Impulsive Attractions

Day One: Finding each other, losing our selves

A month has passed and summer vacation has started, much to the anticipation of the teenagers. Joey sighed as they arrived. Yugi's grandfather had given him, Yugi, Tea and Tristen a ride to the docks, where the ferryboat was waiting. The teens got out of the old pick up truck and began to unload their luggage. As they were grabbing their things, two taxis and a limousine pulled up. Mai, Duke, and Serenity got out of one of the taxis and Ryou, Bakura and Malik got out of the other. The limo belonged to the Kaiba brothers, naturally. Yugi ran over to his friends smiling. "Hey guys! Ready to go?" Mai smirked. "Always ready for vacation, kiddo!" Duke nodded. "It'll be nice to relax for once." Serenity smiled and hugged her brother tightly. "I missed you Joey! I can't believe grandma did this for us. We're going to have so much fun!" He smiled and hugged her back. Yugi looked over at Malik, who shifted a bit nervously. "Hi Malik! Where are Marik and Ishizu?" Malik smiled softly. "Ishizu said she was too busy and she and Odeon made Marik stay there for punishment for something he did." Yugi nodded in understanding. Mokuba got out of the limo and ran over to meet the others, half dragging his brother behind him. Kaiba had a look of misery on his face. Yugi laughed. "Hey Mokuba! Hello Kaiba! How are you two doing? Are you excited?" Mokuba smiled. "We're doing great. I've been looking forward to dragging Seto away from the office!" Kaiba glared at Yugi and his friends. "If it weren't for my brother's begging me to come, I would never have agreed to this!" he said angrily. Mokuba smiled innocently. "So, shall we go now guys?" he asked eagerly.

A man in his upper forties smiled at them. "My name is Cain Wilson. My friend Alicia Wheeler asked me to give you a ride to her little island. Are you kids ready to go?" Joey nodded. "I think so; we're ready when you are." "Right this way, then." He escorted them onto a spacious ferryboat. Mai sighed and stretched. "Ah…this is the life!" She lay down on a lawn chair and started to read one of her many Anne McAfree books. Joey and Serenity reminisced about the trips they had taken on ferryboats when they were younger. Yugi, Ryou, and Malik had their hands full trying to keep Yami and Bakura from killing each other. Mokuba played his Gameboy DS while Kaiba typed on his laptop. And Tristen and Duke…they argued and Tea turned on her CD player and tuned it all out.

"Here we are Kids! Alicia's summer home!" The teens gaped at the 'house'. "Whoa…" Tristen said, "Joey, you never told us your grandma owns a HUGE Mansion!" Duke nodded. "Not to mention an entire island." Even Kaiba was surprised. "I'm impressed, Wheeler. This Vacation might not suck after all." Kaiba told the blond. Joey blinked. "Well, she did say there would be plenty of room." Yami still looked shocked. "Oh Ra! That's a house! It's almost as big as a palace!" Mai laughed excitedly. "This is going to be awesome, guys! And we have the place to ourselves?" "Yep!" Serenity said. They filed out of the boat and thanked Cain for the ride. He tossed them a rusty old key. "That's for the gate, but the rest of the doors are unlocked, so don't worry. I'll come back for you in a month and a half, have fun!" The teenagers, minus Kaiba, Bakura and Duke waved to him as he drove away in his boat. "Let's go get settled in, Mai suggested." The others agreed. Joey inserted the key into the lock and turned it. It clicked in the lock and Joey pushed the gate open. They walked through the gate single file. Joey tried to pull the key out to the lock, but it stuck tight. "Can't get the key out." He told them. "Just leave it for now; we're out in the middle of nowhere anyways." Mokuba said. Joey nodded and stepped inside the gate. Instantly, the heavy Iron Gate swung shut. Curiously, Mokuba pushed on it. It wouldn't budge. "Um…guys. It's stuck." Yami blinked. "Hm? What's wrong, Mokuba?" Mokuba panicked slightly. "The gate, it won't open!" Bakura walked over to it. "Lemme see." He leaned his shoulder against it and pushed with all his might. After a minute, he stopped. Panting, he slid to the ground. "Kid's right. Won't budge." Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Maybe the key was turned when the gate slammed shut, try turning it again." He advised. Bakura reached through the iron bars and tried to turn the key. "The key is stuck!" Mai sighed. "C'mon you guys! We're here to relax, not to stress out about how to get away from here. We can worry about it later." Joey nodded. "Yeah, let's go unpack our stuff."

Yami hesitated in front of the mansion door and looked around uneasily. "I'm getting a bad feeling, about this place." He told the others. Bakura rolled his eyes. "Stupid pharaoh, probably just indigestion." He muttered. Everyone except Kaiba laughed at the ex-tomb robber's comment. Yami glared at the white haired thief. "Don't say I didn't warn you. If you go missing, Bakura, I will be quite pleased." Bakura snorted. "Oh, I'm so scared." He said sarcastically. Ryou rubbed his temples. "Can't you two get along for ten minutes?" "Three is the most I can guarantee, hikari." The thief said, "And only if I can tape the baka pharaoh's mouth shut." Yami glared. "You shall do no such thing!" he shouted. Bakura glared at him murderously. Joey sighed. "Can we go inside now? I'm tired of listening to you guys fight." Yami pouted, while Bakura simply looked bored. Joey pushed the doors open and walked into the dimly lit room, the others followed closely behind. Mai looked around and whistled. "Nice place." In the center of the large room, there were two staircases, one went up and the other went down. There were also several rooms off to both sides and a door on either side of the staircase. Yugi and Ryou set their stuff down so that they could be ready to break up a fight between their yamis if necessary. Kaiba walked back over to the door. Yugi glanced over at him. "Where are you going Kaiba?" he asked the brunet. "I'm going to call my secretary to cancel my appointments, since I'm obviously going to be here for a while." He said emotionlessly. Mokuba smiled. "I canceled most of them for you, except for your dentist appointment on Saturday." He informed his brother. "I should call Dr. Higa then." He said as he pulled the door open. Kaiba dialed the number and waited. After a minute, he pulled the cell phone away from his ear and glared at it. "Darn it! The call won't go though!" Mokuba shrugged. "Maybe we're out of the service area." Tea blinked, and pulled her cell phone. "No, couldn't be that because I have all my bars." "Try calling someone, Tea." Yugi suggested. She chose her parent's number from the speed dial. She looked alarmed. "Kaiba's right! It didn't even dial…what could be going on?" Joey pulled his own phone out and dialed Tea's number. Her phone rang. He sighed. "Well, at least we know that we can call each other." Everyone besides Kaiba exchanged cell phone numbers. Yugi looked hurt. "What if something happens to you Kaiba? We can't help you don't have any of our numbers." Kaiba glared at him. "I'll manage." He replied coldly. Mokuba smiled. "Don't worry Yugi, I've got everyone's numbers and I doubt Seto will let me out of his sight." Yugi smiled appreciatively. The group walked back into the mansion.

"We should probably split up into groups and explore this place." Mai suggested. Yugi nodded. "We could cover more ground that way." He agreed. Duke offered his hand to Serenity. "You should come with me, Serenity." He said sweetly. "No," Tristen objected, "Come with me! It'll be fun." He promised. Serenity smiled at them nervously. Mai interrupted. "She's coming with me." The older woman stated, smiling at the auburn haired teen. "Right, Serenity?" Serenity smiled happily at her friend. "Sure thing Mai!" Mai winked at Joey, who was ready to bash Duke and Tristen's heads in. He smiled and silently thanked her. "Mokuba is coming with me, obviously." Kaiba stated. Nobody objected to that. "I'm with Yami!" Yugi said happily. Yami hugged his hikari. "Of course, Yugi." His darker half stated, also smiling. Bakura sighed. "I guess I'm stuck with Ryou…" he said. His hikari looked hurt but didn't say anything. "I guess I'll stick with you, then Joey." Tea said. "You should join us, Malik." She said. The Egyptian nodded. "Thanks Tea." He said appreciatively. Tristen Blinked. "Hey…that means I'm stuck with Mr. Dice-for-brains. That's not cool!" Yugi smiled innocently. "Maybe you guys will learn to get along better." He chirped joyfully. Duke sighed. "Not fair!" Mai laughed. "Life ain't fair hun, get used to it." "Where should we meet at, guys?" Tea asked. "I don't think it would matter Tea." Ryou said. "After all, we're bound to run into each other eventually right?" She nodded. "I guess you're right, Ryou." She admitted.

The group split up. Joey, Malik, and Tea went up stairs; Kaiba and Mokuba went down stairs; Mai and Serenity went in the door to the left of the stair cases; Yami and Yugi went into the door on the far right; Bakura and Ryou went into the door on the far left (Bakura wanted to be as far away from Yami as possible); and Duke and Tristen reluctantly took the door on the right of the stair cases.

Kaiba looked around him. What he first noticed was a large fountain. He raised an eyebrow. "Okay…that's odd, to say the least. Who has a fountain in their basement?" Mokuba peered into it. "Dunno, Seto, but it is kind of cool." Kaiba sighed. "If you say so." Mokuba smiled. Besides the fountain the room was otherwise empty and had a cobblestone floor. He glanced around the corner. "Oh, look Seto! Another staircase, this one goes back up." Mokuba dragged his brother along behind him excitedly. "Slow down Mokuba!" Kaiba shouted as he was pulled up the stairs by the hyperactive 13 year old.

"Cool, a library!" Serenity said. Mai nodded happily. "I wonder if there are any books about dragons in here." "We'll have to find out. I want to find a book about fairies." Mai grabbed he hand and they ran over to one of the dozens of shelves of books. "Wow, there are all kinds of interesting books here!" Serenity said. "Look, Serenity, there is a whole section dedicated to magical creatures!" Mai exclaimed.

The silence was starting to make Tea nervous. She had never known Joey to be so quiet. Malik seemed a bit un nerved as well. Tea finally decided to break the silence. "So, Joey do you have any idea as to where we are?" The blond gave her a sloppy smile. "Nope! I haven't got a clue." He said honestly. She sighed. "I was afraid of that. It feels like we have been walking all day, and we don't seem to be getting anywhere." "Four and a half hours…approximately." Malik said while looking at his watch. Tea groaned. Joey laughed. "At least we got some area covered." Tea rolled her eyes. "Joey, we walked up a spiral stair case for nearly an hour, and ended up in a maze! I don't really consider that progress! And we haven't seen the others in several hours." Joey yawned. "I'm sure we'll run into the guys any minute now."

"It's your fault." Duke stated. Tristen glared at him. "How does everything end up being my fault?" Duke sighed. "It just is. Dang, I should have just stayed home. I'd rather be at work right now than stuck here with you." Tristen nodded. "The feeling is mutual." He told the dice master. Stopping momentarily, Duke opened a door and walked through. Tristen grudgingly followed him. The door slammed shut with a loud bang. Tristen screamed and hugged Duke in fear. Duke was startled by the action and lost his balance. They landed with a loud thump on the carpeted floor of the dimly lit room. Tristen had fallen on top of Duke, his arms were around the dice master's neck; Duke's arms were instinctively wrapped around Tristen's waist. Their eyes widened when they realized the situation they were in.

Yugi looked over at Yami. "Yami, did you hear that?" Yami nodded grimly. "Someone screamed, I can only hope it was Bakura…" "Yami!" Yugi protested. "Anyways," Yami said, "we should go see what happened." Yugi nodded and ran down the hall, Yami followed close behind. They turned a corner and eventually reached the end of the hallway. "I think it came from over here." Yugi said. Yami turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. He almost fainted at what he saw. "What is it Yami?" Yugi asked his darker half. His eyes widened as he followed Yami's gaze. Tristen blushed. "Um…it's not what it looks like!" Duke's face burned bright red.

"I think I heard a scream, guys." Tea said. Joey sighed. "I would suggest that we check it out, but we're kinda stuck right now Tea." Malik nodded. "Yeah, we better worry about getting out of here first. Besides, I think it came from below us. It would take us forever to get back to the first floor." Tea sighed. "I guess all we can do is hope whoever it was is okay." Malik smiled. "Look, it's the end of the maze!" Tea sighed in relief. "Now I just wish we could find a place to spend the night. It's kind of strange that we are in a mansion and we haven't been into a single bedroom yet." "That is odd." Malik agreed with her. They turned a corner and were faced with another long hall. Tea smiled jokingly at her friends. "What are the odds that this is a bedroom?" she asked. Joey smiled tiredly. "Probably one in a hundred, Tea." He told her rationally. She sighed and pulled the door open. Tea sweat dropped. "You've got to be kidding me…" Inside the room were three beds. Malik blinked. "Weird. But at least we can get some sleep now." Joey sighed. "Yeah, but we left our stuff downstairs…"

Ryou's feet were beginning to hurt. "Bakura, slow down! I'm tired!" he complained. His yami growled. "As soon as we find some beds, we will stop." Ryou pouted. "Well you don't have to walk so fast." Bakura rolled his eyes. "If we walk faster, we can stop sooner, so stop complaining." Ryou groaned. "But we've been walking for over five hours!"

Mokuba sighed as he walked around the corner. He was way past exhausted. Kaiba sighed. "I told you that you shouldn't have run the entire way." Mokuba mumbled a complaint under his breath. The younger boy looked up at his brother tiredly. "Where do you think we are, Seto? We've been walking for hours and I still don't recognize anything." Kaiba sighed. "We've walked down two stair cases and up four, collectively, plus we have entered at least 40 rooms, and gotten turned around at least 6 times…so your guess is as good as mine, Mokuba." Mokuba sighed. "We're doomed aren't we?" Kaiba gave him an odd look. "Don't despair yet Mokuba." He said. Mokuba glared. "Easy for you to say." He opened the next door and peered inside. "Hey, Seto, check this out!" Kaiba followed his brother into the room. What they saw was an enormous entertainment center, couch, a sleeping bag, blankets, and several fluffy pillows. Kaiba blinked. "Seems almost too convenient, doesn't it? The way that everything is laying out it's like we were expected to end up here." Mokuba smiled. "Who cares? This would be a great place to set up camp, and we could even watch movies in the morning!" Kaiba sighed. "Fine then, do you want the couch or the sleeping bag?" "You can have the couch Seto." Mokuba said. "G'night!" "Good night, Mokuba."

Serenity yawned. "Hey Mai, what time is it?" Mai looked up from the book she was carrying with her as she walked. "Dunno but it might be a good idea to get some rest. Let's go look for somewhere to crash for the night." Serenity nodded sleepily and followed the blond down the hall. Mai pushed the door to her right open and flicked on the light. "There are a couple of beds in here." Serenity laid down on one of the beds. "How far do you think we walked? The whole time, we didn't see anyone." Mai pondered this for a minute. "We must have just missed them, don't worry we'll find everyone tomorrow."

Yugi smiled. "So, tell me. What exactly happened?" Duke sighed. "I told you a hundred times already, Yugi! He got scared and jumped on me." Yami smirked. "Right, we believe you." He said sarcastically. Tristen sighed. "Seriously, guys! Duke's right, I just freaked out when the door slammed." Yugi laughed. "Then why did you have your arms around each other? And you were both blushing too!" Duke groaned. "Whatever! I need some sleep…we'll finish this argument in the morning." "Fine by me." Yami replied. They walked through the door Yugi and Yami came in through and saw another door they hadn't noticed before. "Where do you think this goes?" Yami asked. He pulled the door open. Inside were three beds. Yugi, Yami, and Duke each took a bed. Tristen groaned. "No fair!" Yugi snickered. "You could always share with Duke." He suggested. The brunet made a face. "No thanks, I'd rather sleep on the floor." "Good night then, Tristen." Yami said. Tristen ended up having to spend the night on the cold, hard, concrete floor. "This sucks!" he told them. Yugi giggled.

"Are we there yet?" "No." Bakura replied irritably. Ryou huffed in annoyance. "If there aren't beds in the next room, I'm sleeping on the floor in the hall!" he exclaimed. Bakura rolled his eyes at his hikari's childish behavior. "Ryou, the chance of there being beds in this room is slim to none." He told the smaller albino. He pulled the door open, with out looking in. "I bet you we won't find any…" Ryou walked past him and squealed with delight. "Ryou?" Bakura asked while looking with surprise at the boy, who was sitting on…a bed. He walked into the room and gaped in shock. "That's just…inconceivable…" he looked wildly around the room. "This place is weird, as much as I hate to admit it, baka pharaoh may be right for once! As soon as you decide you will not walk another step, we find a room with beds. Something is awfully strange about that!" Ryou glared. "Don't care 'Kura. Rant tomorrow, sleep now." He said drowsily. Ryou was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Bakura had a bit of trouble sleeping…