Eula's head bobbed up and down as she walked along the Sicilian streets of the Messina market district with her three travelling companions, "Where the hell are we even going?" Eula stretched her neck and yawned before continuing, "I mean, am I the only one completely in the dark here?"

"If you had slept on the boat then you wouldn't be so tired." Ana said, "You shouldn't complain when it's your own fault."

Eula growled at Ana, but was cut off by Larissa chiming in, "Well, all of this travelling around has left me a bit restless too. I can't say I'm not feeling the effects." Her tone was detached from the conversation as most of her attention was spent looking around the streets, as if searching for something.

"It should be just a few blocks away." Juno said, "The old-school locksmith's house should be around there, unless…"

"Unless?" Ana raised an eyebrow.

"Unless he moved… Or something else."

"You don't know?" Ana pressured.

"Hey, how about you back off?" Eula snapped.

"It's been awhile since I've been here." Juno said before Ana could retort, "We should hur-"

"Giuno?" A man's voice called out. Juno flinched at the sound of it. The other three girls spun around to find the source. A man with a thin beard slowly approached them. His white hair had almost completely overtaken the black. His face looked tired.

"Yo, I think that homeless-looking guy is calling out to you, Juny." Eula pointed at the man with her thumb.

"N-no he's not. And stop calling me that. Let's go!"

"He's not homeless." Ana said, "For a self-proclaimed professional you seem to miss a lot. Look at his clothes."

"I said homeless-looking!" Eula said.

"Hey wait… I know that guy!" Larissa shouted, "He's Marco Russo!"

"Who?" Eula asked.

"Dezi Russo's father?" Larissa looked at Eula's and Ana's blank faces. "You know? Dezi Russo! The famous Pro Duelist from these parts?"

"Is that why you've been so jittery since we got here?" Ana asked.

"Whatever. Juno seems to know this place so I'm sure she knows what I'm talking abo-" Larissa's words were cut off by the frantic expression on Juno's face.

"Giuno?!" The man repeated, "Giuno it is you! I knew it!" He stumbled a bit closer, "You've changed your hair color, but it's you! I knew it! I knew my daughter would come back some day!"

"Daughter?!" Eula, Ana, and Larissa said in unison.

Seventh Stop - Runaways

xx Six years prior xx

Four students stood on a marked arena, their left arms each holding a Duel Disk in front of them. A boy in a green school blazer clenched his right hand. His shoes squeaked on the hardwood gymnasium floor as he punched the air before him, "Arcana Knight Joker attack!" he shouted. A warrior decorated in black and gold charged as the student commanded, "Are you ready Giuno? This one's a direct hit"

The dash from the warrior created a gust that swept Juno's black hair. She reached for her Duel Disk, "I activate Mirror Wave!"

"Nice try, Giuno but it won't work!"

"It won't? Tore, don't tell me you forgot about me over here." Another girl with long black hair wagged her finger, "Your Joker may be strong but even strong monsters are vulnerable to trap cards."

"I know that, Ophelia!" the boy named Tore shouted, "My Arcana Knight Joker has an ability that protects him from being targeted once per turn," the boy paused and looked to another boy, his partner, "Right, Savino?"

"That's right." Savino grinned arrogantly.

"Ah, but you forgot about my Eye of Truth," Ophelia pointed to her card's solid vision image, "Really, it's a pretty big projection, so you have no excuse."

The boy named Savino looked up at the cards projected above his partner and himself, "Crap, they can see our hand!"

"Since you have no trap cards, you can't negate the effect of Mirror Wave." Juno continued, "Mirror Wave destroys your attacking monster, and if I banish it and another Mirror trap card from my graveyard you also lose life points equal to your monster's attack."

"Dammit, not again!" Tore exclaimed as his monster's sword slammed into a reflective barrier. The impact between the weapon and barrier caused an eruption of energy that consumed the monster and travelled all the way back to Tore himself.

Tore: 0

Ophelia: 4000

Savino: 1300

Juno: 4000

Tore punched the ground in frustration, "Dammit, not agai-"

"I'll be taking my turn now." Ophelia said as she drew a card, "This'll do. I summon Silent Psychic Wizard, I won't bother with his effect." A man in futuristic blue and white spandex appeared on the field. He twirled his white staff around before pointing it forward. (ATK: 1900)

Savino growled, "Are you mocking me?"

"Uh, yeah." Ophelia said. A small laugh escaped Juno's mouth, but was stifled by her hand. Ophelia smiled at her partner.

"Your monster can't beat mine, and even if you summon a stronger card, it'd have to be pretty impressive to beat down all of my life points and Mr. Volcano at once." Savino gestured to the monster in front of him, a man in a suit and cape with swirling crimson hair, "You two may be the stars of Duel Academy now, but that just makes you the ticket for guys like us to shoot for the top!"

"And if you survive next turn you're going to summon that Pyrorex in your hand to beat one of us, right?"

"That's right."

Juno looked at Savino with a frown. He was sweating, his hands were shaking, and his eyes were full of desperation. Even he knew he had lost, even if he didn't want to admit it. It was a sad sight. She shook the thoughts out of her head. Those kind of thoughts had no place in the world she was training for. The world of professional duels where people bet their lives on their decks.

"That's too bad." Ophelia said, "You don't seem to understand how easily things can fall apart in a duel. You're trying to leapfrog your way to the top, but you don't have the experience for it yet."

"Talk is cheap!"

"I agree." Ophelia placed a card in her Duel Disk, "I activate Emergency Teleport!" a portal appeared above Ophelia. From it leapt a jester-like creature with clothing that resembled a circuit board. Its eyes were hidden behind a visor with a "greater than" and a "less than" symbol placed on each side, "Emergency Teleport summons Krebons from my deck." (ATK: 1200)

"A tuner monster?" Savino's eyes widened. He forced what little composure he had left, "You still won't be able to beat me this turn."

Ophelia smirked, "Krebons tunes Psychic Wizard." Krebon exploded into two green rings and surrounded the wizard monster. The wizard's body became an outline of itself, revealing four stars within it that filed into a line, "The road of fate meets a bitter end! All fear is reality! Synchro Summon! Appear now, Psychic Nightmare!" The rings and stars were enveloped by a beam of light. When it faded a new monster took the place of the remains of the original two. A demonic creature with a horrific face and raggedy green hair. Its body was surrounded by an aura of electricity. The creature flapped its wings just enough to keep it off the ground. (ATK: 2400)

"What… In the world?" Savino stepped back, "Whatever! That monster can't beat me in time!"

"I usually don't show this guy off." Ophelia knocked on the solid vision hologram, causing it to shimmer, "I'm not surprised you don't know him. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised either way." Ophelia pointed at Savino, "Psychic Nightmare's effect activates! I choose a card in your hand at random and if I can guess what card type the selected card is, Nightmare here gets a whole thousand point boost to his attack!"

"N-no way! But you have that Eye of Truth card up, so…"

"Exactly, I know all of your cards so no matter what I pick I'll be right."

"I-I give up." Savino placed his hand over his deck, "I-I made a Mistake."

"What are you talking about?" Ophelia scowled at her opponent as the holograms faded.

"Next year we'll only have a year left in this academy and…"

"You feel like you're not good enough to make it in a professional league, right?" Tore chimed in, "I feel the same way."

"You're just now coming to that conclusion?" Ophelia collected her cards and shuffled them back into her deck, "It's too late for that kind of crap now."

"Maybe you could still get into a minor league, or something?" Juno said, "I mean, it's not like you're the worst duelists ever. It's just that… the ones worse than you have already dropped out, but you stuck with it."

"Maybe, but…"

"No buts." Ophelia turned to leave, "Your path has already been laid out for you. Trying to change it now would just be disastrous," she turned her head back before committing to her leave, "But if you think any league will take a duelist who doesn't see the duel through to the end then you're sorely mistaken. Let's go, Giuno."

Juno gave the defeated duelists one last look of pity before following her friend, "You think we were too hard on them?"

"We?" Ophelia laughed, "You don't have to take the blame for me being a jerk. I just told them what they needed to hear and then you softened it up. Like a good cop, bad cop kind of thing."

"I guess…" Juno shook her head, "So, only one more year before we graduate."

"Yep." Ophelia said. She pushed the doors of the gymnasium open, letting Juno step into the hallway before her, "Next year we get to take actual D-Wheel courses rather than just mechanics and simulations."

"Yeah… great." Juno stared at the ground.

"Are you still bummed about getting an average grade on the Riding Duel final?" Ophelia laughed, "Don't worry about it. You still passed, so it's whatever."

"Yeah, but Dezi passed it with flying colors, and then passed the real life courses with perfect scores too. It's just pressure, I guess."

"Because your brother did it you think you should too? Man, you're such a nerd." Ophelia slapped Juno on the back playfully, "I'll meet you at your locker. Once you've cleared it out we can blow this taco stand."

Juno blinked, "Taco stand?"

"It's an expression from old American movies, or TV, or something. I heard on the internet and I thought it was cool. Shut up."

Juno chuckled as she and Ophelia split up to gather their belongings. Ophelia watched as Juno made her way down the hallway, "Dammit, Dezi."

xx Present Day xx

Juno stood in the family room of a large house, squirming in the embrace of her mother and father, "It's been so long!" Juno's mother stared at the other three. They were sitting on a couch, each one not exactly sure what to make of the current situation. "And who are they?"

"They were with Giuno when I found her." Marco said.

"And you brought them here? What they-" Juno's mother glanced at the three girls and then back to her husband. She continued speaking with a loud whisper, not that it actually made her any more difficult to hear, "What if they're, you know.. Kidnappers!" her voice began to involuntarily rise, "Crazies who wanted to take her for themselves and make them part of their own family!"

"Oh, no! We're not crimin- Kidnappers!" Larissa said, "Actually I'm a huge fan of your son! I'd never do anything to-"

"Oh god! They're crazy fanatics!"

"Mom, I wasn't kidnapped!" Juno shouted as she broke free of her mother's arms.

"Sonia, please calm down." Marco placed his hands on his wife's shoulders, "We don't know anything about these people, but I'm sure it'll all be sorted out whenever we report the good news."

Juno flinched at Marco's words, "No! No you can't do that!"

"What are you saying? We have to report that we found you. You've been declared…" Marco trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"I'm not staying." Juno said, "I only agreed to come here because you were drawing attention in the streets. Too many people saw us already."

"You can't be serious." Sonia sat down on a chair and took a few deep breaths. She looked up at her daughter, with eyes fixed especially on her crimson hair. "This is too much. She stood up. The room was silent except for Sonia's heavy breathing. She lingered for a few seconds before turning to leave the room, "E-excuse me."

Marco watched her walk up a flight of stairs before turning back to his daughter. He put his hands on her shoulders. His hands had barely any grip to them. He was completely drained, "Giuno…" His mind raced as he tried to find the right words to say. After a minute had passed he gave up, "At least... stay for dinner."

"I can't st-"

Ana tapped her foot as she watched the scene unfold. She looked down at her bag which contained the mysterious locked box. The 'chatter' from Juno and her family filled her head like the buzzing of an insect. Finally, she had had enough. She stood up. She looked at the rest of the room, not realizing her sudden movements would cause her to become the center of attention. "I'm leaving."

"W-what?" Larissa looked up at Ana, bewildered.

"This is obviously going to take a while and we don't have time to wait around. Meet up with me whenever you get this straightened out."

"We won't have to." Juno said, "We're not staying." She began to walk away when she felt her father's hand grab her wrist. She spun around to say something, but whatever it was were forgotten when the saw her father's eyes—eyes she had been avoiding since he appeared in her life again. "Fine, but I'm leaving right after that, got it?"

Ana didn't waste a second. She picked up her bag and stepped toward the door. She reached for the knob only for it to move away from her grasp. The door opened and on the other side stood a young man with jet black hair. He had an air of confidence and swagger about him that was almost palpable. His eyes meeting her eyes, he smiled a row of perfect teeth at Ana."Why hello there. I don't think we've met."

"Move. You're in the way." Ana said as she pushed him aside and exited the home.

The man stood there for a fraction of a second before collecting himself and walking in. He couldn't help but smile at the awkward confrontation. He hung his head while walking to hide it, "Dad? Is everything alright? I was in town and I heard that you had made a scene at the-" His sentence was stopped cold as he finally raised his head and the scene in the family room had entered his sight. "Giuno?"

"D-Dezi."

xx Six Years Prior xx

Ophelia opened the doors to the outside world with a glee, "Summer at last! Summer at last!" Juno followed immediately behind.

"I don't know why you're getting so ahead of yourself." Juno located a bench near the sidewalk and moved to occupy it, "It'll be a couple of hours before the bus gets here, and then we have to wait for the boat, and then we have to ride the boat, which is a few more hou-"

"Alright, alright." Ophelia waved her hands. She took a seat beside Juno, "Jeez, you really don't know how to enjoy anything, do you? You're what they call a pessimist."

"Am not! And what about you, being all hardass in there?" Juno mimicked a scowl as she spoke, "You didn't seem to be having much fun."

"Those losers bother us all the damn time, though." Ophelia threw her head back, feigning distress, "A girl can only put up with so much. Ugh, It's not easy being popular." As she looked up she could see storm clouds approaching from the distance, "That's odd."

"Hmm?" Juno looked up, "What's odd? The clouds? The news said it was going to storm tonight." Juno sighed, "I just hope it doesn't delay our ride home."

Ophelia didn't respond. She kept staring at the sky. Her eyes glazed over and she was seemingly lost in thought. "No… That can't be…"

Juno nudged Ophelia playfully, "You think you know better than everyone, including the weather people."

The nudge snapped Ophelia back into reality. "Oh, uh…" Ophelia stuttered for a few more seconds before she was finally able to register what Juno had said to her, "Well, I do know better than everybody! I thought that was why you hung out with me!"

"Yeah, okay." Juno giggled. More students poured out of the school's double doors to wait outside for the bus, "Looks like our alone time is over."

"Seems so." Ophelia said. She frowned as a few students began to approach them but quickly replaced it with a fake smile, "What's up?"

"Nothing much." a male student answered. He adjusted his backpack for no reason other than to draw attention to it, "Remember when my lunch bag busted inside of my bag?" He waited for Ophelia to nod before continued, "Well I had to pay full price for like three of my books. Totally unfair."

"More like unfortunate." Juno said, "But not really unfair. Sometimes bad things just happen without anyone to blame." Ophelia flinched at Juno's statement, catching her attention.

"Whatever, Giuno." the guy scoffed playfully, "You're always rationalizing things in ways that make you sound like some kind of flowery philosopher, you know that Giuno?"

"It's not like she doesn't have a point." another girl said, "They can't just let you off the hook or else nobody would think twice about defacing their schoolbooks."

"Man, nobody is on my side today." the student grumbled.

Ophelia stood up, "I just remembered that I forgot something in my locker or like a classroom or something. I might have to catch the second bus."

"I'll wait for you then." Juno said, "Or I'll go and help you look for it."

"No, it's fine. You take the first bus." Ophelia turned toward the school doors, "It's not like we'll never see each other again. We kinda live in the same town, after all."

"Well, if you're sure."

"Yeah, it'll be okay." Ophelia began walking, "Oh, and don't let your brother push you around too much, alright? I'd hate to have put him in a choke hold! And… Be safe."

"Be safe?" the female student said, "That's kind of… Well, I don't know what it was."

"Maybe she's talking about the storm." The guy said, "You know, the one the weatherman was talking about this morning."

"Maybe…" Juno said. The sound of a large engine filled her ears. She turned to see a bus pulling into the school area.

xx Present Day xx

Eula stood out on the Russo family's patio, staring out into the trees. She looked down at the swimming pool that was a decent walk from the estate, if you bothered to actually take the stairs. She looked to the at the city lights of Messina in the distance, roughly a fifteen minute drive between her and any law enforcement. Plenty of time for a getaway. Thoughts like these came natural to her, and she knew that they came natural to Juno too. She couldn't help but wonder if they could really walk away from it all. She looked back when she heard the sound of the glass door sliding open. Juno.

"Hey." Juno approached Eula, a bottle of water in each hand, "I thought you might be thirsty."

"Oh, uh, yeah." Eula turned around and took a bottle, "Thanks." She leaned backwards on the railing, "I know you didn't just come out here to bring me some water."

"You were pretty quiet in there." Juno said. She grabbed a metal patio chair and turned it toward Eula before sitting down, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Me? Pffft. I'm fine. It's just that it's not my place, you know? Our deal was that we'd never ask about each other's pasts. First names only, just in case. Can't tell what you don't know, right?"

"So that's why you're out here? Because you don't want to learn too much about me?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"I don't think anything you learn now will be quite as big as learning my name, family, and hometown." Juno punctuated her sentence with something between a sigh and a forced laugh. "I guess it's not too big a deal. It's not like we'd be keeping those secrets forever, right?"

"Hm?" Eula raised an eyebrow.

"Well, at least our names. We won't have any needs for all the secrets after we… retire, so to speak."

"No, I guess not."

"So, how about it." Juno leaned forward with a grin on her face, "Wanna finally tell me your name?"

Eula turned her head away playfully, "No way!"

"Aw, what! C'mon that's not fair!"

The sound of the glass door automatically sliding open cut off the conversation. Marco stood in the doorway, half inside, half outside. "Your mother's awake, Giuno."

"Alright… I'll be right in." Juno said. Marco nodded and then walked back inside. The door shut behind him. Juno stood up and looked at Eula, "I know you're tired. If nothing's changed then you can go sleep in my old room. I'll come and get you when it's time to eat… Or bail." Juno glanced back at the door, "I'm still not sure how this is going to go down."

Eula laughed. "Actually, I think I'll just sleep on that thing." She pointed to another piece of patio furniture closer to the house. It was a porch swing with three cushions and canopy.

"Oh." Juno said, "Well, yeah that's probably more your style, isn't it? Alright. I'll see you in a bit."

Eula and Juno walked together a few steps until it was time for them to part ways. "Branwyn" Eula said just before Juno had reached the door.

"Hm?"

"My name. It's Eula Branwyn."

xxxxx

Anastasia walked along the roads of Sicily back toward Messina. She was carrying her long coat over her shoulder. She wiped the sweat from her brow. She had not thought this through, but she wouldn't tell anyone that. Not even herself. "How could those idiots have let them drive us all the way out here?" She looked behind her. She couldn't see the Russo home anymore. She looked in front of her, she couldn't see Messina. "I should have never left my D-Wheel."

xxxxx

Larissa, Juno, and Dezi sat in chairs around a dining table, each with a cup of coffee in front of them. Dezi looked out the glass door to the patio. The sun had already set, "Is your 'friend' going to be alright sleeping out there?"

"She'll be fine." Juno said, "She'll sleep all the way through dinner. I'll have to save her a plate.."

"So what was it like on your first tour in the Pro's?" a starry-eyed Larissa asked Dezi.

Dezi took a sip of coffee, letting Larissa's question hang for a few moments, "It was… An eyeopener, for sure."

"Oh, because you lost to Nicolas "The Dreadnought" Weathers?" Larissa said. Juno jumped at the question like she had so many today but in her tunnel vision, Larissa missed it.

"Yes, exactly. A loss can do you a lot of good. Some say it's more helpful than a win most times. Although..." Dezi glanced at Juno, "That wasn't the most troubling thing that happened at that time."

"What do you-" Larissa cut herself off and then looked at Juno, "Wait, I remember. It was all over the news. That's when you went missing." Juno flinched again, this time it didn't go unnoticed. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's alright." Juno muttered.

"So, you're a mechanic?" Dezi asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Larissa said, "I've wanted to work Duel Monsters ever since I was little, but I couldn't afford to go to an academy so I just kind of became a mechanic and then taught myself how to work with D-Wheels. I'm not very good with the computer parts yet, though. They don't really teach you how to work on D-Wheels outside of Duel Academies and the like. Not even in colleges or tech schools!" If Larissa hadn't needed to breath, she probably would have never stopped talking.

Dezi chuckled, "Interesting. Giuno studied D-Wheels at Duel Academia too. She was pretty good at it, or so her grades said."

"That's right! You must have gone to Duel Academy too!" Larissa leaned forward, "You'll have to tell me all about it someday."

"Oh, Giuno!" Dezi butted in, "Your coffee must be pretty cold by now." He turned to Larissa, "I know it's rude to ask guests for favors, but do you think you could heat her coffee back up? And a refill for me?" Dezi grabbed Juno's cup and handed it to Larissa with a wink, "And maybe later I'll let you see that D-Wheel of mine. Maybe even a duel."

"O-of course!" Larissa grabbed all three cups and walked into the kitchen as fast as she could without running.

"Wow, nice girl but she has no social skills. Just like Miss Takatsukasa."

Juno tensed up. "You know about Ana?"

"Is that what you call her? Impressive. Being on a first name basis with someone like her." Dezi sighed, "Of course I know her Giuny. She's the runaway heir to Medea's empire. The company works with D-Wheels. Hell, I've met the woman before. She was just as much of a rude robot then as she is now." Dezi smiled as if someone had just told a joke, "What, did you guys form a runaway girl's club or something? If that's the case, aren't you missing someone?"

"Shut up…" was all Juno could bring herself to say.

"Fair enough. I guess that's a little over the line." Dezi shrugged, "We do need to talk about what you did with my D-Wheel, though."

"Is that really all you have to say to me?" Juno said through clenched teeth.

Dezi turned his ear toward Juno, "Is there something else I should say?"

xx Six Years Prior xx

Steam followed Juno as she walked from her personal shower across her room. She plopped down on her bed. Even with her puffy bathrobe, the bed was about three times her size, "Good to be home." She reached for the cell phone above her head. The screen lit up as she brought it parallel with her face, showing a picture of Juno and Dezi as children behind a number of applications, "Still no call…"

"Giunooooo!" Sonia knocked on the bedroom door.

Juno sat up, "Yeah, mom?"

The door opened and Sonia poked her head in, "We're going to go greet Dezi at the airport tomorrow morning, so be sure you get some sleep tonight."

"I know, I know." Juno laughed, "I thought the point of vacation was that I could sleep in."

"This is a big deal, Giuno!" Sonia's tone wasn't angry, but made it clear that she took offense to the joke, "You're brother is going to be coming back from his first pro league Grand Prix."

"I-I didn't mean it like that." Juno shrunk.

Sonia sighed, "I know you didn't. I'm just anxious. He made it all the way to the championship finals in his first year as a Pro Duelist. What if he loses?! It'd crush him!"

"Now you're telling jokes." Juno laughed, "All the professors are always telling me what a prodigy my big brother was. There's no way he'd lose after making it this far."

"He hasn't won it yet." Sonia said, "The match won't be until seven o'clock. Your father and I are going to watch it in the family room."

"If it's alright with you, I think I'll just watch it up here." Juno said.

"I understand." Sonia smiled, "There's not much privacy at Duel Academia, I imagine."

Juno laughed, "Sure isn't."

"Well, good night. We'll see you in the morning."

"Night."

Time passed and Ophelia still hadn't replied. Juno looked at her phone again, thinking that maybe she just hadn't heard it go off. More time passed. Seven o'clock. Juno sighed, "Maybe she went to bed as soon as she got home or something." She snapped her fingers and a large solid vision screen appeared in front of her. She pressed it a few times until she came to an image of Dezi staring down another duelist. "Guess there's nothing left to do but relax." She pushed the screen. It floated through the air until it touched the wall just above a dresser and rested there.

An announcer's voice blared through speakers on Juno's dresser, "The moment we've all been waiting for, folks! Nicolas "The Dreadnought" Weathers, last year's runner up is squaring off with the newcomer who defeated last year's champion in the very first round! The newcomer is none other than rising star, Dezi Russo!"

Both duelists activated their Duel Disks. "Duel!"

Juno watched the back and forth between Dezi and the man called Dreadnought. As the duel got more and more tense she found herself standing up, fists clenched, "C'mon Dezi! Don't get too greedy! Take your time!"

Dezi: 800

Dreadnought: 400

Dezi stared the man and his monstrous Aqua Dragon down. Holographic waves crashed against Dezi's legs. The field spell Umiiruka was powering the dragon up. (ATK: 2750). The only thing standing between the dragon and him as a turtle with a flying saucer shell, aptly named UFO Turtle. (DEF: 1100) The Aqua Dragon made its move, launching a jet of water from its mouth. Dezi smirked, "Got ya!" He pressed a button on his Duel Disk, "I activate my trap, Mirror Wave! It destroys your monster and inflict damage to your life points! I win!" Dezi's smirk faded and his eyes widened as he watched the De-Fusion card materialize on his opponent's field. The dragon was torn apart by three vortexes. Each third of the dragon became a new monster, the mermaid, Amazon of the Seas (ATK: 1300 → 1800), the worm-like ocean creature with razor sharp teeth, Zone Eater (ATK: 250 → 750), and a long serpentine dragon known as Fairy Dragon. (ATK: 1100) The Mermaid swam through the waves until it reached UFO Turtle. It lept in the air and did a flip, smacking the turtle on its way back down. "That was my last UFO Turtle… I… I don't have anything strong enough to summon." Dezi bowed his head in defeat as the other two monsters charged at him.

Dezi: 0

xxxxx

Juno waited at the airport with Marco and Sonia. She looked at her phone. "Still no reply, huh?" Sonia asked.

"No. I'm starting to worry." Juno said.

"Well, it's still early." Marco said, "She's probably sleeping in."

"Maybe…" Juno kept her stare on her phone until it was broken by her mother's excited shriek.

"Dezi! Dezi! Over here!"

Dezi's eyes widened as all eyes in the terminal were fixed on him. Before he knew it he was swarmed with reporters and fans.

xxxxx

That night Juno and Dezi sat on the patio. Juno's phone was on the outside table. It still hadn't gone off. "I don't get it."

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you." Juno shot Dezi a glare, "Sorry. Bad joke. I'm sure she'll message back in time."

"Everyone keeps saying that." Juno pouted, "If she didn't live on the other side of the city I could go see what was up for myself."

"I'll take you over there tomorrow, I guess. We can even take my brand new D-Wheel out for a spin" Dezi pointed at Juno and stuck his thumb out so that his hand was in the shape of a gun, "But only if you tell me what you thought of my duel."

"Oh…" Juno looked up from her phone, "You didn't have to lose there."

"What?"

"Well, if you had let Aqua Dragon attack then you would have gotten to use UFO Turtle's effect."

Dezi began tapping his foot, "But he had De-Fusion. He would have just activated it after I summoned a monster."

"But you'd still have Mirror Wave, and he probably wouldn't have had any way to counter that."

"So you knew he had De-Fusion in his hand?" Dezi scoffed, "I find that hard to believe."

"No, but in that case if UFO Turtle had been destroyed by his lone Aqua Dragon then you could summon a monster and-" Juno jumped back as Dezi practically launched himself from his chair.

"Are you saying that you could have won the championship?" He yelled, "That you could have done better than me? That you could have handled that kind of pressure? You're a slightly above average student! I'm a prodigy! A god damn prodigy!"

"I-I'm not saying that at all." Juno gulped.

Dezi took a breath to calm himself. He was still visibly angry, but he had brought himself down to the point where he could control his volume. "Go get your Duel Disk and meet me by the pool."

xx Present Day xx

"Th-thanks for the meal." Larissa mumbled as she finished her plate.

"Don't mention it." Marco said. He looked at Juno, "So I guess you'll be leaving now?"

"You're just going to let her?" Sonia asked in horror.

"Giuno's an adult, Sonia." Marco looked back to Juno, "I don't know why you left, but some day I hope you'll be able to tell me." Marco sighed. "We'll keep your visit to ourselves in the meantime."

"We will?" Sonia asked.

"I-I'll do what I can." Maco said.

"I appreciate that, but I have to stay a bit longer." Juno forced the words out of her throat, "I want to let Eula sleep before heading out. She hasn't gotten any in a while."

"Well then I guess you'll be sitting around here then?" Dezi asked, "It's a shame you'll miss out on seeing your older brother and your friend have a riding duel." Dezi shook his head, "But, I get it. Can't leave your friend in a strange house. Especially one as… antisocial as her." Dezi waved Larissa on, "Shall we?"

"Oh, uh…" Larissa looked at Juno and then back to Dezi, "Yeah, sure."

"Your D-Wheel is at the docks, right?" Dezi asked Larissa. She nodded. "If we see your other friend we'll pick her up." Dezi held the door open for Larissa and then followed after her.

"If your friend doesn't wake up tonight, your room is just the way you left it." Marco said.

"Thanks, but I'll probably stay up." Juno averted eye contact by turning her gaze to the door, "I'm gonna go check on Eula." Juno shuffled toward the door. She stepped out onto the patio. She paused for a second to collect herself, "I've gotta get out of here." She turned her head to the swing. It was empty.

xx Six Years Prior xx

Juno: 1200

Dezi: 0

Dezi fell to his knees as the solid vision holograms above the pool water faded, "I-I don't believe this."

Juno froze up on on the other side of the pool. She knew she had made a Mistake by defeating Dezi based on his actions earlier. She took off her Duel Disk and set it down. Mustering up all the courage she could, she made her way around the pool.

"Don't." Dezi spat. He stood up and walked up to her. "You think I need your pity?"

"No." Juno said, "I just wanted to help."

"Help? That's pity you stupid -" Dezi ran his hands through his hair, "Get out of here." As he turned to leave he pushed her into the pool with one hand, using the force of his turn. "I don't need you, or anybody else." He didn't look back or slow his pace as he spoke, "Don't ever speak to me again."

xxxxx

Juno frantically ran from the back yard to the front of the property. She stood in front of the garage. She input a code on the keypad to unlock the door. She opened it. There it was. Dezi's bright red D-Wheel. She approached it. She looked around for some tools. When she had what she needed she lifted the seat and took off a few panels that protected the inner workings of the machine. She dug through all of the metal and wiring until she found a small chip. "There it is." Within minutes she had removed it. She replaced the panels and seat. After digging around the garage for a while longer she picked up a helmet. She put it on and started the D-Wheel.

Juno approached Messina a few minutes later. Her hands were shaking, due to stress. Partially from Dezi and partially from the fact that she had never driven a D-Wheel before and if her test scores were to be believed, she wasn't great at it. Even so, she had to talk to Ophelia. That was the only person she could talk to.

More minutes passed and Juno was on the other side of the city. She pulled into Ophelia's neighborhood. She stared at Ophelia's house. It was just a few blocks away. "Wait…" No less than four police vehicles were parked outside of the house. Juno pulled the D-Wheel over a block away, not wanting to risk it. As she got closer she saw a collection of officers standing outside with a couple, Ophelia's parents.

She walked up on the house and was immediately stopped by an officer, "Move along, please.." he said dryly.

"Wait." Ophelia's mother approached the officer, "She's Ophelia's friend. The one I was telling you about."

"W-what's going on?" Juno scanned the yard over and over, "Where's Ophelia?"

"That's what we want to talk to you, actually." the officer said, "She's missing and we were wondering if you could give us any new information."

xxxxx

Juno drove Dezi's D-Wheel over through a small town on the Italian mainland. Her mind was racing. Dezi, Ophelia. So much had happened in just one day. Breathing became harder, and so did focusing on driving. She didn't know if she should keep going or if she should stop. It was almost morning. If her parents weren't aware that she was gone by now, they would be soon. She had let her impulses take over and now she was coming down from the adrenaline high. She thought about turning back, but quickly shook it off.

She noticed a store with a nearly full parking lot and decided to pull in, "World Store?" She parked in the middle. She looked at her hair in the mirror. She needed to change her appearance, and the D-Wheel's if possible. One thing at a time.

Inside the store, Juno looked at the hair dyes. She didn't have any money, so there was only one way she was getting out with it. She was already committed to her decision.

A hand quickly snatched the box from Juno's hand, "You couldn't be any more obvious if you tried." The owner of the hand was a blonde girl, around Juno's age. "Meet me outside in about five minutes. I'll be at the end of the parking lot."

Five minutes later Juno was at the end of the parking lot as told, but no sign of the blonde girl. "Surprise!" Juno jumped. The girl laughed, "You're too easy. What is this, your first day?"

"W-well, yeah." Juno said, "That's kind of why I need the hair dye."

"Oh. Trying to change your looks for reasons other than cosmetics? I see." The girl rubbed her chin mockingly, "That means you're a running from something. Home, probably." Juno was silent, "Yeah, you're starting to wish you had said a lot less now. Definitely a runaway." She handed Juno the dye, "You'll never make it out here, you know."

Juno took the box, "Well, I can't go back."

"Why not?"

"I… I don't know, I just can't!" Juno snapped.

The girl laughed again, "Well I guess you'll just have to come with me."

"What?"

"I was going to take your D-Wheel, but even I can't do that to someone like you." She threw her head back, "Ugh, I must be going soft."

"You were going to take my D-Wheel?" Juno eyed the parking lot.

"It's still there. I said I was going to take it. Not that I did." The girl shook her head, "Look, you need me. If you're smart enough to change your own appearance then you probably realize that driving around a bright red D-Wheel is probably not a great idea, right?" Juno began to answer, but was cut off by the girl sticking her hand up, "Don't answer that. I can help you with the D-Wheel situation. Well, I know a guy who can. Might as well give it a shot, right?" Eula watched Juno work the situation out in her head for a few minutes, "And of course, if you say no then I'll just have to go with Plan A."

"Alright, alright!" Juno said, "Let's just get out of here before we're seen."

"Yep, definitely a runner. Name's Eula, by the way."

"Giuno."

"Juno, got it." Eula said, already walking back to the D-Wheel.

"No, I said… Nevermind." Juno followed.

xx Present Day xx

Dezi drove a large trailer into the docks storage. His local celebrity status made it easy for him to get through security. He parked the trailer, "Well, here we are." He opened his door. Larissa silently did the same. "You've been unusually quiet. Earlier you were quite the chatterbox."

"Oh, uh… Sorry." Larissa said.

"The pressure of dueling a pro getting to you? That's natural."

"Y-yeah, that's it."

Dezi frowned, "You heard me talking to Giuno earlier, didn't you?" Larissa jumped, "It's okay. I know how hard it is to meet your heroes in person when they don't have their 'masks' on for the camera." he sighed, "How long have you known Giuno?"

"Not very long, I guess. A few days."

"Really? Well then you probably think she's just some sweet girl. I tell you, that girl's got a better mask than I or any of the celebrities I've met."

"I-I don't know." They were at the storage unit. Larissa swiped an I.D. card and the metal door ascended, revealing two D-Wheels inside, "You seemed to have upset her pretty bad."

"Oh, I know it probably looks that way to you, but I'm her brother. You don't know what she's really like."

"Maybe not, but I do." Dezi and Larissa spun around. Eula was standing next to the trailer, her eyes locked on Dezi.

"Where did yo- You stowed away on my trailer!"

"Nothing gets by you, huh?" Eula approached the two at a threatening pace, "You think you're pretty slick, don't you? You tried to lure Larissa out here to open the storage unit so you could just take the D-Wheel. And you came up with that all in a few hours of meeting her too." Eula shook her head, "What's so special about it anyway?"

"It's mine, and I want it." Dezi shrugged, "Is that so wrong?"

Eula gave a condescending laugh, "It doesn't really matter if it's wrong or not. It's not yours anymore, and I won't let you take it."

"What are you going to do?" Dezi stepped forward, "This is my city. Even if you took it right now, I could have everyone after you in minutes."

"Minutes? You're almost making it too easy."

"I have a better idea." Dezi stepped back, "Why don't we duel for it?"

"You're kidding." Eula said.

"Not at all." Dezi shrugged, "Seems more civilized than the conversation we were just having, doesn't it."

"Whatever." Eula said. She walked past Dezi and into the storage unit, "One condition."

"Name it. I'll see what I can do."

"There has to be witnesses. Maybe those guys who let you in here. They don't seem too worried about their jobs." Eula picked up her helmet, "Oh, and you're gonna have to throw in something for me if I win, since we're betting my D-Wheel and all."

"Like?"

"Well, I was hangin' out in that trailer back there. It looks like it could store about four D-Wheels. That'd make our travels a little bit easier." Eula said as she sat on the D-Wheel, "Of course, if you refuse I can just ride off right now."

"How do I know you didn't tamper with my D-Wheel?" Dezi crossed his arms, "If you were in my trailer then you must have seen it."

"You don't, but like I said, I could just race out of here and be gone before you could do anything about it." Eula started the D-Wheel, "Especially now that you've just up and let me mount it. I'm only agreeing to the duel because the thought of beating you in front of your own people is just too satisfying to pass up."

"Fine, but I get to pick the location, and I want to inspect my D-Wheel first."

"Fine by me."

xxxxx

Anastasia pulled into the Russo driveway muttering to herself. Not a second after she parked, her video phone on her D-Wheel began to ring, "Larissa?" Ana tapped her screen to accept the call.

Larissa's face appeared on the screen. "Ana!" she said frantically, "Eula going to be dueling Dezi near Mt. Etna!"

"Dezi?" Ana asked.

"Juno's brother. Do you seriously not- Nevermind!"

"Is that what you called me for?" Ana frowned.

"Oh, uh. Yeah, I guess so." Larissa twiddled her thumbs, "I guess it wasn't as important as it seemed, but things over here are real tense and…"

The house's front door flew open and through it Juno came running. Ana smirked, "Finally had enough family time, huh?"

"What?" Larissa asked in confusion.

"Oh, Ana! Good timing!" Juno rushed a large flight of porch steps, "Eula's gone and I have no idea where she went."

Ana made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, "Good timing…" She looked down at Larissa, "Leave your GPS on. I'll be there soon." She hung up the call and then looked up at Juno, "Hop on. I just happen to know where she is."