Please Leave a Message

:Chapter Thirteen:

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Joey sat on the floor, feet against the couch, back resting against the table with the phone book resting on it. As he was pondering who to call next, the phone began to ring, making him jump. His head smacked against the table edge, bringing the previously mentioned phone book closer to the edge. In fact, it was hanging precariously off the edge. But Joey was too preoccupied with his pain to notice.

The answering machine picked up the caller and, after the familiar message- he couldn't really be bothered to remember what exactly said message entailed- played, a somewhat hated voice emanated from the speaker.

"Hey, Joey. It's Tristan." Joey rolled his eyes. Did the fiend ever give up?

"There's some things I really need to discuss with you." Right. Like he was ever going to fall for that one….

"Ok. Fine. Don't pick up. I'll just tell you on the machine. Did you know that Tea, as in our best friend Tea, the girl who does everything with us Tea, who helps us in times of dire trouble Tea, (except when violently attacking us for doing one of various things including but not limited to,stealing her homework, beating up helpless little kids, cheating on that last history test- wait, she doesn't know about that one yet…)Well, that Tea, is Up To Something (with capitals), with Kaiba…of all people… Kaiba."

"And yes. I mean that Kaiba, the one who calls you mutt, puppy dog, poodle, Chihuahua, and various other four-legged canines. The rich, stuck up millionaire (or billionaire, as it is) Kaiba. And when I say Up To Something, I mean like…Serenity and Me something…well, what will be Serenity and Me. I know you're trying to stop my heroic endeavors. But I will prevail. Anyways, thought you might be wanting to look into that."

Trademark Tristan mentality- his attention tended to jump from one place to another before quitting altogether.

Joey rolled his eyes.

Click.

Joey took a few minutes to process the information. When the pieces finally clicked into place, his mouth dropped open.

"WHAAAAT!"

He attempted to leap to his feet, forgetting he was sitting directly under the coffee table, and also forgetting what happened when he previously tried to jump up like that. Too bad, really, cause he hit his head on the edge of the table- again - and plopped back down to the floor, rubbing his head. Just as he took his hands away, the phone book, after playing tug-of-war against gravity, lost, and plummeted down…

…down…

…down….

And landed smack on his head.

He lay there sprawled on the ground, the proverbial stars and birds circling around somewhere above him. Vaguely, he wondered what he was doing on the ground…

Ah yes, the ground was safer, cause you couldn't fall off the floor. But things could fall on you, apparently. Nothing was safe, these days. The world was against him. Life was soooo unfair. Good grief, he was growing maudlin... whatever that meant.

Now, what to do about the Tristan problem as well as the Tea/Kaiba problem… WAIT!

"Ugh, great. Now what I said to Tea… that whole Kaiba getting his pants in a twist thing…sounds somewhat…wrong…"

But he could deal with all that later. Much later. Joey rubbed his head. He really needed a drink.

All this talking made him thirsty.

:End Chapter Thirteen:

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:Marik's answering machine, the third:

"You have reached Marik, the evil leader of the Shadow Realm… Bakura, no comments from the peanut gallery. I am unavailable…no, Reaper, that does NOT mean that I finally got a girlfriend….no, Bakura, it does NOT mean that I got a boyfriend either…I don't really do that sort of stuff…I am BUSY at this time… coughing can be heard in the background …I didn't mean it that way, darn you! Oh, great going Bakura…you KNOW that laughing in this area draws Kuribohs…stupid puffballs…BOOM!"

:End Marik's answering machine, the third:

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Coming up- The forgotten original chapter two, featuring Ryou and Bakura.