Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh 5Ds, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds after hours
Chapter thirteen: Yusei and friends do Jim Jr. Junior High (1)
Yusei Fudo was sitting at the dining room table one morning in the Atlas Penthouse, which was located in New Domino City, a suburb of San Francisco, California. As per usual, Yusei was drinking a mug of coffee while scanning the morning paper. Sitting at the table with Yusei was one of his roommates, Kalin Kessler, and Kalin's talking dog best friend Dukey.
"Oh, Yusei," Kalin began after setting his mug down, "Yesterday afternoon while Dukey and I were in town, we passed by this store that sells everything a parent would need for raising a baby, and we saw some onesies that would look adorable on your and Akiza's upcoming child. The onesies even come in a variety of styles, so you won't have to worry about the baby getting some gender-inappropriate styles."
"It's very generous of you and Dukey to keep an eye out for things like that for me and Akiza," Yusei remarked.
"I have to ask, though," Carly Carmine, the girlfriend of Yusei's roommate Jack Atlas, asked when she and Jack entered the dining room, "Why is Kalin, of all the people living here, doing things like scouting out the best ideas for clothes and cribs like that? Not to mention the fact that he regularly gushes over adorable things. Aren't girls supposed to be doing stuff like that?"
"There's nothing wrong with Kalin saying that he finds something adorable," Yusei remarked, "Besides, Akiza's pregnancy is developing more, so she isn't in too much of a condition to be going out and about. Also, I don't see either you or Brianna scouting out clothing options for my future child, or shopping around for the best crib on the market."
"He's got a point, Carly," Jack pointed out as he and Carly sat at the table, "So what if Kalin's a bit in touch with his feminine side? It's better that Birdbrain being in touch with his insane side."
"Thank you, Jack," Kalin said, giving Jack a nod in thanks.
"Any time, Kalin," Jack replied while offering Kalin a fist-bump, which was accepted right away.
As Yusei continued to scan the paper, he seemingly stopped on something that caught his eye. "Hey Kalin," Yusei began in a mildly concerned tone as he sat his paper down, "What was the name of the child psychologist that you recommended to me and Akiza again for when our child is born?"
"You mean Dr. Werner P. Lipschitz?" Kalin replied, "Yeah, what about him?"
"Well it says here in the paper that he's been arrested," Yusei said when he pointed to something in his paper.
"What?!" Kalin exclaimed in shock when he got up to walk over to where Yusei was sitting.
When Dukey, Jack and Carly all came over to where Yusei was sitting, Yusei said as he pointed to the newspaper article in question, "Yeah. It says here that he's been arrested on multiple charges, most of which are related to fraud. His trial is set to start this Friday, but he already has a number of people vouching for his innocence, including local woman Didi Pickles."
Before anyone could say anything else, Crow Hogan, the roommate of Yusei, Jack and Kalin, came running into the dining room. Crow was followed by his girlfriend Brianna Stone. "Did I just hear you right, Yusei?" Crow asked in a tone that was two parts concerned and eight parts serious, "Did you just say Lipschitz?"
"Yeah, what about him?" Yusei asked, giving his roommate and friend a confused look. (2)
"…Guys, we have to go to that trial," Crow said in a slightly more serious tone, "We cannot allow that freeloading son of a bitch to win his trial. The future of children all over the nation depends on it!"
"Crow, are you okay?" Yusei asked in a concerned tone.
"When is Birdbrain okay, Yusei?" Jack asked rhetorically in a sarcastic tone.
"Now's not the time for your bullshit, Jack," Crow said, "This is serious. Brianna and I were lying in bed watching the news when a breaking news bulletin that talked about Lipschitz's arrest was shown. It mentioned that Lipschitz has also just been charged with two charges of child negligence and one charge of child endangerment!"
"No way is that true!" Kalin declared, "Dr. Lipschitz would never do something like that! It would ruin his reputation as a child psychologist!"
"It's what the news said, Kalin," Brianna replied, "Don't shoot Crow and I. We're just the messengers."
Turing to face Yusei, Kalin said, "Yusei, we have to go to where the trial is being held. We've got to find out whether or not those charges really are true."
Getting up from his chair, Yusei sighed before he replied, "Very well. We'll head to where the trial is taking place." To Jack, Crow and Kalin, Yusei continued, "We'll be getting to the city a few days before the trial is held, so you guys had better pack some bags."
"I really hope that all of those charges that have been levied against Dr. Lipschitz are completely unfounded," Dukey remarked, "It'd be terrible if a man in the field of child psychology as renowned and experienced as him was brought down so low."
"I hope that the charges are unfounded too, Dukey," Kalin replied, "Most of the things that I'm planning on recommending to Yusei and Akiza for when their child is born are based off of his writings."
"A guy following the word of a child psychologist?" Carly said in a confused tone, "Isn't that something that-"
"-I have absolutely no trouble with whatsoever," Jack interrupted, finishing Carly's sentence for her with something she wasn't intending to say at all.
Yusei and the guys pulled into the parking lot of a junior high school, called Jim Jr. Junior High, that was located in the city where the Lipschitz trial was going to be held. As all of the guys got out of Yusei's Volkswagen van, Yusei said as he locked his van up, "Okay Crow. Why did you want us to stop here at a junior high school, of all places?"
"A good friend of mine is here," Crow explained as he gestured for Yusei, Jack and Kalin to follow him into the school. As the guys walked through the front entry hall, Crow said, "My friend can help us settle in while we're staying in this city, not to mention give us advice on where we can grab meals at."
"So, you're friends with a member of this school's faculty?" Kalin asked.
Before Crow could speak, someone called out, "Whoa! I wasn't expecting to see you here, dude!" The guys turned to see a somewhat younger student of the school walk up to them. It was a boy wearing an orange-and-purple stripped Sherpa hat, an orange long-sleeved shirt that had red flame patterns on the ends of the sleeves, a pair of somewhat baggy purple cargo shorts, socks and a pair of red-and-white sneakers. Walking up to Crow, the kid offered him a fist bump while saying, "You here on business, Crow?"
"Yes, but not official business, Dil," Crow replied in a mildly grim tone. Turning to face the others, Crow said as he gestured to the kid, "Dudes, this is my friend Dil Pickles, who is also my contact in this city."
"How old are you, young man?" Jack asked as he pointed to Dil.
"Ten," Dil replied casually without missing a beat, "Although I carry a fake ID card that says I'm twenty-six."
"Birdbrain, what the bloody hell are you doing socializing with a kid who is slightly less than half your age?!" Jack snapped angrily.
"Hey, there is no minimum age requirement on being awesome," Crow defended. Jerking a thumb to Dil, Crow continued, "Besides, Dil here is one of my most trusted associates. We can count on him, Jack."
"Well it would be nice if we had some suggestions on motels or hotels we can stay at while we're in town," Yusei began, "Preferably starting with ones located near the local courthouse."
"You guys came here because of the Lipschitz trial, didn't you?" Dil asked with his fists on his hips as he looked at the guys with a knowing look.
"You know about it?" Yusei asked.
"It's all my mom's been focusing on for the past few days," Dil began in a tone of complaint, "She's been organizing as much support as she can for that fraud. I actually skimmed through some of Lipschitz's books that he wrote, and after that I thought to myself, 'Who in their right mind would believe in this tripe? No wonder people think I'm weird, if my mom raised me based off of what she gleamed from these books!'."
"Now young man," Kalin said, "Your mother had your best intentions in mind when she referenced Dr. Lipschitz's books for tips."
"Yeah, right," Dil replied in a sarcastic tone, "My mother had my best intentions in mind when she read those books. And I'm the High Queen-Duchess of Charleston Chews."
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you, young man," Kalin said in a mildly firm tone.
"Your face in unbecoming of you," Dil retorted.
"See?" Crow said to the guys as he gestured to Dil, "I told you that Dil is a cool dude that we can count on." The other guys could only shake their heads as Crow and Dil high-fived each other.
Later, Yusei and the other guys were at the house where Dil's family lived, having been invited over by Dil himself. "You guys can crash here while you're staying in the city if you'd like," Dil said as he led the guys inside, "We've got an extra bedroom here, not to mention the den, and there's also the basement if it comes down to it."
"It's generous that you're offering to let us crash here, but won't your parents object?" Yusei asked rhetorically.
"My dad's away on some sort of business thing, and my mom's staying with some friends as they're working on their support for Lipschitz," Dil explained, "That basically means that my brother, our Grandpa Lou and I have the place to ourselves."
"Won't your Grandfather object then?" Yusei asked.
"Pfft, dude, Lou and I are both chill with each other," Crow said, "He'll be fine with us staying here."
"To give you guys fair warning, Grandpa Lou isn't all that fond of Lipschitz," Dil pointed out in a tone of mild warning, "But then again, the feeling's mutual from what I've heard."
"So, he'll be an ally," Crow remarked, "Good."
"No, Crow, that's bad," Kalin corrected, "We're aiming to prove that Lipchitz is innocent."
Crow was about to argue, but the front door opened, with a male voice calling out, "I'm home, Grandpa Lou!"
"He's not home, Tommy!" Dil replied when he turned to face the direction of the front door.
"Then where is he, Di-" the male voice replied, but stopped short when the owner of the voice, a young boy somewhat older than Dil, walked into the living room. This boy had darkish-colored hair, wore a white shirt with blue long sleeved, jeans, and a pair of high-top sneakers. Taking off his backpack and setting it on the floor, the boy pointed to Yusei and the others and said in a mildly confused tone, "Who are you guys and what are you doing here?"
"Oh, Tommy," Dil said, "This is my friend Crow and his roommates." To the guys, Dil said, "Guys, this is my older brother Tommy."
"I'm sorry if us being here gave you a fright," Yusei apologized, "But your brother decided to offer us a place to crash here while we're in town for the Lipchitz trial."
"Do you want him to be found guilty, yes or no?" Tommy asked.
"Crow is yes, Kalin is no, and Jack and I couldn't care less," Yusei explained, with the other guys all nodding in agreement.
After looking at the guys for a few seconds, Tommy gave a resigned sounding sigh. "Well, if you're Dil's friends, then I suppose there's no harm being done," Tommy remarked, "So long as you all try not to cause any trouble while you're here. Also, I'm working on another film, so it'd be great if you all volunteered to play some roles. I'm always short a few people."
"Film?" Jack repeated in a tone that was three parts curious, seven parts confused.
"Oh yeah, my brother is something of an amateur director," Dil explained, "In fact, he's working on a film that he intends to enter into an upcoming film festival."
"The last time I entered a film festival, the film I made lost to a murder mystery slash comedy made by some woman named Carly Carmine," Tommy remarked, "But then again, she clearly had a very huge budget, if she could get ahold of things such as a high-quality fat suit."
"Which are a pain in the rear to put on, given how much time it takes," Crow added.
"So, if you guys are going to be staying here, try not to make a mess," Tommy said to Yusei and the others, "Also, you guys are going to have to decide among yourselves where to sleep. You all can't take up my parents' room for obvious reasons, and me and Dil's grandpa is staying in the extra bedroom. That'll leave the den, the living room and the basement."
"D'oh!" Dil exclaimed, "I forgot the extra bedroom's off limits because grandpa's using it while he's here!" To Crow, Dil said, "Sorry about that, man."
"Oh, it happens to the best of us," Crow replied in an understanding tone.
"So, it's agreed," Yusei said, "The guys and I will be staying here while we're in town for the Lipschitz trial."
"Just make sure you guys can cover getting food for yourselves," Tommy said, "I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't like it if strangers came in and ate our food."
"That didn't stop her from feeding Lipschitz," Dil muttered to himself in an annoyed tone as he crossed his arms, "Those frosted strawberry pop tarts were mine. Fat fucking bastard."
Later, Yusei and the other guys were in the garage of the Pickles' residence, where Tommy had set up some sort of movie set; upon him and the guys entering the garage and seeing the set along with some neatly folded costumes laying on a table off to the side, Yusei deduced that Tommy was aiming to make some sort of mystery movie. "Okay, you guys wait here with Dil while I go get the extra script copies," Tommy said before turning around and heading back into the house.
"I hope you guys like mystery movies," Dil said to the guys while Tommy was gone, "Because that's what my older brother is aiming to make this time."
"Well that much is obvious," Yusei remarked as he looked to where the costumes were at.
"Yeah, Tommy's still a bit upset about his film losing to the film that Carly Carmine woman made," Dil remarked, "Heck, I bet the reason why he's aiming to make a mystery film this time is because Carmine's film was a mystery. I'm guessing that he's trying to bank on the success of the film that beat his previous work."
"Would now be a bad time to mention that not only is my roommate Jack dating the woman whose film beat your brother's film," Crow began, "But that my girlfriend Brianna and I were both actors in Carly's film?"
With an indifferent shrug of his shoulders, Dil replied, "Meh, I couldn't care less about that. Although I did win a bet with Tommy's friend Chucky about whether or not Tommy's film would win." To Crow, Dil added, "I guess that means I owe you one, dude."
"By all means, take your time," Crow said, "We've got bigger fish to fry if you think about it, so let's focus on that."
"Sorry it took me so long," Tommy said as he walked back into the garage. Handing each of the guys and Dil a copy of the script, Tommy said, "You'll find the name of the character you're playing on the cover of your respective script copy, so let's start by going over the scene that starts halfway down page five."
"I've always fancied myself as something of a thespian," Jack remarked as he flipped his copy of the script open.
Later, the guys, Dil and Tommy went to the Java Lava Coffee Shop, a local coffee shop in the city. "This looks like one of those quaint family-owned deals," Kalin remarked as he and everyone else walked into the coffee shop, "I bet Dukey would have loved to have come here."
"The parents of Tommy's friend Chuckie own this place, actually," Dil remarked as the group looked around.
Inhaling through his nose in order to smell the aromas coming from where the coffee was being made, Kalin said, "Oh, this place smells like-"
"No way, dude," an older female voice called out in a pleasantly surprised manner, "Crow Hogan, is that you, my man?"
Having heard someone call out to Crow, the group all looked to the counter where the owner of the voice, an adult woman, was standing. She had brown hair which was straight, wore a bluish headband over her head, a blue shirt (with rolled-up sleeves) under a white work apron, and green earrings. "You son of a gun, I haven't seen you in ages!" the woman said as she waved to Crow, getting him to walk over.
"I see your hair is no longer all curly and whatnot, Betty," Crow remarked as he offered the woman a fist-bump, which the woman accepted right away.
"Ehh, I decided to go back to my original 'do after I heard one too many people here at the shop whisper that my hair looked like the butt of a brown poodle," the woman, who was apparently named Betty, replied, "What brings you and your group here to town?"
"The Lipschitz trial," Crow said in a somewhat grim tone, "Given the dude's rep in his field, there will undoubtedly be a media circus. Personally, I'm hoping the bastard crashes and burns."
"Amen to that, my man!" Betty replied as she and Crow high-fived.
"Crow, you know this woman?" Yusei asked as he, Jack, Kalin, Dil and Tommy came walking up.
"Oh dudes," Crow said as he turned to face his roommates, "This here is another pal of mine who lives here in the city. Say hello to Betty DeVille."
"I wasn't aware that you knew Phil and Lil's mom," Tommy remarked to Crow.
"I did," Dil commented. (3)
"Wait, did you just say that you actually agree with Crow about hoping that Dr. Lipschitz is found guilty?" Kalin asked in a mildly alarmed tone as he pointed to Betty.
"I never really liked that Lipschitz prick all that much," Betty remarked with an indifferent shrug, "Like some dude that has a fancy sheet of paper that says he's really smart knows how to raise kids better than the kids' parents, especially the mother who gave birth to those kids! I mean, seriously! Does the prick even know what it's like to give birth? I'd like to see him try to handle a pair of newborn twins for eleven days straight! With no sleep, no coffee, and no football on TV!"
"Let him burn!" Dil exclaimed.
"Hells yeah!" Betty agreed as she and Dil high-fived each other.
"You see, Mrs. DeVille?" Tommy remarked, "It's stuff like that which made me and Dil's mom not want to ask you to join her and the others organizing defense for Dr. Lipschitz."
"Ehh, I would have turned her down if she did ask me," Betty said with another indifferent shrug of her shoulders.
"Can we do what we came here to do now?" Kalin asked, "You know, get some coffee?"
"Oh yeah, how could we forget?" Yusei remarked. To Betty, Yusei said, "My friends and I would like to order some coffee now, please."
"Well then, boys, take a look at the menu," Betty replied as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "We've got all sorts of coffee options for your morning pick-me-up needs. We've got choices for days!"
"Choices for days?" Jack repeated in a mildly confused tone.
"Choices for days," Betty replied in a confirming tone.
After the guys and the Pickles brothers spent some time at the Java Lava, they returned to the garage of the Pickles residence to resume work on the latest film that Tommy was making. They were working on a scene where they came upon the scene of the crime, a murder where Dil, who was playing the role of the victim, laid on the floor under a white sheet. Kalin was playing the role of the detective, and Jack was playing the role of the owner of the manor where the murder took place.
"So, Mr. Brownmore," Kalin said as he and Jack were in character, "Tell me how you are familiar with the victim."
"Stewart was my nephew, who I took in after my sister and her husband were killed in a car crash," Jack replied, his tone sounding as firm but upset as he could manage, "As I myself lack any children, I was planning on making Stewart my heir. But with his death, I…I have no idea what to-"
Jack was cut off when Dil got up, causing the sheet that was covering him to fall off. "Cut!" Tommy yelled as he paused his video camera from filming, "Dil, you're supposed to be playing the role of a murder victim. Murder victims don't get up and move around!"
"Unless they become some sort of undead," Dil retorted, "Besides, I need to take a piss."
"Calls of nature trump pretending to be dead," Crow defended from where he and Yusei stood off to the side.
Sighing in a mildly defeated tone, Tommy remarked, "Fine. We'll take a break from filming." Setting his video camera on a table in the garage, Tommy then turned to face the others and said, "It's about time we got something to eat for lunch anyway."
Later, the guys and the Pickles brothers were in the kitchen, eating pizza that Crow had ordered. On the recommendation of Dil, Crow ordered a couple of pizzas. Yusei was wondering why Dil would recommend ordering multiple pizzas when two at most should have been enough to satisfy six people, but he got his answer when the doorbell rang. "Yo, I'll get it," Crow said as he got up and went over to the front door.
When a somewhat nasally-sounding male voice cried out, "Who are you?" when Crow answered the door a few seconds later, Tommy got up and went over to the door. A few seconds after that, Crow and Tommy led a group of kids approximately Tommy's age back to the kitchen area.
The first kid of the group was a boy with somewhat wild-looking orange-red hair and very fair skin with some freckles. He wore purple-colored square-framed glasses, a light blue short-sleeved button on shirt over a long-sleeved yellow shirt, greenish pants and red sneakers. The second kid of the group was a girl who seemed to have some sort of Asian heritage. This girl had fair skin, black hair kept mostly in a bun, and wore a pink shirt with yellow sleeves, a green skirt, and purple boots. The girl also had a hairclip in her hair along the right side of her head, and she kept a pair of chopsticks in her hair bun.
The third kid of the group was, like the first kid, another boy. This boy had fair skin and brown hair, and he wore a yellow t-shirt, a pair of cargo pants, and bluish sneakers. The fourth kid of the group was a girl with fair skin and somewhat long brown hair that had a pink streak in it. She wore a pink shirt whose sleeved ended halfway down her forearms, a green camo skirt with pockets on the sides, socks that made it halfway up the girl's shins, and white and purple shoes. Thanks to his experience in helping to raise Leo and Luna, Yusei could tell full well that kid number three and kid number four were twins.
The fifth kid was a girl who seemed somewhat older than most of the other kids, Tommy and Dil included. This girl had fair skin and straight, yellow-blonde hair that at least reached the top of her shoulders. She wore a pink tank-top over a long-sleeved lavender shirt, a light purple skirt that goes down just past her knees, a turquoise-colored belt around her waist (the belt wasn't supporting anything; it was most likely worn as an ornament of sorts), and purple sandals.
The sixth and final kid of the group was another girl who looked to be roughly the same age as the fifth kid. This girl had light brownish skin, denoting African American heritage. She wore her brown hair in box braids that were each adorned with colorful beads, a bandana that kept her hair from flying around in her face, a white and pink diagonal-striped shirt under a purple jacket that was open in the front, blue jeans and red shoes.
"Hey Dil," the Asian-looking girl began, "Tommy told us that you were the one who invited these older guys over. Are you sure that inviting over a couple of guys that are all look to be roughly twice your age is a good idea?"
"Relax, Kimi," Dil replied in an assuring tone, "They're only here because of the Lipschitz trial." Gesturing to Crow, Dil added, "Besides, Crow here is not only a good friend of mine, but he's also one of Mrs. DeVille's most trusted associates."
"It's true," the male twin remarked while the female twin nodded in agreement, "Mr. Hogan is a close friend of me and Lil's mom."
"I still don't think that this is a good idea," the Asian-looking girl said in an unsure tone.
"Chill your tits, Chun-Li," Jack scolded, "It's not like the guys and I are going to rob the place!"
With an annoyed look on her face, the Asian-looking girl said in a mildly huffy tone, "I'm Japanese, you ass." (4)
"Fine then," Jack retorted, "Chill your tits, Ibuki." This only drew an annoyed growl out of the Japanese girl.
"I take it that these are friends of yours and your brother's?" Yusei asked when he turned to face Tommy.
Nodding in the affirmative, Tommy said to Yusei, "My pal with the orange hair is Chuckie, the girl your blonde friend is ticking off is Chuckie's sister Kimi, the twins are Phil and Lil, the girl with blonde hair is me and Dil's older cousin Angelica, and the last one is Susie."
"We're here to help Tommy with his latest film," Chuckie said, then added in a mildly confused tone as he gently shook his head, "It still beats me how Tommy's film that he entered in the recent film festival lost to that Carly Carmine woman's film."
"She probably had a much bigger budget, which allowed her to spring for higher quality costumes and props," Jack remarked.
"Oh yeah, did you guys hear about the latest development in the Lipschitz trial?" Angelica began.
"Wait a minute," Susie said, "Angelica, why do you know about recent developments in that trial? I thought you couldn't care less about it."
"I know about it because it's all my Aunt Didi talks about," Angelica replied, "Anywho, from what I heard, there's at least a seventy-five percent chance that he'll be acquitted."
"Fuck, you have got to be kidding me!" Crow remarked, smacking himself in the forehead, "There's at least a three out of four chance that he'll get off scot free?"
"Well, I might as well pack to move to Canada," Dil remarked with a shrug.
"Canada is one of the countries where the local parents are most reliant on Dr. Lipschitz's books for parenting advice," Tommy pointed out.
"Fine, I'll pack to move to Mexico!" Dil replied.
"Look, doofuses," Angelica said as most of the other kids started to worry, "There's still a fair chance that the windbag will be thrown in the slammer."
"With me and Tommy's mom being one of the main supporters of getting Lipschitz off?" Dil retorted.
"…A somewhat fair chance," Angelica said, correcting herself.
"You kids are blowing things out of proportion here," Kalin said in a mildly admonishing tone, "I mean, there is no way that Dr. Lipschitz is as bad as you're making him out to be."
"He clogged the toilet when he was over at me and Chuckie's family's place," Kimi stated.
"He very nearly made some racist remarks towards my family a few times when he was over at my family's place because my mom and Mrs. Pickles brought him by," Susie said.
"The fat fucking bastard ate my s'mores flavored pop tarts when he was over at my family's place," Angelica remarked, clearly looking annoyed.
"He ate your pop tarts, too?" Dil said, looking at his older cousin with a pained, sympathetic look on his face.
Nodding in the affirmative, Angelica replied, "I'd tell you more, but it's something of a personal matter for me." (5)
"This is a travesty that cannot be allowed to go unpunished!" Crow exclaimed, "In the name of all of the brave pop tarts that lost their lives to that balding son of a bitch, we must do all in our power to keep him from getting off for his crimes!"
"Granted, it's kind of unnerving for me to find out that Dr. Lipschitz is something of a mooch," Kalin remarked, "But we need to make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he really is guilty of the crimes that he's been charged with before we jump to any conclusions!"
"Me and Dil's mom didn't make sure of anything before jumping to that guy's defense," Tommy remarked, "And with all that she's done for him so far, chances are that he'll get a not guilty verdict, which would let him go on pushing more of his nonsense on parents all over the nation."
"Then there is only one solution," Crow said in a somewhat grim tone, one that sounded like Crow knew what he had to do.
"We're going to try and talk things out like rational adults?" Yusei asked.
"Yusei," Crow replied as he turned to face his roommate and friend, "That has got to be one of the dumbest things I ever heard come out of your mouth."
Leaning to his side to whisper to Kalin, Jack whispered, "It's speaks volumes of Birdbrain's character that he thinks trying to talk things out like rational adults is a dumb idea." Kalin only nodded in agreement.
Later, as Yusei and the other guys were out picking up some grindage in Yusei's Volkswagen van, Yusei said, "So Crow, what do you think is the only solution we have to the problem concerning Lipschitz?"
"Simple," Crow replied in a casual tone, "We must-" Crow was cut off when Yusei cried out in alarm and slammed down on the brakes. When the other three guys looked out the window, they saw why Yusei tried to stop the Volkswagen so suddenly; Yusei had, unfortunately, just sent a woman flying by hitting her with his van.
Parking the Volkswagen, Yusei got out and was followed by the other guys over to where the woman landed on the sidewalk. When they got to where the woman laid, Yusei and the others noticed a few things about her. One, she was a fair skinned woman with orange hair. Two, she wore square-lensed glasses with a green frame, golden-colored earrings, a pink blouse whose sleeved ended halfway down her forearms, a purple skirt that ended halfway down her shins, white socks and maroon shoes.
Three, the woman was very clearly dead.
"Shit!" Yusei exclaimed, "I just killed a person by ramming them with my van! I can't go to prison! I have a wife who's got a child on the way!"
"Yusei, Yusei, relax," Crow said in a calming manner, "Leave everything to me. I just need you to move your Volkswagen van over to the other side of the street and park it there." Panicking due to having just hit and killed someone with his Volkswagen, Yusei did as Crow said without questioning anything. After Yusei was done, he got out of his car as he saw Crow break into someone else's car for some reason.
Apparently, Crow hotwired the car he broke into and drove it over to where Yusei had previously parked his Volkswagen. After Crow cleaned up any signs that he had used the car, he got out and said to the guys, "Now everyone will think that whoever owns this car had hit and killed the woman."
"As much as I'd hate to see Yusei go to prison," Jack remarked, "I seriously doubt that this plan of yours to get Yusei off the hook will work, Birdbrain."
Later that evening, the guys were all back at the Pickles residence with Tommy, Dil, and all of their friends. They were in the living room, gathered around as a news broadcast played on the TV. "Breaking news," the news castor said, "Child psychologist Dr. Werner P. Lipschitz, who is on trial for fraud, child negligence and child endangerment, has just recently been charged with vehicular manslaughter, after it was discovered that his car had hit and killed local woman Didi Pickles. The deceased had been one of the leading members of Lipschitz's defense concerning his other charges. Werner Lipschitz's trial had been moved to next week Wednesday. And now onto the weather. Tom?"
As Lil changed the channel, Crow remarked, "Woah. I didn't see that coming." (6)
"I still can't believe Aunt Didi is gone," Angelica said as she shook her head. To her cousins, Angelica said in a mildly somber tone, "Boys, I am so sorry that this happened to you. Give me a holler if you need anything, alright?"
"Thanks, Angelica," Dil replied as he wiped a tear from his eye, "That means a lot. She may have been a little crazy for following that quack's advice like it was the gospel, but she was still me and Tommy's mom, you know?"
"Well, I can bloody well say for certain that the so-called 'doctor' won't be getting out of this one anytime soon," Jack remarked as he made his way out to the kitchen to grab a slice of pizza leftover from lunch earlier, "Now if you all will excuse me, I'm going to head out into the kitchen to grab one of the leftover slices of pizza from lunch earlier. All of the running around the guys and I did earlier kind of made me a bit peckish."
"Hey man, Mrs. Pickles was just killed," Kimi said to Jack in a scolding tone, "Try and show a little bit more sympathy, would you?"
"I'm sorry, but pizza trumps saying something to someone that they'll be hearing from everyone over the next week to week and a half," Jack retorted in a mildly annoyed tone, "They'll get over it eventually, Makoto." (7)
"That's it!" Kimi exclaimed angrily as she got up and stood a few feet from Jack. Facing the blonde turbo duelist, Kimi exclaimed as she struck some sort of martial arts pose, "Kakugo wa yoi ka! Isshun sengeki!" The Japanese girl then seemingly glided over to Jack without breaking out of her pose, and when she got close enough to him, the entirety of the room went pitch black, which alarmed most of the people in the room, especially Chuckie.
Then, twenty-seven flashes of light blinked in and out almost instantaneously while Jack cried out in pain. After that, the pitch blackness faded, and the lighting in the room returned to normal. When the lighting returned to normal, everyone saw Jack lying on the floor at Kimi's feet. Just loud enough for everyone to hear her, Kimi said, "Korezo…messatsu…" (8)
Alarmed to see that Jack wasn't breathing or moving, Yusei got up, ran over, and bent down to check for a pulse. "Jack's dead," Yusei said. Getting up, Yusei looked to Kimi and said, "What exactly did you do to Jack? I mean, what happened?!"
"Well isn't it obvious, Yusei?" Crow said in a knowing tone as everyone turned to face him, "Kimi's wrath of the raging demon just devoured Jack's soul."
END, CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Author's notes
(1) I couldn't find a definite name for the town/city that 'All grown up' takes place in, so I went for the name of the junior high school that the main characters attend, since Yusei and company will be heading over there at some point.
(2) This is the look that most people give Crow most of the time.
(3) Crow gets together with Dil and Betty every so often to play poker. Dil usually wins.
(4) Anyone with a reasonable amount of knowledge on Street Fighter would know full well that Chun-Li is Chinese.
(5) Dr. Lipschitz ate all of Angelica's s'mores flavored pop tarts on the day that Angelica started her very first…lady time.
(6) Crow just grabbed the first vehicle he spotted, not knowing or caring who owned it.
(7) Suddenly, something in Kimi's head went 'snap'.
(8) Another master of the fist has been born this day.
Well chapter thirteen is done and over with. Although thirteen is usually considered an unlucky number, there are some people who believe that thirteen is actually quite lucky. My sister told me about this, and after some research on the internet, I was amused to see that she was right. I'll leave it up to everyone else on if they consider thirteen lucky or not.
Oh, and by the way, Yusei and the guys will be heading to Sheltered Shrubs in the next chapter.