And here's the long awaited 16th chappy! Thank babybisser for this update! I probably wouldn't have gotten around to it if they hadn't asked.

Chapter 16: Arriving Duels

Kaiba's limo pulled up to the entrance of the airport before the group of five stepped out—with Ryou thanking the driver—to walk inside and wait about twenty minutes for the plane they wanted to arrive.

Ryou sat in a chair while Tea and Joey chatted with Mokuba over something. Ryou was more or less doing his best to not give up the fight against the body's demands. The body wanted to sleep, but Ryou wanted to make sure the Fentons and their friends got here safely.

Ten minutes now. Kaiba's ignoring everyone and Ryou's wearing a hat to cover his white hair.

The last time Ryou had been in such a public place—school, mall, and the occasional game store don't count as public, apparently—he had been kidnapped by his fangirls. He didn't want to be kidnapped again. He'd barely made it out alive the first time!

Now, as to who was coming... Maddie-san and Jack-san, Danny, Jazz—joy—Marik—Ryou wanted an apology for his arm, since it wasn't Bakura's fault the kid had trust issues—and Danny's friends. This has fun written all over it.

To be honest, he wasn't very happy about meeting back up with Marik. But at least the fever was gone now. Maddie-san didn't really like it when someone was sick. Ryou fidgeted with his hat for a moment, really hoping that no one recognized him.

Five minutes. The plane is landing and rolling up to the building. Ryou stood up to wait closer to the door his visitors were going to come out of. Joey and Tea stood with him.

People were coming off the plane now. Ryou looked in the crowd for a giant blob of orange, or blue. He saw a dark haired girl wearing all black arguing with two adults that lived on the other end of the color spectrum as they came down the walkway.

"—Won't let you keep telling me what to do!" the girl seethed.

"Sammy-kins," the blonde woman pleaded, "we wouldn't be good parents if we let you run off like that!"

"Yeah, It said so in the latest issue of Parents Weekly," the blonde man wearing a sweater-vest concluded, lifting up an issue of said magazine. Ryou winced at the outfit. He leaned over to Tea.

"I didn't look like that when I wore a sweater, did I?"

"Iie, you were much cuter," the brunette responded back. They watched as the family—what else could it be?—shouted at each other in rising fits of anger while more passengers departed as quickly as they could. Except for some familiar faces, and some unfamiliar.

Ryou took a deep breath before walking over to the family and obvious friends.

"Ryou!" the adult red had cried before the whitenette found himself wrapped in her arms while she squeezed the life out of him for a moment.

"M-Maddie-san! C-Can't breathe!" Ryou stammered in English, his British accent attracting the quarrelling family's attention. Maddie let go.

"Sorry, Ryou," she apologized. The youngest unfamiliar face walked up to him. Tucker, if memory served.

"Hi, I'm Tucker Foley," the boy introduced, holding out his hand to shake.

"Ryou Bakura," Ryou answered, shaking the boy's hand. Tucker turned to Tea.

"Hel-lo pretty lady!" he whistled, reaching for her hands. Tea looked disgusted.

"Not on your life!" she said, her voice heavily accented, slapping his hand away from hers. Joey stood next to her, his eyes daring the boy to try something like that again. Tucker, catching the hint, hid behind Maddie.

"Gomenasai, Tea, I didn't know that he was like that," Ryou apologized, hoping that Tucker's display didn't affect what they thought of Danny or his family. The angry girl from before moved to stand next to Danny, who Ryou just noticed.

"Eh, daijoubou. Got it all the time when I started middle school," Tea said. Ryou smiled. His eyes flashed red for a moment before turning to the new girl.

"Since that is Tucker," Bakura said, "that makes you Sam! Am I right?" Sam nodded, albeit reluctantly. The ancient spirit threw his arm around her shoulders and his other arm found Tucker. "I have a feeling we're going to be good friends!" He kept his light's voice and tone, so he wouldn't be found out if the Fenton's were as observant as he was told. Marik walked over and pulled Bakura away from the two teens.

"What is it?" Bakura hissed at the Egyptian.

"You're being friendly, you're hanging out with the Pharaoh's friends—without the Pharaoh—and Kaiba's here, what in Ra's name is going on here?" he hissed back, making sure no one could hear them. Bakura heard Tea introduce herself to the Fentons.

"Look, Marik, right now I'm...befriending the fanclub because as long as I am, then they aren't hanging around the Pharaoh's mini-me. Yugi's stopped talking to His Royal Pain, and If I play my cards right, I'll get the Millennium Puzzle without a fight," Bakura explained. "All that and... They're helping me keep the body alive." Yeah, Marik would so totally understand his reasoning. By keeping Ryou alive, Bakura can interact with the outside world.

Marik nodded.

"By the way, Yadonushi wants you to apologize for his arm. He'll duel you if he has to," Bakura explained. Marik groaned.

"Fine. He'll get a duel. But I'm not apologizing." They turned to listen to the 'party going on behind them.

"My name is Joey Wheeler and... and I forgot the rest," Joey said sheepishly. Tea bopped him over the head while Kaiba shook his head, muttering about how 'astounding it is that they could teach a dog that much'. Of course Joey got mad, but I digress. A swarmy businessman walked up to Bakura.

"I am Vlad Masters, and I have heard so much about you, Mr. Bakura," the strange man said, holding out his hand. Bakura didn't need the Ring to notice that something was wrong with this guy. Bakura held up a hand in greeting—something he'd seen Ryou do many times—not wanting to touch this guy, before opening his mouth.

"I somehow doubt that, Masters-san. And just Bakura, if you don't mind," the whitenette answered. The old man's smile faltered at missing the chance of shaking hands, but the smile came back strong.

"Well then, 'Just Bakura', why don't we stop beating around the bush and tell me who you are? I'm quite interested in magic, you see, but your friend here wouldn't tell me anything about it," Vlad explained. Bakura shot a glance at Marik, who mouthed 'power'. Bakura nodded minutely.

"I am truly, very sorry, Masters-san, but this power cannot be used by just anyone. It can destroy everything if you were to try to attempt it. So just give up," the boy answered before moving past him to talk to Danny. Marik walked with him, sticking out his tongue as he passed the entrepreneur.

The whitenette and the blond stopped short of their goal, though.

"Why didn't you TELL me your friend knew THE Seto Kaiba!" Tucker was pleading excitedly. Said CEO, however was 'not' hiding behind Joey, who was looking pretty scared, but also frustrated. Danny looked very embarrassed. Tucker went off on a tangent about all the different technological advances that Kaiba alone had spurred, even about some things that Bakura hadn't even been aware of. Kaiba said that all of that information was only on his computer, with four passwords on it and had even asked if the kid had hacked into his computer—to which Danny had answered about the possibility being most likely—and Kaiba vowed to change the password.

"Alrigh', let's go!" Joey announced cheerfully, forgetting that half of the people he was hanging with couldn't understand him. He started walking back towards the limo. Kaiba sighed while Mokuba ran to catch up to the blond boy.

Sam had started another argument with her family, by the way. That held them up for a few minutes before Mr. and Mrs. Manson called their own limo and left.

The ride was a peaceful one—Joey and Ryou on either side of Kaiba and Mokuba to keep away from the hyper-active teen with the technology addiction. Marik and Ryou had already promised to show him up close and personal the Duel Disks, but Tucker just kept trying to talk to them.

While Ryou and Marik talked about the duel—i.e., where it will be held, what's at stake (For Marik, he had to swallow his pride and apologize, but for Ryou he had to hand over the Millennium Ring)—Tucker was still determined to talk to Kaiba, but said brunette was doing his best to ignore the crazy stalker fanboy. Joey, Mokuba, and Danny were talking, Danny in slightly broken Japanese, while everyone else was listening to Tea. Téa was doing what she did best—she was telling them about the wonders of friendship, in English, of course. Sam and Tucker didn't know a word of Japanese.

Ryou looked out the window as they passed the Kame Game Shop.

/Must be lunch time/ Ryou commented. Yugi was sitting on the front steps, staring at nothing. /Do you think he and the Pharaoh made up?/

//Maybe. Only one way to find out// Bakura answered as he took control.

The limo stopped at the whitenette's request, leaving Bakura to walk over to the game store. Yugi looked at him before looking away.

Then Yugi's amethyst eyes widened as soon as he registered that it was Bakura and not Ryou standing there.

"Ba-Bakura," the boy squeaked. The spirit of the Millennium Ring raised a pale eyebrow. He expected Yami to have taken over as soon as he had been noticed.

"Are you still blocking him?" Yugi didn't answer. Bakura sighed.

//Hmm, do I steal the Puzzle or don't I//

/Bakura! Don't be mean! They're just going through something!/ Ryou yelled as he nearly decided to take the pendent.

//Yes, mother// Bakura answered sarcastically. Sometimes he really hated it that his light had to be so...nice. The semi-psycho (gotta love em!) whitenette thought for a moment. He had stopped for a reason, right? But...what was it? Couldn't have been just to talk to the Pharaoh's brat and not steal anything from him—wait!

"You're coming with me, Shrimpy," Bakura commanded. "You never did see Ryou duel—so now you will. With everyone else." Yugi flinched back as Bakura firmly gripped the thirteen-year-old's arm.

"But--!" he tried vainly to disagree, hoping that Bakura would let go so he could run away. Obviously not talking to Yami had bad consequences.

Bakura smirked as Yugi weakly fought him off. Survival camp would have done the boy good—if there hadn't been any evil spider-people to worry about. Oh well. What's done is done, as they say.

Bakura dragged the spiky-headed boy down the street and set go of his arm as they came to his house.

"Stay here," he ordered as he went inside and grabbed his Duel Disk. The PSP sat on the coffee table, taunting him. Bakura stared at it a moment before leaving.

Not a moment later, he came back and pocketed the system, looking around to make sure no one was around to see his moment of weakness.

"Just until I finish the game," he muttered as he walked out, whistling as he strapped his disk to his arm. He made sure the PSP was still in his pocket as he used the Ring to find Marik and where the Fentons were staying with Yugi in tow. Poor thing.

Bakura leaned against a nearby tree as he watched the rather large group and waited for them to notice him. He saw that the adult Mansons were back and arguing with whoever would listen about how their daughter wasn't being a 'very good girl' and stupid stuff like that. Bakura thought she was being a rather loyal friend to travel halfway around the world for her friend. He saw Kaiba and Mokuba off to the side, chatting with Sam and keeping as far away from Tucker as possible without appearing rude—mostly for Mokuba's sake. Kaiba couldn't have honestly cared less—who was fortunately driving Marik up a wall about how the Disks work. Poor Marik was convinced it was magic that worked the tech, not that he was talking. He switched with Ryou as Marik managed to separate himself from Tucker.

Marik walked over and threw his arm over Ryou's shoulders. He noticed Yugi but didn't say anything as the small boy seemed uncomfortable.

"How about we get this Duel going? I wanna hurry up and win your Ring," the Egyptian explained cockily. In English for just about everyone's benefit. Joey could fend for himself. Ryou's eyes narrowed at the boy.

"I'm going to win, Marik. I know how to duel," Ryou said, pulling away from the blond's embrace. He walked a considerable distance away as Marik loaded his own Disk. Danny had grabbed Yugi first chance he got and had gotten the boy to talk to him. Yugi seemed to be a little less nervous about being around them and settled for watching the duel with the others. Joey sat down next to him with Tea behind them.

"Duel!" they called as their Disks activated and they drew.

"I'll go first," Ryou announced as he drew his first card.

Marik: 4000

Ryou: 4000

'Hmm... Headless Knight, Lady of Faith, Pot of Greed, Spirit Message 'N', Spirit Illusion, and Sangan. Which to use... Oh! I know.'

"I play the Magic card Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" He did so. Just Desserts and Gravekeeper's Curse. He picked Gravekeeper's Curse (800/800) and set it facedown on the board. When Marik attacked it, the monster would show Marik why he shouldn't mess with crazy guys with long white hair. Not that he was crazy, of course. Oh how Ryou loved his deck. "Your turn!" Ryou called cheerily.

Marik looked at Ryou with incredulity. He shook his head at the rather immature display the other had given. Ryou was never like this, at least not in the limited time Marik had been around him. He shook it off and drew his card.

"I play Vampiric Leech (500/1200) in attack mode!" He called, placing the effect monster on the disk. Ryou blinked. But it only had 500 attack points... What was he doing? Tucker was speechless, on the other hand.

"Too...much..." and he fainted. Everyone ignored the fallen boy in favor of watching the duel. Yugi glanced at the techno geek, wondering if he was alright, but by the looks of his friends he must do that sort of thing all the time. So he joined the rest of them in watching, curious as to how Ryou dueled.

"Uhh, Marik? Are you sure you want to do that?" Ryou asked as he looked at the creepy worm thing. Most of the spectators were gagging at the insect.

"Of course! I doubt you drew anything good, since you used that magic card. Leech, Attack!" The worm attacked the facedown card, losing the match by 300 points and then Marik watched as his life points dropped another 500. "Wha--? Why did it go down more?"

"The special ability! When Gravekeeper's Curse is flipped face-up, the opponent loses five-hundred points of direct damage," Ryou explained. Marik growled.

"I use my monster's special ability and discard one card to switch battle positions," Marik announced as he pulled a card out of his hand and slid it into the slot not occupied by the deck. He pushed his card so that it was sideways. Ryou shrugged it off and drew his next card.

Ryou: 4000

Marik: 3200

'Okay, I have Gravekeeper's Curse out, but it won't be long before he plays something stronger. I should get rid of his Leech before he has a chance to sacrifice it.' Ryou placed Mirror Wall in his hand and grabbed Headless Knight.

"I summon my Headless Knight(1450/1700)!" Ryou watched as the helmetless armour appeared with unsheathed sword to stand beside his Gravekeeper. A strange chuckle rebounded around, seemingly coming from the torso opening. Shivers ran up many of the spectator's spines—Joey included—while Ryou just stood there, completely at ease with the headless specter.

Marik looked at it and seemed to be disturbed at the fact that the armour was animated and headless—hence the name. Ryou picked up on the disturbance and smiled, unintentionally appearing like his yami.

Deciding not to switch his Gravekeeper's position, he attacked the other boy's monster, destroying it. Marik flinched a little. He didn't honestly believe it when Ryou said he knew how to duel. He'd never seen Ryou so much as touch a card before.

Marik scowled at the smile, knowing that he was just trying to throw him off. He drew his card. He set a card and placed a facedown card in his magic/trap zone. He didn't talk much for that turn. Ryou's smile had turned into a slight frown as he drew his own card. He grabbed Sangan(1000/600) and Mirror Wall.

"I set one card facedown and set one card in defense mode," he said, mimicking his opponent. "Knight?" the monster turned to him. "If you would," he asked, gesturing to the facedown. The Knight readied his sword and ran forward, slicing through the card image. A blob of silver appeared—scattered, mind you—before it reformed. Revival Jam bobbed a little (1500/500). Ryou pouted a little. He always pouted when he was mad. He waved Marik on, who drew his card.

"I summon Makyura the Destructor in Attack mode!" he called as the anther blobby thing arose and took the form of a person (1600/1200). "Hmm... I think I'll have it attack your Gravekeeper! It's creeping me out," Marik admitted. The humanoid slime monster rushed forward and sliced clean through with its claws. Ryou pouted again. Then shrugged. A trap card rose, revealing a Mirror.

"You activated my trap, Marik. Mirror Wall raises my Knight's attack by 800 and lowers your Makyura by half, thanks to your attack. Now our monsters have to battle!" He said as the stats changed accordingly. The monsters lunged at each other, and the slimy humanoid fell into a puddle of goop. Marik scowled. He was getting his butt kicked! By someone who doesn't even duel! And they still had all of their life points left! At this rate, he was going to have to apologize!

Ryou: 4000

Marik: 1750

Ryou inspected his hand. Diabound, Lady of Faith, Spirit Message 'N', Spirit Illusion. Not that bad. Maybe he should throw Lady of Faith out in defense mode. She would be a good block for now. Not to mention, the Mirror Wall he had used was paying off. His Knight was the strongest monster on the field, but with Revival Jam in play, that didn't matter very much.

"I play one card in defense mode. Your turn." Tucker had woken up somewhere around the time the trap was triggered. Upon seeing the Headless Knight in perfect detail, Tucker passed out again, fully believing that it was real and not wanting to meet it.

Marik drew his card and added it to his hand, trying to come up with a strategy quick. All he had on the field was his facedown and his Revival Jam. He had a feeling his jam monster wouldn't last too much longer. What if Ryou had a card that would destroy it? He picked up a card.

"I summon Boganian in attack mode (1300/1000)," he said. A floating eye with arms and a crossbow. Ryou looked at it, before realizing what was going on. The facedown must be some way of protecting his monster. "Boganian takes away 600 of your life points for every one of my standby phases!" The eye bobbed up and down a bit, looking at the Knight. "But I'm going to use it to attack... whatever that is!" Marik announced, pointing at the facedown Sangan. The fiend appeared before the eye shot it with its crossbow, destroying it.

"That was too easy, Bakura! Don't you have anything stronger?" Marik taunted, purposely calling Ryou Bakura to not confuse the audience. He had said 'Bakura' on the phone that one time he had talked to 'him', so they would be a little confused if he had started calling him Yadonushi when he was around. After all, most people did call him Bakura. Only Yugi called him Ryou if Marik remembered right.

"Don't worry, you're about to meet one! Sangan's special effect is that I can take a monster with 1500 attack points or less from my deck and add it to my hand," Ryou explained happily as he took Gravekeeper's Guard from the deck. He showed it to Marik.

He shuffled his deck easily as Marik fumed silently. He had walked straight into that trap! How did he not see something like this coming? Why hadn't he taken the chance to look at Bakura's deck when they'd met? It would have helped a heap right now!

"Take your turn," Marik ordered as Ryou replaced his cards. Ryou smiled.

"'Kay!" He drew his card, ignoring the confused and worried looks he was receiving from the crowd. None of them had really seen him duel before. It was all tactics. While Bakura was super scary, Ryou was actually pretty childish. It really knocked people off their high horses when they think they're playing against someone who doesn't seem to be 'all there'. They generally lose their strategy, making it so much easier to crush them. Not to mention, the cards he uses are completely contradictory to his 'personality', confusing his opponents further.

Ryou looked at his cards, whistling the Final Fantasy victory tune as he chose the magic card he had just drawn.

"What the heck are you doing?" Marik was completely out of the loop. Ryou just smiled at his opponent. It wasn't Marik's fault his home lacked the essentials that was video games.

"I play the magic card Raigeki! That means that your monsters are destroyed!" the whitenette announced cheerfully. As the green card image rose, lightning rained from the heavens, decimating Marik's monsters. Marik's tanned face paled a little. "Next I'll sacrifice my facedown Lady of Faith to summon Diabound Cornel!" A large pure white half man half snake creature appeared at Ryou's proclamation. Ryou dropped the childish act for a bored one. "I really thought you would be a tougher opponent—Yugi said you were, anyways." Marik scowled at the insult, shooting a glance at the short boy seated in the small group.

Wait, insult? Yadonushi didn't insult people! If he was dueling Bakura then this duel didn't count! But there was no way he could call the boy out on it.

Ryou's face perked up again.

"But no matter. I'll use my Diabound to win now! Helical Shock Wave, please!" Ryou ordered. The man/snake creature stretched its snake tail and fired a beam of light at Marik, who hurriedly pushed a button on his disk. Silver strings shot out around him, forming into a large silver blob that absorbed the attack and Ryou watched as his life points dropped by 1200 points, leaving him with only 2800. He looked at the other side of the field, surprised to find a giant blob that resembled a spiked club (0/3000). Ryou pouted again. Underneath the blob was a pink card, indicating that it was a trap card.

"I guess that my Metal Reflect Slime had something to say about that," Marik answered. "This is a trap card that can be used as a defense monster! The downside is that it isn't treated as a monster, so I can't tribute it or attack with it. Not that I would anyway, but still."

Ryou glared at the blond, still pouting. Bakura wasn't a very happy camper. If thoughts alone could kill, there'd be nothing left of Marik. He was about to win, darnit!

"I'll still win," Ryou vowed. "Your turn."

"Suuure you will, Bakura, sure you will," Marik answered as he drew a card. He frowned at it. Not the card he needed to actually win the duel. He pursed his lips as he set a monster. "Go."

Ryou drew.

Ryou: 2800

Marik: 1700

This had to be Ryou's lucky day. He had drawn Mystical Space Typhoon. Since the silver blob on Marik's side of the field still counted as a trap card, this would work. Then he could use his Knight and Diabound to attack. That facedown monster shouldn't cause too much trouble. If it does, having two Diabounds would be beneficial, right? Well, that's what Ryou was going to try.

"First, I want to say 'goodbye' to your defense, and this card should work," Ryou announced as he slid the newly acquired magic card into its slot. Marik's jaw hit the ground at Ryou's luck.

"You're cheating! You have to be!" Marik cried out as the whirlwind took his best defense away. Ryou held up a finger and tsked while wagging his finger.

"Now, now, you should know that I don't like that. Cheating leads to losing your soul and sometimes dying! I'm playing by the rules," Ryou said, sounding just a tad bit like Bakura. If only in vocab. He knew that he was probably really confusing people by his personality switching. Which was a good thing. They would have to get used to it if they were to hang around him on a daily basis. Maybe he should warn them about a "roommate" he had... Nah. Not yet. It probably wouldn't be a good thing. It might be better if they never 'meet' Bakura in the actual sense of the word.

Only three people from the American group knew that cheating could cause catastrophes—they just didn't know what context Ryou was using. It wasn't like Ryou knew that Danny had very nearly cheated on a test that would ruin his whole future, right?

Well, Danny had NOT told him that story. And it was to be left alone to rot in the back of their minds.

"You can't possibly have drawn that legally! There's no way you could have!" Marik continued ranting. He went on about various cheating methods he'd probably seen in movies or something as Ryou slid his Spirit Illusion into a slot, having discarded his Mystical Space Typhoon. A facedown card appeared on the field in the same spot that his trap was inserted in while Marik yelled his head off, now cursing in Arabic and Hieratic. Ryou was a little surprised that he could understand most of it. Maybe it came with having a yami that said most of the same things?

"Marik," Ryou tried to catch the blonde's attention. "MARIK!" Amethyst eyes turned to him, surprised. "Now that I have your attention, I think it'll be fair now that I'm using my Diabound to attack your facedown," he ordered easily.

Unfortunately it was another Revival Jam. Bakura swore loudly in his soulroom. Ryou rubbed the side of his head as the noise assaulted his 'ears'.

/Bakura! Please stop, it's not helping!/ He heard Bakura growl before the link was silenced so that the thief could swear in peace.

Outwardly, Ryou was panicking. He didn't have much chance to draw anything else in his deck that would destroy it. He looked at his hand. He bit his lip as he waved Marik on.

Maddie watched Ryou closely. She thought it was odd that Ryou would take on such a childish approach to this, when in the video she saw of him, he was acting completely opposite. She looked for anything that would say that he was being possessed as Jack had suggested. So far nothing too out of the ordinary. Though she did see him rub his head when the strange sliver goopy thing appeared.

Tucker was still out cold. For another few moments, at least.

Marik smirked as he looked at his hand. But his eyebrow twitched. He had a monster he could summon, but it was useless against Ryou's.

"I set one monster. Take your turn now."

Ryou nodded and drew. He had seen Marik's reaction to his cards and knew that whatever it was that he had set wasn't doing him any good. 'Dian Keto hmm? I'll use it then!' Ryou slid the magic card into a slot.

"I play Dian Keto the Cure Master which allows me to gain a thousand life points," the whitenette said, relaxing as the warm feeling from the magic washed over him.

Marik gritted his teeth. He was losing and he knew it.

"I'll use my Knight to attack your facedown. Attack!" The Headless Knight rushed forward and swung its sword, piercing the card, and revealing a second Makyura the Destructor. It squirmed in pain before shattering. Marik swore viciously in his head. He pulled the card free from his deck violently as he started his turn. He glared at it like it was the cause of his imminent defeat.

"Grr. I don't have anything." Ryou looked a little sad at this as he drew. He smiled widely. Lady Luck must love him today!

"Perfect! I summon Death Calibre Knight in attack mode (1900/1800)!" a horseman galloped from somewhere behind the whitenette, the horseman pulling on the reins in front of him, choosing to stand next to the Headless Knight, who bowed respectfully. The horseman gave a nod in acknowledgement.

Tucker had woken up again and was again mesmerized by the realness of the holograms. He watched the exchange between the Knights and forgot that they were holograms again.

"They're so real," he gasped. He was ignored, naturally. Yugi shot Danny a 'is he okay' look. Danny nodded back.

"Great," Marik muttered. Ryou flashed a smile.

"Yup, Death Calibre, please attack his Revival Jam!" Ryou ordered. The new Knight galloped over to the annoying blob and slashed through.

"What are you doing?" Marik asked. "Have you forgotten Revival Jam's ability? It doesn't matter how much you attack it, it'll keep coming back!" As he spoke, the blob was about to reform. Marik was stunned, however, when a sword shot through the card image and the goop before his monster was destroyed. He looked up and noticed the Horseman was missing.

"You were saying? I'm sorry, but Death Calibre Knight doesn't like repeaters that much, you see, and the thought of having to fight that thing again made him mad," Ryou said sweetly. Marik gulped as he looked at the two remaining attacking monsters. Ryou smiled. "Hmm, which to choose... I know, Diabound? Would you end the duel please?" the snake man seemed all for it. Marik didn't have anything on the field to protect him. The snake fired his shot of death at Marik.

The blond Egyptian screamed as the lightning type attack hit home. When the smoke cleared, Marik was laying on the ground, dazed. Before anyone could walk over to help him up, he was standing up swearing loudly in every language he knew.

"Marik! Will you please stop?" Ryou pleaded while holding his ears. He checked to see if they were bleeding. They weren't. Yet.

Marik continued his tirade, stooping to name-calling. Ryou made sure he remembered the whole duel and made to walk away, still holding his ears. The blond grabbed Ryou's arm harshly, not caring that Ryou had sensitive skin. Or that it was the arm that had been stabbed not four/five months prior. He gave a soft cry of pain, trying to stifle it by biting his lips. The phantom wound stung badly.

"You cheated, I know you did!" Marik countered. Ryou looked back with his bloody-brown eyes. Both he and his yami were feeling the exact same thing—if only Ryou's was lighter.

"No I didn't. I played strictly by the rules." Amethyst eyes narrowed.

"I'm not upholding my end when you don't play fair!" Marik seethed. Ryou sighed. He managed to somehow pry his arm free. Marik opened his mouth again until he noticed something was wrong.

Ryou was walking away, slightly proud of himself. Marik noticed this, but it wasn't Ryou's sudden pride that was wrong. He moved his hand to his belt where the Millennium Rod hung. If it had been there, that is.

"Wha--?" he said, looking around him to see if he had dropped it. He spun around once before catching sight of a flash of gold in Ryou's hands. "Damn you Bakura!" Ryou's eyes looked innocent.

"What is it, Marik?" The Rod was hidden behind his back. The Egyptian held out his hand. The onlookers that understood what they were saying didn't understand what was going on. What could Ryou—innocent little Ryou—have done?

"Give it back, Thief." The whitenette tilted his head.

"I think you have me confused," Ryou answered. Joey held back a smirk, understanding what Ryou meant. 'Confused with Bakura' was what Ryou wanted to say. Of course he couldn't say that while the Fenton's were around.

"Grr, Bakura... I'm warning you," Marik growled. "You have until I count to three to give my Rod back." Ryou blinked. His eyes flashed crimson for a moment, though of course no one noticed. He shook his head with a smirk. One that Maddie thought looked very out of place on Ryou's sweet face.

When Ryou showed no movement to hand over what was rightfully Marik's, the blond growled again.

"Three!" He called before throwing himself at the shorter teen. Ryou's eyes widened as the blond came close enough to take off his head. Bakura ducked and stepped out of the way as Marik narrowly missed him. Marik just barely caught himself, saving himself from falling on his face before he turned and tried again.

Bakura held out the Millennium Rod, using the Ring to tap into the Rod's power. The eye glowed on the head of the staff and Marik's eyes blanked.

Bakura switched back with Ryou for what he won.

"I think you have something to tell me, Marik?" The more people that understood what he was saying, the more embarrassing it would be for the blond Egyptian. He pulled back the Rod a little, and followed Bakura's instructions on how to use the Item. Marik bent down to his knees and apologized, Ryou making him use just his voice. No double timber. Which was very good.

Satisfied with the apology, Ryou released Marik from the Rod's influence, showing just how mad the blond was with being used by his own Item.

"Damn you!" Marik swore in Egyptian. Ryou giggled.

"People say that a lot to me," Ryou replied happily. In Japanese. It made him strangely happy to see Marik so riled up. Maybe Bakura was finally rubbing off on him?

Marik stood up and reached for the Rod, to which Ryou reacted by holding the Item away from the blond while keeping one hand on Marik's chest. Yugi ran up to try to keep the peace between the two Item holders.

Marik ignored Yugi and pushed Ryou down and pinned him to the ground, trying to reach his Rod. The whitenette stretched his arm to keep it away. Ryou managed to roll over so he didn't risk breaking the PSP and pushed the Rod out of Marik's reach. Yugi sighed at the immature show. Ryou never seemed to be the type to act like this!

The rest of the group watched as the tiny thirteen-year-old tried to get the two fifteen year olds to act their age.

It wasn't going too well, so Danny decided that he was bored enough to help.

He easily picked up the Millennium Rod and caught the two Item holders' attention.

"Give that back!" Marik yelled as he abandoned Ryou and leapt at Danny. Danny tossed the Rod at Yugi who stumbled as he caught it. He fell on his back as Marik tried to strangle the raven haired halfa.

"H-Hey!" Danny choked out as he tried to pry the blond's hands off. Yugi ran over with Joey and Tristan to help. Though all Yugi could do was yell at them to stop fighting.

While the stronger boys were preoccupied with saving Danny, Ryou stood up and brushed himself off before making sure his PSP hadn't been damaged in the scuffle. Luckily it hadn't—Marik would be mummified alive if it had. Bakura was very scary like that.

Yugi handed Marik back his Item to make him let Danny go while Joey and Tristan protected Yugi from whatever Marik might do to him.

And there it goes.

I hope I didn't (coughdidcough) scar anyone too badly with Ryou's sweetly sadistic moment! It was fun to write and funny to watch! (my head is a television. With voice activated remote. Yeah, loony bin here I come! Lol.)

It'll be a while before the next chapter. I wanna write some on my other stories before setting myself on this one. I am a horrible procrastinator when something doesn't work out right, and trust my life to NOT work out right. Not only am I hopelessly addicted to yet another anime with explody-stuff and giant robots but I'm gonna write stuff about that too! AND I'm moving again!

Oh well. I guess somethings can't be helped. Review please!

Bakura: *Is making double sure his PSP is alright*