Lise didn't clap when Ritsu, Ray, Diego, and Mika finished their band practice like she usually did. Granted, it usually wasn't much, just a few claps, but still.
"You doing okay there?" Ray asked.
"Wha? Yeah…" Lise sniffled a little. She rubbed her nose and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I gotta call it early today, guys. My WRGP team needs to practice too."
"All right. Have fun, but we're here for you if you need it," Mika assured her. She helped Lise gather her bag so she knew she meant it.
Lise smiled briefly. "Thanks. I'm here for you guys too. Catch me up on your practice later, and I'll do my best. You're gonna do great."
Mika walked her out. When she was out of earshot, Diego spoke up. "She didn't look okay."
Ritsu nodded in agreement. "I think…I think her team lost a friend lately. I don't know the details, but I heard Mika and Lise talking when they were walking up to practice."
"I wish there was something we could do," Ray stuck out his lower lip in a pout.
"There is something we can do," Diego twirled his drumsticks.
"Huh?"
"We can cheer them up with the best WRGP pre-show concert ever!"
"Yeah!"
"You said it!"
/
Leo was reading a duel runner magazine to pass the time. He didn't have school, and decided to grab a snack. No reason he couldn't read up on the coolest duelists in the WRGP too.
"Duelists from the land of the Gods?" Leo murmured to himself. "What's this now? WRGP's championship candidates, Team Ragnarök is one of the world's pro teams in turbo duels. The trio composed of Harald, Dragan, and Brave all hold the power of the three Lord of Aesir cards… Odin, Thor, and Loki. The gods are said to have mysterious powers and they are one of the world's strongest cards. While qualifying in the tournament, they beat the other teams with overwhelming power. By combining ability and popularity, they became Duel Kings.
"Kings, yeah right. Team 5Ds won't lose to those jerks… Oh, I forgot!" Leo put the magazine back in its place. "The team was gonna practice on their duel runners today!"
/
Jack and Crow raced neck and neck on one of the duel tracks.
"Don't lose, Jack!" Crow taunted.
Jack scowled back at his friend. "Don't underestimate the power of my Phoenix Whirlwind!"
In a dead heat, they zoomed through the racetrack. They passed the stands of the practice tracks. Bruno was watching and timing. Luna peered over his shoulder at his notes.
"Both of them have good skills," Bruno was saying.
Luna pointed out to where Lise, Yusei, and Akiza were training too. "It should be all right now whenever the final tournament starts. We have a well stacked team."
The three Emperors have finally shown themselves. They falsified history and entered the WRGP. We can't let them!
And we won't. Lise pulled up beside him.
Akiza was right behind her. "Hey, you two, quit it with the psychic conversation! Things look bleak, but we can protect the future together!"
"Right, let's focus on honing our skills. Race you!" Lise gunned the engine and sped out ahead of her friends.
"Oh no you don't!" Yusei zoomed after her with Akiza right beside him.
/
"I don't think I'm gonna make it!" Leo wheezed. Even running at full speed he was going to miss his friends' entire practice session.
Maybe if he took a shortcut? This alleyway here cut right through these busy streets. Then the training grounds were only a block or two away!
Invigorated, Leo picked up speed. He could make it with this shortcut!
Leo burst out of the alleyway at top speed.
"MOVE AWAY! MOVE AWAY! MOVE AWAY!" The biker screamed. Leo had just run into his duel runner's path!
The biker swerved, and Leo spun away on the ball of his foot. He crashed to his hands and knees, sweating from nearly behind run off. The biker's duel runner surged forward as he slid off the driver's seat.
A boy in red went to the fallen biker. "Are you okay, Yoshi?"
His friend in blue ran for the duel runner.
"Yeah…"
"The duel runner!"
"Hey, that's dangerous, ya know!" Leo spat at them. Now in additiona to being late, he'd almost died because of these three!
"I'm sorry!" Yoshi and the boy in red went to leo immediately. "My duel runner suddenly spun out of control!"
Leo frowned at them, then at the bike the boy in blue wheeled over. "That's a duel runner?"
Yoshi bowed his head. "I'm very sorry."
"There's no need to apologize, Yoshizo. It's this guy's fault for suddenly running into the road like that."
"Jin!" The boy in red scolded. He turned back to Leo. "Are you okay? No injuries?"
"I'm fine," Leo turned to go but fell to his knee. He must have scraped it when he'd fallen to the street.
"Oof, that's swelling up," the boy in red hissed in sympathy. "We should treat it right away."
"Don't worry about it. I'll be-" Leo tried to stand, but the pain of his knee brought him down again.
"Don't push yourself. Our hotel is close by here."
"Huh?" Leo stared into the smiling face of the boy in red. These people were being so nice, and after he'd run out into the street so recklessly.
/
The boy in red had hefted Leo onto his back so the younger boy wouldn't have to walk on his bad knee. Hotel New Domino wasn't exactly…a nice place. It looked like an older Motel 8 had been abandoned and left to rot. The brown exterior was less than inviting. The dirty windows at least offered privacy to anyone indoors.
Up in their room, the red boy cleaned Leo's knee and fitted him with a bandage. "There ya go."
"Thanks…" Leo was glad the bed he was sitting on was clean, but he was afraid to touch anything else in the room. "Do you…uh…live here?"
"It's a hotel, so no," the boy chuckled. "We just sleep here."
Yoshi walked over with a glass of water. "We came from the east side of the country to join the WRGP."
"For the WRGP?"
"Yeah, here you go," Yoshi offered the water to Leo.
Leo accepted and gulped down the drink. "Thanks."
"Yeah, to see everyone's skill levels. We wanted to see how strong the guys here are."
"Skill level, huh? How'd the qualifying round go for you guys?" Leo asked politely. Their team didn't look familiar, so they couldn't have gotten far.
Yoshi popped a peace sign. "Yay!"
"You won!" Leo was glad to be wrong. "That means you guys are gonna be in the tournament finals too?"
"Too?"
"Oh, I'm Leo! I'm from Team 5Ds."
Both boys' eyes went wide. They looked like they'd been blown back from such a revelation. "5Ds?!"
"Are you really on Team 5Ds?!"
"Yep. Most of them live near here, actually," Leo beamed, his chest swelling. Those were his good friends after all.
"What nonsense," Jin finally joined the conversation. He'd heard enough.
Leo's smile fell. He glared up at Jin. Leo was no liar. Luna could say he was a bad liar anyway. The longest he'd been able to get away with a lie was the Fortune Cup, and that hadn't lasted long.
"That's amazing, Leo!" Yoshi gushed, undeterred by Jin's sour mood. "Being on a team with Yusei! I'm a big fan of his! I love his never-give-up attitude! Could you get his autograph for me?!"
"Sure? I mean, I don't see why not?" Leo hoped Yusei wouldn't refuse. He seemed less at home about giving his autograph out than Jack would.
"Really?" Yoshi could hardly contain himself. "Hang on a sec…" He started digging through his things. "Team 5Ds…"
"That means we're rivals," the boy in red explained.
Yoshi finally found what he was looking for. It appeared to be a bundle of papers.
"I guess it does," Leo said, suddenly somber with that knowledge.
"We're Team Taiyo. I'm the leader, Taro. This is Jinbei and Yoshizo. Nice to meet you."
"You too. Hold on a sec. Are you entering the tournament with just the one duel runner?"
"Of course," Taro smiled. "We only have the one duel runner."
"All three of us share it," Yoshi nodded.
"Really?" Leo's eyes bugged out if his head. "The three of you on that shabby thing?"
Jin shot Leo a nasty glare.
The younger boy noticed. "S-Sorry…"
"It's nothing to apologize for," Taro assured him. "It may look shabby, but to us it's a precious duel runner. This duel runner carries a small piece of all three of us."
"But those guys beat us," Yoshi sighed.
"Those guys?"
"Remember the guys that appeared during the tournament?"
"You mean the Ghost bots?"
"Ghost?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah, that's what Yusei and the others call them."
"Well, they…broke our duel runner," Taro said. "We got beat, so we couldn't move on."
Leo frowned, tapping his chin. "If you guys need help, then I could ask Yusei to help."
"Yusei, really?!" Yoshi's mood elevated again.
"Yeah, he could fix it for you, and my friend Lise could give it a new paint job! Oh, and Bruno knows all there is to know about duel runners too!"
Taro frowned again. "I appreciate the offer, but…we can fix the duel runner with our own hands. It's not…I'm sure your friends could definitely help, but that's the duel runner the three of us chipped in to build."
"But it'll be a problem if it's broken," Leo set his now empty glass down. "You can't enter the tournament finals without a duel runner, right?"
The boys exchanged glances.
"Please let us help!" Leo grinned up at them. "We can fix it good as new for sure! That way you can enter the tournament finals! It couldn't hurt to let me ask."
"We already told you we don't need any help!" Jin snapped. "Every single person we run into does nothing but insult us!"
"Jin!"
"I'm not trying to insult you," Leo said softly. "I just wanna help."
"And that's why I'm telling you to mind your own damn business!"
All three older boys fell silent.
"Okay then," Leo got to his feet. "I understand. Good luck winning!" He stormed out abruptly.
"Leo!"
The younger boy continued fuming even outside the hotel. "Jerk!" Leo kicked at the ground. "Finally found someone who could help him…and he just…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "Maybe I was acting like a brat…"
"We can't let the damage stop us from being in the tournament," Team Taiyo was saying. They had walked out after Leo to tend to their duel runner.
Leo hid inside a nearby alley. He peeked over at Team Taiyo.
"I know."
"Let's just try starting the engine…"
Leo followed them, slowly, to where their duel runner was parked. All three of them were working hard on it. Their brows furrowed in thought and worry.
"The damage is too great," Yoshi said with a sigh.
Taro nodded. "It's no use…"
"Hmm," Leo made up his mind right then and there.
/
"Repair a duel runner?" Yusei frowned.
Leo had gone straight to his friends' garage to ask them point blank if they would help the next morning. "It belongs to Team Taiyo. They have only one duel runner and the Ghosts damaged it! Taro and the others told me to let them be, but I just can't when they need help!"
"Sounds like fun," Yusei smiled. And I could use the distraction.
Bruno perked up too. "Yeah, we'd want our potential challengers at the top of their game."
"You're forgetting something," Lise spoke up.
Leo paused. "Forgetting?"
"This team has already refused your help twice now. It could be seen as rude or imposing if we just show up unannounced when we've been told no."
Yusei expression fell. He seemed to back up and reevaluate. "She's got a point, Leo."
"Yeah, as much as I'd like to help too, we can't force them."
"So…" Leo tugged on his hair. "What do we do?"
"Well…" Bruno's voice was hesitant. "Maybe not all of us go all at once? Yusei and I can go with Leo?"
Lise gave him a scathing look. "You just wanna fix a homemade duel runner, don't you?"
"So badly!" Bruno wailed.
Yusei scratched at his cheek. "Can't say that I don't want to either…"
Lise rolled her eyes. "Just the two of you going with Leo isn't a bad idea. I promised Akiza I'd hang out with her today, so I wouldn't be able to go anyway. If they say yes to help, I'd love to give their runner a new coat of paint too, but if they say no."
"We'll back off, I swear," Yusei promised.
"Right. Leo?"
"Uh huh?"
"It's your job to make sure they back off if Team Taiyo says no. Got it?" She held her hand up.
Leo understood and saluted her back. "Aye, aye!"
"I'll see you later," Lise chuckled, ruffling Leo's hair, and pulling herself into Yusei's hug.
He kissed the top of her head. "Have fun with Akiza."
"Call me if I can get started on a new paint job tomorrow." Lise said. They squeezed hands, a bit longer this time, before she separated to get aboard her duel runner.
"Will do."
And then she was off.
"Let's go check out this duel runner," Yusei grinned.
/
Team Taiyo had taken their bike to the park that day. The light was better and perhaps the sunlight would cheer them up. They needed it since their duel runner refused to respond.
Taro sighed. The screen remained blank. "It's just no good…"
"What should we do, Taro?" Yoshi asked. They were running out of options. "Now we can't continue in the tournament finals."
"Damn it," Jin swore. His glare turned to shock when he caught sight of who was behind his teammates.
Taro and Yoshi turned around. Leo had come back with friends. Yusei and Bruno waited. They still needed permission. Yusei bit at his thumb impatiently. The duel runner was unique and he wanted to work on it even if it only lessened his guilt over…Sherry… I wish we could've been doing something like this with her too…
"Leo brought Yusei!" Yoshi was doing everything he could to contain himself, but it wasn't working.
Leo took a deep breath. "I'm probably out of line here, and you can still say no! But…if you haven't fixed it by now…"
Bruno couldn't contain himself anymore. "Is this the homemade duel runner?!"
Jin ran out to stop his approach. "We told you we don't need any help!"
Taro put out his hand, and Jin fell silent. "Thanks, Leo. To be honest, we're completely stuck here."
"But Taro!"
"Sorry, Jin, but I don't know what else to do here."
Jin wasn't backing down. "But why should we ask this guy for help?! We got this far without asking anyone for help! Just the three of us!"
Taro pursed his lips. He didn't like this either. They had come so far, and to drop out because their runner was damaged… They couldn't…just…lose before they'd even faced their next opponent like this.
"Taro!"
"Then you don't care if we make it to the finals, Jin? We didn't know if we'd win in the beginning, but we did. It could've just been luck, but we won even the next match. We kept going, but you might be right. Fighting by ourselves has some meaning. This time, I think we should reconsider. I want to see hoe far our dueling skills will get us in this tournament! Please, Jin! Without this duel runner, we can't enter the tournament finals!"
Taro and Yoshi waited.
"Do what you want!" Jin finally relented.
Leo grinned, as did Bruno. Even Yusei cracked a smile.
"Thanks, Jin," Taro smiled too.
Jin walked away, rolling his eyes. Yoshi and Taro lowered their heads. "Please help us!"
Yusei nodded, a unique hunger for fixing duel runners in his eyes. "Right."
Both Taiyo members turned back to their back and jumped. "Hey wait, he's already touching it!"
Bruno had got to work the second he was able to. "Such good materials!"
/
"Hey you!" Akiza met Lise once she'd parked with a hug. "Doing okay?"
"Uh…relatively okay," Lise admitted. She still hugged her friend back tightly.
"Yeah, me too," Akiza disclosed. "Ready to do some retail therapy?"
"Yes, gimme all the distractions right now!"
"Oh, and coffee. Should we grab coffee before we get going?"
Lise's eyes were wide. "Get the fuck outta my head."
Akiza grabbed a green tea chai latte. Lise ordered a pumpkin spice latte, which Akiza teased her over relentlessly. Thus, Lise insisted on going to one of her favorite stationary places for more journaling supplies. Akiza needed more supplies herself, and it was always fun to gush over washi tape and stickers together.
"Next time we should bring Carly," Lise suggested. "She'd love this photography set of stickers and stationery!"
"Luna too," Akiza nodded, holding up another spread. "Check out these Kuriboh stickers!"
"Oh and copic markers!" Lise gasped, reaching for the amazing yet expensive markers.
"Nope, no, not this time," Akiza snatched Lise's hand and dragged her away from the markers. "You already bought a new pack of markers last week."
Lise whined the loss of the markers, but allowed herself to be lead away.
After they paid for their journaling supplies, Akiza lead Lise on a whirlwind clothes shopping trip.
"Don't you have enough clothes?" Lise eyed the pile of ten more items on the current changing room area's bench.
Akiza's voice was fainter, but still audible through the door. "Of course, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy trying on something new!"
"I guess?"
Akiza came out wearing a white blouse paired with a black leather jacket embossed with red rose designs. "Like this? Makes me feel bad ass."
"Okay," Lise amended. "I can see that, and it looks amazing on you."
"Thanks! You should try something on!"
"Not another dress."
"It doesn't have to be a dress!" Akiza stuck out her lower lip. "Please! Lise, you're plenty pretty, and have I ever steered you wrong with clothes?"
Lise let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "No."
"Trying on clothes can be fun, I promise." Before Lise could change her mind, Akiza was racing away, already thinking of ideas.
/
Team Taiyo watched Yusei and Bruno work with rapt attention. So far so good in terms of the road to the bike getting fixed.
At one point, Bruno pulled out a cola soda can. "Oh, I see, this is what you've been using in place of a Momentum energy provider."
Taro and Yoshi had tensed when the soda can had come up. At Bruno's words their shoulders lowered slightly. Jin merely continued to glare sourly.
Yusei nodded. "When you don't have a regulator to work with, this is the next best thing."
"Oh," Leaning over his friends' shoulders, Leo was learning something too.
"Um…" The three of them looked up to find Yoshi standing on the other side of the duel runner. He held his hands behind his back, stepping back and forth, from foot to foot. "Er…well…" He took a deep breath and thrust his deck out. "W-Would you please sign this for me?! On a book, cardboard, a card; a-anything will do!" He spread out the cards in case Yusei wanted to choose one specifically.
"Uh…" He got to his feet. This autograph thing is really catching on. How did Jack end up liking this?
Bruno and Leo got up to see the cards too.
"They're all Normal monsters," Leo observed.
Jin gasped and dashed over. "Idiot! Why the hell would you show off your deck like that?!" He snatched the cards from Yoshi's hands. "You're so dense sometimes, you know that?"
Yoshi's face fell. "But I forgot my notebook. I don't have anything else for him to autograph."
Jin wasn't deterred. "don't make me remind you that these people will be our opponents in the upcoming duels!"
"S-Sorry…"
Yusei bit his lip. This was tense. Technically Jin was right, but Yoshi was sincerely asking. Should he offer to sign something later?
Luckily, Bruno had gone back to tinkering. "What is this?" He held up a bent-up wire clothing hanger. "A hanger? Why would it be in here of all places?"
Team Taiyo exchanged glances. All three of them sweated a little. Taro scratched the back of his head. Yoshi giggled a little. Jin just pouted.
Yusei smiled and took the hanger in his hands. "Look closely. If you have no Y-hook, you bend it like this so the hanger will fit."
"I see now."
"Long ago, I used the same methods to build my duel runner," Yusei explained.
Yoshi blinked, mouth agape. "You did, Yusei?"
"Yeah, I was from the Satellite. We'd use junk to make almost everything we needed."
Even Jin was surprised. Here he'd been thinking these people were stuck up and classist…
/
"I think you have a legit problem," Lise was only half joking.
Akiza squeezed one of her smaller shopping bags into a larger bag. "Nah, it's fine."
"I do understand loading up on scented candles. That shit is like candy scented crack," Lise broke into a grin.
"I know!" Akiza snickered uncontrollably. "I think the clerk thought you were actually high off the Black Cherry Merlot one."
"Nah, it's the ones that smell like cookies that can get you high."
"Bullshit," Akiza affectionately knocked Lise's shoulder. "You were practically cross-eyed!"
"Look, the snickerdoodle scent is just utter bliss, okay?"
"I thought that was the smell of books?"
"I can have multiple favorite scents," Lise insisted. "Speaking of books, there's a bookstore in this mall."
Akiza let out a long drawn out sigh. She wasn't as much of a book dragon as Lise, but she had brought it up. She had also dragged Lise through about three clothing stores. "Okay, fine-"
"Yay!"
"But don't start reading something and drift off!" Akiza called after her. Lise was eager to get a head start, and was already running off.
Akiza found her twenty minutes later flipping through manga. "Don't forget you can't buy anything. Your birthday is coming up."
"Don't remind me," Lise groaned. "There's just so much new content out there. SpyxFamily and Dmeon Slayer look cool, but for different reasons! Did you know Fangirl was being turned into a manga?"
"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that book! How long did it take you to finish it again?" Akiza gave her friend a stern look.
Lise hid her blushing cheeks behind the pages of a manga. "A day…? Maybe less?"
Akiza sighed and sat down to peer over Lise's shoulder at the "Teen Titans: Raven" graphic novel she was skimming. "How did you get so fast at reading anyway?"
Lise smiled at the thought. "Mom used to read to us when we were little, remember?"
"Yes," Akiza's voice came out more of a croak than a word. "It was one of the best parts of our old sleepovers." She rubbed at her eyes.
"After her death…it was one of the ways for me to feel close to her again. Books became like friends to me, or at least friends that don't change."
Akiza laughed a little at that. "Yeah, I can see that. No matter how hard things get, the comforting story stays the same."
"Now you're getting it!"
Akiza's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. "Uh…" Her face turned almost as red as her hair.
"We should grab some lunch," Lise laughed.
"Yes, please!"
Akiza was figuratively chewing on something as well as her food while she waited for Lise to return to the mall food court with her meal. Bringing up Lise's mom, Mayoko, had her thinking…
"Lise?"
"What's up?" She popped her soda's straw in the cup and sipped at it.
"Mayoko…your mom had me thinking, next time we should invite Luna and Carly…"
"Oh, yeah, we said so in the stationery place," Lise bobbed her head.
"Yeah…but maybe, if we can, we should invite Sherry too?"
Lise set her cup down with a thud.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring her up like that! I just…"
"It's not your fault," Lise said firmly. She rubbed at her eyes. "I think you're right. She's not gone." She broke into a thin, tiny smile. "And I think she'd like that."
/
With one last turn of the screwdriver, Bruno and Yusei were finally finished. "And that does it."
Bruno stood up to wipe his sweaty brow. Yusei put their tools back in the tool box.
"Is it fixed?"
"Yeah."
All of Team Taiyo burst into grins. Even Jin.
"Let's try it out!" Yoshi suggested.
Taro nodded.
They took the duel runner back into the street. Thankfully, since the day was coming to an end, there were fewer people milling about.
"Wow!" Yoshi remarked, testing the throttle. "It feels so different!" He held onto the controls. "Here I go!"
In a second, he was gone! Riding down to the end of the block in record time!
"What acceleration!" Taro cried.
"So fast! And the handling!" Yoshi pulled a tight U-turn. For a moment there it looked like he might tip over, but at the last second, he was pulling out of the turn and zooming back. "Ya hoo!"
"Is that really our duel runner?" Jin whispered.
"Good for you!" Leo grinned up at them. "Now you can enter the tournament finals!"
"Thank you so much!" Taro couldn't stop smiling.
Yusei nodded. "Did you want a new paint job too? I noticed the paint was peeling and my girlfriend said she'd be happy to paint for you."
"We couldn't really. That's too many favors! Are you sure?"
"She said she could get started tomorrow if you'd like. It'd need to be dry by the time your next match rolls around."
Jin scowled and crossed his arms. "She's not gonna change it to some dumb color is she?"
Yusei's eyebrow raised. "No."
"Jin!" Taro scolded again. "If she wouldn't mind, that would be great."
Yusei's smile returned and he pulled out his phone. "I'll call to double check. One minute."
They gave Yusei some space, and watched Yoshi continue to zoom back and forth.
"So uh," Taro addressed Bruno and Leo. "I've seen you all at least a glance from watching the tournament duels, but what's Yusei's girlfriend like?"
"Terrifying," Bruno blurted immediately. He turned pink when he realized what he said, and Taro and Jin's expressions, and waved his arms around. "I mean that in a good way!"
Leo came to his rescue. "She's nice. She wants to help too, I promise!"
"Okay…" Taro looked relieved.
"They said yes?!" Lise was squealing. "I can paint another duel runner?!"
Yusei laughed. "Yep. Wanna get started tomorrow?"
"Hell yes! I need to see it first, get an idea what colors they like first too, and-"
"Okay, we'll meet up again with them tomorrow then. See you soon?"
"Yeah, Akiza and I are already headed home. Love you, see you there!"
Yusei's cheeks flushed pink. "Love you too, bye."
"So?" Taro's hands clasped pleadingly.
"She's still in and wants to get started right away," Yusei reported. "Meet you guys again tomorrow, say around ten?"
Taro relaxed with a sigh. "That's perfect."
"Bring the duel runner around our place then, and we'll go from there."
Bruno spoke up. "Do you know how to get to Fountain Plaza?"
"Yeah!"
/
The next morning Lise's eyes were alight with more than just her morning coffee fix. She shook hands with each Team Taiyo member and got to circling their duel runner like an artistic vulture.
Jin watched her like a sour-faced hawk. They'd already had more than enough people that were not Team Taiyo members touching their duel runner, and they didn't need to add another in his opinion.
"The style is just so unique!" Lise was saying as she furiously sketched the duel runner into her sketchbook. "It's very grunge, but that can work. Are you attached to the green?"
Yoshi followed behind her, peering at the sketches, unsure about her methods. "I mean, green is… It just sorta turned around that way…"
Taro shrugged, but then he saw Jin's expression. "If you could keep it as…uh close to the original green as possible… That would be great."
"I can do that," Lise amended, completely undeterred. She pulled out the paint swatch booklet she kept for just such an occasion to try to determine the green that would match as closely as possible. She even offered the booklet to Yoshi. "Wanna help make sure it's the right color?"
Yoshi stuttered and blubbered, but helped her flip through the different greens.
Yusei beamed at Lise. She was just as excited to work on a new duel runner.
Lise was just going through her last glance over. She came across the team insignia on the side of the duel runner. "I can touch up this too…" She made a note on her sketchbook. Their gear is so well maintained…
Jin took a step forward. Lise had lightly touched the main controls. Taro threw out his hand to stop his friend.
Lise smiled lightly. "This machine is well loved. A little rough around the edges, but I think that's what makes it special."
Jin froze. She got that just from looking?
"This one!" Yoshi held up one of the swatches. "Lark Green!"
"Lark Green it is!"
It took some doing, but they were able to collectively gather enough Lark green paint. Lise also browsed around for smaller cans of yellow, yellow-orange, and red-orange paints until she found the faded versions of each that would go best with lark green.
It took some doing, several days-worth, but Lise worked hard. Their duel runner had the horsepower to back up their game. Now they just needed to look the part. Team Taiyo left their duel runner at Team 5D's garage while Lise worked on it. It was easier for Lise to keep the painting mess to a minimum, and she didn't have to move any of her gear.
Team Taiyo came over at the crack of dawn and left after dark each day. They needed to be with their dark as much as possible to gauge progress. Lise eventually kicked them out of the plastic paint tent they were getting in the way so much.
To ensure everything dried by the day before their next match, Lise got up before dawn. Downing an espresso, she got to work on the insignia. She'd left it for last on purpose. This kind of small detail work required more attention and would dry faster than the rest of the duel runner.
At last, she was finally done. She yawned and her stomach rumbled in unison. Her tiredness was stronger, and Lise stumbled out of the paint tent to fall asleep on the couch.
When Lise didn't come up for lunch, Yusei went down to investigate. "Lise?" She had quite literally passed out on the couch. Yusei chuckled a little to himself and draped his coat over her. She'd been working nonstop for a couple days now. He'd let her sleep.
Inside the paint tent was a fully finished duel runner. It was fixed, and had a brand-new paint job to match. The new green coat caught the sun like a freshly cut gem. The insignia was still a little wet from the waterproof sealant, but gleamed proudly alongside the green.
Yoshi, Taro, and Jin had wandered in from upstairs. They'd come over and had been having lunch with everyone else.
Yoshi burst into tears. "It's so beautiful!"
Taro sniffled a little too. "Now we really look like pro turbo duelists."
Even Jin was moved. "You all did so much for us…"
Yusei nodded with a smile. "All you guys need to do now is try your best in the WRGP."
"Yeah," Lise yawned, rubbing at her eyes as she joined them. Yusei's coat was draped around her shoulders. "Now you can. It's no fun to duel opponents that aren't at their very best."
Taro grinned wider than he had in days. "Then we'll be sure to repay you by going as far as we can in the tournament!"
/
The next day Lazar was finally ready to announce the final roster for the finale of the WRGP. All the teams and fans were gathered at the Kaibadome. "Everyone, I apologize for the wait! We will now release the official WRGP Tournament Finals Lineup!
"In the A Block, we have…"
Lazar was flipped by a motion graphic to the A Block lineup. The only team Team 5D's recognized was Team New World.
"So we're in the B Block," Crow frowned.
"We have to make sure we face them in the final round," Yusei said.
Jack hummed in agreement.
"Eyes right in front of us," Lise was more telling herself than them. "If we're so focused on the last match, we'll trip up on this one."
"Continuing, we have the B Block."
The screen rolled over to the B Block side.
Leo gasped. As did Team Taiyo.
"I can't believe we have to fight them in the finals this soon…" Leo's face fell. What were they going to do?
Akiza's heart sank, but not because of Team Taiyo. They were nice, and no doubt great duelists, but a different team should have been up there.
Lise squeezed Akiza's shoulder. "We'll find out what happened to Sherry."
"Yeah?"
"Well yeah," Lise put on a brave face. "She's gotta come shopping with us even if we have to kidnap her."
That made Akiza giggle. They weren't out of the woods yet, but they were absolutely going to find out what was on the other side.
(Another chapter! I've been wanting to write this one for some time! I needed to give some space to Lise and Akiza's friendship, and also wanted to give Bruno and Yusei some space to work on duel runners together that weren't their own, lol! I hope I did Team Taiyo justice since they're such a sweet team and deserved way more than to be cut out entirely from the dub!
Please enjoy as well as stay safe, healthy, and secure! Be gay, do crimes(in protest of unjust laws), and thank you for reading!)
