Yusei Fudo and his girlfriend, Akiza Isinski raced on their runners, testing out speed and stability on the tune-ups that Yusei had done a few days ago. They were in the middle of a turbo duel and Akiza was winning with only her Black Rose Dragon had no cards in her hand. It was Yusei's turn at the moment and he had only 1 card face down and 2 cards in his hand.
(Yusei's life points: 100)
(Akiza's Life points: 1900)
(Black Rose Dragon: ATK/ 2400)
"I'll start by playing the trap, Descending Lost Star!" Yusei shouted. "With this, I can bring back Stardust Dragon from my graveyard, but it's forced to defend, it's level is reduced and it's defense becomes 0"
The shimmering dragon soon rose from out of the ground and took a defensive stance.
(Stardust Dragon: ATK/2500 DEF/0, Level 7)
"You're going to have to do better than that Yusei!" Akiza called out. "With Black Rose Dragon's ability, I can switch Stardust Dragon to attack mode and drain its attack points to 0 on my next turn!"
Yusei grinned. "I know, Akiza. I activate the effect of the Doppelwarrior in my hand. Since I summoned a monster from my graveyard, I can summon it straight to the field!" a monster looking like a soldier holding a blast gun in its hands rose to the field.
(Doppelwarrior: ATK/800 DEF/800)
"Now I summon Majestic Dragon!" A large, pink dragon appeared on the field, hovering over Yusei's runner. "I tune my Majestic Dragon with my Stardust Dragon and my DoppelWarrior! I harness all the power of the stars, I channel all the might of the dragons! I Synchro Summon the Majestic Star Dragon!"
The mighty, shining dragon appeared and let loose a fearful roar. Akiza gazed at Majestic Star Dragon and feared for the life of her own dragon.
"I activate the other effect of my Doppelwarrior. Since it was used for a Synchro summon, I can summon 2 Doppel tokens" 2 shorter versions of Doppelwarrior appeared and raised their guns.
"Majestic Star Dragon, attack Black Rose Dragon with Star Shine Shred!" Yusei cried out.
Majestic Star Dragon started to shine even more brilliantly and charged at Black Rose Dragon, slicing though it with ease and causing an explosion.
(Akiza's Life Points: 1900 – 500)
"Doppel tokens, attack Akiza directly!"
Each of the tokens shot a blast from their guns, each hitting Akiza square on.
(Akiza's Life Point's: 500 – 0)
Steam blasted from vents on Akiza's runner and she then halted to a stop. Yusei turned around and stopped next to Akiza as the holograms of Majestic Star Dragon and the Doppel tokens disappeared. Both of them took off their helmets and shook their heads, smiling happily.
"Impressive Akiza, you did great! I'd say that you have turbo dueling down to a science" said Yusei.
Akiza smiled at Yusei's praised and blushed. "Thanks Yusei, it was really fun. And speaking of science, can you help me with my science project for school?" she asked. "It's on the mechanics of a common duel runner engine"
"Of course, I'll do it all for you if you want" he teased. They both laughed and shared a long kiss.
After the downfall of ZONE, Yusei and Akiza had become almost completely inseparable. When the hassle with Yliaster had become faint from everyone's memories, and then completely forgotten about, Yusei and Akiza confessed their love to each other, shared a long, passionate kiss, and since then it was a rare occurrence when you saw one without the other outside of their work schedules. Even then, Yusei would occasionally visit Akiza at school during lunch time and free periods.
Yusei eventually discovered a way to turn ENER-D into a safe and reusable power source, without it causing another 'Zero Reverse' incident. He was working with the Sector Security's research department to develop this into a new ENER-D reactor, but on a much smaller scale for safety precautions. And because of this, Yusei was making a decent amount of money, enough that he was catching up to the wealth of even Akiza's father.
He even had enough that he could afford to share an apartment with Akiza at The Tops. It was built with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The walls were painted Navy Blue on the top half of the wall and Rose Red on the bottom half with a turquoise stripe separating the two colors. Yusei and Akiza shared one of the bedrooms and the other one was used to store some of their extra Duel Runner parts and supplies. The living room had a three person couch, a coffee table and a large, flat-screen TV, built personally by Yusei himself.
The two of them had been living there for almost a year, and they would constantly get visits from the twins, Leo and Luna. The two of them loved to come and play with Yusei and Akiza, seeing as how they would often help them with their decks or with their school work. It was almost like Akiza and Yusei were second parents to them, not that they minded being addressed as that.
The couple broke apart when they heard Jack, Crow and Bruno calling out to them, riding up to them on their runners. The three of them parked in front of the couples and dismounted from their runners, worried expressions on their faces.
A few months after the ZONE incident, Bruno was inexplicably found on the beach, passed out and barely breathing, but alive. It was the same beach that he was found at the first time. He had no memory of ZONE or Yliaster, but he seemed to have memory of the group, which the other guys decided was a good thing. So they made a pact that no one would ever tell them anything that happened with him and ZONE and he went back to living at Popo Time with Jack and Crow.
"Yusei, this is bad, really bad!" Crow yelled waving his hands for emphasis.
"What's bad crow?" Yusei asked, worry starting to appear on his face.
"We went to check on Leo and Luna because they asked us if we could take them to the Arcade today, but when we got there…" Bruno couldn't finish what he was saying to them and looked at the ground.
"What? Did something happen to Leo and Luna?!" Akiza asked, terrified by the idea something bad could have happened to the twins.
"They were fine, well physically anyway…" Jack stated. "The kids parents were murdered and robbed of every penny they had…"
Akiza and Yusei's eyes widened. They couldn't say a word for several minutes…
Yusei was the first to break the silence. "Leo, and Luna's parents, were… murdered?" he asked slowly.
Crow nodded and looked down in pity. "Yep, and the guys who killed them also stole all of their bank information. Now Leo and Luna can't pay to live in The Tops anymore so Sector Security took them away to an orphanage on the far side of town…"
"Please tell me this is some sort of twisted joke…" Akiza pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.
The three boys just shook their heads. The tears in Akiza's eyes spilled down the side of her face. She gripped onto Yusei for support and started crying into his jacket.
"Those two don't deserve this… they're only kids… I just got my parents back only a few years ago, and I lived without them for most of my life… do you have any idea what it's like to feel so alone like that? To feel like you have no one left to turn to? " she muttered through Yusei's shirt, which was getting considerably damp from Akiza's crying. "It's horrible Yusei, just horrible…"
Yusei placed his hand on Akiza's back and started to rub it for comfort. "Shhh, it's ok. Don't worry, Akiza, we won't just let them go off to some random couple of people. We'll take Leo and Luna over to Martha's orphanage. You know that she'll take great care of them…"
Akiza looked up at Yusei and sniffled, tears still streaming down her face. The red-head wiped the tears from her eyes and looked over at the boys with confidence. "Where is the orphanage?"
The 5 of them started up their runners and raced their way to see Leo and Luna, Yusei and Akiza especially. They were going much faster than the others and they weren't afraid of breaking a few speed limits to get where they were going. All that mattered was getting to the turquoise-headed twins as fast as possible…
A few minutes later, they arrived at the orphanage. The 5 of them parked their runners and ran into the building and up to the main desk. The place was decorated somewhat like a doctor's office. Front desk, waiting chairs, and outdated magazines in all.
"We'd like to see Leo and Luna please" Yusei stated.
The clerk at the desk sighed irritably typed something into his computer and then turned back to the signers and Bruno. "The two of them were just registered, they're in room number 12"
Yusei and Akiza and ran full throttle towards the room, the others not far behind. When they saw a door with the number 12 written in bold letters on it, they opened the door.
The room had a 4 beds set up and on 1 of the beds sat Leo and Luna, side by side. The twins had tears running down their eyes and they held each other close. Luna was cradled in her brother's arms and softly weeping into his jacket, while Leo was trying his best not to cry and be strong for his sister.
The sight of them would make just about anyone pity them, Yusei and Akiza were no exception. They felt like they could just burst into tears along with them.
The twins looked up and saw Yusei and Akiza, tears still flowing from their eyes.
"Yu-Yusei…" Leo stuttered.
"A-Akiza…" Luna followed.
The two of them exploded into crying and bawling and ran into the arms of the two turbo duelists, Leo into Yusei's arms and Luna into Akiza's. They couldn't stop crying even if they wanted to and it didn't show any signs of stopping.
"Hey, it's alright Leo, we're here now…" Yusei said in a relaxing tone, rubbing Leo's back the same way he did Akiza's.
"Come on now Luna, please don't cry…" Akiza said, doing the same thing as Yusei.
Leo and Luna looked up, their eyes growing red from all the crying they'd done. The look on their faces made Yusei and Akiza's hearts drop and shatter like glass thrown off a cliff. Leo was sniffling, trying his hardest not to cry any more than he already had. Luna on the other hand, didn't hold back and continued to cry her little heart out.
"Yusei, p-please don't leave us here…" Leo muttered, giving another sniffle. "The-The people here w-were talking and, and they said that their planning to… to separate me and Luna to different families, and i-in different cities, too… Luna and I can't be a-apart… I-I need her, and she needs me, please Yusei, get us out of here!" and he went back to bawling loudly into Yusei's jacket.
Both the turbo duelist's eyes widened and then looked over into each other's. "Yusei, can they really do that?" Akiza asked. "I mean, they're twins, aren't they kind of like a packaged deal?"
"I don't know… but, it doesn't matter, they're not staying here anyway, we're taking them over to Martha's and that's that!" he exclaimed. "You'll love it at Martha's guys. I grew up there and I had my friends to help me through it, and you'll have each other…" Leo and Luna's crying died down slightly and they nodded.
He was about to go on when he heard Jack and Bruno come in the room. Akiza and Yusei picked up the twins and looked over at the two of them and they had a sad look on their faces.
"We got some bad news Yus…" Bruno said.
"The people here aren't letting us transfer Leo and Luna over to Martha's orphanage…" Jack stated.
Leo and Luna's bawling went out of control after hearing what Jack said. Akiza looked like she was ready to join them. Yusei suddenly noticed that Crow wasn't with them.
"Hey guys, where's Crow?" he asked.
"He's out there yelling at the desk clerk. He's angry that they won't let us transfer them over to Martha's" Bruno explained. "I suggest that you get out there and stop him before he punches someone in the mouth…"
Yusei and Akiza nodded and ran out the door, with the twins still in their arms, back to the front desk. Jack and Bruno followed them.
When they arrived, they saw Crow reaching over the desk and grabbing the man by the shirt collar.
"Listen! We just want to transfer Leo and Luna to a different orphanage, nothing else, why can't we!?" he yelled angrily.
"I'm sorry, that's the rules!" the clerk yelled back. "We don't allow anyone to take any child that's not being adopted outside of the building, for whatever reason! So unless you want to take on the responsibility of those two little brats than get out before I call Sector Security!"
Yusei, Akiza and Jack all became furious after hearing what the clerk had said about Leo and Luna. If there was one thing that set them off, it was anyone talking bad about their friends, Leo and Luna especially. Akiza and Yusei gently laid Leo and Luna down onto the floor and they, and Jack, all made their way over to the desk.
"Akiza, I think that man needs to be taught a 'lesson'…" Jack said ominously.
Akiza nodded and then pushed Crow aside, taking over his position of holding the clerk by the collar. "Listen here, and listen well… Take back what you just said about Leo and Luna, right now, or else my Black Rose Dragon will be sending you to a hospital faster than you can scream 'AHHHHHH'-!"
Yusei placed a hand on Akiza's shoulder. She looked back at him and he shook his head. Akiza sighed and released the clerk from her grasp.
"I'm sorry, Yusei. I guess I just lost control there for a second…" she said sincerely. "It just makes me feel so mad, mad that Leo and Luna will feel all alone like I did, and we can't do a thing about it!" she started to tear up.
"It's alright Akiza, if I had the power to back it up I probably would have done the same thing. But let's focus on the twins…" he stayed silent for a few seconds before he took Akiza's hand and looked into her eyes. "There is one thing we can do to keep them together…"
Akiza's eyes widened. She knew exactly what Yusei was talking about… "Are you sure Yusei? I mean I'd be more than happy to do it, in fact I'd love to, but are you sure you'd be up for it?"
The head signer nodded. "If it means they can stay together, than I'm in… no one should live without someone they care about, and Leo and Luna are no exception…"
Akiza smiled and hugged Yusei. She and him looked back over to the clerk, who was just now returning to breathing normal, and said together "We'd like to adopt Leo and Luna"
Everyone gasped, even Leo and Luna. They were all surprised by Yusei and Akiza's decision, not that anyone could blame them…
Luna tugged on Akiza's riding suit. "Yusei, Akiza, are you serious? Would you really adopt us?" she asked. Leo was a little surprised, those were the first words she said since she arrived at the orphanage.
"Well, I'm not sure Akiza and Yusei would adopt you…" Akiza said with a grin on her face. The twins saddened and looked at their feet.
"But, I'm positive your new Mom and Dad would be delighted to" Yusei said with a smile. He picked up and raised Leo in his arms and Akiza knelt down to hug Luna. The twins smiled and wrapped their arms around their new parents' necks. Akiza and Yusei could feel tears running down from Luna and Leo's faces, but not tears of sadness. No, they were tears of Joy.
"Do you honestly believe I'll let you adopt these brats after the way you've treated me?!" The clerk interrupted rudely. "You're lucky I'm not calling Sector Security! Now get out of here, but leave the green-haired twerps behind!"
Yusei glared angrily at the clerk before shrugging his shoulders and smirking. "Ok, I tried being nice, but obviously you don't want us to… Akiza?" he said confidently.
Akiza nodded and placed Luna down once again. Before long, Black Rose Dragon was fully materialized and roaring at the clerk.
"Please, you think I'm scared of a hologram?" he mocked, adding in a cocky laugh for emphasis.
"That's what they all say, before they realized I used to be the Black Rose…" Akiza said before snapping her fingers. Black Rose Dragon complied and wrapped her vines around the clerk's legs and held him upside down, making him shut up in an instant. "Now, is there some sort of papers we have to sign to adopt these two or what?"
The clerk sweat dropped and put on a fake smile. "I'll be glad to show you where the adoption papers are, as soon as you let me down…"
Akiza smirked. "That's better" she said before Black Rose Dragon disappeared and the clerk fell to the floor with a thud.
"And that's why I love you" Yusei joked and kissed Akiza on the cheek. Akiza giggled.
After the clerk stood up, brushed himself off and silently cursing under his breath, he reached under his desk and pulled out a small stack of Adoption papers. Yusei carefully read over the papers before he signed them.
'This Certificate of Adoption hereby states that (insert father's name here) and (insert mother's name her) will from now on become the lawful guardians of (insert child or children's name(s) here) from now until the child(ren) become of an independent age. If you agree with this than please sign where indicated…'
Akiza and Yusei looked at each other and nodded. They each took the pen and signed the Adoption papers. The clerk then took the papers and placed them into a folder.
"Congratulations, you two are now the parents of those two kids, blah, blah, blah…" the clerk said unenthusiastically. "Now take them and get out!"
The two of them huffed and left the room, only to be swarmed by the group upon opening the door. Each of them had their own individual questions about how the adoption went, but the only questions that stood out to Yusei and Akiza were the ones coming from Leo and Luna.
"Yusei, did it work? Did you really adopt us?!" Leo asked excitedly, pounding his fists in midair, eager to know the answer.
Yusei smiled happily and nodded, as did Akiza. The twins' faces lit up like lights and they jumped into couple's arms. Everyone else gave off just as cheerful a smile as the twins and Akiza and Yusei. Crow even started to tear up a little bit at the cheerful sight he and the others were witnessing.
Yusei picked Leo up in his arms once again and Akiza did the same for Luna. "Come on, kids, let's take you to your new home"
"Ok, Yu- I mean, Dad" Leo corrected himself.
Luna nodded and looked up at Akiza. "Thank you so much, Mom…"
Akiza held her tight. "You're welcome, Luna…"
"Now remember that we don't have as much money as you guys did, so don't expect too much out of us…" Yusei told the twins.
"We don't care, we're just glad that we won't have to leave each other, or you…" Luna wept happily. "We won't ever be able to repay you…"
"You won't ever have too…"
The turbo duelists and the twins all left the orphanage in a hurry. Partially so the Yusei and Akiza could take Leo and Luna back to The Tops, but mostly so they could get as far away from that clerk as possible…
Jack, Crow and Bruno all mounted their Duel Runners and drove off back to Popo Time. Yusei and Akiza each gave the twins a spare helmet, then put on their own. The 4 of them hopped on the Runners and they drove their way back to The Tops. Leo and Luna clung to Yusei and Akiza much more than they normally did when they rode on their Runners with them, and the latter knew and had a pretty good idea why, seeing as how they felt more tears of joy running down their backs…
When the new family arrived back at The Tops, they spent the afternoon moving all of Leo and Luna's belongings from their old loft down to Yusei and Akiza's apartment. They moved all the Runner parts from the extra bedroom downstairs to their storage unit in the sub-basement so that Leo and Luna could use that room as a bedroom. They spent the entire day moving as many necessary things they could from the twins' previous apartment into Yusei and Akiza's. Things such as their clothes dressers, their school things and one of their king-sized beds, since the room could only fit one of them, but the twins didn't mind sharing the bed.
It took quite a bit of work, but the 4 of them had finally finished the work on Leo and Luna's bedroom. All in all, the room looked fantastic. The bed was set up with two large pillows, one for each twin, and covered with a bluish-green comforter. Their dressers were set up in front of the bed, one next to the other, with all off their clothes in them. They had even painted the wall a bluish-green since the wall's previous paint job was a dull white that had obviously gotten darker over time.
Leo and Luna were so tired from all the work that they passed out from exhaustion and collapsed on their bed, not even bothering to change clothes. They both slept soundly with a smile on their faces, silently mumbling 'Mom' and 'Dad' in their sleep, as noted by Yusei and Akiza, who had tucked the kids into the bed and left them to go and lie down in their own bed.
Akiza lay on the bed with beads of sweat rolling down from her face. "Oh man, I am wiped…" she sighed, using her forearm to wipe away the sweat on her forehead.
Yusei chuckled and sat down next to her. "So am I, but at least our family is together again… and more importantly, Leo and Luna have parents"
"I agree completely. Luna and Leo can't live without parents, and more importantly, each other… they need each other, just like they need us" Akiza tried to sit up, but her muscles were too tired to move. "Uh, sweety… can I get a hand here?" she asked with an embarrassed laugh.
Yusei laughed and nodded. He stood up in front of her and pulled her, by her arms, to a sitting position, then sat down next to her again. She let out a sigh and laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Thanks. I'm just glad that Leo and Luna won't have to go through what I went through… It hurt me so much when I didn't have my parents there next to me when I was growing up. All I ever had was Sayer, but he was never really much of a father figure. He just used me so that I could fuel his psychic army…"
Yusei placed a hand on Akiza's shoulder. "Hey now, all of that is behind us. All that matters now is that we have each other, and so do Leo and Luna…"
Akiza looked over at Yusei and smiled. "Yes, you're right…" She lent up and gave her lover a kiss on the check, to which he responded with by kissing her back on the lips forcefully. Akiza loved it when Yusei got intimate with her and she never passed up a chance for it when he started. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. She pulled him with every ounce of strength onto the bed on top of her.
Yusei pulled up for a second and smirked at her. "Now, as much as you know how I adore it when you do that, how about we just cuddle for tonight" he said while he caressed her cheek with his hand. "As hard as it may be for you or anyone to believe, I'm exhausted from all the heavy lifting and I'm about to pass out. I'd like it if I could fall asleep in the arms of my beautiful rose then on top of her with nothing but the blanket covering us, especially since we have kids now. I don't want to scar Leo and Luna any more than they already are if they wake up before us"
Akiza couldn't help but laugh. "Sure sweety…" she said. The red-head managed to muster up enough energy to crawl over to the head of the bed and lay her head on one of the pillows, shortly followed by Yusei. He threw the comforter over them and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Good night, my little rose…"
"Good night, my shining star…"
And with that, both of the new parents fell into a deep sleep. They slept with smiled glued to their faces. They knew that their friends- no, their children, will no longer need to feel alone… because they all have each other now.