Kimyo: Thanks to KrystalMountain and Obscured Illusions for reviewing!

This fic is still in its infancy, so the chapters are pretty short- this one is shorter than the first two. Sorry 'bout that. Something just clicks in my mind while I'm writing, and I know the chapter is done, ya know? It's instinct! So review and let me know what you think, or what you want! I read all reviews!

Hikari Bakura: Ryou or Ra-Chan

Yami Bakura: Bakura or Baku-Chan

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Chapter 3: Terror and Despair

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Croquet had not gone into work for a couple of weeks now, and wasn't answering his phone. Kimo was sent to check on him.

He stood shivering outside Croquet's apartment door, his breath coming out in little puffs of steam. It was January, after all. He rapped on the door, and waited.

No reply.

"Croquet? Open up!"

Nothing.

Kimo and Croquet had never been friends or anything. All Kimo knew about the guy was that they both worked for Master Pegasus.

His stomach lurched. He hadn't had breakfast yet, but that wasn't it. He now had a sense of mounting unease, steadily growing into terror for no discernable reason. Suddenly, more than anything in the world, he wanted to run and jump into his car, then drive until he got home.

The door was wrenched open with a loudness that made Kimo jump. A haggard face appeared in the doorway.

"Croquet, why haven't you been going into work? You sick?"

Croquet's laugh was like dry bones rattling in the wind. "I wish." He slammed the door in Kimo's face, and could be heard walking away.

o o o

Anyone interested in Pegasus's challenge was to go to a hotel just within Tokyo city limits to sign up. Jouno arrived three hours early, and waited in a massive line five people wide that wound its way around the building. There were roughly three thousand people there. Jouno was surprised. The Saeki house was the most notorious haunted house in all of Japan. He'd been hoping that people would be too scared to try.

At 8am, they were all welcomed in to one of the hotel's huge banquet rooms. They passed by a table where they signed in and took a number.

A guy in a black suit handed Joey a sheet of paper with the number 3381 on it. "Wait until your number is called."

Jouno went into the banquet room. Chairs were set everywhere, with people sitting around. Alot of them were making pleasant chitchat.

How can they not be nervous?

Jouno walked around, admiring the room. The ceilings were molded, with paintings of cherubs all over it and chandeliers hanging down.

La dee freakin' da. Kaiba would be right at home in a place like this.

"Joseph?"

He turned, and there stood Ryou and Bakura, each holding a number.

A grin on his face, he walked over. "Hey, Bakuras. You're trying this, too?"

"Yes. Not that we need the money. We'll probably give most of it to charity."

"Bullshit. We're keeping every cent." Bakura smirked at Jou. "I can't wait to see this ghost of theirs. I'll send it running, screaming out of its own house!"

Jou chuckled and sweatdropped.

"What about you, Joseph, why are you doing this?"

"Oh, well, I need the money- Augh!" He suddenly found himself in a headlock. He looked up at his attacker. "Honda?"

He let Joey up. "You've got some nerve, not telling us you were gonna try this!"

"Yugi! Anzu!" Ra-Chan smiled and greeted them. Jou noticed they were each holding a number. "Guys, what are you doing here?"

Anzu said,"It was hard to ignore how closely you were watching that talk show."

Yugi nodded. "If you want to do this, you can bet we'll be there with you!"

"Guys..." His eyes started watering, and his lip started quivering as he whimpered in the back of his throat.

"-Aaahh!"

"What was that?"

"It came from outside!"

Everyone flooded out of the banquet hall, through the lobby, out to the front of the hotel. People were gathering around something. Jouno pushed his way through the crowd.

A man lay on the pavement, rivers of blood streaming from his corpse in all directions. He had jumped.

The impact had robbed Kimo of his sunglasses and his wide, glassy eyes stared at the sky, still frozen in terror and despair.