Chapter 7:
After hearing Yugi's terrified screams and howls, Yami managed to get the cell phone away from Marik and shut it off before Yugi could say anything rational to him. He put the cell phone back around his neck and kept walking, as if nothing had even happened. Bakura and Marik were totally puzzled. They had just held him down and told his hikari what he'd let happen to his grandfather and yet, there was Yami, as calm as a cucumber.
By this time, Yami, Marik, and Bakura were all walking in silence. Not entirely aware of where they were going, though. They still kept going in the direction that Bakura had pointed out earlier.
Marik sighed and said, to no one in particular, but still looking at Yami, "I'm hungry."
Yami starred up at him, "You mind not looking at me and saying that?"
"I'm just saying. And don't flatter yourself, Pharaoh, I wouldn't eat you if you were the last edible substance on the planet!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I wouldn't eat you if you were the last edible substance in the universe!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I'd rather eat Bakura than you any day!"
"So would I!"
"Not if I eat him first!"
You can imagine how frightened Bakura must've been right about now. While watching his fellow yamis, he tried to interject but they were too busy claiming his body parts. Bakura finally yelled at the top of his lungs, "Hold it!"
They stopped their bickering and looked at him, "What's wrong, Bakura?"
"You both are! No one's going to eat me! Look," He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a shiny dagger, "I've still got my dagger. We can carve up a raccoon or something."
Yami began to turn green, "Raccoon…? Oh, my stomach…"
"Don't mind him," Marik rolled his eyes and looked back at the rigid knife Bakura held in his hand, "He doesn't know what good food is. Anyway, let's find some weak little animal. It shouldn't be too hard to find…"
Marik looked around on the ground and the tree branches. Suddenly, something darted past a tree stump and up the tree. Marik whirled around to Bakura and pointed up the tree, "Hey, there's something up there. Go kill it."
Bakura looked at the tree then walked to it, past Marik, mumbling, "Why do I always have to kill everything?"
"I killed the squirrels."
Bakura nodded, "Fine then." He grabbed onto the lowest branch and quickly scaled the tree from there. Marik and Yami watched him shimmy up the bark and Yami shook his head.
"We're not really going to eat that defenseless creature, are we?"
"Maybe you're not." Marik grinned and licked his fangs, "But I certainly am. When you're as big and muscular as I am, you'll learn to prey on the weak and defenseless."
"You animal."
Suddenly, Marik and Yami a loud crash up in the tree. They looked up and saw Bakura come tumbling down and he landed on his back, while the little creature scurried down the tree and off into a log that lay on the woodsy ground.
Yami rushed over to Bakura's side, "Hey, are you okay? What happened?"
"Grr…!" Bakura stood up shakily and pointed to the log that the animal was in, "T-That damn thing jumped on my face and made me loose my balance!"
"What is it?" Yami asked, "A raccoon or a squirrel?"
"Looked like a raccoon to me. It had black around it's eyes." Bakura grumbled and ran into the log. He could only fit in up to his waist though, so he was kind of stuck at the moment.
Yami and Marik heard Bakura's muffled swearing and growls, but then it was silent. Yami was about to go over and see about him, but at the last second Bakura yelled so loud that all the birds nestled in the trees, flew away and cawed loudly.
Marik lifted an eyebrow, "Bakura?"
Yami ran over, grabbed Bakura's hips and pulled hard. He was still yelling and howling, but nothing he said could be heard except, "AAAHHHHHH! GET ME OUT!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Yami shot a look over at Marik, who was standing there, looking at his nails, "Marik, come here and help me!"
"'Kay." He walked over and yanked really hard on Bakura's legs. He came flying out and landed on top of Marik. Marik dumped him on the ground and looked back at the log. It was still for a moment, then a small black animal with one white stripe along it's back came trotting out and back into the wild.
"Bakura!" Marik yelled, "That wasn't a raccoon, you idiot, it was a skunk!"
He wasn't listening. Bakura was on the floor, writhing in pain and agony, while holding his face and moaning, "Oh… It stings…. Gah…."
Yami was hovering over him as if Bakura was a sick patient in a hospital and Yami was the worried nurse, who took care of him. He tried to pry Bakura's hands open, "Bakura, let me see! Did he bite you or something?"
"No!" Bakura slammed his hands onto the ground and frowned, "That damn skunk sprayed me in the eye!" His eyes had turned from their usual chocolaty brown and were now a bright red.
"What do you mean-" Yami began but quickly gasped and covered his nose with both hands, "Oh Ra! You mean that was a skunk?"
"I feel like I'm talking to myself, sometimes." Marik said, holding his nose as well, "I already said it was a skunk!"
The smell was already kicking in and getting stronger as every second passed. It was as if a thousand soiled underpants were gathered in one huge pile and with another even bigger pile of rotten eggs that were dipped in manure. Quite nasty.
Yami backed up and away from Bakura, who was sitting on the ground, scowling. He took in a breath of fresh air and sighed, "Well, that's what we get for messing with Mother Nature. M-Maybe we should dunk him in the river. That should get the smell off, right?"
"Worth a try." Marik held his nose with one hand and picked up a stick with the other. He poked Bakura in the back, "Get going, Bakura. Into the river with you."
"You must be joking! There's no way I'm jumping into some freezing cold river. So get that stick away from me."
"C'mon!" Yami protested, "My nose is falling off, over here!
Marik poked Bakura with the stick again, "Scoot."
"No! Now leave me alone!" Bakura lost all control and tackled Marik to the ground. They rolled over to the trunk of a tree and were pummeling each other, by slamming the other into the ground as often as they got the chance.
Yami ran, over still holding onto his nose, "Bakura! Marik! Stop it, you're acting like little kids! Bakura, get off of him!"
They refused to listen. Still throwing punches and biting each other's hair. Yami sighed, exasperated, and then looked over at something moving along the ground. He squinted and saw it was some big furry animal crawling along.
He stumbled backwards as it crawled closer, "M-M-Mon…M-M-Monk…" Yami couldn't get out what he was trying to say. He tried to talk to Marik and Bakura, but they were too busy beating the stuffing out of each other.
"M-M-Mon…M-M-Monk…" He continued to stutter. Marik thought he was trying to call him, so he held Bakura's hands down and looked up at him.
"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy!"
"Monkey…. Monkey…. M-M-Man…" Yami pointed towards the creature that was now only three feet away.
"RA!" Marik scrambled to his feet and ran behind Yami. Bakura was now able to get up without Marik holding him to the ground. He looked up at Marik and Yami's terrified expressions.
"What's wrong with you two…?" They pointed and he looked at the ugly, large, furry animal that was holding onto Bakura's shoe. "OH MY RA!"
"W-Wait…" The animal mumbled, "Bakura, wait a min-"
Bakura kicked the horrible monster in the face and ran. Marik and Yami followed him into the forest and, right now, they didn't really seem to notice Bakura's awful smell.
They left the animal holding his face and groaning. "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
Meanwhile, on the cruise ship, Ryou was busy packing their suitcases. They were cutting their weekend short and were going to get off at the next stop. Yugi's orders. He almost couldn't believe how everything was turning out. His Grandpa has… died? Tumbled over a cliff? Before the line to Yami's cell phone was cut off, Marik told Yugi about how the car caught fire and his Grandpa got washed down a fifty foot waterfall. Yugi was practically in shock.
What was probably even more disappointing for Yugi was the fact that Yami lied to him. Well… not lied exactly, but withholding the truth was just as bad! That explains why he was always acting so strange and jittery on the phone.
Malik had already packed his bag and plopped down on the bed, "Oh, this just isn't fare! We had to cut our relaxing vacation a whole day and a half short! Just because our yamis killed Yugi's Grandpa!"
"Malik! Show some compassion." Ryou said in a hushed voice, "This is Yugi's Grandfather we're talking about. I don't think Yugi's too happy with Yami…"
"So what? Marik's killed my dad and my goldfish, but I forgave him. I certainly wouldn't cancel a once in a lifetime trip just because of a little death and woe."
"Ugh…"
The door opened and Yugi came in, his face was red and puffy. He'd been crying ever since Marik told him about his Grandpa's ironic death. Yugi sat his bag down on the bed and sighed. He looked more miserable than he ever had before.
"There, there, Yugi." Ryou tried his hardest to comfort him, "I'm sure it'll all turn out fine. I-I mean… um, it's a shame about your grandfather, but you should… look on the bright side…"
Ryou's comforting tactics weren't working as well as he hoped. Yugi looked up at him and sighed, "Oh, it's okay, Ryou. Thanks. But I'm okay, really. I know that Grandpa's in a better place now."
'Yeah, in a river at the bottom of a cliff.' Malik thought to himself, it took all he had to restrain his mouth.
"Anyway," Yugi said with a little annoyance in his voice, as if he'd heard Malik's rude comment, "I called the Forest Ranger in their area. He said he'd keep a look out for them until we got there. I told him to use any means necessary to hold them, because they're feisty and might try to get away."
Ryou nodded, "Good idea, Yugi. But do you think the ranger will be able to find our yamis?"
"I'm pretty sure. He sounded really capable on the phone."
"Well, phone is one thing and life is another." Malik whirled around and grinned. "Let's get ready then. The next stop is only two hours away and then we're off."
"Malik, you've seemed to recover from your bad mood."
"Yeah, well… No use crying over spilled milk. After all, I should've expected something like this to come from Marik and Bakura. But Yami…? It just seems kind of weird to me. He's usually so… um, responsible. That's why we left him in charge, isn't it?"
"Yes, I'm rather surprised as well." Ryou sat down and bounced on the bed, "He's always been one to please you. I wonder what would cause him to… keep such an unfortunate event from you."
Yugi nodded grimly and looked at his cell phone, "Hmm. I wonder, too. But when we see him again, I'm certainly going to find out. I can't let Yami go unpunished for this… It's too much, especially for him. I don't want to keep such an awful person around me anymore."
Ryou and Malik looked at each other, "Dramatic."
