to recover from fright.
"But we'll try anyway," Yugi finished.
END CHAPTER
Me: There! I think that one was good!
Toli: But there's still plenty to come!
Me: Stay with us, please!
NEXT IN CHAPTER 7…Yugi has his first encounter with the evil person trying to kill him. But could it be that Yami already knows who she is?
REVIEW RESPONSES
Mena: Thanks for dropping by! Let's respond to those reviews!
Toli: Mena has given me complete control over the review responses. Mwa ha ha ha! Anyway, our first response is to SilverTiger-GoldenPhoenix. It's a pleasure for you to review our story for us as well! Thanks for reviewing so nicely. And hi again, Kira! Keep those eyes glued to the screen, okay?
Mena: Yes! Please do!
Toli: All right, next we have a response to Aya. Thank you for reviewing! Please come back next time!
Mena: Yeah! Do that!
Toli: Okay, next up is Dagger Maxwell. Yes, Tristan next. Isn't it terrible? Mwa ha ha! And yes, I love that little guy to bits too! We can love him to bits together, I suppose.
Mena: Why would you wanna do that?
Toli: Quiet. Next we have Millenniumgrl126. We're glad you like the story! As we said before, no, our bad girl does not possess the Millennium Rod, but that is all I'm going to tell you! Don't miss our next installment!
Mena: No! Don't!
Toli: O.-; Moving on. Next is our response to Silver Moon Phoenix's review. Ha, lucky for you, Yugi's near-death experience was only a dream. But it won't be next time!! And, a little clue, it isn't something Yami or Yugi did. It's a whole other reason. You'll probably never guess what.
Mena: That's right!
Toli: -.-; Anyway, next will be DMoS13. Hi! Thank you for the compliment. And when you tell Torru about this chapter, tell him I'm sorry he's on lockdown.
Mena: I'm not.
Toli: QUIET. Our next response goes out to ShiningAngel. Thank you for loving our story and we are both sorry you couldn't post before. And as to your question, first you have to get a screen name, and to do that you need an e-mail address. Try clicking on Register, which is next to Login. You ought to know what to do after that. And, WITHOUT INTERRUPTION...
Mena:... n.n;
Toli: We will have our next response, to StubsMcGimp. Like Mena said, you are very welcome to join us, and do a plug for us elsewhere if you could. You scared us both when you said you didn't like the story, but when you said you loved it, we felt better.
Mena: Speak for yourself! I got freaked!
Toli: SHUT UP! Ahem. Anyway, you made her happy, and you happy, now I'm happy, and Lexie is happy. Don't ask me who Lexie is. Don't worry about the sugar happy either; Mena does that a lot too. I have to confiscate Sweet-n-Low packets every day.
Mena: Do not!
Toli: Stop lying. Anyhow, thank you or joining us, and we'll see you next time! Let's go, Mena!
