Thank everyone for the reviewing! (I didn't think you'd review the very next day I submitted the chapter but... looked like I was wrong...) I am so... so... SOOOOO sorry that it has taken me weeks to write back. I'm planning to write about two more chapters and then probably submit another story and work on that. I will also work on this one, but it's probably gonna take me a while to write new chapters with the other story, too. Sorry, Again. BUT I WILL CONTINUE WORKING ON THIS! I can't help it- I like this popularity too much... This is the most reviews I've ever gotten with a story... I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH! (Which is one reason I can't just stop writing up more chapters just cause I submit another story, right? Right.) Anyways... Looks like Weevil and Rex are staying for a while- but that doesn't bug- no pun intended- anyone, does it? This is also going to be a mix between Sailor Moon- sort of- and (obviously) YGO. So... Enjoy!


Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or YGO, but I do own my OC. Who? You'll see. (I'll give you a hint; she's not from either show.)

Chapter: Team Switcheroo

"No- you have to hit the ball with your racket, bloke," Valon called over, ignoring the glares he received from the other side of the court. The group had escaped from the building as soon as possible, before Dartz could have made up more embarrassing punishments. Only Rafeal and Alister escaped Valon's strange idea to play a 'rousing' game of tennis.

From the far side to Valon, holding the tennis racket by the head, Rex replied, "I did hit the ball with the racket."

"And almost hit me," Weevil muttered from his position at the net. Unlike the other two, he actually knew a little bit about the game; Mostly about the injuries one could sustain while playing. And with this knowledge, he now knew one helpful thing; if the ball is headed right at you, then duck.

"That was when I served the ball!" Rex protested, waving the racket wildly.

Valon hit another ball at them, grabbing the two's attention easily. "The point is: you're 'olding the racket wrong. Grip the 'andle, bloke. Now... let's try this again. Weevil- you go back. Rex- you move up to the net before you upset another court's game. Ready? Good. HIYAH!"

The tennis ball soared over the net, taking a high bounce on the opposite side of the court and headed straight for the green haired teen's face.

"AAAIIIIEEE!"

Valon's and Rex's eyes followed the rebounded tennis ball's journey as it went high into the air. "Wow..," Rex muttered, blinking.

"Nice hit. Too bad it's in the wrong court," Valon said picking up another tennis ball. "Sorry- he just learned about hand-eye coordination two minutes ago!"

Breathing heavily and looking even paler than usual, Weevil got back to his feet, using his racket to help himself up. "You... you hit it... at my... head, you MORON!"

"You hit it, didn't you?"

"I hate this sport!" Weevil declared, kicking the tennis racket towards the chain link fence behind them. "You and dino brain here can play, but I refuse to! I'm going to go deface that stupid motorcycle..."

Valon dropped his racket to the ground and took off after the other teen. "Not my motorbike, bloke!"

Figuring that the game was officially over, Rex followed slowly behind them, even as Weevil took his first kick at the Australian's motorcycle. "I'd suggest another coat of paint if it scratches off that easily!" Rex called out, watching as Valon tackled Weevil to the ground.

"You can insult my dueling style and deck, insult my motorbike and even the way I dress," the brunette growled, pinning the perpetrator's arms down, "but NEVER EVER EVER EVER touch the bike! Never."

"You're a little late, bloke," Weevil grunted, trying his hardest to move- and predictably couldn't. "And once I get back up, I'll destroy that stupid bike which isn't even a bike- it's a MOTORCYCLE!"

Rex didn't even look once at the wrestling match. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that his companion was dead bug meat. Instead, he sat down on the seat- after setting the motorbike/cycle back up- awaiting the outcome of the match. Once he got his driver's license, he was going to get a motorcycle just like this one... with a flaming dinosaur skull- a Tyrannosaurus Rex even!- on front. Oh yeah, man...


A sudden ringing coming from the motorcycle woke Rex back up from dreamland. "Oh, hey- Valon! Your motorcycle is ringing!" He looked over at the wrestling match, wiping off the bit of drool off out of the corner of his mouth. Sometime during his nap, the two had apparently decided to finish their argument in an even more harmful sport: basketball.

"Guys..?"

The corner of Dartz's eye twitched as it came to be five minutes without anyone answering. Why is it that when one of his employees called each other, the receiving end would pick up immediately, whereas whenever he called, nobody picked up?

They must know that it's him... There's no other explanation than that.


"There's no way that you'll hit a shot from there," Valon said, keeping a wary if amused watch on the shorter teen. For the entire game, Weevil's only points had come from jump shots- mostly three's. It was the only thing that had kept him in the game against the power lay-ups Valon kept doing.

Weevil held the ball out of reach, even though the only pressure he was getting from four feet away of the half court line was Valon's shadow. "Well then, let's make this a little more interesting," he replied, taking the shortest of time to push his old glasses back up his nose. He winced as he noticed yet again that these stupid, five-year-old, wire rim, nearly broken down lenses, taped together bridge glasses weren't his beloved bug spectacles. Unfortunately, someone took his glasses, as their had been nothing left after cleaning up the vases and the hallway.

"How is this going to get anymore interesting?" Valon asked warily. The last time someone had suggested to 'make something more interesting,' he had wound up asking Mai out on a date... dressed as a girl...

"If I make it from here, than I win and you'll be my slave for a week. And if I miss... then you win and I'm your slave for a week... Okay?"

"Sounds good ta me," the brunette answered, taking a step to the side. "Go on. 'Ope you're ready to do all my chores."

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Weevil sniffed, now taking his sweet, sweet, sweeeeeeeeeet time in lining up the shot. "Honestly; you have me here, pressure practically weighing me down, and all you can come up with is that?"

Valon shrugged, smothering a smile. "Sometimes those under pressure tend to do themselves in. Especially when they're faced with having to alllllll of my wishes for a week if you miss."

"True. Of course, you're faced with the same ordeal and you don't have to deal with pressure."

"Nope."

"It only clogs your mind up with stupid 'what ifs?'."

"I can only imagine, Weevil."

"Lucky."

"I sure I am."

Trying to keep his mind focused, the green haired teen bent his knees, jumped up, letting the ball go up in a beautiful arch... It was lined up well- a little bit off, but the rest had gone right in, so why wouldn't this one?- so all that mattered was the distance... Up... up...

SMACK!

Weevil's mouth flopped open comically, eyes widening as the ball that had looked able to fly above a soaring jet was rudely stopped in it's tracks. It bounced a few times, ending back up at his sneakers. Valon's laughter brought back to the real world and his shocked face suddenly darkened into an angry one.

"REX! When I get my hands around that scrawny dino neck of yours!" the insect fanatic stomped his foot in anger, both hands shaking, bunched up into fists. To Valon, "I demand a redo- it would've gone in if it hadn't been for the idiot!"

The Australian fake wiped a tear out of his eye- although it wouldn't have surprised anyone of them if he really HAD been crying from his exertion- but shook his head to indicate a negative. "Sorry mate, but the deal was whether you made the shout or not and you didn't make it. Remember, blocks are perfectly legal in the game no matter the size of the player."

Rex, meanwhile, ignored his companion's ravings long enough to push Valon towards the still chiming motorcycle. "I imagine it's for you," he muttered, also ignoring the various punches and kicks meant to actually hit and hurt him. Still under fire, he turned around, letting the Hyena known as Valon 'walk' off- apparently the brunette didn't have much coordination when laughing.

"I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!" Weevil yammered, aiming a punch at his former 'friend's head with both eyes shut.

Having been in one too many fist fights- most of them with Weevil- Rex grabbed the slightly- very slightly- shorter teen's arm and swung it away, making Weevil overbalance and fall flat on his rear. "Calm down, Weevil," Rex said, wiping the dust off of his jacket, "it's not like you bet a week's worth of servitude to him if ya missed the shot."

Weevil growled, struggling to get back to his feet. "As a matter of fact, you stupid, idiotic... STUPID PERSON, I did. And now- thanks to you, I'M THAT CREEP'S SERVANT FOR A WEEK!"

"..So..?" In the face of that tirade, Rex only blinked. He shoved his hands in his pockets- unhappily reminded that Wheeler also did that- and walked off, leaving his companion red faced and sounding as though he was suffering from an asthma attack.


Valon pressed a yellow button on the handlebars of the motorcycle, trying to keep his giggles in check. "H-hullo, Val-lon 'ere... hee, hee."

The reply was unmistakably Dartz's voice, sounding strained and annoyed. "Do you ever answer before the stupid... thing has been ringing for over twenty MILLION times!"

The brunette sat down on the seat, pretending to actually ponder over such a 'question.' "Sometimes."

There was some comment made in the background of where Dartz was, followed shortly by laughter. "I'm sure Valon would be interested in hearing that comment, Alister," their boss finally said dryly (sounding far away to the brunette, as the Atlantean was talking to someone else and not directly into the 'mike'). "And I'm sure that Miss... Valentine would too."

Valon frowned, wondering what exactly his red headed 'friend' had said. "What did 'e say?"

There was more laughter, excluding one voice. "Well, Alister- would you like to tell Valon what you said?" There was a muttered reply- presumably Alister- before Dartz came back on completely. "You can beat him up later Valon. Just bring Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum with you back here."

"Tweedle Dum... and Tweedle Dee!" Weevil practically screeched, face morphing into a miffed insect's 'face.' Rex made his own protests, but nothing that either of the two- let alone Dartz- could hear. "Why I oughta..."

"Is that Tweedle Dee?" Dartz asked. They could all hear the smile on his face in his voice. "Then Tweedle Dum is somewhere nearby, correct?"

Valon clamped a hand over Tweedle Dee's mouth before more damage could be done. "Yes, sir- for both. We'll be there in another... hmm... how long did it take us to get down here..?"

"Do you mean to leave out the five minutes of avoiding cops, three minutes worth of avoiding hitting traffic cones, ten minutes of getting lost, a minute of avoiding to ask for directions and the four minutes of being chased by that 'killer bee?'" Rex 'answered,' counting off the blocks of time on one hand.

The Australian frowned, trying to ignore the sarcastic tones in the bloke's voice. "That bee was ready ta sting me- you'd be running too, if it had buzzed at you in that tone of... buzz."

"Rrrrriiiiiiigggggghhhhht."

What could have become a World War Three fight was broken by Dartz's voice coming over again. "Killer bees? Hmm... I could use them for killing off that annoying wench that is always hanging around the pharaoh... then I could get the pharaoh once you idiot's actually get his soul... Hmm..." There was a moment of silence as all three teens looked down at the com link in shock. "Anyways- get down here. NOW."

"But sir- I hav'ta get the tennis rackets, tennis balls and that stupid basketball packed up before we can lea-"

"NOW VALON!"

"Yes sir."


For a room to go from noisy to quiet in a matter of seconds- not even that, really- is rare. But quiet it became as Valon, Rex and Weevil slid into their seats around the large wooden table.

Shortly after getting off the link, Dartz had more or less disappeared. He entered the room now- as grandly as possible-, closing the door with his feet as his hands were full. How he had managed to open the door in the first place was beyond them; some sort of Atlantean power, probably.

"Okay, so you wanted the latte... you wanted the decaf... and I wanted the chocolate eclair. Okay, then," the Atlantean shoved the items into Alister's and Rafeal's hands, still muttering to himself- lack of employee service was one of the many topics- before even recognizing the newcomer's existence. "Did you three want anything?"

Weevil and Rex exchanged glances, and the latter of the two were about to say something... until Valon effectively shut him up with a elbow to the side. "No thank you, sir. We're fine."

"Good- because I am not about to go out to Starbucks again. That place is worse than dandelions! They just keep popping up!"

"Umm... right..," Rex blinked once. "Why are we here again..?"

Dartz's glare focused on the brunette, but he answered instead of- for once- insulting. Or should one say he hadn't a good insult to use that wouldn't have been repetitive..? "To get your new mission of course. Duh."

From far down the table, Alister winced at the 'duh.' Dartz couldn't for his life say anything that could be termed as 'teenager talk.' (Although 'duh' isn't reallllly that 'teenagerish... Well- even after ten thousand years, the guy STILL couldn't say it.)

"Oh."

"Right," the Atlantean rolled his eyes, ducking a hand under the table to pick up a hat he had hidden before. "Now- I'll pick names out of this hat, and- now why are you all laughing!" Angrily, he dropped- pounded- the paper filled, large, Mexican straw hat onto the table. "It's the only hat in the ENTIRE building... not counting helmets, that is... ALL RIGHT ALREADY! SHUT UP!"

The group more or less quieted, although there was the occasional giggle. Just the thought of where Dartz had FOUND the hat got them into giggles or snorts of mirth. The only smile that wasn't plastered on any of their faces was poor Rafeal; who had somehow spilt a large quantity of coffee onto himself during the laughing fit.

Dartz had the thinnest smile on his face that the five had ever seen. "You know something... I do believe that you all deserve... worse punishments than this one..."

The laughing died immediately. "You don't really mean that... do you, sir?" Rafeal finally asked for all of them after a long. drawn out. paaaaaaauuuuuuuuuse.

Their boss's smile grew wider, more natural. "You shall see. You... shall... see..." Enjoying the dismayed and uneasy looks on their faces even more, he went on, "Anyway. I put folded pieces of paper in here with all of your names- including Ms. Valentine, wherever she is..."

"-hopefully not dueling Wheeler," Valon growled, momentarily forgetting the possible foreboding 'punishment' looming slowly into sight.

"Wherever she is-" Dartz repeated, casting the Australian a dark look, "and the papers also have the names of the... targets on them..."

"Most Wanted Soul Number 1, 2 and 3?"

Rex's face scrunched up in puzzlement; it was another tiny detail that had been left out in Valon's recount of a 'regular day.' "Who are they?"

Weevil made a face and smacked his little minded companion over the head. He enjoyed it too; immensely. "In descending order: Yugi, Wheeler, and then Kaiba. Dolt."

"..oh.," the brunette replied, trying to ignore the newly rising lump on his head. "Who's Dolt?"

"A certain Dino-Breath I know."

"..ah.. Who's he?"

"BACK TO BUSINESS NOW- and no, there's no one who's soul is targeted and is known as 'Dolt,'" Dartz cast one last glare around the table at them all, just daring for one to open his mouth and say something. Just one little word and they'd become lunch for the worms... "Now- I'm going to draw a name out of the hat. If it's one of you guys, then the next name that is a TARGET will be your new assignment. Understood?"

Valon, Alister and Rafeal nodded calmly, all of them used to this sort of things. Weevil shrugged it off, figuring it was one of his boss's idiosyncrasies he'd have to get used to- if he wanted to live, that is.

Now, as for Rex...

"What if you draw one of our names- lets say Mai- and then the next one you draw is, say.., Valon's?" the brunette snapped off, oblivious to the practically fire-breathing ten thousand-year-old right in front of him. "Does that mean that one of them has to get the others soul? Who would win in that duel? I hope it'd be Mai... she's prettier than Valon... and less bad-tempered and blood thirsty..."

Weevil didn't get the privilege to hit the nincompoop; Valon stole the first open opportunity. The dinosaur fanatic never knew what hit him- not that it stopped him either. In fact, the only thing that happened was another 'what if?' question popped into his mind.

"Or what if it's Wheeler versus Yugi? We can't 'make' them fight each other- not unless if one of us dressed up as one and somehow convinced Joey or Yugi that we're Yugi or Joey... Would that even work? I mean- who among us is short enough (but not too short) to be Yugi and who among us would dare brave the fashion dead clothes Wheeler wears?"

"Rex- do you want to live?" The mouthing off duelists 'friend' asked as a warning, warily watching as their boss seemed to completely ignore Rex and dig around the hideous hat. The Atlantean came up with what looked like a roll of duct tape, smiled and flung it over at Valon.

"If you would do the honors, Valon..."

The Australian ripped off a piece of tape, grimacing at the fate lying in store for the motor mouth. He STILL gets nightmares from... well... you know... "Gladly." And with that, he slapped the piece of sticky evil over the fiend's mouth, muffling his words. "Dang it- he's pretty loud!"

"You could say that again," Weevil muttered, pushing his glasses- but not his beloved ones!- back up. No one else in the entire WORLD could know how long and loudly Rex could ramble on for. NOBODY.

"Almost... done... There we go!" Having slapped on enough duct tape over the lower half of Rex's face to suffocate a horse, Valon tossed the roll of duct tape back towards Dartz. He caught it smoothly and put it aside- as a warning to others. "Although it does make you wonder... what would happen if- oh never mind, I won't say anything more!"

Looking calm and possibly just the slightest bit happy, Dartz plucked a random paper out of the hat, opened it and read it the name aloud. "Burger King's Whopper on sale for 2.99..."

"Wrong side, sir," Alister pointed out, trying hard not to smirk. He didn't want any more anger directed at him than how much there already was.

"I know that! Ahem... Valon."

The Australian looked up. "Yeah?"

Ignoring the question, Dartz pulled out another piece. Show me the name... "Valon."

"Yes?"

Another piece. "Valon..?"

"What?"

"Valon?"

"What!"

"HOW MANY BEEPIN' VALON'S ARE THERE IN HERE!"

"WHAT!"

"QUIT WHATTING ME!"

"THEN STOP CALLING ON ME!"

Muttering darkly, Dartz upended the hat, spilling what looked like a million papers out. "What in bleepin' bleep Atlanta!" Choosing a paper at random he opened it and read it. "Valon. Another Valon. ValonValonValonValonValonValonValon..."

"WhatWhatWhatWhatWhatWhatWhat?"

"Rafeal! How many dang Valons did you put in here!"

The blond blinked once, taking a sip of coffee before answering. "I only put two in 'cause you said Valon might have to do two missions... Which doesn't make much sense to me since there's Weevil and Rex..."

"Then why are there so many slips of papers with his name on it?" Dartz exclaimed loudly, gesturing to the large pile. "This doesn't look like two slips!"

"Well..," Rafeal reluctantly admitted after another long pause, "Alister took over the job... and 'added one or two more,' according to him, anyways."

The Atlantean's glare shifted to the redhead, who's own glare was directed at Rafeal. "Oh really?"

"Yes sir."

"Ah... well then... Alister- HOW MANY BLEEPIN' SLIPS DID YOU ADD! Or does this entire pile belong to Aussie over there!"

Valon's cry of protest fell onto death ears. Alister took a moment to consider his answer, shrugged and replied, "I honestly don't know."

Blink. "What do you mean... 'don't know?'"

"Well, I went through about ten sheets of paper."

"Ah." Dartz leaned back in his chair again, whipping a ball-point out of his jacket. "Then I'm just going to assign you all new targets. Starting with... Valon."

"What?" Valon asked, whacking an unfortunate loud mouth known as Rex who had unwisely started to 'snicker.'

"I'm assigning you a new target."

"Oh. Why didn't you say that the first time?"

Dartz rolled his eyes and grabbed a random piece of paper out of the pile. On the back he wrote Valon's name down in neat script and an arrow next to it. "You're new target... is... Kaiba." Beside the arrow he wrote down the CEO's name.

"Wait- why can't I go against Wheeler? I actually have a reason to hate him."

"Alister- you get Wheeler. I hope you can handle him- according to Aussie, he's been punched out more than once by the blondie."

The redhead's eyebrow shot up. "I thought it was the brunette pinhead that hit him, since he never lost to Wheeler in a fist fight... according to Valon, that is..."

Rex and Weevil began to giggle as the brunette's face reddened, then began to laugh hilariously as Rafeal added his point to the story. "I thought that Mai's doorknob was looking worse for wear..."

Casting a death threat at them all- ignored by Dartz, snickered at by Rex and Weevil, and smiled knowingly at by Alister and Rafeal- Valon muttered something and sat down.

"Right... well, enough of that," Dartz smiled to himself, "back to business. Now... Rafeal... You're new target... uh... here- that blond in that picture. She's been annoying me."

"Does she have a name?" Rafeal asked, studying the picture carefully.

"Yes... Moon something... no- something Moon- but her real name is Serena Usagi."

"What! Wait- let me see that!" Before anyone had the chance to react, Alister had taken the picture. "She does exist... sigh..."

Rafeal blinked once, not at all unhappy at the loss of the paper. That smiling girl looked just as annoying as Dartz claimed she was, and he was NOT looking forward to this mission.


(In some house in a neighborhood deceptively close to Tokyo Tower)

Grouped with a large supply of various plushies, a blond hyperactive teenage girl hugged the plushies closer to her chest. She flopped over onto her stomach in between two of her closest- and only- friends; one who was trying to read a Quantum Physics book as her four other friends insisted on watching the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! marathon. The other gave the blond a slight look- almost everything she did drove the raven haired girl up the wall- but turned back to the TV. She'd never admit it, but her favorite character- and in her opinion, the cutest; not that wild horses could EVER drag that out of her- had just come on again.

The blond hugged the plushie even closer, blue eyes large and glittery as her own favorite- and the most agreed upon cutest hottie on the show- had just come on himself. The three other girls- including herself- squealed in delight, driving their Quantum Physics reading friend up the wall.

"Could you guys please keep the squealing down?" The blue haired girl asked with a sigh. "They're not real people, anyway!"

"That is where you're wrong, Amy," the only brunette declared happily. With her foot, she hooked the strap of her book bag and dragged it over to her. She sifted through its contents while trying to keep a close eye on the show- and the guy that also has a striking resemblance to her ex boyfriend- and finally came up with a messy pile of papers. "Here is ample proof that at least SOME of the hotties on this show are real."

The other blond sitting next to Lita- the brunette- snatched the papers out of her hands, eyes as wide as saucers. Her eyes only widened as she saw the pictures, as what the papers were. "Ohmigod! THEY DO EXIST!" She more or less handed off the papers to the other blond, who sorted through those quickly with the raven haired girl looking over her shoulder. Amid squeals and giggles of delight, Mina dug through her own school bag. "Serena! Where's your year book? Do they go to our school!"

Amy gently took one paper out of Serena's hands, and nearly lost her place in her book. Amid a crowd of people in a very busy city street, there were the three new 'cuties' on the show, calmly walking along like normal people. Still, a part of her mind couldn't help but hang on to sanity. "You guys do know that with the technology at bored peoples' hands today- ANYONE can fake a picture like this?"

Raye- the raven haired teen- answered for all of them, "Amy- they're real." And even that was only when she could find the strength to tear her violet eyes up from the page of Serena's yearbook. "Ohmigod- that looks just like that brunette, whatshisname, Valon!"

"He's mine," Mina declared, "You can take Alister."

"If Alister was a brunette and wore a baggy shirt, he'd look just like my ex!"

Serena turned the page, after knowing quite well that the last picture wasn't Valon- Raye needed glasses. She, along with the rest of the gang- except for Lita herself- replied, "Lita- you say that about every guy you come across who's tall."

Ignoring the new developments as best as he could- he had plenty of practice since the first day the three of them had been brought together- Dartz wrote down the last three names, in this order: Mai, Rex, Weevil.

"Who's left to get?" Weevil asked, thinking he'd probably be stuck with dueling the wimps in the Los Angeles area. It didn't get much worse than that. "Can I go after the pharaoh?"

Taking his time to consider that, Dartz shrugged. "No; you're not the next one on the list."

"But does that mean he's my... target?"

"Only if you agree to mop the floors of this entire building with a toothbrush."

Weevil considered the chore for a second, held back his pride and nodded. "Okay; when and where should I start?"

Blink. "Mai will go after... hmm... She'll go after... Ah- I'll get back to her. Rex, you're going after-"

The brunette's eyes shut and he crossed his fingers- also trying to cross his toes for extra good luck. "Please be Wheeler, please be Wheeler, please be Wheeler," he 'chanted' 'softly,' only to be ignored- and disappointed. (It had come out muffled, like such: "Pleath be Wheelth, pleath be Wheelth, pleath be Wheelth.")

"-the Pharaoh. With Miss Valentine. Good- that takes care with you two. Now, as for you, Weevil..."

The green haired teen's eyes had narrowed to slits. "You said that if I performed a ridiculous and humiliating task, than I'D get to duel the Pharaoh. And I agreed. BUT you give the job to a drama queen and Mai. MAYBE I SHOULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO GET A SOUL FOR YOU IF YOUR GOING TO JUST KILL MY HOPES AND DREAMS!"

Dartz blinked once, and calmly wrote down one word. "You're going to do chores."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


Ten minutes later, or as soon as Rafeal could pry the picture of his new target out of Alister's hands, and the dejected feeling teens were thrown out. Making sure they had everything with them- decks, duel systems, picture, pepper spray, another pair of socks, etc.- they grumbled their way outside with their motorbikes- Rex 'borrowing' Mai's- and, still grumbling, took off for their targets.

Weevil grumbled as he watched the four of them take off before he went about cleaning the floors with a toothbrush. He realized that one of his boss's other idiosyncrasies was to take things FAR too literally. It would make for an interesting game of 'Truth or Dare' but not when it concerns doing chores...

It didn't help his temper ten minutes later when Dartz walked by, muttering absent mindedly to him, "Brush in a circular motion, dolt," before slamming another door behind him. Weevil shouted various obscene phrases- most of which started with 'bug'- and threw toothbrush and bucket after his boss. Fortunately for him, he had no aim and Dartz didn't notice anyways.


Swerving to avoid hitting Rafeal's front tire, Alister swore under his breath from yet another bump hit the back of his motorcycle. Looking over his shoulder- and missing the glare directed at him from Rafeal- the redhead could see the brunette fix the helmet over his head- poorly adjusted and the purple color clashing with his green hat horribly- and trying to drive with one hand.

"Watch where your going, would you!" Alister called back, moving his motorcycle a good thirty feet away from Rex.

"What?" Rex called up, nearly going in a circle as the handlebar did a nasty trick of their own; twisted suddenly. Next to him and swearing worse than a sailor, Valon braked, barely missing Rex. The Australian gave the teen a glare and started forward again, zooming through the gap Alister had made and trying his best to stay away from the disaster.

Rafeal spared a glance over his shoulder to locate Rex and inwardly shuddered. The idiot was now right behind him and for some reason, that didn't make the blond feel any better... "Would you please drive away from me?" he asked, his voice barely above the roar of the engines.

"WHAT!" Rex shouted again, his vision momentarily blocked as the helmet fell forward again. Whatever Mai had done to her helmet- it was indeed hers, right down to the overpowering lilac stench rising from it and assaulting his unprotected noise- there was no way anyone would be able to fix it by just adjusting the chin strap length.

Valon slowed done just enough for the other two to catch up and for just long enough to growl out, "We should just strap him to the nearest cactus and leave him!" Noting the agreeing nods from the other two, he sped up again, muttering out curses as the fiend's tire came dangerously close to the back tire on his motorcycle. "Mai's gonna kill you if you mess up her motorbike, mate!"

Rex frowned and pushed the helmet back up. "It's a motorcycle, bloke! Oh fer crying out loud! This is a stupid helmet!"

"WATCH THE ROAD NOT THE HELMET!"

"Opps... sorry Alister..."


"All right, Tristan," Joey Wheeler growled out, slamming the hood down on the group's only transportation in this desert, "you are no longer allowed to drive." The brunette still sat behind the wheel, vainly hoping that the only problem with the smoking car was a flat tire. His hopes vanished, and he made his slow way out of the car. Next to the door, also hoping the only problem with his car was a flat tire, Duke Devlin went into hysterics.

Or close enough to it. "TRISTAN! This is my ONLY car- and the ONLY car that we can use in this season and the next! Why did I let him drive! Why? WWWWWHHHHHYYYYY!"

Wincing from the wails and hoping the crazed state of mind all of his friends seemed to be going through at the moment wasn't as catching as it looked like, Yugi Mouto and Tea Gardner silently shut the car doors gently closed. "Ya know, Duke," Yugi started hesitantly- who knew what he might do now?-, "the car just overheated. It'll be fine once it cools down... I think..."

"You think? You... THINK!" After downing three packs of pixie stix- although with Joey, Tristan and Serenity- Duke didn't mind if the girl of his dreams saw him bury his face in his hands and start 'crying.' Serenity Wheeler placed an awkward hand on the teen's shoulder, opened her mouth to say something comforting... only to find herself being bear hugged. "Oh Serenity, you are so... so... NICE AND-"

"GERROFF MY SISTER, DUKE!" Joey half growled, half shouted as he wrestled the offender to the ground. The pummeling commenced, even as Serenity made her slow, dazed way out of the rising dust cloud.

She turned around momentarily. "Be careful, Joey!" she called once before moving towards the car. The girl made it- barely. She flopped down on one of the upholstered seats, trying to get her breath back.

Yugi sighed once, his instincts telling him to go stop the fight... yet also saying that brushing his teeth right now would get the dust off of his tongue. Besides- it'd be a wasted effort; Joey wouldn't stop throttling Duke Devlin until the latter started to turn blue.

Out of the corner of his eyes, another rising dirt cloud appeared, easily getting his attention. "Hey guys... looks like we're gonna get some company..."

"What kind of company?" Tea asked warily, absentmindedly giving Serenity a comforting pat over the head... if such said 'pat' didn't include the girl slumping down in a faint. "I'm not sure... I mean- how can you tell if one dust cloud signals good company and another dust cloud signals bad company?"

Joey paused in throttling Duke for a precious two seconds. Just enough time to answer his best bud's question. "If there's evil laughing, bad yet 'frightening' music or one of Tea's friendship speech's bein' said over a megaphone, than bad. If the biker's are ridin' pink motorcycles and the biker's are chanting anti-Tea Friendship speeches, then good."

"Oh..," Yugi paused for a moment, cocking his head to one side to see if he could hear any bad music or friendship related speeches. "All I hear are loud motorcycle engines. Why can't they put mufflers on those things..?" He paused again, then added, "I think Joey would object to you holding his sister- even if she just fainted- Tristan."

The brunette glanced worriedly over at Joey and the slowly suffocating Duke then back to Yugi. "Hey- she fainted into my arms, 'kay Yug?"

The blond shrugged, opened his mouth to reply when a flying Joey Wheeler sailed through the air towards Tristan. "YOU GET YER GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF MY SISTER, TRISTAN!" The wrestling match continued, this time the wrestlers being Tristan and Joey instead of Duke Devlin and Joey.

Yugi sighed once more, wondering whether he'd have any better chance of stopping this fight than the other one. Tea cautiously removed Serenity out of the fray by one sneakered foot, hoping that Joey wouldn't turn on her. He thought his sister was such a saint. Puhleaze- if he had even listened to ONE of her secrets, he'd lock her up in a closet.

By the time Tristan was throttled to Joey's satisfaction, Duke and Serenity were conscious again and Yugi finally made up his mind that no matter what, there was no chance for him to stop the fight, the arriving company had arrived.

The first three slowed and stopped smoothly beside the red car, while the last ran right into the back- moving it forward about three feet. "Opps..," the last muttered after removing his helmet. "You have insurance right..?"

The lead biker whipped off his helmet and chucked it at the last one. "Can you drive without running into anything for two seconds!" With that done, he turned his glaring blue gaze on the silent group. "Hey! Wheeler! Ya wanna duel?"

"Valon," another biker removed his helmet, tucking his under his arm instead of hitting the groaning biker behind them, "Your new target is Kaiba and he is obviously not here right now. So put your helmet on and move it before I-"

"Hey, Alister," the biker 'Valon' turned around in his seat, happily ignoring the blond (and enjoying the furious expression on his face), "ya wanna switch targets? I get Wheeler... you get Kaiba?"

The last biker shrugged, nodded once. "Fine by- no. Never mind, not a good idea. Nope." If there was one thing scarier than Dartz's tries at different hair styles- pig tails... braids... etc.- than it was having the blond hulk glare at him like that. "So sorry- but I have to go now."

Valon rolled his eyes once and dismounted. "Right- well, exCUSE me, but I have to go find KAIBA since this PANSY won't switch targets. Rex, give me my helmet, would you?"

Tea snapped her jaw closed, suddenly recognizing the brunette. "Ohmigod! The cashier is in a gang!"

Receiving his helmet from the dazed Rex, the Australian rolled his eyes and walked back to his motorcycle. He pointed once at Joey, "You're mine once this pansy loses his duel and I win mine," but got back on his motorcycle and took off, with Rafeal in pursuit.

Alister removed his helmet, running a hand through his hair to make sure it was okay. "You're Wheeler, right? Good- I challenge you to a duel for your soul. Let's make this quick, okay? I have to go beat Kaiba before the Aussie does."

Behind the car and trying to find out how the new duel disk worked, Rex spotted the Pharaoh out of the group. "Oh, and I'm supposed to beat you, Yugi. Umm... Alister- how do these things open up again..?"

"You have to turn it on, dolt."

"Oh..."

Joey took his sweet time in finding his deck. He knew he'd seen the red head somewhere before... but where? Realization dawned into place as memories came back to him. "Hey... weren't you that mailman on that airplane? You went after Kaiba, didn't you? And then elbowed me when everyone ended up in a big pile."

"Uh... yeah... but thanks to Aussie I'm not a... mailman anymore. Idiot made me lose my job."

"Yeah. You called me a banana toting idiot, right?"

"No. That was Valon throwing voices again. He was laughing when you started that wrestling match over that 'insult.'"

Yugi glanced over at his opponent, who was still trying to find the 'on' button. Hmm... he had some time to kill apparently. "Did you ever get to mail all those letters and stuff?"

Tristan rolled his eyes, although that was somewhat difficult to do thanks to Joey's friend taps. "You four were held in airplane security for five hours, Yug. We had to practically take your Grandfather to the Hospital 'cuz he thought he was gonna have a heart attack if you had tried to bomb the plane."

Tea nodded solemnly. "But the question should be: Why did they let you and the cashier go?"


He thought he'd have to kill Valon if he asked that stupid question once more. Just once and the Australian was going to find himself in a fiery wreck at the edge of a desert road. Just once, Valon... just once...

"Hey, Raffy," almost as if the blond's thoughts had cued the teen into asking, Valon tried one last time, "what if, Dartz didn't find out that me and Alister switched targets. AND he wouldn't bother punishing us anyways if he brought in both of their souls. So... how 'bout I turn around right now and-"

"Valon, have you ever experienced being in a fiery wreck before?" Rafeal cut in with a growl.

"Uh... I saw one once on TV..," the Australian answered honestly, "but the special effects were cheap so it wasn't so much a fiery wreck as it was smoky. Besides, after the 'counselors' saw what we were allowed to watch back in... school... then they blocked all the channels accept for Barney, Looney Tunes- which they were trying to get rid of, but didn't in the end- and Sailor Moon. And let me tell you- after seeing one episode of Sailor Moon, I can't understand how Alister can watch that junk."

"Sailor Moon?"

"Yep."

"Then from watching Sailor Moon, Looney Tunes and Barney, that's why you are the way you are?" Rafeal asked. He found this a very likely explanation, considering the tortures he had to watch when his younger brothers and sisters stole the remote control from him.

Valon considered it for a minute. "I guess..."

"Ah."

Suddenly, an oddly shaped aircraft zoomed by overhead, roaring once. The two Doom Bikers watched after it, blinking a few times. Rafeal broke the silence, "Didn't that look like a Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

Valon nodded. "Yeah.. an' there's my target riding away. See ya later, Raffy!" Disregarding the use of roads and the dangers of not using them, he turned off onto the 'dirt' next to him, taking off right behind the aircraft. Or as close as he could come to 'right after it.'

With a shake of his head- sooner or later Valon was going to wind up performing a rather fancy trick over some canyon and find himself two weeks later in a hospital- Rafeal sped up. The sooner this embarrassing mission was over, the better.


"Are you ready yet, Rex?" Yugi- Yami, actually- asked, sounding, looking and completely bored. It didn't get worse than having an incompetent opponent trying to take your soul. After all, if you want some evil person trying to basically kill you, then it should be a genuine evil person- not stupid and incompetent.

The brunette smacked the duel disk, successfully getting it to light up. "Um... it should be ready now," he replied, awaiting for the usual metallic noises as the playing field slid out. Nothing. "Uh... I think my duel disk is rebelling, Alister- how do you open this again?"

Repressing the urge to yawn- that was just too insulting. Usually.- Yugi rolled his eyes and said, "How about this? If you can't get the duel disk working by the time their duel is over-" he gestured to where Joey and Alister were 'dueling' by way of shouting whether activating a trap card BEFORE your turn started was illegal or not- "then we duel some other time. I'd hate to say it... but this getting rather tiresome..."

"Yer on, pharaoh," Rex growled, giving the disk on his arm another smack. "But you better not fall asleep yet or else you'll lose your soul by forfeit!"

"Oh? How?"

"You can't duel and sleep at the same time."

Yugi's face erupted into a grin. "Try me."

The brunette took one step backward at the psychotic grin on the usually docile and goody-goody two shoes Yugi Mouto. He always KNEW there was an evil side to that kid... "Fine- go ahead and nap. THEN we'll see if you can duel while yer asleep."

"Okay." Getting a more comfortable position against the cold metal of the tire, Yugi obediently closed his eyes and fell asleep, much to the alarm of the real Yugi Mouto and his friends.

The vapor that could only be seen by Yami tried to roughly shake the sleeping form awake, and found the task impossible as his misty hands sank right through his head. Which, he discovered, was quite disturbing. WAKE UP, YAMI, YOU BAFFOON! THERE IS NO WAY I'M GONNA LOSE MY SOUL TO SAVE YOURS WHEN YOU'RE BEING STUPID!

Nothing.

Sigh...


The heated argument slowly washed away, leaving the two duelists with bad headaches and tempers to match. The redhead resisted the urge to rub his temples, growling out, "Look. Once you set a trap card down in an earlier turn, you can ACTIVATE AT ANY TIME DURING THE REST OF THE DUEL. Look it up if you don't believe me."

Joey Wheeler crossed his arms, stubbornly shaking his head. "No. You look it up in da rule book and prove that you ken do dat. Till then... I'm not going."

"Then you lose by forfeit as I'm not standing around waiting for you because you feel like being an idiot," Alister replied, snapping his hand on top of his deck in the slot. "So long, been good ta know ya."

"We didn't agree on a time limit, so I don't forfeit. Look it up if ya don't believe me."

The redhead's eyes narrowed to slits, making the world look as though it was all horizon and nothing over two centimeters tall existed. "For someone who claims to despise Valon, you act amazingly like him."

Well. That got his attention. "I do not!"

"I'm the one who has to live with that Aussie. Trust me- you do."

"Do not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Snot."

"Stoo."

"Snot."

"Stoo."

"PROVE IT!"

Alister shrugged, and began counting off the similar behaviors on his hand. "One- you are as stubborn as he is, although he's less babyish about it. Two- you have an accent that is distinct among the rest of your group of friends. Just like Valon is the only Australian in ours. Three- you both like fist fights and try to bait your rival into a fight at any time. Appropriate or not. Four- you both annoy me for the same reasons. Five-"

"That last one shouldn't count, since your listing how we're similar," Joey pointed out for lack of anything else to do. "And you didn't explain the reason well enough."

"That's one reason why you two bug me- you both insist on ridiculous and hypocritical... stuff. Five- you both like that... girl... Mai Valentine. Six- you both are willing to practically throw yourselves over the edge of a cliff for her. Seven- neither of you has managed to capture her heart, which only makes the whole rivalry between you two more... stupid. Face it: she hates both of you, so why not go after a more likely target?"

"Like who?"

Another shrug. "Why not her?"

Joey glanced over his shoulder to see who his opponent was pointing to and felt his blood boil. "That's my SISTER, you FREAK!"

"Oh... Sorry, Wheeler's sister. Well then, why not her?"

"Umm... Duke's a guy."

Alister felt his face get hot and it took almost all of his willpower to keep from- a- running off in embarrassment to only be humiliated later for his mistake or- b- punch the infuriating blond in the face and be done with it all ready. "Uh- I'm- uh- sorry..," he stammered out, wincing the slightest bit from the teen's rock melting glare.

Joey, meanwhile, was rolling around on the ground in glee, laughing his heart out.


"Wait, they're in Los Angeles right now, aren't they?" Serena asked in a whisper to her group of giggling friends- with the exception of Amy. She received various looks and glares, but got the message. 'Yes.' "We need five tickets to Los Angeles, California in U.S. of A," she said to the person on the other end of the phone.

"All right. That comes to... 545 dollars."

The blond mouthed the sum off to her friends, who, in turn, gaped but nodded silently. If they're 'fund raising' plan went as planned, they should have enough. "Thank you; we'll be paying in cash. This plane is for tomorrow, right? Ah, okay- eight thirty am tomorrow. Okay. Right. Williams. Yep. No, that's okay. Uh-huh... right... okay... OKAY, I GET THE POINT ALREADY! BUT I HAPPEN TO HAVE A LIFE OF MY OWN AND WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS SALES PITCH BE ABSENT FROM IT! Oh? Sorry... yes, thank you. Bye!"

Amy marked her place in her latest book with her bookmark. "Well... that probably could have gone better," she said, referring to the shouting.

Serena shrugged it off. "We have work to do gang; now, let's get Operation: Bake and Sell Cookies underway!" She snatched up a carefully wrapped up package of chocolate chip cookies up and ran out of her room, followed closely by the others, each holding they're own packages of cookies themselves.


That had been yesterday and far behind them now. Serena Usagi looked eagerly out the window of the bus, eyes taking in everything- shops, people, shops, cute guys, shops and, of course, shops- in one swoop. She turned to Raye, who had by vote been voted to sit with the blond throughout the bus ride. "Do you think we'll see them before we have to leave again?" she asked all in a rush.

Raye Hino shrugged noncommittally. Back in Serena's house in Tokyo, this had seemed totally plausible. Roam around the Los Angeles City for three guys- or the others, the 'good' guys-, hopefully get their phone numbers or addresses or whatever people in America did, then ride a three hour ride back home. Hopefully before the weekend back home went by and their parents realized they weren't on a school trip.

"I hope so, Serena," she finally replied. "And if we do, which one do you think we'll meet first?"

Serena took another glance outside the window, hoping that one of them would be there- no luck there- and replied, "I hope it's that cutie with the Australian accent... Whathisname... Valon? Yeah..."

Mina leaned over from her aisle seat across from them, whispering, "I hope we see Duke first- then that whole feud between him and Tristan over Serenity would be over!"

Next to her, Lita checked her hair for the umpteenth time in a pocket mirror. "And then he'll also have a certain blond for his boyfriend, right, Mina?" She giggled good naturedly as the blond threatened to tickle or punch her.

"Well what about you, Miss Is My Hair Okay?" Mina asked dryly, sneaking a glance through the mirror to check her own hair.

Lita giggled again. "Oh, I hope it's one of the taller guys... It'd just be weird to suddenly run into Weevil or Rex. Even Yugi for that matter... They're all so short! I'd probably step on them at least a dozen times..."

One row in front of the four and trying to keep up with her studies as always, Amy winced again at the sudden string of giggles from her friends. If those poor fellows knew who was joining their fan clubs, they'd be running for cover in a nuclear bomb shelter. She turned around to tell them to keep it down a bit- who knew if they're targets were even on the bus?- only to be faced with the same question.

"Who do you want to run into first, Amy?"

The blue haired teen considered this carefully, seriously. She knew they probably wouldn't consider to be a potential girlfriend since she lived in Tokyo and they in America... "I don't really care. I know already that they're probably not going to ask us out or anything-" the statement received good hearted boos, which she ignored, "and considering that, I'd have to say Kaiba or Dartz. Just for the conversation, you see."

"You want to talk to a ten thousand year old, Amy?" Serena asked slowly. "Or a snotty eighteen-year-old who would probably ignore you..? I think you have some self esteem issues, Amy..."


The girls departed from the bus at the last stop. The scene here on a street corner to a large market place was oddly thinly populated compared to the bustling streets and sidewalks of the other roads. Giggling as always they marched into the crowd, spotting up every now and again to the observer off the edge of the fray.

There... that blond right there. Was that her? Rafeal dug the now disfigured picture he had gotten from his boss- Alister really didn't want to let go for whatever reason- and checked it. Yep, that's the one. Too bad he had to find her in this busy area. Could be worse though; it could be raining.

He left his motorcycle parked on the other side of the street, trying to ignore the glances he got from some market goers. Honestly, you'd think they had never seen a guy in a black trench coat riding a motorcycle in Los Angeles before. Despite his outwardly 'strange' appearance- to everyone else, that is- he melted easily into the crowd, slowly and steadily closing the gap between him and the target.

Her group had foolishly decided to split up, leaving her alone to browse the stalls and practically started crying every time she found something she really, really, really liked. Supposedly. She paused in front of another street, where the market branched off to other venders and stalls. Taking a look around and shrugging, she walked down that way. He started after her, pausing only as someone else he had sometimes seen out of the corner of his eye beat him to her.

Frowning just the slightest bit- why the beep did this person always show up!- he followed, keeping a wary eye on the new factor in this. The girl slung a friendly arm around the blond- does that mean they know each other? How?- and steered her down an- what?- alleyway.

Not caring now how much he stood out, Rafeal sped up his pace, slowing down only when he came to the entrance of the alleyway where his target and the other one had gone down. The two were talking, one in a high-pitched school girl's voice, the other had a deeper, more persuasive voice.

"You said there was a stall down here, uh... what was your name again?" the school girl asked, wary.

The other one chuckled, freaking- in a sense- Rafeal out a little. There was something rather... evil in that voice, but just somber enough not to be noticed. Until it was too late of course. "You are one stupid girl for believing everything I said," the second one replied smoothly. "There is a lesson for you to learn- don't be so trusting. Not like you'll get to use your new knowledge anymore... not in this world, that is."

"Hey! Let me... GO!" There was a sound of a punch and then that small chuckle again. Rafeal edged slowly to the corner, unsure of whether to continue around and -gag- 'help' his target from the psycho... or... well...

Before he could have possibly done anything, though, there was suddenly a sickening crunching noise and a something heavy fell to the paved ground. No one around on the street apparently noticed.

"Nighty-night, Sailor Moon," the evil voice said softly, followed shortly by the sound of boot heels tapping on the ground. Rafeal waited for the owner of the boots to come out, but they never did. Frowning in puzzlement and no longer caring who saw him now, he moved into action, quickly entering the alleyway.

Only the crumpled form of the blond- her neck twisted unnaturally, eyes glazed and unseeing- was there.

Knowing full well that cops liked to question any witnesses- and even more when they realized their witness had the smallest connection to the victim; he did, after all, have a mission to steal her soul- he took a quick glance around the alleyway for the killer, predictably spotting nothing. He turned quickly on his heels, and was taken completely by surprise when a girl at least two heads shorter than him grabbed his neck and pushed him hard against the wall. Conveniently out of sight of the street beyond.

"How long were you standing there?" the girl hissed, her dark eyes narrowed and filled with anger. And nothing beyond that. "Well?"

Shock slowly dissipating away, Rafeal took hold of her arm, meaning to force her to let go. And if she got her arm broken in the process, too bad for her. "Let go of me, girl." Getting a good grip, he tried to pull her hand off.

And was even more surprised to find black dots on the edge of his vision when his head smacked against the brick wall of the building. The girl's hand only clenched harder around his throat, and her growl fell on close to panicking ears. "Wrong answer, bud."

The dots didn't disappear, only multiplied.


"So, huh.., how am I like Valon again..?"

Alister fetched a long sigh. After twenty long minutes of waiting for the kid to make his move and continue the duel, he had smoothly evaded all other questions the blond had asked to slow the whole duel down. Now he had his target down to one thousand life points, his barely scratched. (6500 to be exact.) It was the blond's turn and he had just drawn his card, which was 'going to save himself and win the duel.'

Right.

After a muttered curse and another five minutes of feigning to look at his hand more closely, Wheeler had finally given up. "Well? You said you had plenty of 'em, but you only told me about... six? Or five?"

The redhead glanced over at the still struggling Rex Raptor and figured simply that giving him more time to get his duel disk open so he could win that stupid 'bet' of his wouldn't hurt. Certainly not with Wheeler in a situation where he'd lose in one more turn. "I'm not telling you. Did you draw the card you needed?"

"Uh... maybe..."

"Uh-huh. Well, then, play it. GET THIS BLEEPIN' DUEL OVER WITH ALREADY!"

Wheeler blinked once at the sudden change in volume. "Don't you want a turn to play the Orichalchos Card thingy?"

"No. I just want to finish this duel and find Kaiba and kick his butt. Andcapture his soul while I'm at it."

"Oh."

Alister nodded once. "Yeah, unlike Valon, I don't have a reason to hate you andcapture your soul. But he does. Supposedly."

"But you want to go beat Kaiba?" Joey asked for clarification of facts. Call him paranoid, but with the way bad guys with diabolical plans to rule/ destroy the world had almost given him the impression that everyone- or at least half- were after him. "Well why the heck didn't you say so! I hate that bleep!"

"You too? Why?"

Joey lifted up one hand, fitting his card hand into his mouth, and tried to say around it- counting off reasons with his fingers-, "Onfth: He'th a slimeball. Twoth: He drivth meth up the wall allllth the time. Three: He keepth calling me a mutt and an ametuer. Not matteth whaf I doth."

"Ah... okay," Alister replied, struggling not to smile. Discussions concerning Kaiba were a serious matter, no matter how ridiculous your opponent looks while trying to talk and not get his cards splattered with drool. "Then do you want to end this right now, go find the jerk and kill him? More or less considering he won't be able to move once he loses his soul?"

"What, you mean join you guys? The bad guys?"

"The good guys. Yeah. For one duel anyways. I can share the satisfaction of getting rid of him with someone else who also dislikes him."

"Okay."

On the edge of the duel, the brunette's mouth gaped open, her blue eyes bugging out comically. "Joey!" she cried.

The blond turned around halfway and shrugged sheepishly at her. "It's only one duel, Tea. Besides, don't you want ta see that jerk go down?"

"Who's going to take care of Mokuba, you creep?"

Serenity waved a dazed hand at Tea. She was still seeing double from the bear hug Duke had given her before and it was confusing trying to identify people. "I will. Go get 'im, big brother!"

"Thanks Serenity."

"SERENITY!"

Alister snapped the rest of his cards back into the deck slot and slid the playing field back up. "Shall we get going then?" he asked as Joey followed suit in taking cards off his duel disc and with his deck.

"Yeah, okay. Hey Rex, I'm gonna borrow yer motorbike, 'kay?" Without waiting for an answer, he followed the redhead as he had already started away.

The brunette did a double take as he found his ride being driven away. "Hmm... okay- BUT IT'S A MOTORCYCLE!" he called after Wheeler for lack of anything else more threatening to say.

From his comfortable position leaning against the car tire, Yami uttered one tiny snore.


Valon saw the aircraft land smoothly down the stretch of land in front of him. About fifty yards away, that is. And closing. This was the last time he would ever cross an open patch of bumpy, sometimes sandy and all around undrivable land.

A figure jumped out and moved over directly over to one of the wing engines, checking it out. Some hatch or another opened and ugly black smoke spilled out, right into the face of the figure.

Valon couldn't help but smile as the figure stumbled backwards, waving his arms in front of his face to clear the smoke. He was close enough to be easily tell that the figure was indeed Seto Kaiba, looking more than a tiny bit agitated as more and more smoke poured out.

A smaller head poked out of the aircraft, asking or saying something. Kaiba apparently told the boy to bleep off- or just to leave if it was Mokuba he was talking to- and the kid did. By then the smoke had started to thin into black to gray wisps. Unfortunately Kaiba wouldn't get the chance to fix the engine- if there was one thing in life Valon knew well enough on, it was mechanics and that engine did not look healthy if it was pouring out black smoke like that- as he had just arrived.

He performed what he thought to be a sweet stop in a patch of sandy dirt- leaving a skid trail of about six feet- flipping his helmet off as the motorcycle came to a stop. He saw the taller teen roll his eyes and say something under his breath- yet another curse for young Mokuba to never hear.

"What in bleepin'- I mean- what in the world are you doing here?" Kaiba growled, shooting his curious brother a glare.

"Hey Seto, what did that word mean?" the boy asked sweetly, oblivious to the whole 'situation.'

"Nothing. You're not allowed to use it. Go back inside."

Valon slung a leg over his motorcycle, making no effort to actually get off the motorcycle. His entrance ruined, he merely got Kaiba's attention with a growled out, "I'm supposed to duel you."

Mokuba's head popped out again. "What happened to Alister? Is he out delivering mail again?"

"Nah- our boss made us switch targets an' I got stuck with yer older brother."

"Could you ask him what he meant when he called Seto a, 'bleepin'-"

"Mokuba!"

"I'm sure yer brother can tell you what it means, kid," Valon cut in before a full fledged sibling fight could break out- clearly he knew very little about Seto and Mokuba Kaiba-, "but I'd like to capture yer brother's soul and get on to beating Wheeler, if you don't mind."

Impatiently waving at his brother to get him to go back inside, Kaiba turned his full attention back to the Aussie only after Mokuba had completely left. "Why don't you goons just leave us alone?"

"It's just one duel."

"Riiiiiiiiiight."

"Look, let's just get this little duel over with so I can go kick Wheeler's can, okay? Do you reeeaaally think I want to beat you? It's Alister with the anger issue, not me!"

"Then why don't you tell that cross dressing carrot top to come duel me!"

Valon rolled his eyes at the suggestion. "Did you not hear the reassignment part earlier? Clean yer ears out, mate."

"If you want to get Wheeler's soul so badly, why don't you go after him? How the heck is your boss going to find out who dueled the wrong person?"

"He just... can."

"Uh-huh. Well, what is he going to do about it anyways? Hit you with a lightning bolt?"

Valon considered that for a moment. "Actually, it won't be so much lightning as it'll be some sort of ancient super power bolt thingy..."

"Have you ever talked to a psychiatrist?"

"No, why?"


He thought he must be dreaming. There was no way Dartz could be there, telling the girl- Naomi- to let him go, NOW. Or to face the consequences if she didn't.

He must still be dreaming, since the grip over his neck lessened and he found he could breathe again. Strange, he never heard that people 'dreamed' when they were choking to death- not that there was any real chance of such a thing being told of, but still...

Even stranger, his vision cleared of dots and sharpened back into focus. The girl had tucked the side of her straight dark brown hair behind her ear, revealing a small com link fitted into her ear. He could hear his boss's voice as he continued on, "I'll explain everything when you get back. Tell Rafeal that he'll get a new target soon enough. Got that, Naomi?"

"Yes, 'sir,'" the girl growled in reply. Dartz muttered another warning and was off, leaving them more or less alone. Her glare was fixed back on him. "Why the bleep didn't you tell me you worked for Dartz! Did you really want to die, you idiot!"

Fixing a glare of his own back at her, Rafeal got shakily back onto his feet. This girl... Naomi- whoever!- was not going to see the next light of day if she continued on like this. "How the heck was I supposed to know you worked for him too, girly? You don't exactly go around broadcasting to the whole world who you work for." He paused there, meaning to say more, but his throat had really started to hurt.

"Whatever. But here's a little word of advice for you," she had started to walk away towards the street, but turned around for the moment to finish, "next time don't try to sneak up on an assassin during work hours. You won't get the chance to identify yourself next time." And with a flick of her hair she melted out into a passing crowd of teenagers.

Biting back the reply that just begged to be growled out, Rafeal followed after her, trying to spot her again. Surely it wouldn't be too hard; she was wearing all black- black tank, pants and boots, as far as he could remember- and would surely stand out in the crowd as he and the others do.

But he didn't see her. Mumbling a curse- he really didn't want her changing her mind and deciding to kill him anyways, Dartz order or not- he started walking briskly back to his motorcycle. He heard a sudden harsh sound of an engine revving up, the kind of engine that only belonged to a motorcycle. Does she even have a license? he thought, thinking that she had hardly looked any older than sixteen- eighteen was close to pushing it.

Apparently she did.

And apparently she also had a talent for 'hot wiring' motorcycles.

Or so he found out, once he got to where he left his motorcycle. His frown set deeper into his face, Rafeal started walking in the direction of the 'hide out'- it was right in the middle of the city, for crying out loud!-, quickly deciding that that girl was going to pay for all of this... She. Was. Going. To. Pay...


Valon chucked another rock out towards empty wasteland, fetching a sigh in boredom. He looked down at his feet and found there was no more weighty rocks left to throw. Too bad- now he wouldn't be able to see if he can out throw his longest one- right past the cactus. He turned back towards where Kaiba had gotten to fixing the engine after ignoring all further comments Valon had to say after he told where Kaiba to get off for the psychiatric suggestion.

Pansy.

"Are you done there, yet?" the Australian called over, even though he could see that most of the guts of the engine were spilled out onto the ground. "Or do you want a chain saw?"

Kaiba glared at him for a split second, unfortunately biting back any reply he had wanted to say.

Valon sighed again, vainly looking around for another rock. Nothing. But an hour ago there was so many of them... sigh... "How 'bout we duel and then get back to guttin' the engine?"

"How about drowning in a lake, Valon?"

"There's no lakes around here, if you hadn't noticed, Kai-ba."

"Go stick yer head in a tomato can."

"Don't have one."

"Are you always this literal?"

"Does Alister always has to argue this long to get you to duel? Or does he just keep insulting you till you duel? I'm getting really bored and I just want to get my mission over with. How 'bout this," For the first time since he had officially started dueling, Valon took a certain magic card out of his deck, showed it to Kaiba and stuck it into his pocket, "I won't use the Orichalchos card. One quick duel. No soul snatching. Ya know ya want ta..."

Kaiba wiped his hands on the bottom of his pants- despite his best efforts earlier in the engine gutting process, he had found no other way to get the disgusting grease off- and finally turned back to face Valon. "Will you leave us alone after this 'one quick duel?'"

"Yeah. Dartz can't complain that I didn't duel you."

"Fine. Let's get this over with so you. can. LEAVE!"

Valon shuffled his deck for a brief three seconds and slid it back into the deck slot. "Ya know... you and Alister have the same kind of temper; deceivingly explosive."

"'Deceivingly explosive'?"

"Yeah; you're both really quiet until you have ta shout. Then you usually kill the hearing of the person right next ta ya. For Alister- it's usually me. Raffy's too tall."

"Uh-huh..."

The Australian nodded once, his attention momentarily diverted by a growing dust cloud off in the distance. "Were you expecting company?" He asked Kaiba, nodding slightly towards the cloud.

"No, I wasn't. You?"

"Nope."


Only so far away now... only so far... only so far... For Alister, that was just close enough. Behind him and trying to dodge the numerous plant life and rocks that were constantly in their paths rode Joey Wheeler on Mai's motorcycle. "Ya do know that this is illegal driving! Or at least bad driving?" the blond shouted up at him. He could deal with chasing Valon around on a motorcycle and running into fruit stands, but not this!

"Consider this practice for your driving test, then!" Alister shouted back over his shoulder. "Ready to pound some Kaiba bleep?"

"Definitely."

"What!"

"DEFINITELY!"

"Thought you said something along those lines..," the redhead muttered. By that time, the aircraft had gotten much larger, and he could see that both Kaiba and Valon- ha, he actually managed to find Kaiba- were watching they're arrival with identical expressions of surprise. He put on the brakes, skidding a little bit. "You're going down, Kaiba!"

Kaiba gave Valon a sour look. "Didn't you say you switched assignments, aussie?"

Valon opened his mouth to reply- along with a snip about telling him to wipe that smile off his face- when he spotted Wheeler getting off the other motorcycle. Mai's motorcycle. "Sorry Kaiba- but now we're switching again! YOU'RE MINE, WHEELER!" Taking little time to consider what he was going to do, Joey found himself tackled to the ground by the insane brunette that had been following him around since practically the end of Battle City Tournament.

"GERROFF ME, YOU BIG LOUT!" Joey managed out before the wind was knocked out of him. "How much do you weigh! Nine hundred pounds!"

"No... only- never mind. DUEL ME!" Valon demanded, wrestling the struggling target back down to the ground.

"Let me GO!"

"DUEL ME!"

Alister and Kaiba watched, amused, for a few minutes before acknowledging each other. The redhead shook his head. Poor Wheeler... stuck with an obviously bored and slowly going mega hyper Valon. Oh well. Back to business.

"I challenge you to a-"

"Let me guess," Kaiba cut in suddenly, "a duel?"

"Yeah."

The target rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Who would've thought? And guess what my answer is- no. Now excuse me while I try to fix this damn en- hey!" Before he had any chance to respond, the redhead had tackled him to the ground like he had watched Valon do.

"DUEL ME!"

"GET OFF ME NOW BEFORE I-"

"DUEL ME!"

"NO!"

"Don't make me tickle you!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


By this time, Valon had somehow managed to get Joey attached to a nearby cactus and was smiling wickedly as his victim struggled to get loose. "Are ya goin' ta duel me now, bloke?"

Wheeler thanked his lucky stars for remembering to bring his denim jacket- who knows what those thorns would have done by now?- and growled back, "NO. I hav'ta kill Kaiba first. THEN I'll duel you. And kick yer bleep."

"Duel me or I'll... I'll... uh... I'll prick you with cactus thorns!"

Joey's eyes widened a bit. Ever since having been stung by a rather huge wasp- huge only because he had been five at the time- he had a phobia to sharp pointy things that hurt you when they pricked one's skin. "Don't you mean ya'll stick thorns in me if I don't duel you..? And isn't that a bad business practice?"

The Australian ripped a thorn off a branch, testing the end with a light tap. Ouch. "Nah. I'm bored- and do you really think Dartz actually made us sign any contract?" He tapped Joey once on the nose with the thorn.

"Uh... Well- is he paying you guys to duel people and capture their souls?"

"I wouldn't count what he 'pays' us a real 'salary.' There's a reason we were stuck doing other embarrassing part time jobs."


Safely inside the Blue-Eyes White Dragon aircraft, Mokuba watched silently as one of his friends and his older brother were more or less tortured. Hmm... this wouldn't do at all. Seto needed to work on his wrestling. And Joey- jeez, you'd think he was taken by surprise the way he was trying to escape!

With a long sigh, the boy nodded once as he agreed with himself again that this wouldn't do at all. He turned around his seat and found his back pack conveniently within reach. He flipped the top flap open and dug around for his favorite summer time toy.

His smile stretched to his ears, Mokuba hopped out of the aircraft, easily landing on his feet, toy in hand. He decided to go rescue Joey first- Seto really did need to learn how to wrestle better, and this is good practice for him- and started off towards him.

"Hey Vally," he called sweetly, hiding the toy behind his back. He got the Australian's attention easily, and only smiled more as he let loose on the teen. "TAKE THAT, AUSSIE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Ah!" Valon stumbled back as stream after stream of water hit him. He lost his balance and toppled over, the cactus thorn jarred out of his grip. The poor brunette could only blink as the demon kid advanced, still firing shot after shot of cold water.

A water gun, of course... The one thing he could never dodge in time when he was kid back in Australia... Only the kids who owned them back there in that 'school' liked to throw the heavy plastic after they ran out of water and had you on the run.

The horror... oh the horror...

"AHHHH!" He tried to roll out of the way, only to get water striking his face. Ugh, the water was FREEZING! "All right, all right! I'm leaving! JEEZ!" One last stream of water hit him in the back of his head as he turned to dutifully leave.

Next time, though- he was coming armed with a water gun of his own.


Joey blinked, still trying to get the order of events to make sense in his mind. Mokuba walked past him, evil smile stretched on his face, water gun hidden behind his back again. "Hey, Mokuba... any chance you can help me down?" he asked groggily, trying yet again to wiggle his arms out of the material used to tie his wrists together.

The kid didn't turn to help. No, he only continued over to where Alister and his brother were wrestling. He called the redhead's just as sweetly as he had with Valon's. The first shot got the unsuspecting teen in the face and Joey saw the expression go from mild shock to full out surprise.

After that first shot, Alister did no better than Valon under fire. Shouting a promise to come back and capture Kaiba's soul FOR GOOD- and getting another shot of freezing water on the back of his neck for it- he was off in a flash. Valon's dust cloud was already tiny in the horizon.

Kaiba shook his head to clear his vision. Mokuba helped out, by firing one shot in his brother's face. That surely helped.

"Mokuba- back in the aircraft. NOW!" he ordered with a snarl. Completely ignoring Joey, he stalked over to the engine, kicked it once and commenced the 'fixing.'

Mokuba sighed once, evil sugar high slowly dwindling away. He glanced over towards where Joey was still trying to wiggle his way off of the cactus and then to his older brother. Hmm... this wouldn't do- these two idiots couldn't do ANYTHING right without him. Hmm... wait... there's a way to fix that...

"MOKUBA! PUT THAT WATER GUN AWA- AHHHHHH!"

"Oh, hey Mokuba. Can you help- AHHHHHHHH!"


Rex gave up as soon as he remembered the terms of the bet. It was hard to ignore the fact that the redhead's and Wheeler's duel had finished, especially when all of the group kept reminding him of what it was.

"Can I get a ride with you guys back to the, uh... hide-out?" he asked sheepishly, just as Yami was kicked- by Tea, who else was in such a mood- awake.

The brunette girl gave him a cold glare. "We would- maybe- if the car was working. Unfortunately, it ain't. So it looks like yer walking. Sorry."

"Ya know, there might be a reason that Valon didn't get yer order right," the dinosaur fanatic snarled. He narrowly missed her reply- Yami's duel disc- and started off on a brisk pace back. Hopefully he was headed the right way.

Hopefully.


Did I mention that I'm sooooooo, so, so, so, so, soooooooo, so, so, so, sorry that I took so long? No? Well- I am sooooooo, so, so, so ,so, soooooooo, so, so, so, sorry that I took so long. Thank you all for hanging in for me and waiting it out. I think this'll be the last Sailor Moon and YGO mix, since I killed the girls' leader off. Oh well, I think she had it coming. THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING AND PLEASE FORGIVE ME!