From Shadows Chapter 3
"I'm sorry guys," Kalin grumped miserably, slumping down beside Jack on the couch. "The plan for our next gang duel is slow going."
"It'd go a lot faster if you'd let us help you," Yusei pointed out. He slipped on his duel disk, and activated it. The disk seamlessly connected both ends and slid into place beside his arm. "Besides, we're all ready to go," he added, smiling proudly at his work.
"I know. I just don't want to put that kind of pressure on you guys. It's hard enough dealing with all our duels as it is."
"Well, there's no use in sitting around. We could play a game," Lise suggested, setting aside her book.
"You're actually taking a break from reading? The last time we tried to get you to engage with us you nearly bit my head off!" Crow reflected, eyebrow raised suspiciously.
"My book is at a slow moment," Lise explained. She shot a momentary dark glance at the novel's cover, as if it were its fault for possessing a dull page inside it.
"We could play Uno?" Jack suggested.
"Yeah!" Lise agreed, sitting down at one of the chairs across from the couch. "Or we could play bullshit!"
"You suck at Bullshit, Lise," Yusei pointed out, sitting next to her. "You couldn't lie your way out of a paper bag, and you don't have a poker face."
"Oh shut up. That doesn't mean it isn't fun."
"Uno it is then," Kalin smiled, dropping their large Uno deck on the table between them. "Draw seven and then…is it the youngest or the oldest?"
"I thought it was whoever could play?"
"I vote oldest," Jack spoke up immediately.
"You're not oldest, dude," Crow patted Jack's shoulder. "Kalin is."
"Ah then I'm up."
"Wait, before we start, how is this going down?" Lise spoke up.
"Not this again," Jack groaned.
"Well we always argue like halfway through the game. Anyway, if someone can't play do we draw till we can play or do we just draw one card and move on?"
"Draw until you can play," Yusei said immediately, a small smirk playing across his lips.
"Damn dude, you're evil today," Kalin chuckled and flipped the top card of the deck over. "Blue zero, so I'll play a blue six."
"Thanks, Kalin," Yusei slid a red six onto the pile.
"Nice choice," Lise threw in a red eight.
Crow, a red seven.
Jack was the first victim of the infinity draw. He had ten new cards by the time he was able to play a red four. "Man, why did you have to go the hard way?" Jack whined at Yusei.
"I like a challenge," he shrugged.
"More like you wanted to watch everyone else's faces of agony."
"Something like that," Yusei said nonchalantly as Kalin played a reverse.
Jack groaned and searched his arsenal of cards. "There! Draw two, Crow!"
"So not cool!" Crow whined.
"I got your back," Lise tossed a red reverse in.
"Sweet! And this skip, Jack, is sweet revenge."
"But I have the most cards!" Jack whined.
"And I'm gonna win this game. What other obvious things do you want to point out?" Crow grinned.
"It's a bit early to declare a winner," Lise said.
"Spoken like a true loser," Kalin played a wild card. "Yellow."
"Okay now, my play," Lise consulted her cards.
"Actually Lise, it's Crow's turn."
"What? But I didn't play!"
Yusei cracked the smallest of smiles. "I skipped your turn."
Lise stared disbelievingly at him, the top card of the pile, then back at Yusei. There was a yellow skip there, plain as day. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You little shit."
Yusei's tiny smile became a grin.
"You're so going to pay for that. Mark my words, you motherfucker."
"We're still playing. Quit flirting you two," Jack scolded, slapping his reverse card down the moment Crow finished throwing down his yellow five.
"We weren't flirting!" Yusei and Lise insisted, both rather pink-faced though.
"Sure you weren't," Crow waggled his eyebrows. "Your turn, Lise."
"Now we're blue. Excellent choice, but this is better," she played a pick four wild card. "I pick red."
"God damn it," Yusei muttered, pulling four new cards from the deck. "I almost had Uno."
"Almost isn't good enough my friend," Kalin played a red zero.
Jack a red two, Crow a red nine, Lise another red five, then Yusei changed the color back to blue. Kalin, down to two cards, scowled heavily at being forced to draw five more until the sixth was a blue card. Jack reversed again though, so Kalin was forced to draw again! This time he got lucky and the first card he picked was blue. Yusei lazily played a blue seven. Lise changed the color to green with another seven.
"All right!" Crow cried jubilantly. "Uno!" He and Lise high-fived and he played a green nine.
"Finally, something I have way too many cards for," Jack sighed.
"The luck of the draw is nice to have," Kalin agreed.
"You guys suck," Yusei muttered, collecting eight new cards.
"What're we sucking?" Lise joked.
"The biggest thing in the room," Jack widened his legs arrogantly.
"Sorry Jack, but I wasn't referring to you tic tac," Lise said, casually drawing from the deck and adding a wild to the pile.
The air suddenly grew heavy with tension. Crow, Yusei and Kalin's eyes swiveled back and forth between Lise and Jack.
"Um…yellow," Lise decided. "And UNO!"
"Wait, hang on!" Jack pulled himself out of his shocked stupor. "Did you just-"
"Call your dick a tic tac? Yes I did. Oh I'm sorry, I forgot. Your tic tac and your raisins aren't worthy of any woman's mouth," she smirked widely. "Your turn, Crow."
"Th-That was really dirty," Jack said weakly. "That wasn't cute at all."
Lise leveled a death glare at him. "I don't give a fuck." A smile replaced her glare as she turned to Crow. "Still your turn, Crow."
"Well then, thanks for the yellow, Lise, because I play this!" Crow cried dramatically, resuming the game as if nothing had happened. "A wild draw four!"
"Damnit that means he wins!" Kalin groaned, throwing his hand to the table.
"Play again?" Yusei suggested quickly, noticing the grimace of anger on Jack's face directed to both Lise and Crow.
"I'll shuffle," Kalin volunteered, his good mood returned.
Under cover of the loud shuffle of the cards, Yusei held his fist out. "Nice tic tac burn."
Lise smiled warmly. "Thanks." She and Yusei fist bumped. "But I'll still kick your ass next round."
"Not if I kick yours first."
"Bring it on! I'll beat you all again!" Crow jumped in enthusiastically.
"This day actually turned out better than I thought it would," Kalin said, smiling softly to himself as he watched his friends bicker amicably over the cards shuffling.