Chione: yay! The Halloween edition is almost up! That's right, this isn't it, even though I said it was going to be.

Yami: so, you're a liar then?

Chione: no. It's just that this chapter was getting lengthy, so I decided to separate the stuff from before the party from the actual party itself. That, I hope, will be up in time for Halloween. A few days late, at the most. But we're getting there! -runs around throwing bonbons everywhere-

Yami: o.O bonbons?

Chione: it's French for "candies"! It's one of the few things I actually remember from French class in elementary school… I hated French…

Yami: right…

Chione: and I remember "le sac de bonbon", which is bag of candy. And that song that went something like- -sings- Barracuda, barracuda, nager, nager, nager. Barracuda, barracuda, coup, coup, coup. Oh non, il a été mangé par un… Grande baleine, grande baleine, nager, nager, nager. Grande baleine, grande baleine, coup, coup, coup. -takes a bow-

Yami: o.O what was that?

Chione: oh, that translates to, I think- -sings- Barracuda, barracuda, swim, swim, swim. Barracuda, barracuda, gulp, gulp, gulp. Oh no, it was eaten by a… Big whale, big whale, swim, swim, swim. Big whale, big whale, gulp, gulp, gulp. There was more to it, but I don't remember the rest.

Yami: ok…

Chione: and then there was that Halloween song, that I REALLY wish I could remember. I remember the "serpent bleu," or blue snake… and it's chorus was- -sings- Say la'laween. Say la'laween. HEY! I'm not sure if that's how it actually goes, but that's what I remember…

Yami: can we PLEASE get onto the story!

Chione: -.- fine. Don't be so pushy… today to do the disclaimer, we have- Kisara!

Kisara: hello. Chione doesn't own Yugioh. Also, she doesn't own Frankenstein, Zorro, or the Grim Reaper.

Chione: though I wish I did! Anywho, onto the chapter!

"We have a bit of a situation…"

Yugi stood at the front door of the apartment. Before him was Dartz, dressed up in a frilly blue 1700s outfit and large white powder wig, which made Yugi a bit grateful he and Ryou didn't buy the similar costume that Bakura had tried on in the store.

It was October 31st, the night of Pegasus and Dartz's tea party. While the rest of his friends were still excited about the parties they were going to that night, Yugi had been in the middle of getting dressed in his pirate costume. In his room, Yami was dressing in costume. Yugi tried not to chuckle at the thought; poor Yami, had no idea just what he was. Oh well, more fun for the rest of them.

But right now his professor gave him a funny look that made the fake mole beside his mouth twitch. "What do you mean?"

"We, uh… we can't find Joey."

It was true. The young man had gone out, saying he was going to check if Ryou and Bakura were ready. But he hadn't returned.

"Well, it's obvious what we have to do." Dartz told him.

"What?"

"We have to go out and look for him!" His tone was matter-of-factly. "What was his costume?"

"A lion."

"A lion?"

Yugi sighed. "Yeah. He said he was going as the Cowardly Lion. Because then he would have to find courage. Which in Joey speak is whisky."

"Ah." Dartz said, a concerned look on his face. "I understand he's been having a hard time since his sister announced her engagement."

"Yeah, and- wait, how did you know about that!"

"Dear Yugi, I know everything." And his eyes twinkled strangely, giving the spiky haired young man the creeps. "Except where Joey is." Dartz added quickly, making Yugi fall to the ground.

"Well, we'd better go find him." Yugi muttered as he got up from the ground.

"I'll start out right now. You finish getting all costumed up, and I'll meet you outside!" And with that Dartz was gone, lost in the growing crowd of dressed up people in the hallway.

Yugi quickly returned to the bathroom. All he had to do was apply his fake mustache and blacken out a few of his teeth and he was ready. When he finished, he went over to his room and knocked on the door quietly, trying not to make others in the apartment think he was hiding someone in his room (mostly, well, only Kaiba).

"Come in." Yami said in a low voice. He sounded irritated.

The other young man entered his room to see his counter part before the mirror, staring at his reflection blankly. He wore a French maid's outfit, complete with feather duster, apron, knee high stockings and high heels. Kuriboh was at his back, finishing the lacing up of the ribbons.

"Are you sure men wear this?" Yami asked, glancing over at Yugi with an accusing glare. "It seems a bit… feminine."

"Oh yeah, men wear it a lot. And it's suppose to be feminine, it's Halloween and you're suppose to dress in odd things." As he said this he tried his best not to burst into laughter.

Yami continued to glare at him. "I don't entirely trust you…"

"I don't expect you to." He sat down on the bed. "Besides, it's the perfect costume. Kaiba'll never recognize you."

"I hardly recognize me…" Yami's voice was a bitter mumble.

There was a little cry of victory and Kuriboh plopped down beside Yugi. "Finished!"

"Not yet." To the monster and the former Pharaoh's questioning glances, Yugi got up and pulled out a fluffy blonde wig from the costume box beside his bed. He managed to stuff all of Yami's spikes into the wig (after a couple of minutes of trying) and finally Yami was nearly complete.

"Are we done yet?"

"No."

Yugi went over to the door and spoke with someone standing there. Kuriboh watched with faint interest, and Yami gave Yugi's back a questioning look.

"Yugi… what are you doing?"

"Nothing. I just had to call in a favor to help finish off your costume."

There was a sly grin on the young man's face, and when he stepped away from the door Yami saw why. Rebecca stood there, her arms filled with what Yami had learned was "makeup."

The former Pharaoh took a step away. "Oh dear Ra, no!"

"Come on, Yami." Rebecca said with a smile as she entered. "You'll like it."

"That's what you said last time! I won't let you experiment on me anymore!"

Yugi and Rebecca exchanged glances. Then, before Yami could react, they pounce on him. With a bit of a struggle, Yugi managed to get Yami's arms behind his back, and Rebecca quickly applied the makeup with astonishing accuracy. Once they were done, Rebecca stood back to admire her work and Yami used all his willpower not to scream.

"I look like a girl!" He cried in dismay, staring at his reflection.

"A very pretty girl, too." Kuriboh added happily. When Yami shot him a glare, the monster squealed and hid behind Yugi.

But Rebecca as frowning. "Something's not right…" She looked Yami up and down, then went to stand beside him before the mirror. She examined her reflection, and then Yami's, and then her own once more. Then she smiled.

"I see…" Without an explanation she went over to Yugi's dresser and opened up the sock drawer, taking out two balls of socks. She then went over to Yami, and stuffed one sock ball down his dress.

He jumped back with a shout. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! You should ASK before you just go shoving your hands down someone's dress!"

"Settle down!" She snapped back. "It's not like you have anything there to grab! And that's what I'm fixing." With that she shoved the other sock ball down his front, spun him towards the mirror, and continued to adjust the sock balls until she was satisfied.

"Um…" A voice came from the door, making the others turn. Duke stood there, in a Frankenstein costume, his eyes wide on Rebecca and Yami.

"Why is Rebecca fondling some random girl?" He asked, completely baffled and unsure if he should look away or keep staring. He kept staring.

The teenager turned bright red. Lost for anything else to do, she grabbed a picture sitting on Yugi's dresser and threw it at Duke's head. "I'M NOT FONDLING ANYONE! IT'S YAMI!"

Duke managed to dodge the picture, now staring at the former spirit. "That's Yami?"

"Yes…" His words were constricted as he glared at Yugi, Kuriboh and Rebecca.

At this Duke turned a bit red under his own horrific makeup. "Well… then it would completely wrong of me to ask for your name and phone number then?"

"Yes, it would be!" He crossed his arms and glared at Yugi. "You had better sleep with one eye open…"

Someone pushed past Duke and into the room. It was Marik, in a Zorro costume. "Yugi, I just say Dartz outside. He says to hurry up, or you'll be late for the party." His eyes found Yami. "Nice costume, Pharaoh." And then he was gone, back in the other room.

"How did you recognize him?" Duke demanded as he followed after Marik. "Why didn't I!"

Yugi sighed, then turned to Rebecca. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem!" She said brightly, ignoring Yami's dark muttering.

"Well, Yami, let's go." Yugi got up and began to head for the door, Yami sweeping past him.

"Ladies first." Yami mumbled darkly, his eyes full of resentment.

"I don't know what's scarier…" Yugi mumbled to Rebecca as he watched Yami approach the door. "The fact that he looks like a girl, or that he can actually walk well in high heels…"

"It does make you wonder…" The girl said with a nod. But when Yugi began to walk away, she grabbed onto his arm. "You're not leaving yet."

He blinked, confused. "What?"

"Come on, Yugi!" Yami said, holding the door open. The people in the hall examined him as they walked by; some realizing he was a guy in drag, others thinking he was a guyish girl.

"May payment." Rebecca said, her grasp on his arm firm. "You promised."

Yugi glanced around. Though he tried to pretend otherwise, Yugi could tell Marik was listening from the kitchen. Duke and Kuriboh stared at the pair shamelessly, and Yami watched his counterpart with increasing annoyance.

"Let's go!" The yami demanded again.

"Once I get my payment." Rebecca cried at him. She turned back to Yugi. "You promised me, Yugi."

Yugi continued to watch the others. "Not here, not now."

A dark look crossed her face. "Here. Now. Or you're not going."

He gave her a pleading look, but it was obvious she would not be swayed. Yugi heaved a large sigh, and quickly kissed her on the cheek. Duke and Kuriboh let out a cry, Marik had a coy smile, and Yami had an odd expression on his face.

"We were waiting for THAT!" He demanded.

"Yes." The blonde girl said, smiling widely. She, in turn, gave Yugi a large smooch on the cheek, which received an embarrassed look from Yugi and two more cries from Kuriboh and Duke. "Now, you can go."

With a sigh of relief Yugi quickly went over to Yami and pulled him into the hall.

"And if you go drooling over some other girl at that party, I'll have yours and her's heads! And-" But Yugi had closed the door on the rest of Rebecca's warnings. He breathed deeply.

"Are we going now?" Yami questioned, irritation clear under his makeup.

Yugi pushed himself away from the door. "In a moment. I just have to tell Ryou we're leaving separately, and we'll meet them at the party."

He went to the door across the hall and knocked. It took a few minutes, and a couple of muffled curses, but the door opened and Ryou stood there, his face paler than usual and wearing a black robe with a hood over his hair.

"My Ra, who are you suppose to be?" Yami asked before he could stop himself.

Ryou gave a shy smile. "The Grim Reaper," He held up hands that wore skeleton gloves. Then he looked over Yami. "Miss." He added. Yami only glared daggers at him.

Quickly, Yugi filled Ryou in on the Joey situation. When he finished, a loud and long curse radiated from somewhere in the apartment, followed by, "How the bloody hell does this go on!"

"Costume trouble?" Yugi asked.

Ryou smiled again, only this time his smile was full of malice and evil joy. It made Yugi shiver. "A little bit."

"What's Bakura going as?"

"It's a surprise." The other young man said with a wink. "Now, you to had best be going. Captain," He saluted Yugi. "Ma'am." He tipped an invisible hat to Yami. But before the former spirit could strike him, he had closed the door.

With a bit of a struggle Yugi hauled his counter part down the stairs and outside the apartment building. Dartz was waiting for them, waving regally to passerbys. Yugi was at his side in an instant, grabbing his arm and forcing it to his side.

"Don't be doing that!" The short young man hissed. "I have to live here, with these people!"

"Oh, I was merely being nice." Dartz said. His eyes rested on Yami. "From Pharaoh to French Maid. Can't say it's a step down, though…"

Yami looked like he was going to kill someone. Probably one of the already drunk men that kept gawking at him… "Zip it." He said to Dartz, ignoring the one young man that was whistling at him.

"Settle down, guys." Yugi sighed. "We have to find Joey."

"I asked around as I waited." His professor said, sweeping off in some direction. Yugi quickly followed, and Yami did the same after he flipped off some of the young men staring at him.

Yugi gaped at him. "Where did you learn that?"

"Nowhere." But it was obvious that he learned it from one of three places: TV, Joey, or Bakura. Maybe even all three at once. Who knew?

"Ahem." Dartz brought their attention back to him. "As I was saying, I asked a few other students if they had seen a man in a lion suit stumbled past in a drunken stupor. They all pointed me in this direction, said he went into this dormitory here."

Yugi looked around. They were already on campus, and heading towards a dorm where a party was obviously being thrown. People were running around screaming, some with their tops off (it was a variety of breasts and grossly hairy chests), and the smell of beer was everywhere.

Dartz and Yugi asked a few of the students if they had seen a drunken lion. It seem there were a few of them at this particular party. Or, two at the least. One had gone to the upper levels of the dorm, while another had gone to the lower.

"We'll have to separate." Yugi mumbled. "You go downstairs, I'll go up. We'll meet back at the front doors, alright?"

"Yes, yes, very well." Dartz said, already floating towards the steps that led to the basement. "See you in a jiff." He then went down the steps, entering the lower floor.

It was quieter down there, the loud noises from above muffled. But there was a source of noise, coming from down the hall, where the laundry room was.

Dartz entered this room to find it filled with smoke, and a circle of young people were sitting on the floor, passing small rolls of paper around. Some of them were giggling hysterically, some were staring off into space, some were ranting about nothing, but all of them had bloodshot eyes.

And at the far end of the room sat a lion, missing the top of his costume and his blonde hair spiked with gel to make a large main. A flask, most likely filled with whiskey, was strapped to his waste.

"Hey, Dartz!" Joey was grinning like a fool, like all his worries were gone. He got up and half crawled, half stumbled over to his professor and draped an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, hey. Let me- buy you- a drink." His speech as a bit slurred, either from the drink or the drug.

"Young Joseph, how can you stand this awful smell?" He pulled the joint from Joey's fingers. "And what a dreadful habit to start!"

"Don't knock it till try it." His grin grew wider. "Try it! Peer pressure! Peer pressure!"

The rest of the circle began to chant with Joey, until the only thing that could be heard was "Peer pressure!"

Dartz examined each and every one of them. Then he examined the paper roll in his hand. "I suppose cigarettes aren't so bad. It's been years since I had one. What the hell, I'll have on smoke!"

And a cheer arose from the circle.

"Yami, where are you?"

Yugi was looking around, trying to find where Yami had disappeared as he talked to Dartz. He found his counter part heading towards the table of liquor, and grabbed his arm. "Not for you."

"If I'm going to be dressed like this, I might as well drink my humiliation away!"

The shorter young man gave him a dark look. "No. If you're drunk, you might expose who you really are, as well as other parts of yourself that shouldn't be exposed. No drinking."

"Fine. Let's just find Joey and get out of here."

Yami began to follow Yugi to the stairs and slowly the made it to the second floor, wading through drunk people and horrible monsters as they did. They couldn't find Joey on the second floor, so they went to the third, then the fourth. Finally, they were at the top.

"Yugi, no one is up here." Yami complained as he followed his friend down the hall. "Let's go and find Dartz, he probably found him."

Yugi shook his head defiantly. "No, he has to be up here. There's noise coming from the room at the end of the hall, we'll ask those people if they've seen him, then go back down."

Silently the two went to the end. The noise coming from the room was strange to both of them, muffled by the walls and the sound radiating from below. The door was slightly ajar, letting a sliver of light out.

"Sorry to intrude," Yugi began, pushing the door open. "But we were wondering-" He stopped in mid sentence, his eyes wide.

Yami gave him a worried look. "What's wrong?" He looked into the room.

There were two people in there. In the bed across from them. They seemed to be wrestling. A confused look crossed Yami's face, until-

"OH, DEAR RA!" Yami jumped away from the door, covering his eyes. "DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE THE DECENCY TO LOCK YOUR DOORS! OR AT LEAST TO CLOSE THEM!"

His outburst seemed to bring Yugi back to reality. Instantly one of his hands was over his eyes, his face going completely red. "I am SO sorry for interrupting! I didn't mean to! I just thought-" Again he stopped in mid sentence, his eyes going even wider. Then, a cry came out of him.

"TEA!"

Yami was instantly back at the door, seeing for himself that it was indeed the brunette, friendship-preaching girl he knew so well. Well, thought he knew, at least.

"YUGI!" Tea had spun around, pulling the covers around her. "I thought you went to that Tea Party! And why is Yami in a dress!"

"Why are you here? Screwing, wait, is that-? OH MY GOD, TRISTAN!"

His other friend smiled sheepishly, giving a small wave. "Hi Yugi. And, um, Yugi's friend…"

"I'm Yami!" Yami snapped, not liking how Tristan was eyeing him.

Tea noticed, too, and she hit him. "You pig! You check out other girls even when we're making love!"

"I'm not a girl!"

"Yeah, he's not a girl!"

"That's what makes it worse!"

Yami stepped away from the door so he couldn't see. "Yugi, I think we should leave." He looked around. "Yugi?" He looked up the hall to see Yugi quickly going down the stairs. "Yugi!"

He ran to catch up, surprised he didn't trip in his heels. He caught up to Yugi on the main floor. His counter part was standing at the front door, looking around desperately.

"Where the hell is Dartz!" Yugi cried when Yami reached his side. "We were up stairs for who knows how long. The basement is small, it can't take that long to find one person!"

"Maybe he found Joey, but is having troubles bringing him up here." Yami offered. "Should we go down stairs?"

"Yes." And before Yami knew it Yugi was descending into the basement, and once again he had to run to catch up. But as he reached the stairs, he felt something squeeze his rear.

"Hey cuttie." Another voice said, trying to be smooth and coy.

Yami spun around, daggers in his eyes. He slapped the other man. "How dare you! That's no way to treat a lady!" And he slapped the other man again. "Have. Some. Damn. Manners. You. Pig!" With every word he slapped the man. When he was done, he flipping the blonde wig curls over his shoulder and disappeared into the basement.

At the bottom Yugi stood there. He had seen the entire thing from the steps. He had a look of disbelief.

"Who are you?" He asked, astounded. "Why is nothing making sense anymore!"

"I'm not sure." Yami shrugged, then led the way down the hall. "I think Joey and Dartz are in there." He pointed to a door where loud noises were coming from.

The two entered the room and froze. Dartz and Joey were in the middle of a circle of people, their eyes bloodshot. And they were singing. Two different songs with two different rhythms. And they were waltzing. With each other.

Yugi's eyes twitched as he watched them. "I'm not sure I can take it anymore…"

But Yami stomped forward and grabbed Joey by the neck (because he wasn't wearing a shirt and had no collar). "What do you think you're doing! We've been looking for you everywhere! Do you know what we had to go through to find you!"

"Yami?" Joey blinked, his gaze hazy. "Did you get a sex change? You look pretty h-" He couldn't finish, because Yami slapped him.

"NEVER think like that again! And get a hold of yourself! What's wrong with you, man!"

"What is wrong with you guys?" Yugi asked, trying his best not to loose it. He went over to Dartz. "Professor?"

"It's the magic sticks! The magic sticks are so wonderful!" He held out a joint to Yugi. "Want to try? Go on, try! Peer pressure! Peer pressure!"

Yugi took the roll of paper and stared at it. Then he looked at the most sane of the bunch. "Drugs? You got my professor stoned!"

"He wanted to, man." But the other young man's voice was almost lost in the growing chant of "Peer pressure."

Yugi gave an exasperated look to Yami. "Let's just get them out of here."

His counter part nodded and grabbed Joey while Yugi grabbed Dartz. Together, they pulled the other pair out of the room, out of the dorm, and towards their actual destination; the Tea Party.

Behind them, in the laundry room of the dorm, the other stoners continued to chant "Peer pressure" until it slowly died away. They each exchanged looks, unsure what to do.

Then one called out after Yugi and Yami, "Kill joys!"