Chapter 3:
No matter what Marik or Bakura did, Yami was still moody for the next hour or so. He wasn't talking much, which is what Marik liked best. Bakura was getting agitated with his silence, he didn't like it when people gave off bad vibes.
"You know, Yami, you need to get over it. Like Marik said, what's done is done. It's not like it was you're fault, anyway. It was just fate." Bakura said, sitting down on the forest floor.
Yami glared, "What do you know about fate? That was all an unfortunate event."
"Ooh, yeah," Marik smirked, "Did you tell Yugi about his grandfather? He's gonna be pretty mad. I heard him talking to you before we left… he called you the 'responsible one'. How's it going to look when Gramps dies and you were in charge."
"Y-You're right… what am I going to do? Yugi's going to disown me!"
"Lighten up. You can worry about being disowned later. But right now, we've got bigger problems."
"Like what?"
"What do you mean 'like what'? We're in the forest, it'll be getting dark in a few hours, our bag with the food in it got washed down the river… like that. Sheesh."
"Guess so. So, while it's still light outside we should probably build camp." Yami opened on of the bags, "Lucky for us, we've still got one tent left."
"One!" Marik and Bakura shouted in unison, "One, as in all three of us will have to sleep together?"
"Dramatic much? I think we should divide up the jobs before it gets dark and we wont be able to do anything. We need to get a fire going, and set up the tent… and get food, too."
"Um, guess that sounds okay. I'll get the tent set up." Bakura volunteered, "It shouldn't be too hard. After all, it comes with instructions."
Marik looked at the ground and picked up a twig, "I shall be collecting the wood… I like fire."
There was a moment of silence.
"Anyway." Yami continued, "That means I'm going to have to look for food."
"Your job is easy, Pharaoh. All you have to do is use that phone of yours to order pizza. Or Chinese. Which do you like better, Marik?"
Marik was already picking up more sticks that he found around the trees, "I'll eat anything with meat in it. If you're going to order pizza, then make sure it's pepperoni with sausage and anchovies. Maybe some horse wouldn't be too bad, either…"
"I'm not ordering pizza! Do either of you have a problem with eating herbs and wild flowers? We might be able to find some mushrooms, as well. And maybe berries-"
"Flowers? Mushrooms and berries? You can't eat that kind of stuff from the wild! We don't even know where we are. As far as we know, we could be in uncharted territory." Marik rolled his eyes, "I'll look for the food while I'm getting firewood. You just help Bakura."
Marik picked up a flashlight and walked off into the woods. Yami turned around and watched Bakura struggling with the tent, "I could help you-"
"I got it." He said and continued to fumble and wrap the tent around himself.
Yami sat down and sighed.
Meanwhile, on the Rain-Shine Cruise Line, Malik, Ryou, and Yugi had just gotten back from their game of limbo that they played with some of the other passengers. They'd been back in their suite, ordering room service when Yugi sighed, rather sadly.
"What's wrong, Yugi?" Ryou asked, "Aren't you having fun? You won at limbo and you didn't even had to bend down."
Malik picked up the phone, "I think it was that shrimp he ate. It must've been sitting out too long."
"No. Um, it's nothing like that. I'm just sort of worried about Yami. He didn't sound okay on the phone. He sounded kind of weird. I sure hope Marik's not being too cruel."
"Oh, I'm sure Marik knows his limitations." Malik hushed them, then asked, quietly, "Hey, what do you guys want for dinner?"
Ryou patted his stomach, "I'm trying to watch it, so just a salad."
"I'll have a hamburger with everything on it."
"Don't tease me, Yugi, I'm on a diet!" Ryou pouted, "I don't think I can watch while you eat a hamburger."
"Oh, Ryou, stop it." Malik giggled, "You don't need to watch it. So, I'm ordering you both a hamburger. This cruise is in celebration of our yami-free weekend. We have to live for the moment."
"Okay. And Yugi, that means you have to stop worrying about Yami as well. He'll be fine, this weekend is about you."
Yugi grinned and scratched his head, "Yeah, okay. Let's party!"
Back at the campsite, Yami was watching as Bakura set up the tent. He wasn't doing such a good job at first, but he started to get the hang of it after turning it into a dress, then tepee, and then a mat.
"Aha!" Bakura put his hands on his hips in triumph. "Yup, I'm a bad man, but I did such a good job. Hey, Yami, what do ya think?"
Yami looked at the tangled mess that resembled a tent that had been through a hurricane or two. "… I suppose I can fix it before we go to bed."
"Humph! What do you know? This looks great!"
"You couldn't even get inside. Much less all three of us." Yami poked the side, "It's all… crushy-looking."
"I can fit in there!" Bakura got on all fours and crawled inside. Yami could see his shadow and knew right away that Bakura was struggling to get out, "Hey! Hey, let me out of here, help!"
Yami yawned and went back to the little bench he made out of a log, "I wonder what's taking Marik so long. How long does it take for someone to pick up some tasty berries?"
Bakura's head popped through a hole in the roof of the tent, "He's not getting any goddamn berries! If he does, he'll answer to me! Berries… jeez."
"He sure has been gone a long time… I hope nothing bad has happened."
"Why do you care?" He tried to untwist the poles, "You guys never get along. Why start liking him now?"
"I'll never like Marik! The thing is, Yugi told me I'm the responsible one…" Yami looked down at his cell phone, "That's why he, Malik and Ryou gave me this. I've already let something bad happen to Grandpa. No one else is going to die. Not on my watch."
"Oh, Yami, I feel so safe."
Suddenly a loud thumping noise was heard from the woods behind Yami. He scrambled up and hid behind the tent that was intertwined with Bakura. It was only Marik, though. He came out with a bundle of sticks in one hand and three dead squirrels in the other.
"Hi, guys." He sat down the sticks a little ways away from the tent. "Yami, get over here and make the fire. I've got cooking to do."
Yami mumbled Egyptian curses under his breath and went over to start the fire. "You can't order me around Marik, I'm in charge."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just 'cause you've got a phone hanging around your neck, doesn't mean you're our Pharaoh all of a sudden."
Bakura cleared his throat and pointed to Yami's millennium puzzle.
"Oh. Yeah." Marik shrugged it off and went over to see what Bakura was doing with their tent. It was up… for the most part. The poles that were supposed to keep it to the ground were twisted in the front and bent in the back. Bakura thought he'd done a pretty good job and when he stood up, he asked Marik what he thought.
"Urm… Yeah." He scratched his head, "I-It's cool, all right."
Bakura grinned, "I knew it. That Yami doesn't know what he's talking about."
Yami overheard their conversation and growled, 'That tent doesn't look any more fit to sleep in than Marik does. They don't know what they're talking about… And why wont this damn fire start?'
He stopped trying to rub the sticks together, like he saw on television, and looked around for a rock. Marik came over, picked up the sticks, and ran them quickly across the surface of Yami's millennium puzzle. The fire started and he let it catch to the rest of the wood.
"Oh. Thank you."
"Ah, don't mention it. I know you're a spoiled little prince that's never been in the real outdoors." He smirked, "Just be thankful I'm with you."
"What! Marik, you say one more thing about…" Yami stopped in mid-sentence. "What's the smell? It smells like something's… BURNING!" Yami looked down and saw that his foot was on fire.
"Ahh! Ahh! Help me!" He hoped around on one foot around the campfire and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Do something!"
"Heh heh heh…" Marik sat there and watched with amusement, "Hey, Bakura, look at this."
Bakura dropped what he was doing, ran over to the river, scooping a little bit of water in his hands. Of course, before he could throw it on Yami, it all fell through his hands. Bakura tried this method about three or four times before he figured out that it wasn't going to work.
"Well," He sat down next to Marik, "I've done all I can do."
"How long do you think it'll take him to finally jump in the river?"
"I dunno, but the way it's going, he might only have one foot left."
Yami heard them and followed their advice about jumping in the river. He held on to the side of a tree so he wouldn't get washed away, but submerged his entire body in the water.
When he got out, his foot was no longer on fire, but his hair was beginning to look like a red, black, and blonde afro. All the water must have washed out his hair gel.
"…" Marik and Bakura starred at him, when he first came out, not saying a word.
Yami walked right by them and said severely, "Don't. Say. A. Word."
At the same time, the two taller yamis burst out in laughter, "Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! D-Did you see that? Yami's got an… an afro! Eh he he he he he he he he he!"
"Shut-up! Shut-up! Shut-up!" Yami pouted and ran into the crushy-looking tent that Bakura had previously set up.
Somewhere way down the river, there was a little pond that ended the cycle of the waterfalls. That's were a little, rusty, green van washed up and lay undisturbed on the side of the bank.
The sliding door of the old van jiggled and opened, and an old man came tumbling out. He stood up and popped his shoulder back into place. "Hmm? Where am I?"
He looked back up the river and looked at a few waterfalls that were high and dangerous. "Boys?"
