Hey everyone…

Hey everyone…. after much hustling about participating in the stage crew of my school's musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie,I finally have some hours to myself…. so here's the next chapter of this loony story!

Chapter 12

Yugi looked down at the ballot on his desk in disbelief. He picked up his pencil and began tapping his desk quietly when Yami spoke up.

/"What is it, partner?" /

"I don't know who to pick, Pharaoh. I was nominated, but I'm not sure if it's ok to vote for myself? I'm not even sure if I want to be a dance king!

/"Well…you can vote for one of your friends…Duke Devlin, perhaps. Or, you can go down a darker path and make Kaiba hate you forever by choosing him. / Yami chuckled to himself in the mind link.

Yugi quickly scribbled a circle around two of the names as their teacher collected the ballots.

When the bell rang, he met up with the gang in the hallway.

"Who'd ya vote for, Yug'?" Joey asked.

"I shouldn't tell. It's a secret." Yugi said. "Besides, the people I voted for will probably win anyway."

"Did you vote for me?" Clover asked. I need as many votes as possible to ensure I become the queen!

"Like I said, it's a secret." Yugi smiled. "I'll let you guys know after the dance, ok?"

"Did you hear something?" Sam asked.

"No. Why?" Joey asked.

"I thought I heard something coming from this locker." Sam said, pointing to one of the nearby lockers. Yugi and Joey walked over to the locker in question. Joey knocked on the door.

"Um, Joey? What are you doing?" Yugi asked. "There's no one on the other side."

"Wheeler, what are you doing at my locker?" said an all too familiar voice. Joey turned slowly to see Seto Kaiba glaring at him.

"Eh…. nothing!" Joey grinned suspiciously.

"Then why were you knocking on it? Do you suspect there's a little man in there or something? Honesty, you mutt: Get a life."

"He-y, Seto!" said an annoying voice.

"Mandy, what are you doing here?" Clover asked, disappointed at her rival's appearance.

"Pulease, clover! You're not the only girl allowed to talk to a hunk!" Mandy hissed.

Oh boy…Kaiba sighed. Mandy pushed clover out of the way to stand closer to Seto.

"Sooo, Seto! Are you busy later today?" Mandy asked, playing with her hair and leaning closer to the millionaire in a flirtatious way.

"Yes."

"What about tomorrow?"

"Your pathetic attempts to flirt with me aren't going to work."

"Huh?" Mandy asked, blinking innocently.

"Beat it, Mandy! He obviously doesn't like you!" Clover hissed in her ear, pushing her nemesis away down the hallway. Sam turned her head towards the CEO's locker once again.

"Guys, I heard it again." Sam said. "It's a whistling noise."

"You dweebs are up to something." Kaiba said as he dialed the combination. As soon as he opened the locker door, a mysterious but all too familiar wind suction sucked the group into the locker."

"Aw man! Not again!!" Alex yelped.

The gang landed themselves (mostly) on the familiar couch and floor of Jerry's office.

"Welcome back, spies." Jerry smiled.

"Hey, Jerry." Sam said. Did you find out anything about our mysterious thief?"

"As a matter in fact, I did!" Jerry said. "Come. I have some information that would prove most interesting to you!" He turned his computer screen so the spies could see.

"Our mysterious man has struck again! He apparently has gotten away with another component of the TIME device, along with one of the scientists. This time, witnesses saw him ride away on a horse."

"A horse?" Yugi asked.

"Yes. That's what strikes the situation odd." Jerry explained. "He leaves the research bases on a horse, then minutes later, he disappears. No one can explain this phenomenon."

"So, where's our next stop?" Alex asked.

"There's a science research base with the final piece of this TIME device. It's located in the West Coast." Jerry said. And now, since you have your gadgets from before, goodbye spies, and good luck!"

"This appears to be the site of the weird person's whereabouts." Clover said, looking at a map that Jerry gave them.

Yugi pulled out his scanner watch and moved it up and down the side of the building. "Guys, there's a person in there." Yugi said.

"Then lets bust in and kick some bad-dude butt!" Joey cheered. He kicked a door in and ran inside.

"Joey, wait! He could be dangerous!!" Sam shouted as she ran inside after him. The others slowly followed.

Where'd he go?" Sam asked as the others ran toward her.

"Where'd who go?" asked a voice.

"MANDY??" Clover freaked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure." Mandy said, glaring at her nemesis. " I was walking back toward you losers when I got sucked into a locker, then crushed under all of you, dumped into an open floor and ejected from a plane right to here! I bet this is your entire fault, Clover! You're trying to get rid of me!! NOW TELL ME WHATS GOING ON OR I'LL SCREAM!!"

"Um…" Yugi said, looking at everyone. " Group meeting!" Everyone except Mandy and Kaiba huddled together.

"Should we tell?" Yugi asked.

"If we give away that we're spies, we'll never hear the end of it back at home." Sam whispered.

"Not to mention, the operation could be ruined!" Clover whined. "We can't tell. Lets make something up."

"Like what?" Yugi asked. "I'm the world's worst lier!"

"Alex can do it." Clover whispered."

"What? Me??" Alex asked. "Why me?"

"You did it last time when there were brain changing aliens against us on one of our past missions."

Alex sighed. "Oh, that."

"WHAT?" Mandy laughed. "You guys are spies? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Everyone looked at Seto Kaiba.

"What?!" He demanded.

"Who told you that, Mandy?" Sam asked.
"You guys talk too loud." Mandy laughed. "So what's this big mission? Did Clover loose her make-up? Hahahahahaha!"

"This is serious, Mandy." Clover said.

"Do you really want to know, Mandy?" Alex asked.

"Yeah."

"We're on…a…um…a scavenger hunt!" Clover grinned.

"Yeah!" Alex nodded in agreement.

"I don't believe you."

"Well, we were looking for Joey." Yugi said. "That's kind of like a scavenger hunt, right guys?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"Most definitely."

"Whatever."

"…Gee, Kaiba! Show some enthusiasm…" Alex sighed.

"I say, in order to find Joey and our key objective, we should split up." Yugi said.

"Excellent idea!!" Clover agreed.

"I'm with Seto!" Clover and Mandy said at the same time.

"Oh great." Kaiba muttered.

"He's Mine!"

"NO, MINE!!"

"SHUT UP, MANDY!"

"YOU, YOU BOY CHASER!

"JEZEBEL!"

"FREAK!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"

"Thanks, Kaiba" Alex sighed. "I was beginning to get a headache."

"Look: there's 6 of us, right? We'll either go in teams of three or three teams of two. You choose." Sam said, slightly annoyed by Clover and Mandy's constant bickering.

"I can agree to that." Mandy said, pulling Clover off of her.

"I'll go with Seto!!" Clover squealed as fast as she could.

"NO! ME!"

Kaiba watched the two love struck teenagers in disbelief.

"Why don't we go in teams of three…then you both can go with him?" Yugi asked, trying not to burst out laughing in fear of Kaiba's soon-to-be wrath.

Clover and Mandy looked at each other, then back at their crush. Shaking hands for a very, VERY temporary peaceful agreement, they stood beside Seto.

"Ok, that leaves Alex and Yugi with me." Sam said. "If you find something, contact us right away."

"Right." Clover said as the teams split up.

"Have you noticed something about this place?" Kaiba asked.

"Like what?" Mandy asked. "The fact that we're all alone…well almost" she looked at Clover with a look stating 'get away from me and this hot dude you blonde freak!'

"…NO." Kaiba sighed. "I mean the building."

"EEEEK! A Spider!" Clover shrieked. "…. But now that you mention it…. this place does seem a bit familiar."

"How would you know, Clover?" Mandy sneered. "Have you been here before?"

"I don't know." Clover said. "Lets just find Joey and our objective and get out of here and back to school."

"Wait! I saw something." Kaiba said, putting his hand out to stop the girls. He pointed to a moving shadow around a nearby corner. Moving quietly with the girls behind him, they quickly rounded the corner. As soon as Mandy opened her mouth to protest something to Clover, the three teens were face to face with the cloaked stranger. The next thing they knew, they saw a blinding light, and then everything went dark…

"Sam, I think we're getting absolutely nowhere." Yugi said.

"Yeah. We've been wandering these winding halls for the last 15 minutes." Alex said. "We should contact Clover and see if they found anything."

"Agreed." Sam said. She pulled out her compowder from her backpack. "Clover? Clover…are you there?"

"Clover? Are you alive?" Alex asked. "Did Mandy kill your eternal soul??"

"Alex…" Sam sighed. She was about to tell off her simple minded friend when she heard strange footsteps coming towards the trio.
"Do you hear something?" she asked.

"Sounds like…" Yugi thought. "Sounds like a horse!"

"Why would a horse be in a science research lab?" Alex asked.

"I bet the horse belongs to the mysterious person!" Yugi said. "Lets see where its coming from."

Yugi and the girls sneaked towards the open hallway when they saw a blinding light, and then everything went dark…

TO BE CONTINUED….