"Wait up! Don't just leave me behind, Saiga!" I ran after him.

"You don't have to come with me." Saiga crossed his arms.

"You're kidding! Of course i do! You just walked in on a private conversation and I can't take my eyes off you or you might tell!"

"That's why I told you I won't say anything."

"I can't trust you! You just told me you're a great liar!"

"Here we are."

"Ah, Yusei!" I called out to him. Yusei turned around at the sound of my voice, smiling.

"Pinoko. I thought you didn't want to come?"

"Haha, let's just say Rocky isn't the greatest company..."

"Yusei," Saiga butt in. "I struck a deal to get into Satellite. I'm leaving tonight. Leave Satellite to me. You just raise all sorts of hell in the Fortune Cup."

"Sure."

"Ah, Yusei! Yusei!" I heard a familiar voice coming from my left. "Tenpei, c'mon! He's the guy who cusmatized my duel disk for me!"

"Oh, it's little Rua! How ya been, squirt?" I ruffled Rua's hair affectionately.

"So you guys are here too, Yusei, Pinoko!" Rua looked up at us happily.

"What are you doing here? This isn't a place for kids. Where's Ruka?" Yusei inquired.

"She's looking after the house."

Another kid ran up behind Rua. He had long, brown hair and square glasses.

"Hey, Rua. That's a marker, isn't it?" He asked hesitantly.

"But he did this for me!"

"And who might you young'uns be?" Yanagi wondered.

"These are your friends, Yusei?" Rua looked so excited to be meeting up with Yusei again.

"Right, this is the kid from Tops who took me and Pinoko in for shelter."

"I'm Rua! This is my friend, Tenpei!" Rua pushed Tenpei ahead.

"P-pleased," he stammered.

"Ah! Rua, you brought another cute little kid with you! You're so small and cute!" I crouched down to smile warmly at them.

"Yeah! How's it hanging, Pinoko?"

"Haha, good! Have you gotten any stronger?"

"You bet! Oh right! Tenpei, why don't you duel against Yusei? He's super strong!"

"U-um..." Tenpei seemed unsure.

"Ha! Think again, squirt! You're a thousand years too early to even think about challenging Yusei!" I gave Tenpei a pat on the head.

"Oooh! That's an invitation to the Fortune Cup! You're entering, too?"

"Yeah."

"Alright! I get to duel Yusei again! Yusei, this time I'm not gonna lose."

"What was that, shrimp?" I gave Rua a friendly noogie. "Yusei is way too tough for you! He could duel circles around you!"

"I am gonna win!" He pulled out of my headlock. "But you're right about one thing, Pinoko. Yusei is super strong! See, Tenpei?"

I turned around to smile at Yusei, but instead I saw him kneeling and clutching his right arm.

"Yusei! What's wrong?!"

"It's the same as that one time..."

"You mean at the stadium? When the Crimson Dragon appeared."

Before we could continue, the crowd started to scatter, everyone screaming that they would be offed by some witch.

"The Witch? She really showed up? Where? Where?" Rua asked excitedly.

"So she's here now, huh? We'll get dragged into this. We need to run!" Saiga warned.

"What witch?" I wondered aloud.

Instead of running, we were all thrown in different directions. Yanagi, Yusei, and I were on one side, but I couldn't see anyone else through the smoke. The only thing I could see was the silhouette of a dragon at the base of the vines.

Yusei pulled back his sleeve and glove to reveal the birthmark from before.

"Sonny!" Yanagi said in surprise. "This is the symbol of the dragon, the Dragon's Birthmark!"

"When did you get that?" asked Himuro.

Then a blinding light appeared, accompanied by a dragons roar. Yusei went ahead and so did Rua. I can't leave that kid on his own, so of course I followed behind him. The dust began to clear, and the Witch became visible.

Rua attempted to go ahead, but I held him against me. Yusei put a protective hand in front of me.

"The Black Rose Witch is real..." Rua murmured.

"You as well," she said lowly.

"You as well?" Yusei parroted, walking ahead.

"Yusei, stop! You don't know what she'll do!" I shouted, but he wasn't listening.

"Wretched mark!" she screeched, playing some kind of card on her duel disk. A bright light engulfed her, and then she was gone. Everyone was understandably baffled.

"Who was that woman..?" I trailed off.

"She is.. she is real!" Tenpei cried.

"I'm so glad we didn't get offed..." Rua whimpered.

"Hey, little guys, it's okay. You know I'd never let anything like that happen to you guys, right?" I dropped to my knees and hugged them close.

"You can be real nice at times, Pinoko. Like a mom." Rua pulled back and smiled.

"Well, now that you feel better..." I punched them both over the head. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! YOU CAME HERE LOOKING FOR TROUBLE?! YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN REALLY HURT!" I scolded them.

"Yeah, just like a mom..." Tenpei agreed.

"I'm interested in the Witch's reaction to Yusei," Saiga commented.

"The marks gone! Why?! That's a shame!" Yanagi lamented.

"That's the same as what happened last time," I said to him.

"I'm sure.. the Witch has a birthmark too."

That is all I have written right now. Actually, I ran out of notebook paper, so now I have to write on a steno pad! Haha! So, there are only three reviews so far, and that makes me sad! I've been marathoning this story for a few days, but I'm losing speed now. Maybe if someone left another review, I would write more? ;)