Two men looting a small house tossed a monitor out onto the cobbled street.

"Anything will do! Take anything that'll make some dough!"

"Gotcha!"

A grotesque man stood smirking at a handful of cards as his men looted the place. He was dressed in the best mustard yellow suit money could buy. Each sausage-like finger housed an ugly, jeweled ring.

"Wait, please!" A tiny man pleaded to the uglier man. "I will pay you back, I swear! I beg you, please stop!"

"Boss Garome, look at this!" One of the man's goons had unearthed a deck of cards.

A woman and child cowered fearfully in the corner.

"My cards!" the small kid cried. He raced forward and tried to take back his deck.

"Out of the way!" The goon backhanded the child to the ground.

The mother went to tend to her kid.

The goon on the other hand handed his boss the cards. The grubby little sausages perused the cards like a scorpion waiting to strike. He shook his head and sighed. "You sure have got some measly cards here. Oh, here's a rare card. Better than nothing, I guess." The guy pocketed the cards, ignoring the sobs of the watching child, and walked off into the night.

/

Lise woke up to the fourth day of her continued isolation. All she'd been given to be able to survive was a knife and a heavy winter coat.

Snow was piled up like a stack of fluffy blankets outside the mouth of her cave. Her breath steamed in the frigid air, and she shivered, but pushed herself into the chilly drift.

She walked through the snow the short distance to the small lake she had discovered housed fish. Lise snagged a tangle of her hair and tied it to the small strip of cloth she had ripped off her shirt on day two. Now all that was left to do was wait.

Every few minutes Lise had to shake herself. Her eyelids were heavy, and her body was exhausted.

After over two hours of no success, Lise punched the pile of snow next to her. "AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!" She stood up and kicked another snow drift. "I won't back down! Stay awake! It's just three more days! You can do this!"

She took a shaky breath and got back down on the ground with a fresh knot of hair for her lure. The next four hours she amassed all the fish she could and dragged them back to her cave.

"You will survive," Lise told herself as she prepped a fire. "You will."

/

"Stubborn, isn't she?" Sasha said.

"I like her," Jose said. He smiled at the bubble of icy tundra the group was watching. "She's got a bite to her."

Master Terra nodded, observing quietly. "She has a will and determination to live that is unbreakable." She began to leave. "When she returns, let her rest for the night. Tomorrow she will be in the desert land for a week."

"Don't you think this is going a little too far?" Jarra asked. She bit her lip. "I-I don't mean to question you, Master Terra. I just think she might be over working herself."

"Do you feel that I overworked any of you? You all went through the same tests and challenges, yet here you stand," Master Terra said. "I will be at the mediation circle if I am needed."

/

Yusei was hard at work on the new engine. He knew where Jack was, but Crow was taking a nap after finishing with his deliveries.

A knock came on the door, and a young boy let himself in. "Hello!" He had dull brown hair and sported regular jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. "I came to pick up Dupont's computer."

"You're helping Dupont today, Marco?" Yusei looked up from his work with a smile. "Working hard, I see."

"Yup," Marco said, returning Yusei's smile with one of his own. "My brother and mom are sick so I'm doing what I can to earn money for them."

"Just give me a second," Yusei walked over to his shelf of tools and gadgets to find the one in question.

Marco took the extra time to gaze longingly at the duel runner engine prototype.

In no time at all, Yusei and Marco had the computer loaded on Marco's cart. "See you later!" he called as he pulled his cargo away.

"Yeah, later," Yusei called.

He went back inside in time to catch Crow walking downstairs in uniform.

"You okay?"

"We're in the red again," Crow said glumly. "Geez, it's great that Satellite got connected with the city, but I never figured the price of things would go up like this! At this rate, I dunno if we'll be able to enter the Grand Prix!"

"I guess we'll just have to do it step-by-step," Yusei said.

"So, where's Jack? He better be looking for work."

"Nope, he's at his usual place," Yusei sighed, spreading his arms.

"Usual place?"

/

"Thank you for waiting," the brown-haired waitress said. She placed a teacup full of coffee on Jack's outdoor table.

"Mmm, Jack Atlas settles for nothing less than Blue-Eyes Mountain. Such a distinct aroma," Jack nodded approvingly.

"Dah, please enjoy!" the girl bowed awkwardly and ran back inside the café. "Oh…I couldn't say anything today either!"

"Jack!"

"Huh?" The girl peered out of the café doors to see who had joined her crush.

Carly ran up and sat down beside jack. She had her camera gear in tow. Clearly she was in puruit of her next scoop.

"What's four eyes doing with Jack?" The waitress seethed quietly.

"Hello Carly," Jack said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm doing a report on the Duel Shrine near here."

"Duel Shrine?"

Carly nodded. "Word on the street is that it's making a pretty nice profit." She pulled her bag over and started rummaging around in it. "They say there are people who come to leave monetary offerings and make a wish. See?" Carly produced photos that she put right under Jack's nose.

The waitress was grinding her teeth down to nubs she was so furious.

A lovely stone shrine, meticulously carved, was humbly pictured in Carly's photo.

"Nonsense," Jack scoffed.

"Jack!" Crow stood over their table looking reading for a fight.

"Oh, Crow, you're done with your deliveries?" Jack said pleasantly.

"Yeah, a long time ago. Afternoon!" Crow greeted Carly rather informally and sat down.

"Want to order anything? The Blue-Eyes Mountain is delicious," Jack suggested.

"Blue-Eyes Mountain?" Crow's eyebrows raised in confusion. He glanced at the check. "Thirty dollars for a cup of coffee?!"

"Great, right?" Jack grinned. "To think I'd be drinking such sweet-smelling coffee just a block from our place!"

Crow slammed his fists down on the table. The cu of coffee shook and almost spilled.

"What? What? What?" Carly looked between the two boys so quickly it was a wonder she wasn't suffering from whiplash.

"What are you doing? Do you really plan on entering the Grand Prix?" Crow rose from the table, along with his anger.

"What about it?" Jack's smile turned into a scowl. "Of course I'm entering."

"Then how about you work a little? Buying even a single part costs money! That's why Yusei is earning money taking repairs and I'm driving my runner doing deliveries!"

"I'm aware of that, but since there are no suitable jobs for me, I can't be blamed!"

"There's no job suitable for you?" Crow growled, regaining his seat.

"All right now, let's settle down," Carly said, trying to make peace.

"You stay out of this!" Crow yelled at her.

"What do I do? What do I do?" the waitress bit her lip.

"Afternoon!" Marco greeted her. "I'm here to pick up the cardboard boxes!"

"Oh, it's you, Marco. Good to see you," the waitress smiled at the boy. "Good to see you!"

"Thanks," Marco accepted the folded up boxes from the waitress's manager. He added them to his cart.

"Keep up the good work!" the waitress waved at the boy as he left.

"Geez, talk about the opposite of you," Crow said. "Marco goes out and supports his family like that from sun-up to sundown. Why don't you take after his example?"

"Who do you think I am?" Jack scoffed. "Don't lump me in with that kid."

"It's that attitude that keeps you from getting a job!" Crow shouted in frustration. "You're always "'Jack Atlas this' and 'Jack Atlas that,' like you're too good for everything!" Crow imitated Jack's rather pompous attitude with great exaggeration. He leaned over the table to drive his message home. "Times are different! Who the hell remembers you?!"

Carly gasped and scowled deeply at Crow too. "Crow, that's too far!"

"If you're so upset, try making some scratch! If it weren't for us, you could forget about enjoying any meals!"

"Fine!" Jack stood up. "If you insist, then just wait! Get ready for a mountain of cash I'll throw at your feet!" Jack stalked off and didn't look back.

"Jack…" Carly looked back at him, pouting at not getting to spend more time with him.

/

"Behold!" Jack decreed, displaying his monstrous food concoction. "This is Jack Atlas' Special Synchro Bento Box!"

"Get out!"

Jack shed his apron and walked back into the job hunting fray. Lunches weren't always his thing, but Lise had always liked books. He decided to try a bookstore next.

"Good afternoon!" A well-dressed man came in with a delivery for the shop.

Jack immediately went to intercept him. "These magazines won't do! Get features on Jack Atlas! Jack Atlas, understand?!"

The manager stared in disbelief and ran over. "Hey, wait, what are you talking about? You're fired, you weirdo!"

All right, books weren't Jack's thing. Maybe a dry cleaning business was a good first step.

"What the hell is this hole doing here?!" The manager screamed, looking straight through an otherwise opaque shirt.

"The customer said to remove the stain, so I did. Now he can bare his arms just like me!" Jack exposed his mark of the Crimson Dragon proudly.

"You're fired!"

Jack sulked as he walked through the city. "The whole lot of them are clueless!"

"Oh," Carly watched Jack from afar. She'd been tailing him all day, unsure how best to intervene. "I want to help, but I don't want to humiliate Jack…"

/

Night had fallen on the city. Crow and Yusei were safe at home and hard at work.

"Jack's not back yet?"

"Guess not," Crow said, a satisfied smile spread across his features. "Hopefully he's managed to keep a decent job."

"Hmm," Yusei was less than certain.

/

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of hardheaded dolts," Jack complained, tossing pebbles into the water beneath his bridge. "These commoners don't know my worth."

A smoke trail, carrying the smell of good food wafted by Jack's nose. He was so hungry, but there was no way he was going back to Crow without something to show for his efforts.

Carly looked up hopefully from below the bridge. She was fanning the smoke, and the smell of her cooking fish, up to Jack. "It's okay, Jack. You shouldn't strain yourself. You can't work on an empty stomach."

"Huh?" Just when Jack had decided to investigate the scent of good food, he spotted Marco. The boy looked like he was going somewhere. Jack decided to follow him.

Carly misunderstood his intentions when he vanished from her sight. "Here he comes! Plates! I need plates!" Once she finally had her fish ready on a plate, Carly realized Jack was headed in the opposite direction.

She quickly packed everything up and raced after him. "Where is he going?"

Carly moved just a little bit closer and caught sight of Jack's goal. "The Duel Shrine? Why is he going to the Shrine? He wouldn't…rob the offerings?! No Jack, you can't!" Jumping to conclusions, Carly ran into the shrine's wooded grounds and bumped directly into Jack.

Before she could scream or gasp, Jack quickly covered Carly's mouth. He moved them into the shadows. "Just be quiet!" he whispered angrily.

Carly nodded and Jack removed his hand. "What's wrong, Jack? What're you doing?" she whispered back.

Jack pointed at Marco. The boy stood in front of the shrine, moonlight bathing him in a soft glow.

"I thought he was acting peculiar so I followed him," Jack said.

Marco took out his cards, took a deep breath, and placed them atop the shrine.

"Cards?"

"I beg you, Duel Shrine," Marco prayed. "I don't have any money, but please use these cards to help us get rid of Garome!"

"Garome?" Carly gasped.

"You know him?"

"Of course I do!" Carly's eyebrows were angled down so sharply, her whole face looked like she could cut trees with a look. "He's a loan shark who exploits the poor, and rumored to be a big time jerk. After lending you money, he makes you sign one fake contract after another, and then he robs you blind! I bet that boy's family was tricked the same way."

"Big brother!" A smaller boy who appeared to be a tiny version of Marco came running into the Duel Shrine's grounds.

"Miguel?!"

"Your cards!" Miguel pointed at the deck still resting on the shrine.

"It's all right. It's so we can get rid of Gerome."

"But without your cars, you can't duel! What happened to riding a duel runner one day and entering tournaments?" Miguel argued stubbornly. He was not going to let his big brother give up on his dream no matter what. "That's what you said you'd do, remember?"

"I had hopes when Satellite was connected to the city. I thought the world was starting to change, so that even people as poor as us could duel as much as we wanted. I was so hopeful, but in the end nothing's changed!" Marco cried in frustration. "Poor people like us aren't even allowed to dream! Besides, even if I kept these cards…"

"Marco?" Miguel said softly.

Marco shook himself out of his memories. "Let's go, Miguel. Mom is going to worry."

Miguel sighed, but he nodded. "Okay…"

Jack watched the two brothers leave in silence.

Carly was a bit more vocal. "Garome should pay for what he's done! The nerve of him extorting kids like that!"

"Does Garome duel?" Jack said.

"Wait a minute," Carly whirled on him. "Jack, you're not-"

"Does he?" Jack asked a second, more forceful, time. He didn't wait for her answer. He went to the shrine, and Marco's cards.

"If you do that, you'll incur the Duel Shrine's wrath!" Carly exclaimed, but Jack ignored her. "And he's doing it…" She sighed exasperatedly. She loved the guy, but sometimes he could get carried away when he made up his mind.

/

"Did you see the look on that Marco kid's face?" one goon laughed.

A second goon pitched his voice high and squeaky, a cruel imitation of the boy's voice. "Oh Garome, not our money, please! We need that to buy our mommy's medicine!"

Garome and his lackeys burst into cruel laughter. Laughter that abruptly ended when a well-placed, white boot kicked their door open.

Jack walked calmly into the lion's den.

"Who the hell are you?" All the goons stood, but Garome remained seated.

Jack's violet eyes swept over the group. He finally settled on his target. "I take it, you're Garome."

"What a pleasant surprise," Garome sneered and opened his arms in greeting. "What business would the prestigious Jack Atlas have with me?"

"Jack Atlas? Who's that?"

"Beats me."

Garome kept going. "If you're in need of money, I'll gladly supply you with as much as you need. Of course, all you have to do is returen it whenever you make some money of your own."

"Who said I want anything to do with you?" Jack grumped. "I came here for those contracts."

"Contracts?"

"You and I will duel," Jack said plainly. "If you win, you're free to do as you please. However, if I win you'll hand over all those contracts!"

"Are you aware of how valuable these contracts are?" Garome wasn't even rattled. "I won't just hand them all over. Especially when all you have is your former title as King, which is already utterly worthless." Garome stood up, his disgusting smile getting bigger. "Although, you did take the time to make a visit. How about this? If I win, you'll give me your Red Dragon Archfiend?"

"What?!"

"And throw in your Phoenix Whirlwind while we're at it. If that all suits you, then I accept your duel."

"Fine then."

/

Yusei had finally convinced Crow to go out searching for Jack. They had figured on foot would serve them well enough since Jack too was on foot.

"I swear, you have to do everything for this guy," Crow complained.

Yusei stopped, but Crow kept walking. "It's Jack."

"What's he doing?" Crow backpedaled and rejoined his friend.

"A duel, looks like."

"Jack!"

"Oh, it's you two," jack greeted them like dueling a con artist in the middle of the night was perfectly normal.

"What're you dueling here for?" Yusei said.

"What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Marco complained. Carly had found him and dragged him all the way there.

"There he is," Jack said.

"Marco?!" Both Yusei and Crow gasped.

"Yusei? Crow? Jack?" Marco was just as bewildered. He glanced at his friend's opponent. "Garome!"

"So, we're clear? If I win, you'll give me your Red Dragon Archfiend, and your duel runner?"

"Say what?!" This was even worse than Crow had imagined.

"Jack Atlas never goes back on his word!"

"Jack, do you really want to do this? That's a huge loss!" Yusei was worried for his friend. The stakes were just too high.

"I just wanted you to get a job! Not this!" Crow gestured wildly at the duel arena. "You'd better not lose!"

"cut him some slack, guys," Carly said. "He's dueling to get some contracts back."

"Don't do this, Jack!" Marco shouted. "Don't risk everything for me!"

"This isn't about you. This is a battle for those who follow their dreams!"

"Dreams?"

"Let's duel!"

Jack: 4000

Garome: 4000

"I'll go first, draw!" Garome said. "I activate the spell card Upstart Goblin! This effect allows me to draw and give my opponent 1000 lifepoints."

Jack: 5000

Garome: 4000

"He's giving him lifepoints?" Carly blinked in confusion.

"Jack is reliable enough, so I'll supply him with as many lifepoints as he needs."

"Don't be fooled, Jack!" Marco called out. "He always suckers you in but cheats you at the end!"

"Don't worry. Just sit back and watch," Jack said.

"I special summon Hell Trader!"

(Hell Trader: Atk: 0 Def: 0)

"This card can be special summoned when my lifepoints are lower than my opponent's! Next I summon Toichi the Hell Collector in defense mode!"

(Toichi the Hell Collector: Atk: 800 Def: 1300)

"I place a card face down and end my turn! Time to pay me back for the lifepoints you owe me!" Garome demanded.

"I don't owe you anything! It's my turn!" Jack declared dramatically. "This card can be summoned without a acrifice when my opponent has two or more monsters on their side of the field! I summon Power Invader!"

(Power Invader: Atk: 2200 Def: 0)

"It appears that you have no intention to pay me back," Garome shook his head and clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "You leave me no choice then. I activate the trap Infinite Loan! When the opposing player summons a monster, this special summons a Loan Token on the opponent's side of the field in defense mode!"

"Loan Token?"

"This Loan Token is going to help pay back the lifepoints you borrowed. Toichi the Hell Collector will be dropping by to do the collecting. If there are Loan Tokens on my opponent's field, Toichi is allowed to inflict 1000 points of damage for each one."

"That's way too high!" Carly's mouth dropped open.

"Attacking Toichi won't do you any good, either. Toichi cannot be destroyed by battle as long as there are Loan Tokens. Loan Tokens can only be destroyed by sending a card in your hand to your graveyard!"

"So to prevent from taking any damage, he has to get rid of his cards," Yusei said. "Not good."

"Jack! You've got to pay a card before you get into real trouble!"

"Who would pay off an unfair loan they don't remember doing?" Jack scoffed, brushing off the rule. "Power Invader attack Hell Trader!"

Jack: 5000

Gerome: 2800

"Nice one, Jack!" Carly cheered.

"You don't seem to understand what you're dealing with," Garome snarled. "when Hel Trader is destroyed by battle, it special summon a Loan Token on my opponent's field in defense mode."

"That's two tokens," Marco said.

"Even if you summon a monster, the number of tokens just adds up," Yusei said.

Crow was not having any of this. "It's a literal Loan Token Hell!"

"What shall you do? Will you discard from your hand to pay the loan?"

"Hurry and pay!" Marco shouted out to Jack again.

"I refuse! I place two cards face down. I end my turn."

"Refusing to pay to the bitter end," Garome said, malevolently twisting his mustache. "Guess I'll just make my collection then. I draw! I equip the Corrupt Business equip card to Toichi the Hell Collector! This doubles effect damage!"

"Oh no! That's 4000 points of damage!" Carly cried.

"Its monster effect activates!"

Jack: 1000

Garome: 2800

"Jack!"

"How does it feel to be beaten by my Loan Combo?" Garome snickered. "I end my turn."

"Please, Jack, just pay off the loan!" Marco pleaded. He hated to see his friend get so hurt over this.

"No!" Jack refused stubbornly. "I will never be at this cretin's mercy! My turn! By sending a card in my hand to the graveyard, I can special summon this monster! Come on out, Smile Kid!"

(Smile Kid: Atk: 0 Def: 0)

"My card?" Marco realized with a start.

"It seems you're still oblivious to my Loan Combo. The effects of Infinite Loan special summons a Loan Token in defense mode to your field."

"Just pay already, Jack!" Marco begged.

"I am not paying unfair loans! I activate my trap Compulsory Reentry Device! By sending a card in my hand to the graveyard, it returns a monster on the field to my hand. Next, by sending a crd in ym hand to the graveyard, I can special summon Smile Kid!"

"Why would he do that again? Wouldn't he get another token?" Carly scratched her head.

"No," Yusei shook his head. "His field is full."

"Right, you can't summon a monster if there's no place to summon it!"

"It looks like you can't take out any more loans," Garome said. "You have 1000 lifepoints left. Next turn Toichi will collect 6000 lifepoints due to Corrput Business! You've already lost, Jack Atlas! Red Dragon Archfiend and Phoenix Whirlwind are mine!" Garome shared his disgusting laugh with everyone, confident of victory.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jack smiled. "Trap card; Zero Hole!"

"Zero Hole?"

"Zero Hole destroys all cards on the field when your hand is at zero," Yusei explained, a small smile on his face too.

"What?"

"That's why Jack reduced his hand," Carly said.

"And I'm guessing that monster's effect…"

"Smile Kid's monster effect activates! When destroyed by a card's effect, it special summons Smile Angel from my deck!"

(Smile Angel: Atk: 1000 Def: 0)

"An attack power of 1800?!"

"Smile Angel, direct attack! Super Smile!"

"Whoa!" Garome was so blown away by Smile Angel's smile his hair flew clean off his head and he tumbled to the ground.

Jack: 1000

Garome: 0

"All right, Jack won!" Carly cheered exuberantly. She threw her arms around Marco and they both jumped for joy.

"Garome, sir!"

"No way! How did I lose?!"

"As promised, hand over the contracts!" Jack demanded.

"Run for it!" Garome picked himself up and dashed away with his goons right on his tail. One of which, tossed the bag of contracts over his shoulder as they made their escape.

Jack proceeded to tear each and every contract in half. "Now you won't have to pay any more unfair loans." He crumpled up the tattered papers into a ball and tossed it away. "You can have this back." He took Marco's cards out of his pocket and offered them back to their owner.

"But even if I keep it…"

"It's true life can be hard, but you can never lose your dreams," Jack said. He smiled down at Marco warmly. "Never give up and your dreams can come true. I look forward to dueling you in the pro leagues some day."

"Jack…"

"We'll have to turbo duel one day too, of course."

"Uh huh!" Marco agreed and gladly took his cards back.

"Thank goodness," Carly said.

"You figure he'll be different from now on?" Crow asked Yusei quietly.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

/

"You're fired!" The café's manager kicked Jack out.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jack scowled. "I'm quitting this lousy café."

"Jack!" the waitress pouted deeply at having lost her crush.

"These commoners truly don't know my worth," Jack sniffed indignantly.

"And I thought we were gonna work together…"

"I guess people don't change that easily!" Crow laughed. "Oh well…" He and Yusei both sighed.

"I gotta get going," Yusei waved to Crow. "Lise said she'd try to say hi this morning, her evening, before she went to bed."

"Say no more," Crow waved back. "Tell her I say hi."

"Will do!" Yusei called over his shoulder.

He ran inside and logged onto his shared video chat line with Lise as quickly as possible. Yusei wasn't worried when the first call didn't go through. He was much more worried when his fifth call still garnered no answer. Finally, he decided to just call her cell phone. She had international minutes stored up just in case.

Yusei stared at Lise's icon and username, 0rngLis3, while his cell phone tried to reach her. Maybe if he stared at it long enough, she'd sense how much he needed to see her, or at least hear her voice.

"Uh…hello?"

"Who is this?" Yusei demanded. He was in no mood for anyone's voice other than Lise's to be on her phone.

"Sasha. Sorry Lise hasn't been answering. She's exhausted after training, so she's sleeping right now. Do you want me to tell her you called?"

"Can she call me when she gets up?"

"Probably not."

"Oh… I'll just…"

Sasha must have taken pity on him because she spoke up in a voice that wasn't flat. "Why don't you try again the day after tomorrow? These two days have been the roughest so far, and I swear we're not trying to keep you two away from each other. We've all gone through the same training. It just takes a lot out of you."

Yusei smiled minutely. He felt a tiny bit better. "Thanks Sasha. I'll do that."

"Stay strong," Sasha said and hung up.