4KIDS LOST THE RIGHTS TO YUGIOH.
That is all.
Chapter 3: Pipe Dreams Part 1
Keisa let out the breath she'd been holding with a smile as Yusei delivered the finishing blow.
"You and your buddies came down here looking to intimidate us," Yusei growled, "threaten us, and push us around. Well next time, you might want to think twice before messing with me and my pals. Because we're gonna stand by each other through thick and thin."
"Yeah!" Rally cheered in agreement. "You tell that Domino City castoff that he better watch his step the next time he comes down here!" Keisa laughed and pulled Rally to her.
"Because we aren't gonna stand for any bullies," Keisa added.
"You fought a good duel," Yusei said, calmer than before. "But my runner's staying put, just like you."
"Yusei won!" Tank exclaimed. "He won!"
"Man, I was so close to winning that runner," The Leader sighed, falling to his knees in defeat.
Keisa let out a laugh. "Right. Sure you were."
"You had me on the ropes there for a while, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the duel. But and old friend once told me that when your back's against the wall, and it feels like there's no way out, as long as you trust in the power of your deck then you can find a way out of any situation."
Everyone looked at Yusei. Keisa remembered those words. Big Brother Jack…
"That day," Yusei continued, "a very valuable lesson was taught to me. A lesson I'll never forget."
Later that night, Keisa sat at the laptop once again, looking through the data she had recently collected on the runner.
"Staring at the same information over and over won't convince you of anything," Blitz mumbled from the couch.
"Nope," she muttered back, distracted. "But I can definitely try. It makes me feel better. Leave me alone…"
"Speaking of which, where is Yusei?" Tank asked.
"Probably outside thinking," Rally responded.
"Well, it's almost time to roll." Keisa stood up and headed for the tunnels. "I'll be right back." She didn't get very far before she found him standing in the middle of the broken tunnels, looking up through a crack at the night sky.
"Look out, Jack," Yusei murmured. "I'm coming to take back what's mine."
"You make it sound like it's really going to be that easy to get into Neo Domino," Keisa said, standing next to him now.
"I never said it was going to be easy," he admitted.
"You better not get caught. My runner is barely half way done."
"Even if I do get caught—"
"Which you can't let happen."
"—the guys would help you with your runner."
"They can't. I'm building my runner with my brother." Keisa smiled up at him.
"Keisa," Yusei sighed, turning to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me carefully."
"Don't I always?" she muttered sarcastically, knowing Yusei was in lecture mode now.
"No," he chuckled. "Keisa, if anything happens to me, I want you to promise to destroy the runners."
"What?"
"If they catch me I don't want them to find you guys, but if they do, I don't want them to have any reason to take you to the center."
Keisa shoved him away.
"No!" she snapped.
"Keisa—"
"No, I won't promise that," she said sternly. "I can promise you that I won't go near it until you come back, but I refuse to destroy it."
Yusei was silent. Keisa just stared right back at her older brother. She didn't want him to go, and she knew he would have second thoughts if she begged him to stay. But she understood why he had to go. She didn't want to hold him back by making him second guess himself, so she stayed silent.
"Kei, I—"
"It's just about time for you to go, isn't it?" She turned to leave the tunnel, jumping when Yusei caught up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She took the opportunity to slip a card from her deck into his turbo deck without him noticing.
"Can't do it without you."
"You've only got one shot at this Yusei," Nervin started as they approached Yusei's runner. "The maintenance hatch opens at midnight, and only stays open for three minutes after that."
"He knows," Rally groaned.
Yusei stopped next to his runner and looked back up through the crack in the ceiling.
"Then they flood that pipeline with garbage," Nervin continued.
"He knows!" Rally said again. "Try being positive for once, Nervin."
Keisa glanced at the clock on his runner as she attempted to get it ready to go. 11:14. Just about 45 minutes.
"I thought I was," Nervin responded.
"Hey Yusei."
Yusei looked over at Blitz. "Can you really do this?"
"A test run is one thing," Nervin agreed, "but the real thing is something else."
"You guys are so negative," Keisa scoffed, picking up her laptop, disconnecting it from the runner, and moving to sit on the edge of the platform.
"Says the girl who's more against this than any of us," Blitz muttered.
"Hey, I may be against it, but I know he can do it!" Keisa objected.
"Yeah, but if Yusei gets caught—" Nervin started again.
"Don't listen to these guys, Yusei," Tank interrupted. "Just, I don't know, hit the gas and don't ever look back
"Almost forgot!" Rally jumped off the platform and ran over to Yusei, a card in his outstretched hand. "Here. For good luck."
"What is it, Rally?" Yusei asked, inspecting the card.
"Turbo Booster!"
"Wasn't that your father's card?"
Rally nodded. "I want you to take it. I just hope it can help you get your Stardust Dragon back from Jack!"
Yusei revved his engine up and put on his helmet, sliding the protective glass down to cover his eyes.
"You gonna be on the monitor?" he called over to Keisa.
She looked up, surprised, but didn't say anything.
"Yeah!" Rally responded for her. "We'll go topside so we can get a clear signal. Now rev it up!"
"And don't slow down for nothing!" Blitz added.
Keisa stood up and jogged over to Yusei. She hugged him tightly. "Be careful and come back safe." She knocked his helmet. "Love you, big brother."
He smiled and nodded once. "Love you, too." He revved the engine one last time, the growl echoing down the tunnels, before squealing tires and racing out.
