Uh...okay, so maybe I am feeling a little better...
Try not to expect any more updates for a while. I haven't been in a very nice mood lately--you'll most likely see my angst stories coming up faster than this one or any of my other ones.
Okay, I'll shut up and let you read now...

Damien's Side

Mikey POV

When we entered the soon-to-be music shop, we saw that it definitely needed some work. Wallpaper was hanging off the walls in long strips; brown paper was crumbled up on the floor; the floor itself needed a good mopping and vacuuming. All the shelves were shoved against one wall, as were all the supplies.

"I haven't had much time to work on it," Damien explained, shutting the door behind him. "I've been too busy helping Sonja."

"Well, that's what you hired me for, now isn't it?"

Damien jumped, and whipped around. "Stop doing that to me!" he exclaimed.

The girl next to him peace signed, grinning. She had black hair with red streaks in it, and her eyes were an odd shade of yellow-gold. She wore a black shirt and jeans, with what looked like a rolled-up poster stuck through one belt loop.

I could hardly believe my eyes. I knew her. But…I thought she'd died, along with the rest of my friends…

Ryou tapped my arm. "Is something wrong, Mikey?" he murmured.

I shook my head a little, motioned for him to stay quiet, and slipped away from him.

The girl looked around. "So, who're all these people?"

Damien shrugged. "People."

He yelped as the girl punched him in the arm. "All right, I'll introduce you!"

This whole time, I had been sneaking around behind the two of them. Slowly and carefully, I reached out and slid the poster out of her belt loop. She was too busy learning everyone's names to notice. I crept back over to my normal position, and opened the poster a little.

Sure enough, Malik stared grimly back at me, holding the Millennium Rod out in front of him with both hands.

"Hey! That's my poster! How'd you get that? Give it back!" The poster was jerked out of my hands—and then I was face-to-face with a girl I hadn't seen for years.

She gasped. "Mikey?"

I grinned lopsidedly. "'Ello, Marik."

Marik Rama squealed, and preceded to glomp me, chattering away at top-speed.

"I—can't—breathe!" I gasped, trying to push her off of me. She backed up, grinning sheepishly.

Suddenly, her eyes rolled back into her head. A malevolent grin spread across her face, and she bowed mockingly. I knew exactly what was coming—but it still shocked everyone else when she began to talk like Bakura, with the right accent and tonality. "We missed you, Ammut-bait. I've had no one to kidnap for ages."

I rolled my eyes. "Too bad."

Marik's eyes returned to normal, and she grinned sheepishly. "He got out again, didn't he? Sorry—I've been trying to control him, but it just doesn't seem to work!"

Everyone was now staring at Marik like she was insane.

"She's got schizophrenia," I explained. There was a collective "Oh".

I looked back at Marik. "So, how is everyone?"

Marik thought a moment. "Well, lessee. Akefia is bored and wants to steal something, Bakura is bored and wants to kill the pharaoh, and Ryou is bored and wants to draw something. Nope—nothing new around here!"

I laughed. "Figures."

Damien tapped his foot impatiently. "Girls, we can get reacquainted later. Right now, we have a music shop to work on!"

"He's right," Dean said firmly. "We ought to get busy."

Marik shrugged. "That's fine with me—as long as I get to work with Mikey!"

Miriku POV

When we showed up, everything was practically finished. The place definitely reminded me of the way it had been back down in Homestead. There were a few things that needed putting on shelves, but other than that, the shop was ready to run.

"Damien!" Sonja called loudly. "You in here?"

Damien poked his head out of the door behind the counter that said 'Employees Only'. "Back here, guys—come on! You won't believe this!"

Sonja raised her eyebrows at us, and we headed for the door. Inside, everyone sat on huge, comfy plush couches. Mikey and some new girl chattered to each other, eyes bright with excitement. They stopped when we entered the room.

John looked at Bakura. "You look like you got electrocuted or something."

Bakura growled a little, and held up his scorched fingers. "I did get electrocuted."

The whole room collapsed into laughter. Kaiba raised his eyebrows—I could tell he was making a great effort to stop himself from chuckling.

The new girl looked around. "Are these more friends of yours, Mikey?"

Mikey nodded, and looked at us. "Guys, this is Marik Rama—you know, the one who wants to be pharaoh?"

Malik groaned. "Great, that's just what we needed. Another psycho."

Marik grinned. "Thanks, I try."

Malik blinked. "Wha?"

Bakura elbowed him hard in the ribs. "It's a joke, nimrod!"

Malik massaged his ribs, glaring at Bakura. "I swear…one of these days…"

"You couldn't fight your way out of a sheet!" Bakura taunted—and immediately had to duck as Malik threw a punch at his nose.

"Boys, calm down!" Terra reprimanded.

Merekai nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah—bad luck and hate attract anti-waffles!"

Dean sweatdropped. "Are you sure you don't mean anti-fairies? Like the ones from Fairly Oddparents?"

Merekai shook her head. "I said anti-waffles, and I meant anti-waffles!"

Everyone sweatdropped at that remark—even Kaiba.

Marik suddenly began bouncing in her seat. "Hey, Mikey, I've got something to show you!" She dug into a big blue duffel bag and pulled out what looked like a crown. It had a fanning wing on either side. The Eye of the Wisdom of Darkness was set in the center. I saw Yami twitch a little.

"It's a real gold replica of the one Yami wore as pharaoh!" Marik said excitedly. "I bought it for, like, fifteen bucks!"

Mikey high-fived her. "You go, girl!"

Jonouchi looked around. "Anyone got anythin' ta eat?"

"Jonouchi!" Terra exclaimed, exasperated.

Jonouchi shrugged. "Hey, I'm starvin' ova here!"

Marik furrowed her brow. "Isn't Jonouchi the name of Joey Wheeler in the Japanese version of YuGiOh?"

The characters stared blankly at her, while we American folk nodded.

Marik grinned. "Cool! I'm not the only person named after an anime character!"

"Well, bully for you," Malik grumbled. I grinned, realizing he was still sore over the taunts we'd thrown at him when we had gone to the mall on Sunday.

Sonja clapped her hands together. "All right, guys and gals—to business. Damien, is this place ready to run?"

Damien shrugged. "Sure. There are a few things that need shelving, but we can do that before opening."

Sonja grinned. "All we need to do is wait for Sammy to finish up with the electrical stuff, and Shining Starr Karaoke Bar will be ready to run!"

She turned to us. "Oh, that reminds me—for helping us you, all of you get to come free of charge!"

Dustil let out a whoop. "Sweet! Free music!"

Sonja's grin widened. "Now, how 'bout y'all help me get ready for our grand opening?"

"Yeah!" everyone shouted—except Kaiba. The CEO rolled his eyes, muttering something about crazy Americans under his breath. He stopped when he noticed Terra deathglaring him.

"All right then!" Sonja exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Okay, let's have a little poll...which characters do you like the most--that aren't YuGiOh? List your five favorites, and why you like 'em.

...If you want to, that is.

Review, please?