Cecelia gripped the bars of the cell as she glared at Goodwin. She just didn't trust the guy. First, she gets the okay to try and get Yusei up to speed with the Signers and everything. Then when she does that, she immediately gets blamed for something she had no intention of doing, and she gets thrown into the Hive. She was only arrested after Takasu decided to call Goodwin.

She shook her head. It was her fault for taunting Takasu and challenging him. However, she wasn't expecting Goodwin to reply like that. At least this way he was able to make sure that he kept an eye on the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon.

"You do not know that for sure," said Crimson.

Yeah, yeah. I'm not completely positive of that, but I'm pretty damn sure that's the situation.

The Crimson Dragon sighed. "I ask that you keep control of your emotions until you get more information."

Ok fine. I wasn't going to do anything anyway. I mean, what exactly can I do? I'm still stuck in here.

Director Goodwin looked down on Takasu. "You're painful to watch. I observed the duel. It seems you do not have the skills to run this place. The person who is going to vanish is you."

Chief Takasu was on his knees looking up at Goodwin. Once he heard that he was effectively fired, he sputtered out some noises of disbelief, and then looked down at the ground. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He had been completely defeated. First by the Satellite in their duel, and then by Goodwin.

The director started walking down the platform, and made his way towards Yusei.

Yusei had been allowed to leave right away. He was in the dueling area with Himuro, Yanagi, and Kohei — his roommate in the Hive. While they were all talking, Cecelia was in another area with Goodwin. Her arms were crossed, and she looked up at him.

"I don't understand why you decided to put me in the Hive," she said, "Couldn't you have just sent me to a correctional facility or let my parents deal with me?"

"You don't understand, Miss Briceño," said Goodwin, "You did break the law and tried to cause a prison break. Something like that cannot be overlooked in our system. Didn't you say you wanted to be able to speak to Mr. Yusei Fudo? I also allowed this to happen by transferring you to the Hive along with him. I believe I met your request."

Cecelia rolled her eyes. "I wasn't trying to cause a prison break!" she growled. Cecelia took a deep breath, held it in for a few moments, then let it out slowly. "But if that's the cover story, so be it. However, it seems like you got something out of it as well. You weren't able to get a read on Yusei's Mark of the Dragon in the normal area, so you transferred him to the Hive. Was that duel supposed to try and bring it out or something?"

Goodwin waited a moment before answering. He looked into Cecelia's cold eyes, and then handed her deck and an envelope to her. "I believe Yusei has the tail of the Crimson Dragon? Keep working to develop that power, Vessel of the Crimson Dragon. You are also free to go."

Cecelia looked at the envelope, and then looked back up at Goodwin. It was a white envelope with a red seal. The seal had "FC" on it. "Hey! What is this?" she shouted.

"Don't disappoint me Miss Briceño," said Goodwin, "I look forward to your continued assistance during the Fortune Cup."

Cecelia sighed and touched her criminal mark. "Continued assistance my ass." Whether Goodwin would give her a lot of information or not didn't matter; she could find out on her own — or at least try to figure some stuff out. Cecelia glanced around. It was about time she met up with the others. Himuro had said something about a dueling field, but not much else. That didn't matter to Cecelia; even though she didn't know exactly where it was, she would be able to find her way there. She pocketed the envelope and made her way to the others.

"…he must be personally interested in you."

Cecelia met up with the others just in time to hear the last part of what Kohei was saying. Yanagi smiled and looked at the Vessel.

"And she gets to leave immediately too!" he exclaimed.

"It seems Goodwin's really interested in you guys," said Himuro, "You should be careful."

"You don't have to tell me twice," muttered Cecelia. Himuro raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask anything, Yanagi started talking.

"Bro, I have a farewell gift for you," he said as he pulled out a card.

"But this is…"

"It's fine," said the older man, "You'll use it better than me, bro."

Yusei took the card and smiled. "I'll take care of it."

"Yusei, Cecelia," said Himuro, "Take this card. At a store downtown named Bootleg, there's a man named Saiga. If you show him this, he'll help you."

"Thank you," said Yusei.

Cecelia's head tilted to the side. "Help with what?" she asked.

"Get your decks and Yusei's duel runner back," Himuro said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Cecelia flipped up the deck holder on her belt and took out her deck, showing it to the rest of them.

"But I already got mine back." She then looked at Yusei. "You mean you didn't get yours back?"

Yusei nodded, and his thoughts drifted back to what Takasu had said. Cecelia seemed to remember as well.

"Takasu," she muttered. She still felt bad about that entire situation. She looked back up at Yusei, and when his eyes met hers, she immediately looked down at the ground again.

An awkward silence soon hung in the air. Kohei came around and clapped both Cecelia and Yusei on the shoulders. "I think it's about time you guys get going," said Kohei.

Yusei nodded, and they both walked out of the Facility. Cecelia paused and crossed her arms. "Hey Yusei."

"Yeah?"

"I want to help."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to help you get your stuff back."

"Ok."

Cecelia smiled. "Great! I need to pick up something really quick, but I shouldn't take too long. Meet at Bootleg later?"

Yusei nodded, and Cecelia started to run off. She smiled and waved as she got further away from him. Once she was gone, Yusei started to think. Cecelia was a strange girl. She always seemed to show up at the strangest times. First as a guard in the Facility that watched as Takasu and his men…did things, and then popping up into his cell in the Hive. She ended up getting arrested too. He just couldn't figure her out. Even though she had all of her stuff back, she still wanted to help him get all of his? All he knew was that there was some kind of connection because he was a Signer, and she was the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon. Maybe after things calmed down a little he would be able to get to know her better?

Cecelia stood a few feet away from the garage Harvey worked in. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go in or not. Harvey would definitely demand where she had been, and then say something about her new criminal mark. It didn't matter. She needed her duel runner back, and Harvey was the one who had it. She took a deep breath, and then walked through the doorway. She was met with Harvey's anger and annoyance.

"Cecelia, where the hell have you been?"

"Out."

Harvey looked up from his project. It was a duel runner that he was modifying. The duel runner was white with different black accents; it almost looked like a Sector Security model.

He took off his goggles to reveal eyes as wide as saucers. Did Cecelia have a criminal mark? He couldn't even begin to think up a reason that would warrant Cecelia to be in the Facility. Her parents were part of Security after all! Couldn't they have found a way to pull some strings for her? Did they even know about this?

"Cecelia what the hell? Is that a criminal mark?"

Cecelia sighed. Knew it.

"It's a little hard to explain. Crimson Dragon stuff."

Harvey crossed his arms and leaned back. He was not taking Cecelia's "no" for an answer. "Then explain it."

Cecelia started to fidget around. She didn't like the way Harvey was glaring at her. It looked like she wouldn't be able to get off with a short explanation this time. Harvey didn't look like he was in the mood for half-assed explanations. He even stopped what he was working on. Harvey never did that unless he was serious.

"Come on," said Harvey, "This is still payment for fixing your runner. Don't tell me, and I don't give it back to you."

Cecelia groaned. She didn't want to explain her stupid stunt that landed her in the Facility.

"Fiiiine. But let me tell you, it started with a really really dumb plan of mine. All right, so I'm the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon right? Did I tell you that?" One look at Harvey's expression told her she definitely did not. Cecelia laughed nervously. "Guess not."

"So when you were saying that the Crimson Dragon rushed you and made you crash that night, that it was because you're the Vessel?"

Cecelia nodded.

"Holy shit," muttered Harvey, "So you actually have all the glowy dragon powers and talk to it and shit?"

The Crimson Dragon grumbled in the back of Cecelia's mind.

"They are not 'glowy dragon powers.'"

Then what would you call them?

"Powers of the Crimson Dragon."

"It says they're called 'Powers of the Crimson Dragon,'" said Cecelia, "Not 'glowy dragon powers.'"

"Wait, you were just talking to it?"

Cecelia nodded. Harvey was silent for a few moments. He needed to take it all in. He was actually standing — well, sitting — in front of the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon. He might as well be sitting in front of the legendary dragon itself.

"Okay," said Harvey, "You're the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon with all of these powers. How did you end up in the Facility with a criminal mark on your cheek, er, under your eye? By your eye? You know what I mean."

"At first I tried to go and be a guard," explained Cecelia, "I pretended that I still wanted to be a part of Sector Security. Goodwin pretty much only allowed that so he could use me."

"But why'd you try and go there?" asked Harvey, still confused, "There's nothing in the Facility related to the Signers and the Crimson Dragon, is there?"

"One of the Signers was there. A Satellite who trespassed into the city. I thought I should bring him up to speed on the Signers and find out why exactly he came to the city."

"Ok so what? A Satellite was in the Facility, and you thought you should pull some stupid stunt just to let him in on some info?"

"I knew him when I was younger."

"You knew him? But I thought you were from —"

"Yes, I'm from Neo Domino, but I went to the Satellite with my parents. That's how I met him."

Harvey grinned and raised an eyebrow. "So, based on two meetings, you thought you should fill the guy in on some stuff? That's the only reason why?"

"Information is valuable," replied Cecelia, avoiding eye contact, "You said so yourself. Anyway, when I tried to pose as a guard, it didn't really work out too well. I didn't even get to talk to him for five minutes. The Crimson Dragon then started telling me about the different things I could do with its power. It said that there was a chance I could use my power to teleport to wherever a Signer is — as long as I focus on them. I decided to give it a try."

"You decided to give it a try? The first time testing out a power like that to get into the Facility?"

Cecelia shrugged. "I told you it was a dumb plan. The plan was supposed to be get in, share what I know, and get out." Cecelia looked down and muttered, "And maybe apologize for just standing by."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Cecelia touched her criminal mark, "As you can tell, the plan failed. Spectacularly. My power activated in response to the Satellite's mark, and then Chief Takasu found out. One thing led to another, and then it was decided that I was trying to cause a prison break. You can see what happened next."

Harvey was silent for the next few moments. Cecelia stayed quiet as well, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts. He still had her duel runner after all. "So," he said, breaking the silence, "You didn't do anything, other than be incredibly stupid."

"Hey!"

"I mean seriously," continued Harvey, "Did you not even think that there would be security cameras in the cells? There were so many ways you could've gotten caught. It's like you didn't even think this through!"

"Oka—"

"Do you even know how you're gonna make a living after this?" Harvey didn't care about what little excuse Cecelia was about to make. "Your big dreams of being a musician are gone after this. No one's gonna want to listen to a criminal. So what if you're the Vessel of the Crimson Dragon? That's only temporary. You can't do anyth—"

"I get it alright?!" shouted Cecelia. She had already told herself this millions of times while she was stuck in that cell. When she didn't have anything to do, she would get a harsh reminder that threw her future down the drain. The only bright side was that she wasn't in there for too long before Goodwin showed up to let her and Yusei out of there. She didn't need someone repeating it to her.

Cecelia looked down after her outburst. "I get it. Can I get my duel runner back?"

"Look Cecelia I'm—"

"My duel runner, Harvey."

Harvey got up and silently led Cecelia to her fixed duel runner. It looked as good as new. The duel runner was black with lilac accents along the body. The back end raised up and pointed out, creating the shape of an eighth note. The eighth note was accented as a deep charcoal grey. Cecelia walked to it and gingerly touched the seat, as if it would fall apart if she was too rough with it.

"Your story today was helpful," said Harvey, breaking the silence between them, "Let me know what else you find out about your powers, yeah?"

Cecelia nodded. She grabbed her duel runner and started to walk out of the garage. She paused before she walked out and looked back at the mechanic.

"Sorry. Oh, and I can summon the Crimson Dragon's tail."

"What?! You never said anything about a tail!"

"Oh wow look at the time! I'll see you later!"

"Argh you'd better not bring a wrecked runner Cecelia!"

Cecelia mounted her duel runner and sped off with a quick wave goodbye.

Cecelia was by the street close to the entrance of Bootleg. She had decided against going back home. She didn't feel like facing the absolute hell her parents would have in store for her. They were Sector Security after all. Cecelia didn't think that they would take too well to her daughter being a criminal.

Even though I didn't really do anything wrong.

Her solution? Just drive around until it got dark. She ended up parking in an alleyway close to Bootleg. The buildings hid her from view a bit, and no one was going to try and see who was there. There were neon lights everywhere, and most people were just focused on getting to a bar or going to dinner.

Cecelia leaned back into her duel runner. She put her hands in her jacket pockets and felt the envelope. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked down at the seal.

So "FC" stands for Fortune Cup.

She broke the seal on the envelope and looked at the invitation inside.

Miss Cecelia Briceño,

You have been invited to partake in the Fortune Cup — a tournament in which fourteen contestants duel. Should you win against all of the other contestants, you can challenge the King himself: Jack Atlas! If you win against him, you become the next champion of the dueling world! You are one of the Fortune 14 that were selected hand-selected for this great honor.

You will all duel in four rounds. The best duelist of the first round will be able to skip the second, and immediately move into the semifinals. The best duelist will be determined through many different factors, including how many life points were left remaining, and overall skill used in the duel.

Duel with all your might!

Rex Goodwin, P.M.D. Director

Cecelia flipped the invitation around, and saw that the back was blank. She looked back in the envelope and saw that there were three pictures inside. Her eyes widened as she recognized the people in the pictures. She saw the blond head of her father, the brunette head of her mother, and Zen's pink hair as all of their pictures looked up at her. Cecelia flipped the one with Faye over, and her eyes widened as she looked over the words.

Cecelia Briceño,

I would like to remind you that as the Director of the Public Maintenance Department and Sector Security, Director has direct influence over their jobs. You determine if they keep them or not. I'm sure you would love to participate in the Fortune Cup and assist us as well.

Yeager

Cecelia frowned. Her hands formed fists, and her nails dug into her palms. Each picture had the same message on the back to ensure that Cecelia would read it.

Stupid clown. I guess that means there's no choice. I have to participate in this thing and help Goodwin. But help him with what?

Cecelia shook her head. She needed to think of something else. Her thoughts soon drifted to the Facility and that duel. Yusei pulled off a great victory with all those cards he borrowed from everyone. She then decided to look through her deck, and eventually pulled out her Symphony Djun card and smiled. Her smile soon faded.

Wait.

Oh crap where is he?! I told him I would meet him at Bootleg later, but does Yusei even know his way around the city? He's never even been here! Cecelia you idiot!

Cecelia adjusted her position on her duel runner, and wheeled out onto the road. Neo Domino City wasn't that big right? She could find him if she sped around, right?

"I wouldn't worry too much about that."

Crimson what do you mean? I have no idea where—

"The Tail is right in front of you."

Cecelia soon spotted the silhouette of Yusei's hair and quickly stopped her duel runner. How did she miss him? He had been right in front of her!

She stopped her runner, and flipped up the bottom half of her helmet. Cecelia's helmet was in the style of a full face helmet, completely black except for some lilac colored music notes at each end of the visor. She was able to flip the visor up, as well as the jaw. The helmet even allowed for both to lift up at the same time. She took her helmet off, and shook her head, letting her wavy brown hair fall and reach her back. She put her helmet on her lap and looked up at Yusei.

"Hey."

"Nice runner."

"Thanks."

"You ready?"

Cecelia nodded and smiled. "I was about to ask you the same thing." She got up from her duel runner and put her helmet in a compartment under her seat. They weren't going to be in there for too long anyway.

Cecelia put her hands in the pockets of her black jacket, and walked into Bootleg with Yusei.

Happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I decided to just write my own version of what the Fortune Cup invitation said, since the anime never showed the invitation themselves. It was just showed the envelope over and over again, without any of the characters actually reading the letter inside. At least, I don't remember that happening — haha please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I still haven't decided which day of the week specifically I'll be posting on, but I'll definitely be posting chapters every week.

I hope you guys enjoy your weekend, and stay tuned for the next one!