Disclaimer: I don't own any of the names of both the characters and the cards. I do have original characters. By the way, this chapter has no Dueling whatsoever.

Chapter 3: Team Butterfly

I heard metals clanking at each other. Hot sparks flying into the air and burn out when it reaches the ground. The smell of engine oil fills the air in my hideout. That's right; I am currently working on my Duel Runner. After retrieving those parts a few days ago, I've been working on my Duel Runner with a few little sleeps as possible. However, a subordinate who wears a maroon scarf enters the room.

"Boss, I think you should stop," he said in a concern tone. "You've been working on this Duel Runner for the past few days with no sleep. Are you in a rush or something?"

I stop my working as I wipe off the oil on my hands. "You can say that," I reply, "but it's none of your concern."

"Are you worried about Sector Security?"

"I am worried about them," I lied since the real reason I'm building the vehicle is to get into New Domino City.

The maroon scarf subordinate nods his head. "I understand that you, and some of the men here, are worried about them. But there's really nothing to worry about since they haven't attack us like the gangs."

I know that he's trying to reassure me, so I decided to humor him. "That is true, but you don't know when they'll strike. I heard an earlier report from another subordinate that the Enforcers almost got captured by them during their attack against one of the neighboring areas."

"By the way, Boss…" I look at him as if he's trying to be a bit more dramatic. "How come you, our leader, is the only girl leading a lot of men?"

"Is that a stupid question or a rhetorical one?"

Hearing my mean tone has made him to apologize to me very quickly. "I'm sorry, Boss! I didn't mean it like that! I'm new, that's all! Please forgive me!"

I chuckle. "I'm kidding. I remember that you're among of the new recruits who join the team, so I'm sorry for throwing that tone at you."

It doesn't seem likes my joke, but he still looks nervous. "So why then? I know that among everyone here, you're the toughest Duelist around. I bet you have better things to do than to lead a rag-tag group of men as a gang."

"That is true." I put my toolbox next to my bed as I sit on the bed. "Well, I guess you can say that the reason these men follow me is because I saved them."

"You… saved them? From what?"

"Do you remember about that earthquake five years ago?" I ask and he nods his head. "Some of the subordinates and I were at one of the old subway tunnels, though that tunnel was supposed to be my hideout. They try to intimidate me, but then the earthquake happens and it causes the ceiling above us to collapse."

"Wow!" he gasps in surprise. "How do you manage to save them? That earthquake kills about twenty people in Satellite, though most of them were people from New Domino City. And I'm pretty sure that you're supposed to be dead if a ton of debris come dropping on top of you."

"Do you know anything about Psychic Duelists?"

"Do I know them? Of course, I know them! Everyone knows them! They're Duelists with special powers that makes Duel Monsters real and the damage towards people also real! Wait… Boss, are you a Psychic Duelist?"

I scratch the back of my head. "Sort of," I replied in my unsure voice. "But I'm in more control of my own powers than any of the Psychic Duelists out there. I think…"

The maroon scarf subordinate chuckles. "Now I understand why Team Butterfly's motto is to use our powers to protect people. Thank you for telling me the team's origin. I'm going to tell the guys!" I watch him run off with a smile on his face.

I looked at my unfinished Duel Runner. Looking at its exposed parts and wires being plugged into my computer that shows me its stats has made me to ponder on some things.

Maybe he's right, I thought with a solemn look on my face. I should take a break, but what I am going to do. Guess I should look around the area to see how everyone is doing. And I did just that.

I arrive at the east outpost to "inspect" the guards there. I see two of my subordinates who are talking to each other and I decided to eavesdrop them.

The guy with the blue bandanna over his mouth asks the guy wearing some belts on his right arm, "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"That's one of life's biggest questions," he replies.

The bandanna guy shook his head. "No, that's not what I mean. I mean have you ever wonder why we're still stuck here in Satellite and work in those damn recycling plants? Don't you think there are people who would be worried about us?"

"Do I sense someone's morale dropping?" I said to get those two to turn around in surprise.

"Boss!" the bandanna guy gasps. "I'm sorry that you hear that! I didn't—!"

"That's okay," I interrupted his sentence. "But why are you asking that?"

"Yeah!" the belt guy agrees with me. "What's the deal, man? Are you becoming one of those extremists who hates the people in New Domino City?"

The bandanna guy told us that he's not an extremist. "Have you guys remembered the explosion that separates Satellite from New Domino City?"

He's talking about the Big Explosion Incident that happen over a decade ago. That explosion is the cause that makes Satellite an island. Many people died from that explosion and no one knows how that incident happen. I was too young to remember an explosion that big enough to make another section of a grand city into an island.

The bandanna guy explains to us that before that incident happen, he was a happy man with a wife and son living in New Domino City. He uses to work as a delivery truck driver and when he was about to finish his rounds, the explosion happens. He was lucky that he wasn't at the blast radius, but he was not lucky when he realizes that he's stuck on this island. Even though that he's glad that he found a place where fighting doesn't happen 24/7, which is funny since we're in a middle of a gang war, he still misses his wife and son. He often wonders if they're doing all right.

"Thank you for sharing your story," I said to reassure his feelings and the belt guy agrees with me. "I'm sure that one day, you'll be able to meet your wife and child again. You can't just give up hope if you think about them."

"Thanks, Boss! Actually, that incident is the same day when my son is supposed to be born."

"Wait!" the belt guy gasps. "Your son was born on the same day as the incident occur…? How do you know that you have a son?"

"Ultrasound," he bluntly answers. "And his name is Tim."

"Talk about an impatient parent. I can't believe you do something like that just to find out about your baby's gender."

"My wife and I were nervous okay! You be nervous too if you're having a child!"

"Yeah… That's not going to happen. I rather be a bachelor than being tied down."

I decided to break up this little argument between them. "Enough, you guys! I came here to inspect your side. Are there any casualties?"

"Negative," the belt guy answered bluntly.

"There are no casualties. Thanks to the Enforcers taking care of the east, no gangs have ever cause some trouble."

I thank them for their report as I took my leave and headed to the area where the children are. It took me about ten minutes to arrive at the abandoned building with a playground. At the playground, I see about ten children playing around along with three of my subordinates.

Two boys named Satoshi and Shinichi run up to me and they ask me to Duel them. I told them that I'm on a small break from playing Duel Monsters, which makes them to ask me more. Then two girls named Ash and Midori stop them from pestering me and they said that I promise to play with them, which I don't remember. Then the two sides start to argue while my subordinates just watch them fighting over me with a smile on their faces. I'm a bit fluster since I don't know how to deal with this kind of situation before.

"Okay, that's enough kids," said one of the subordinates as he broke up the fight. "Can't you guys see that your arguments are scaring her?"

"But she promises to play with us!" Satoshi exclaimed.

"Same here!" Ash argues.

"I'm really sorry," I bow my head as I spoke in a gentle tone. "I can't play right now since I'm busy doing my inspection. I promise that I will play with all of you tomorrow."

"Really?" They look at me with their sparkling with anticipation.

I nod my head with a smile. "Really! In fact, to make sure that I keep my promise to the both of you, I'm going to cook you some food. How's that?"

"No way!" they exclaimed as their sparkling eyes quickly turned eyes of disappointment. "You're a terrible cook!"

Their words hurt me as if I've been stabbed into the chest. They don't have to be that cruel and honest! I want to cry right now.

The kids agree with the promise that I made them as they ran off somewhere to play with each other. Seeing that I'm still feeling sad from the kids' brutal honesty, one of the subordinates try to cheer me up. It didn't work, but I quickly pick myself up and remove the sadness off my face.

"So, Boss, what are you inspecting?" one of the subordinates ask.

"I just want to see how you guys are doing," I answer. "I see that there are no problems here."

The one whom I'm talking to chuckles as a response. "The kids are no trouble before you show up. Also, remember that doctor guy from some faraway place that we saved the day before the Enforcers came?"

"Yeah, I remember him. Why?"

"Thanks to him, some of the children aren't sick anymore! Isn't that great? If you want to talk to him, he's inside the abandoned building in the reception area."

I thank my subordinate for telling me that and I went inside the building. I see the doctor sitting on the reception desk who is bandaging up a boy's elbows. The doctor wears a purple lab coat over his blue shirt, dark red pants, and brown shoes. The boy thanks for the bandage as he runs outside, which causes the doctor to notice me.

"Hello, Kokoro," he said with a smile. "How are you today? And what are you doing here?"

"I'm doing fine," I answer as I made a slight giggled. "Also, I'm just wandering around to see how everyone is doing. By the way, thanks. If we hadn't saved you, the children and even the grown-ups would be in trouble when the sickness happens."

"I'm just doing my job. It's my duty as a doctor to save the lives of people from anything. And I can't do my duty in some hospital."

"Admirable." I look outside to see the children playing and the subordinates trying to keep up with their youthful energy. Seeing them has put a smile on my face. "Sometimes I wonder if my team can handle things without me."

The doctor notices the words that came out of my mouth. "Do you need someone to talk to? I can give you an objective answer to your question."

I shook my head. "Not really. I just have a habit of saying my thoughts aloud."

The doctor nods his head as if he puts the information inside his mental shelf. "When people say their thoughts aloud for someone to hear, that would mean that they have some things that they want to talk about. You can tell me, I'm a doctor with counseling experience."

"Does that experience only works on marriage?"

"Yes and no. If you have something to say to get it off your chest, then you can tell me."

"Even if it's about a girl's biological problem. Like periods or—!"

"Okay, even I know that I'm not qualified to talk about that."

"But you're a doctor!" I retorted. "Shouldn't you know about a girl's biological problem?"

He immediately leaves after that conversation. I really do want to talk to him about my problem, but due to him being nosy, I couldn't stop myself from getting him to stop being nosy. I make him uncomfortable from the conversation as an act of defense from the doctor's probing. Well, since he's gone, I decided to leave already.

"Are you boys okay?" I ask very bluntly.

During my "inspection," I've come across Kalin and the others who came walking into my team's territory. They look mad, except for Yusei who looks like he's contemplating on something, so I decided to talk to them. Last I heard of their activities, they were supposed to be attacking some gang's territory. I wonder if that's what upsets them.

Crow answers, "That's because Sector Security—!"

"Wait! Stop," I interrupted him, "I already know what happen. My subordinate reported your activities to me. I have to say I'm glad that you guys didn't get caught."

"If you knew, then don't ask!" Jack yells at me. It seems like I hit a nerve or something.

Then Kalin apologizes for Jack's behavior. "I'm sorry about the way he's acting. He is just upset that Sector Security interrupted his battle."

"So, Jack is the type of guy who doesn't like his fighting to be interrupted. Men are so typical."

Kalin retorts, "Hey, we're complicated!"

Then I said, "Your gang consist of four guys who wanted to fight all of the gangs in Satellite as if we're in the Sengoku Period. Yeah… you guys are really complicated."

"Okay," Crow spoke, "now you're just being sarcastic."

I quickly switch my interest to Yusei and I ask, "Are you feeling okay?"

Yusei answers, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering if I could make a makeshift CPU for my Duel Runner."

"That's impossible," I said, "A CPU is a complicated piece of machinery. You can make the frame or body of a CPU, but you cannot make a program that acts like the rest."

"I can if I make a copy from your CPU."

"That could work, but I highly recommend we don't do that. We could possibly destroy my CPU or even worse. I suggest that we find a Duel Runner parts dealer and beat him up for it!" I crack my knuckles when I say that. Then all frightened eyes look at me. "What? That's how I got my CPU, though I beat up that dealer because he tries to sell me some worthless junk."

Jack kicks a nearby piles of junk and the noise caught our attention. "Those damn Sector Securities! Interrupting my Duel! Kokoro! Duel me now!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm on break. I don't feel like Dueling anybody right now."

"How long were you in your hideout working on that Duel Runner of yours?" Crow asks as if he's pointing out the obvious.

I ignore him and continue talking to Jack. "I'm also busy with my inspection, so I don't have time to Duel you. Especially since I have to inspect every place where I stationed my thirty guys."

"Thirty guys?!" Kalin and Crow gasps in unison.

I tilt my head as if I try to remember that statement correctly. "You wouldn't believe how many people wanted to find a haven. Though I couldn't keep up on the people that we recruited. So, I left that problem to one of my subordinates."

"Sounds like a terrible leader," Crow comments.

I retort, "No leader is perfect. Take Kalin for an example."

"Yeah!" Kalin sounds like he agrees with me, but he later realizes what I mean by that. "What do you mean? I'm a great leader! I even gather information on every gang in Satellite and formulate plans of attack."

"And yet you couldn't figure out what deck I'm using when we first met."

"What's that supposed to mean? Your deck supposed to be an Elemental Hero deck?"

I explain to him that the Elemental Hero deck is not my real deck. I'm using this deck as a handicap for my opponents and I only use my real deck against a worthy Duelist. My train of thought of doing that is because I wanted to give myself a challenge. During this whole explanation, I just realized that I open the Pandora Box of Excitement among the battle junkies, except Yusei, here.

"Now I want to Duel you!" Kalin exclaims.

"No, I'm Dueling her!" Jack interjects.

"Duel me as well!" Crow joins in the madness.

Their approach is scaring me, even though I don't show it on my face. I wonder how those female protagonists handle many guys fighting over them. "Just think of the anticipation of my real deck as some sort of temptation for you guys to get stronger. I want to fight a worthy Duelist." I quickly leave the area before they started to ask me to Duel them.

A quick jump onto my bed and I felt extremely tired. I guess all of that walking around and talking to people has really tired me out. The good news is that I probably lost a lot of calories during that whole "inspection." Just as I am about to close my eyes, I heard a sound belonging to a cute animal.

That sound comes from the Duel Monster Spirit, Winged Kuriboh. Winged Kuriboh is a small monster that is covered in brown hair and has small angel-like wings. This small creature flies over to me as if it's trying to keep me up and it did. I wonder what Winged Kuriboh wants. That is when Silent Magician appears next to the small monster.

"Hey, guys!" I said with a smile. "What do you guys want?"

Silent Magician answers, "Winged Kuriboh just wanted to wish you a good rest, which he fails since he wakes you up. I show up because you woke up."

"Is there anything else?"

Before they can say anything, we heard someone calling me. They quickly jump next to me as that maroon scarf wearing subordinate enters the hideout. He seems to be in distress because he just runs up to me. I wonder what's wrong.

I ask, "Is there something wrong?"

"We have been attacked," he answers, "Some small gang got through the defenses and started to attack at where the children are being kept. The guys being stationed there can stop them, but they look so tough! Boss, you must help! Please!"

I decided to go as I grab my deck and Duel Disk. Finally, some excitement, I thought as I follow my subordinate.

When we arrive at where the children are, the battle was already over. The doctor explains to me that the Enforcers arrive and defeated those guys before I show up. Even though I should be thankful for Kalin and the others protecting the kids from the enemy, I still couldn't believe that they didn't leave one for me. According to the doctor, Yusei and Crow are busy tying up the five unconscious guys who are from some gang, while Jack and Kalin is interrogating the last one who isn't unconscious. Yusei and Crow are having it easy, while Jack and Kalin aren't too pleased with their interrogation.

"WHY WON'T HE TALK!?" Kalin yells at the top of his lungs.

"I told you it's pointless, Kalin," said Jack as if he's stating the obvious.

Kalin kicks a nearby trash can at which that can flies over my subordinates that ducks for cover. "I try every tactic I know to get him to spill the beans, but he keeps his mouth shut! Threatening doesn't work! Physical abuse doesn't work! Even making fun of his mother doesn't work!"

Then Yusei spoke, "I wonder why these guys attack here. If they got through the defenses, wouldn't they just keep slipping by until they reach Kokoro's hideout?"

"That does sound more logical than here," said Crow, "but I bet that they're going to kidnapped the children to force Kokoro into some sort of shady deal for their safety. That would make sense given the Team Butterfly's motto."

I felt someone tugging the back of my shirt. I turned around and see the four children who were fighting over for me earlier. They look down at the ground with sadness in their eyes.

A little girl spoke, "Kokoro… we're sorry."

Then the boy added, "I bet we're a hindrance to you, huh."

I shook my head. "No, you're not. Even if they manage to kidnap you, I would keep on saving all of you no matter what." They still look sad despite what I said, I guess to only cheer them up is to play with them tomorrow.

Jack crosses his arms and said, "We still don't know which gang they belong to. Even if we wait for the other guys to wake up, they wouldn't tell us. These guys have the guts to sneak pass the defense. That means they're skill enough to never rat out their gang, even if they die."

"That's a big 'if'. Let me try," I said, "I'm great at getting people to talk."

I ask Kalin about the prisoner's location and he told me that he's kept inside one of the rooms in the building with a guard watching him. Then I ask the doctor for his bag, which he once told me that it's filled with surgical tools and medicine. The doctor gave me his bag and I went inside the building to where the prisoner is being held, while ignoring everyone asking me questions.

I told the subordinate who is guarding the prisoner's door to let me in. He complies and I enter the room to meet the prisoner. The prisoner has a brown Mohawk and he wears a brown jacket vest over his green shirt, gray slacks, and brown shoes. His body has been tied down to a folding chair, which means he's not going anywhere. The prisoner notices me and he just smirks.

He smugly asks, "What's a fine lady like yourself doing here?"

"Hi," I said, "My name is Kokoro Fernandez and I'm here to get some information out of you."

"If you think putting some makeup on me would make me talk, then you got another thing coming. I won't talk, even if you try to tickle me. Of course, I would talk if you give me something to offer."

I ignore that last sentence as I unzipped the bag. "Do you know what's inside this bag? This bag belongs to a doctor who has been taking care of the children here and he told me that this bag is filled with surgical tools. You know what surgical tools are, right? They're tools that are sharp and will peel your skin like a fruit."

The prisoner starts to sweat. "H-Hey! Why would someone give you that? Shouldn't a doctor make sure to prevent anyone to be using his tools?"

"Well, I'm special. And do you want to know why I'm special?" I ask with a smile that is hiding my sadistic face, even though the aura sort of oozes out of me. It seems like I'm scaring him since he's dripping even more sweat. "I'm special because I'm the leader of Team Butterfly. I don't like it when someone is attacking innocent children, but I want to know who you're working for. Even if it means that I'm going to use you as my practice dummy for my surgical skills. Shall we see how good I've come so far?"

The prisoner is dripping out buckets of sweat as he becomes white as a ghost. His last words were "Help me" before I started to do my style of interrogation.