It was just a few hours later. Joey had received a phone call from Serenity, and had found out she was coming to visit. Therefore, Joey had to go home and start cleaning the atrociously unkempt apartment that he shared with his dad.

"My dad's not gonna do it!" Joey had joked sadly. "Sorry, Yug', but it's really important that I have the place nice for Serenity."

"Go ahead Joe."

Yugi hadn't minded; Tea had come over looking for Yami anyway and, finding out that Yami was dueling Seto Kaiba, had actually decided to invite Yugi to go downtown with her rather than go play cheerleader for her hero.

They were now at a 4-way intersection, waiting for the light to change so they could cross the street. Yugi was making sure to keep the conversation going every time both of them started to grow silent, not wanting Tea to have time to think about ditching him and going to watch Yami duel Kaiba. She was actually paying attention to him, too.

"You know, I think that Joey likes somebody," Tea started to say. Yugi rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off, adding, "and I don't think it's you. I think that Joey likes Mai… I mean, I know he liked her during Battle City and during all of that Orichalcos stuff, but I think he still likes her. Which is amazing, because isn't she dating Varon?"

"Uh-huh."

Is Varon still alive? Yugi wondered. Ah well. I'll talk to Joey about it, maybe, if it doesn't upset him.

"So, anyway, I found out that Mai is coming to visit Joey along with Serenity," Tea told him.

"That must be why Joey scrambled home to clean. How'd you find that out?" Yugi asked.

"All I had to do was call Serenity, and she spilled everything," Tea announced proudly. "So, yeah! Mai's going to be staying in Joey's apartment!"

"Wacky hi-jinx galore!" Yugi declared.

"Exactly!" Tea laughed. "We are going to have soooooo much fun picking on him."

"Aw, come on, that's not nice," Yugi scolded.

"Yeah, but still! If we don't, Duke, Kaiba, and even Tristan are going to do it for us… so why not?"

"Eh, you make fun of him. I'd rather have Joey mad at you than at me," Yugi reasoned. Tea tut-tutted and rolled her eyes.

"Really, Yugi, if Joey didn't like Mai I'd say that you were afraid to get him mad at you because you're his—"

"MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Yugi froze in mid-step. Kami-sama, please PLEASE don't let it be…

"Bow before me, puny mortals!"

;; It is.

On the corner Marik stood. He, with his cape, look liked a sort of busker, a street magician with a black hat and bunnies. In fact, people kept throwing money at him, Yugi noticed. One particularly grumpy old lady was aiming her quarters at Marik's temple.

Police sirens began to sound. Yugi's eyes widened. Tea's mouth formed an 'O', and clapped her hand over her it. For a moment, she just started, her blue eyes large, but after a moment she removed her hand. "Marik's going to get arrested!" she gasped.

"No way!" Yugi cried in disbelief. Marik… arrested… what? "Since when have the Domino Police been paying attention to anything!"

"I dunno! It's just a really slow day, I guess!" Tea exclaimed. "Should we do something?"

"Yeah, we should do something!" Yugi snapped. Before Tea could continue with her panicked conversation, Yugi darted across the road, narrowly avoiding three cars. (- He's so cool, ne?)

"MARIK!"

Marik looked over at Yugi. Grinning, he opened his mouth to say something, but found himself helpless to say anything, as Yugi's disquieted concerned look decimated his confidence. The next thing he knew, Yugi was grabbing his wrist and tugging on it.

"Hurry up!" Yugi shouted, pulling hard. Marik stumbled and started to follow Yugi down what appeared to be an alley.

Those loud sounds he had heard, like wailing babies, came nearer. Yugi started to run, taking Marik with him.