HAH! The line thingy works again! YESS!
...My E-mail is still malfunctioning, so I'm going to attempt manually checking my stories for updates. Which may take a while...(dies)
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Revelation on the Ranch

"Ryou, where the heck are we going?"

Ryou just smiled, turning down yet another dirt road. "You'll see when we get there."

I sighed, and looked behind us. Kaiba's van was close behind Ryou's, just like it had been since we started out. Terra, Mokuba, Malik, Marik, Jonouchi, Erica, and Duke were with him; Mikey, Sam, Bakura, Anzu, Yuugi, Sonja, Damien, Yami, and I were with Ryou in his van.

It had been a few days since the DDR incident, and I was still stuck on how to convince Anzu that I wasn't here solely to ruin her life. I mean, I still had no idea why I was here at all…

Mikey, who was riding shotgun, touched Ryou's wrist. "Seriously, Ryou, where are you taking us?"

Ryou just grinned at her. "You'll see in a few—oh! Here we are!"

He turned right, and drove under a wrought-iron arch. The road wound up and around a small hill, on which a small grove of trees grew. Passing through the trees, Ryou pulled up beside a long, low house and stopped. "All right, then! Everybody out!"

All ten of us tumbled out of Ryou's van. The remaining eight joined us from Kaiba's. Ryou led us around the house to a wide, open field. There was a fenced-in enclosure with obstacles, and a huge stable near it—but the rest of the field was pretty much open to the wild.

As we watched, a brown horse came streaking across the field. Standing on its back was a girl of about my age. Her dark blond hair streamed out behind her like a banner. Her feet were bare; she balanced perfectly on the back of her horse.

"Becca!"

We turned. A girl who looked more Sonja's age was waving frantically from the door of the stable. She looked almost exactly like the girl on the horse, but for the fact that her hair and eyes were lighter. They must've been related.

She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Stop messing around and get your butt over here!"

The horse slowed from a gallop to a canter as it approached the stable, and then from a canter to a walk. Becca jumped down, and stuck her tongue out at the older girl, blue eyes glinting. "C'mon, Keely, you're just jealous because you're too much of a klutz to pull that off!"

"Am not!" Keely retorted.

"Are too," Becca muttered.

Ryou coughed politely. Keely looked up—and grinned sheepishly. "Ack! Ryou! Hi! Sorry to make you wait. We were kinda busy…"

"Yeah, busy yelling at me," Becca muttered. Keely elbowed her.

Ryou smiled. "That's all right." He looked over his shoulder. "Guys, meet Keely and Becca Hyer. They've been here for about six years. I found them setting this ranch up one day while I was taking a hike."

"We love horses," Becca said with a grin. "Cousin Keely here is obsessed with them."

"You're not much better!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Can we please get on with this discussion?" Everyone deathglared him.

As Ryou introduced us all, I noticed Keely giving me an odd look. She was looking at the others of us from the real world, too. It made me kind of uncomfortable…and the thing was, I could've sworn I'd heard those names before…

Becca grinned, and poked Keely's shoulder. "Ryou hasn't met our newest helpers yet!"

Keely snapped her fingers. "True!" She looked at Ryou. "You haven't come to visit for, like, four years—you missed the arrival of our newest helpers." She beckoned them to the stables. "Come on!"

We followed the two girls into the stable. The sweet smell of straw filled the entire place. Every stall had a different horse. Up in the hay loft, we could see movement.

Becca cupped her hands around her mouth. "Kaetlyn! Alli!"

I started a little. To my surprise, so did Erica.

There was a flurry of movement, and two more girls scrambled down the ladder. One was about Sam's age and height, with dark red-brown hair and deep brown eyes. The other had much lighter brown hair and eyes, and was about Keely's age. Images jumped into my mind. No way…but they're…!

Meanwhile, Becca was introducing them. "This is Kaetlyn Schlussler and Allie Ross. They sort of…appeared out of nowhere." All four girls sniggered, as if this was some private joke. Ryou raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Keely clapped her hands together. "So, since you're all here—who wants to ride some horses?"

Marik jumped up and down. "Ooh! Ooh! I love horses!"

Keely grinned. "Good! Pick one, and we'll help you out!"

Very few of us needed help. Unfortunately, I was one of those few. I'd chosen a silvery mare named, oddly enough, Kuroi, which is Japanese for black. She was a very patient horse, which was a good thing, seeing as how I couldn't even mount properly.

"Need some help, Miriku?"

I grinned sheepishly at Becca. "Yes, thanks."

She helped me up onto Kuroi's back—and then gave me an odd look. "We need to talk to you and your friends. Go to the far corner of the field, once you're done having fun." With that, she turned and left.

I raised an eyebrow. Why would Keely need to talk to us so badly?

Following Becca's earlier instructions, I urged Kuroi into a trot. From behind me, I could hear Kaetlyn and Allie chattering away. Once again, I wondered just who they were. And if they were who I thought they were…then how did they get here…?

I banished the thought from my mind, and urged Kuroi a little faster. We just trotted around for about fifteen minutes, as I got used to being on horseback. And then, feeling a little braver, we sped up.

I looked around. Duke was off at one corner of the field, practicing some odd tricks on his horse. Erica was riding around in long circles—but I noticed she kept close to Duke's corner. Her horse was beginning to look slightly uncomfortable… Malik and Marik were at another corner, doing all sorts of choreography, speeding up and slowing down, racing in circles and odd twists. It made my eyes hurt to watch them. Almost everyone else had lined up at one end of the field, preparing for what looked like a race.

Yami drew up beside me on a white stallion. He flashed a grin at me, and his horse broke into a full-out gallop. I did the same, leaning forward so as to provide less resistance. We raced neck-and-neck around the edge of the field, laughing.

There was a sudden scream from across the field. Every head turned.

Erica's horse was acting up. It kept rearing and bucking, neighing wildly—she was holding on for dear life, screaming at the top of her lungs. Immediately, Becca and Keely sped towards her on their grey mares. But they were all the way on the other side of the field…

A black stallion also shot towards Erica and the rearing horse. The stallion was going almost twice as fast; it quickly overtook the girls. Duke lay practically flat astride its back, focused intently on Erica.

Erica's horse reared insanely high. Erica grappled at the saddle—slid off backwards—

—and was snatched out of the air by Duke as he zipped past. He hauled her into the saddle, as his horse galloped away from her still-bucking mare. She gripped his waist tightly, still screaming, as if she hadn't yet realized she was out of harm's way.

It wasn't until Duke's stallion slowed to a halt that she dared to open her eyes. We all crowded around, and there was a huge clamor of voices as everyone asked if she was all right.

"I think so," was her shaky reply. "I just don't think I'll be riding a horse any time soon…"

Becca, Keely, Allie, and Kaetlyn led the now calm-ish mare towards them. Keely's expression was murderous, and Becca was holding something carefully in the palm of her hand.

"Which one of you idiots put a burr under the saddle!" Keely yelled. Her burning eyes moved over all of us, and finally settled on—Bakura.

Of course.

The tomb robber was edging away. "Uh—I—it wasn't supposed to be hers!" he finally burst out, flinging his hands up in the air. "That was supposed to be in the bloody pharaoh's saddle!"

"What a comforting thought," Yami muttered. I elbowed him.

Keely grabbed his shirt collar. "Apparently, you don't realize how dangerous that is! Erica could have been killed!"

Allie and Kaetlyn grabbed her arms. "Easy there, Keely!" Kaetlyn exclaimed. "You don't have to kill the poor dude!"

"Although he deserves it," Duke muttered darkly. He put an arm around the still-trembling Erica's shoulders. "Are you sure you're going to be all right?" he asked softly.

Erica smiled a little. "I'm sure…"

Becca elbowed Keely, who nodded a little. "Sonja, Damien, Miriku, Mikey, Terra, Sam, Marik, Erica…come with us." She looked at the anime people. "You guys can go ahead and keep riding. We need to talk to them." She started off towards the barn; Becca, Kaetlyn, and Allie close behind.

I raised my eyebrows at Terra. We followed the four girls.

In a matter of moments, we were all gathered in a circle. "So, what did you want?" Terra asked curiously.

Becca's expression was serious. "None of you are from this dimension, are you?" It was more of a statement that a question.

Keely held up a hand. "Before anyone says anything. Becca and I—we're also from your dimension."

Damien stared at them. He slowly shook his head. "That makes absolutely no sense."

"Actually, it kinda does," Terra said quietly.

I glanced at her. "Well, could you explain, please?"

Terra turned to face me. "I remember my parents talking about it. It happened six or seven years ago. A pair of cousins disappeared from a horse ranch, completely without a trace. Their windows were wide open, and there was a sword embedded in each bed. But there was no blood, or anything. They caught the man—he swore up and down that he'd killed them. But they were gone. Their names…were Becca and Keely Hyer."

Keely nodded. "Looks like your friend figured it out."

I blinked. "Then, what about—"

"My cousin and I got hit by a truck," Allie said quietly. "We woke up in the middle of the field with Keely and Becca standing over us."

Erica grinned a little. She looked like she was about to cry. "It's been so long…you probably don't even recognize me…"

Kaetlyn laughed. "How could we not recognize our own cousin?"

I stared between all three of them. "You've got to be kidding me. Erica's you're cousin? I didn't even know you two had cousins other than each other!"

Allie and Kaetlyn blinked. So did everyone else.

Marik poked my arm. "Your turn to explain, missy."

I grinned, and threw my arms up in the air, speaking in an annoying little-kid voice. "I can touch the ceiling and you ca-an't! I can touch the lights and—whoa! They move!"

Everyone nearly fell over laughing. Except Kaetlyn and Allie. They just stared at me.

I grinned. "Now do you remember me?"

The two girls glanced at each other. "Say something that only Gwen would say," Allie said, suspicion in her voice.

Ignoring the weird looks I got from my friends at the use of another name, I pulled my inhaler out of my pocket and waved it around through the air, laughing maniacally. "IT'S CAFFINE-HIGH YAMI'S INHALER OF ASTHMATIC DOOM!"

Kaetlyn and Allie both collapsed into fits of laughter. Everyone else stared at me.

"Caffeine-high Yami's Inhaler of Asthmatic Doom?" Mikey asked skeptically.

I grinned. "It was some random fic I wrote when I was, like, four. Anzu gives Yami a cup of super-dark coffee, and since he doesn't have the resistance to the caffeine that we Americans, or even the modern-day Japanese, do, he got insanely hyper. And utter chaos ensued."

Bakura grinned evilly. "Heh. I wonder…"

"Don't even think about it," Yami growled.

Kaetlyn jumped around. "It's really you! Jen is back!"

I groaned. "Gwen, not Jen. And actually, it's Miriku now."

Allie blinked. "Your mom actually let you change your name to Miriku?"

"Yeah! It was so friggin' weird…"

Terra groaned. "Okay, now I'm confused…"

I grinned. "All right, let me explain. My original name was Gwen. When I was five, I decided I wanted it changed to Miriku. The only people I told were my two best friends at the time." I gestured at Kaetlyn and Allie. "So, then my family moved to Florida, and I lost their phone numbers and addresses, so we fell out of contact. When I was ten, I decided to tell my parents about the whole name-change thing, and they went through with it. I didn't meet Terra, John, and all of them 'til the next year—sixth grade."

Erica grinned. "So we do have a connection!"

Becca's expression became serious. "Listen—we called you over here for a reason. Think about how the four of us got here."

"You got here 'cause you all died." Sam shrugged. "Why?"

Keely rolled her eyes. "Think. We're dead. They never found out bodies, because we were here."

Damien's eyes widened suddenly. "Are you telling us that we're all dead!" he exclaimed.

Becca nodded grimly. "That's the most likely explanation."

"That would make sense," Mikey whispered. "I was at the Metro Zoo with my parents, and we were right beneath the Monorail…there was this horrible grinding noise, and then I was here…it could have crashed…"

"I was on the Metra line," Erica added, staring off into space. "I thought it was going around that bend a little too fast…"

"We were on a plane going back to the Sunshine State from California," Sonja murmured, looking at Damien.

As the others recounted their horrific tales of death and destruction, my mind drifted backwards. I didn't have any accident that could've happened…

Marik poked my arm. "Well, Miri? What about you?"

I sighed. "I was sitting in the park, staring off into space."

Everyone blinked. "That's…not even close to what I expected to hear," Damien muttered.

I shrugged. "Well, it's what happened. I was out in the park on an insanely hot day. There was this static-ish crackle in my ears, and I heard a weird rushing sound, and then I was here."

"Heat lightning?" Becca and Keely suggested simultaneously.

"Maybe…"

"Sorry to interrupt you, girls, but we need to get going." Ryou smiled sheepishly at Keely and Becca, tapping his watch.

Keely sighed. "Oh, all right. But you'd better come visit us soon."

Ryou grinned. "Promise." He looked at us. "Come on, we really should be going."

Mikey sighed wistfully. "All right…"

We all headed back towards the vans, and piled in. As Ryou and Kaiba pulled away, we waved out the rear windshield at Keely, Becca, Allie, and Kaetlyn.

My mind was still trying to process this new information. So if we're all dead in our own dimensions…then how are we supposed to get back?

HAPPY LATE/EARLY BIRTHDAYS TO:

krazy-wit-a-k
sora-is-a-hottie
The Magical Whatever
MyAgent'llSendYouAGiftbasket (Although I have no idea what her new name is going to be...TELL ME, KEELY-SAN! T.T)