Outcasts

Chapter Nine: Wheel and Deal

"Black Rose Dragon attacks… and unless you've got anything, I think I win?"

Jack glared at his cards, then, with an annoyed huff, shuffled them back into his deck.

"All yours."

"And Aki's undefeated run continues!" Crow cheered, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "It's looking like no-one in the orphanage can stop her, currently on a twenty-game winning streak and showing no signs of slowing down! Can we get some words from our champion?"

Aki blinked blankly at the invisible microphone that was angled at her face.

"Well, umm…"

"She's only winning because she's got better cards than us!" Jack huffed. Aki felt herself flinching before he was already halfway done complaining.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to make it less fun for everyone else."

"Oh, ignore him. He's just salty."

"Besides, there's no such thing as a card that's better or worse than others. Every card has its use." Yusei lectured, turning over the page of his current research subject.

"Yeah, and the use of her cards is to wreck the rest of us without thinking. Come on Yusei, she gets her Synchros out twice as fast as we do!"

The salt was punctuated with the slap of cards into a ragged deck case, the usual sign that Jack was done duelling for the time being.

"Where'd you even get such great cards anyway?"

"Oh, they were gifts mostly. From my family, but sometimes from friends of my papa. A lot of them brought a pack or two over for me when they came to visit."

Right before they locked themselves into the front room with papa for hours on end, leaving Aki to sit alone with no-one to enjoy her new cards with. Her mama would usually be similarly unavailable in such times, nipping in and out with refreshments and asking Aki not to get underfoot.

She shook away the bad memories. She had friends now, people who actually wanted her around. Although, maybe not for long if she kept winning like this.

"Seriously? Who the heck is just giving away packs of cards, and where do I find them?"

"Wait. How are they getting packs in the first place? Security's got a monopoly on all the new ones that come in, and even when the gangs manage to nick them, they're not exactly getting spread around."

Crow and Jack looked to each other in confusion, and for some reason it set Aki's stomach aflutter with nervous butterflies.

"Actually… this was before I came to Satellite. Back when I lived at home."

The gears spun in the boy's heads for a second. Then, as one, they burst up from their chairs, with even Yusei showing rare surprise.

"You're from the mainland?"

"Wait, then what are you doing here?"

"When did you get here?"

"Why are you here, of all places?"

She didn't know which one they wanted answered first, and didn't really want to talk about it in the first place, and so couldn't find the ability to answer any of them, sitting there slightly stunned at the explosion of noise. Yusei shook off the frenzy of curiosity first, waving the other two down.

"Is this about what you talked about at the park? About your powers, and how people got hurt? Is that why you aren't over there right now?"

She managed a mute nod to that one, and all at once the energy drained from the boys, settling back down with understanding nods in turn.

"Is it… bad… that I'm from the mainland?"

"Not really. Just surprising, mostly. Normally when people get exiled here, it's because they're criminals."

"You've seen what it's like here. Do you really think people want to come here willingly?"

Despite everything, if Aki had been given the choice of staying at home or coming to live in Satellite, she was pretty sure that she would pick the latter every time. It hurt to think like that, because it felt like she was throwing her parents away. But then she'd remember the night of her departure, and it didn't feel like as much of a betrayal as it should. At least at Martha's House she felt loved and wanted. But she couldn't really think of a way to explain it properly to the boys, and so just pretended to nod understandingly.

"Hey, is it true that there's food everywhere over there? Like, you don't need to wait for handouts from Security or rummage in the trash if you want to eat?" Crow asked, leaning over the table.

"Yeah. But it doesn't taste as good as Martha's cooking. Even the nice restaurants aren't as good."

"Restaurants?"

"Oh, it's a place you go to eat. You order what you want and they make it for you. You don't even have to do the washing up or anything afterwards."

"Aww man, that sounds great! And here I am, stuck sharing cup noodles with Jack."

"Cup noodles are delicious, and I will fight you."

"Yeah, they are delicious, which I why I don't wanna share!"

"Getting back to the matter at hand. If Jack's not best pleased with his cards, why don't we make the trip down to Main Street? We've all got spares of those Security cards, we might be able to trade them off for something more appealing. Or just go rummaging ourselves, see if we get lucky."

Yusei dogeared the page of his research material and rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. Aki's mother would have thrown a fit at seeing a book treated in such a manner, but unlike Yusei, she had an ample number of actual bookmarks lying around, eternally holding half-finished stories in pause.

"Either way, I could do with a break from reading."

"No luck so far?" Aki asked as they tided up and set about finding her a coat. An old hoodie today, donated from an older boy who had moved out the week prior. Brown wasn't exactly her colour, but it covered her face and that was good enough for her.

"Not particularly. So far it's just a history of the discovery of the Nazca lines and the archaeology surrounding them, without really going into detail about what they were for just yet. Certainly nothing about dragons or powers. I gave the pictures a quick skim just in case, but I couldn't see anything that resembled your marks either. I'll keep going though. Maybe it's just hidden somewhere in the middle."

"Hopefully. And, umm, thank you for doing all of this for us."

"You don't need to thank me. I wanna know what's going on just as much as you two do. It's just nice to be able to do my bit for once."

"That's not true. You're always doing things for us. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have come back to Martha's at all. Plus, it was your idea to actually look up books in the first place. I'm not really sure Jack has much of an idea beyond being a hero."

"We'd be improving your powers a lot faster if you just got on board with using them!" Jack called from the front. "Actually, new mission: we'll look for new bits of armour while we're out."

"Maybe… maybe if we find a shop dummy or something." She agreed weakly. That felt like it could be close enough to a person without running the risk of any more incendiary incidents.

"So, what kind of place is Main Street, anyway?"

Main Street, as the name implied, was the main road that ran through the bulk of Satellite, from the docks all the way into the depths of the B.A.D zone. It had had a different name once, back when the Satellite had been nothing more than Domino's industrial sector, but as it now served as the largest and most central route through the little spit of rock, it had been unofficially renamed to Main Street as far back as most Satelliters cared to remember.

It was the end closer to the docks that drew the children in, and as they made their way up Aki's guilt was already creeping in, hoping that she wouldn't see any destroyed ships poking up over the low-slung warehouses. But as they walked, it became quickly apparent that they weren't making it to the end of the road. Long before the smell of the sea brushed up against Satellite's smog, they started to spot duellists at play. A pair here, a group in discussion there, the crowds growing thicker and busier until soon the entire road was flooded by virtual monsters clashing up against one another, the cracked pavements packed with cheering and jeering onlookers.

It had to have been the most people she'd seen in once place since coming to Satellite, a scene no different to that which played out in Neo Domino's parks and recreational spaces just as frequently as it did here. The only difference was that Neo Domino's duellists could usually be left to get on with it without the watchful eye of Security upon them, a full squad of officers keeping watch on the proceedings from atop the high end of the road. Luckily, they seemed to pay them no mind as the children slipped by and entered the crowd, but Aki couldn't help but keep her hood held up, fingers going white as she clutched at the rim of cloth.

They pushed and pressed through the throng of bodies, Aki locking onto the shock of red hair in front of her and refusing to let it out of sight lest she get lost, even if that meant shoving forward and bumping up against the adults a little harder than she would have ever dreamed of doing otherwise, scurrying on with nervous speed as the odd annoyed shout followed after them. After what felt like another hour of walking and shoving, they finally broke free of the crush, coming out into a slightly more open area.

It had clearly been a commercial area before the Zero Reverse, a number of old cafes, eateries and groceries positioned to serve hungry working men on their ways to and from jobs of hard graft. That spirit of commerce lived on even now in the form of trade. No tables laid out with folders of the newest cards here though, but deals made out of trouser pockets and coat linings, transactions made with glances in both directions before the exchanges took place. It wasn't hard to see why. Security weighed down here as well, more mobile than the group that had been overlooking the whole road but of equal force.

"There was a raid on the latest card drop-off recently, so they're looking to get their stuff back. That's the thing those goons in the park were trying to do us for." Crow whispered to the group. Aki nodded, already wincing.

"I think I accidently helped with that."

"The boat thing?"

"The boat thing."

She wished that she could pull the hood even further forward, and cover up her face completely. Maybe a mask would be a good investment for the future.

"Should we go back? We could just watch some duels instead." Yusei offered.

"Nah, it'll be fine. None of what we're trying to unload is new, and so long as we don't show off the Montage Dragons in front of Security, I think we can get away with it."

Crow dipped into thought, tapping his foot.

"But I guess it wouldn't hurt to do a little surveying before we go shopping. If you guys wanna hang back, I'll go talk to people."

"See you soon then. Stay safe."

They split up, Crow nipping off before Aki could offer a similar wish. Jack took the lead, pointing them to a nearby store.

"That place usually has a decent view of things."

"It's a bit hard to get to the top floor though. How are you at climbing, Aki?"

"Not great."

"It's fine, we'll just pull her up if she gets stuck."

And with that, Jack was already away, rushing up to the entrance and waving them over. The convenience store had seen better days, the automatic doors stuck open and the floors long left uncleaned. Not that she got much of a look at it as they hurried to the back, through a staff-only door and its busted lock. Once out back, she understood what they'd meant.

The staircase was only half there, comprised down only of a metal frame with no actual steps. Not that this seemed to bother Jack, going from support rod to support rod in two deft steps, then climbing up onto the hand railing and pulling himself up to the first floor.

"Come on slowpokes!"

Yusei went next, but only as far as the hollow of the second stair, cupping his hands ready.

"You first Aki."

Tentatively, she climbed into the metal frame with him, stepping up into his hands and onto the hand railing as Jack had done. Immediately she wobbled, and threw herself flush against the upper part of the staircase, eyes screwed up shut, grabbing at a metal bar for dear life.

"You're okay, don't worry! I'll catch you if you fall!"

It was a small promise, but it helped, and she steadied herself with a couple of breaths, finding the willpower to look up.

"What do I do now?"

"Either pull yourself up like Jack did, or creep around on the railing. That's going to get more difficult on the corner though."

As someone who'd never managed to climb the rope in P.E classes, Aki was pretty sure that she wasn't going to be able to pull herself up, and so creeping it was, following the railing around inch by inch and doing everything in her power not to look down. She wasn't sure that the reassurance of Yusei was going to entirely wipe out the fear of falling.

The issue with the corner became clear the second she made it around. There was no longer anything to cling to other than the railing.

"Umm, what now?"

"Lie down, hook your legs around and pull your self along with your arms!"

She followed Yusei's instructions, even though the metal bit into her chest as she made her way along, inch by painful inch. It wasn't as bad as climbing up the rope, but still her limbs ached and complained as she was forced to extend and hold on with a desperation unknown to her schooling. But made it she did, until she was within arm's reach of Jack, who pulled her the rest of the way and eased her onto the floor once more, where she promptly collapsed bow-legged, arms quivering from the effort.

"Good work. I thought you were going to get stuck."

"Thanks… I think."

"You alright?"

Putting her sluggish efforts to shame, Yusei was up with them in less than a couple of seconds, vaulting over and immediately crouching by her side.

"I don't think I can get up."

"Yeah, it's always difficult at first. But it gets easier. Once the tingling stops, you'll be fine."

He was right, as always, and her legs began to behave again in no time, eased on by the boys helping her to her feet. The first floor showed similar looting to the staircase, more metal bars and exposed concrete from heavy looting and scavenging, it went by in a flash as they came to an old fire exit, and then out to the roof.

From up here, they had a perfect view of the entire road, every duel playing out at once before them. There was a cluster of older boys huddled near the edge watching the proceedings, who gave them sharp glares as the door opened up. Without a thought, Jack and Yusei gave them stiff nods in return, shortly reciprocated by the larger group. Whatever secret exchange of boy-code had just gone on was lost on Aki, but it seemed to allow the three of them entrance, and they took up their own place on the edge. Her stomach flipped as she peered over and saw the unforgiving pavement below, but there was something strangely fun about sitting with her legs dangling over into nothing, even if the cold concrete of the roof bit into her backside.

"Any good matches yet?" Jack asked the other group. The closest boy gave them a shrug in return.

"Same old, same old. There was a fight earlier over how the duel disk called a ruling. The loser thought his opponent had hacked his gear. Got the shit kicked outta him when he tried something, that was a laugh."

"Humph, how disgraceful. If you're going to lose, at least do so decently. Anything else is a sham."

Idle chit-chat started, Aki not really knowing how to join in, or if she'd even have anything to say in particular if she did join in. And so she kept an eye out for Crow instead. It didn't take long, that same shock of red hair still sticking out despite how large the crowds got. She caught his attention with a wave, and before long the door was opening up again as he joined them.

"Wotcha. Any good duels going on?"

"Not really. Find us someone to deal with?"

"No dice. Security decided to randomly search some poor dealer, found him carrying cards from the raid. Everyone scattered after that, and I sure wasn't sticking around."

"Wait, you kids looking to trade?"

The huddle of older boys looked a little more alert now, their tight-nit ranks peeling apart to reveal a small pile of cards. One of them pulled himself up to his full height, listlessly looking down on them.

"My dad was a part of that raid. If you've got cards, we can make a deal. It's gonna cost you though."

Crow, taking advantage of being the only one standing, looked down on the older boy in turn.

"Don't you worry, we've got some good stuff. Security-grade stuff."

"Piss off you do. You're just kids."

"Aww, you're gonna hurt my friend's feelings."

Crow removed a hand from his pocket, showing off a copy of Montage Dragon. The effect was immediate, the older boys going bug-eyed.

"How the hell?"

"Sorry, trade secret. So, we getting in on this or what?"

And so Aki got a front-row seat to a Satellite-style trading session. It was a lot less civilised than the ones back at school, Crow and the boys swapping insults and banter back and forth with every line, to the point she was shocked that it didn't escalate to fist fighting, especially when Jack started pushing back with his own harsh comments. Even Yusei had a couple of cutting remarks, but his were usually focused around the value of cards and the fairness of both sides of the deal. Cards were offered up and retracted the second it seemed like someone was getting cheated, and the moment the deal changed voices would always spike and hands would start moving, as if the proceedings were less of a business deal and more some elaborate performance. As they kept going, it became more and more apparent that her assumption was right on the money. The showmanship, the cut-and-thrust of their words, the articulations that threatened but never made true on promised violence, all of it seemed to be built on a strange sort of respect. A tightrope walk of refusing to be pushed over without becoming so obstinate that it spoiled the fun, while still ensuring that everyone got what they wanted.

After a while, it began to simmer down, as deals were made and cards exchanged, and fewer and fewer items caught the interest on either side. For her part, she couldn't really see anything plant-themed, and so continued to keep herself to herself. As Yusei scooped up his latest prize and closed another deal, it seemed that it would be the last, the leader of the other faction giving them a glance from left to right.

"That everything? All good? What about you, girly?"

To her credit, she was getting better about being put on the spot, and shook out a negative without going too red in the face. Everyone found their feet, the bounty from both sides tucked away to safety, confirming beyond doubt the new ownership of any such items. Crow, ever the schmoozer, had already placed himself between the groups, grinning and handing out handshakes to whoever would accept them.

"Pleasure doing business with you guys."

"Yeah, yeah. Not so bad for kids."

"I'm twelve, dickhead."

"Ooh, you hear that, boys? Blondie's twelve."

"Aww, all grown up."

Jack's eye twitched, but a hand on his shoulder from Yusei and he was convinced to turn about. It lasted for a second, as Aki watched a spark of inspiration flicker into life in his eye, determined to get the last word in.

"Well, you know what?"

What, they'd never find out. As Jack spun about with his final insult, his foot caught on a crack in the rooftop. Momentum carried him forwards, and he tripped, hitting the concrete face-first. His deck case, contained in his breast pocket, skipped out and cracked open, cards sliding free. The older boys barely had time to laugh at his misfortune when they took notice of the strip of white at the top of the pack.

No words were exchanged. No honeyed trades were attempted. One of the boys dived forward, hitting the ground just as hard as he tried to snatch Red Dragon Archfiend. But Jack had enough wherewithal to recover from his fall, immediately rolling over and shielding the cards with his body. Crow and Yusei were standing over him protectively in a shot, Aki doing her best to mimic their folded arms and stern faces.

"It's not for trade, or for sale. We can forgive your friend, but we're going now."

The apparent leader sucked air through his teeth, and Aki got a similar terrible feeling to when they'd heard the two Security officers stomping through Charity Park.

"Yeah, nah. A card like that's way too good for you brats. How's about you just hand it over to your elders before we have to do this the hard way?"

Jack and the would-be thief found their feet at the same time, the deck case and its precious cargo now transferred to a trouser pocket. They glared daggers at one another, and already the battlelines were starting to be drawn, the older boys started to fan out and encircle them while Yusei, Crow and Jack formed a wall between them and her.

The fight started all at once. One of the boys lurched forward, attempting to spook Jack only to catch a clean punch to the nose for his trouble. And once the first blow was thrown, all bets were off. Aki caught Crow calling her to get the door, right before two of the older boys scooped him off his feet. She nipped back, following the order. But once it was open, she was at a loss of what to do. Crow kicked, squirmed and bit against his opponents, but was making no headway in getting free. Jack had been cut off, ducking and moving and scoring punches against the two boys attempting to catch him in turn. Only Yusei was managing to make it back to the exit, barely fighting at all as he redirected or outright dodged the attacks thrown his way.

Unsurprisingly, Aki had little experience with his sort of fight. Girls at her previous school didn't exactly brawl in this manner to begin with, and the boys that did so had usually done it in the areas of the schoolgrounds that she didn't go to. Not for the first time, she cursed her naivety. But even with no fighting experience outside of her strange powers, she knew one rule: boys weren't allowed to hit girls. And that she could work with.

With no plan, she ran forward and threw her shoulder against one of Crow's captors, in a similar sort of way as she'd seen her friends play-fight before. It worked enough, the sudden jolt causing the older boy to slip backwards, instinctively releasing Crow to try and stop himself from falling. Crow twisted free, and before the other could recover, nailed him straight between the legs with a solid punch, following it up with another one to the gut.

With him free, Aki ran to her next target: the boys harassing Jack. As one of them made to slip right and trap him, she grabbed him about the waist, holding on tightly even as he tried to shake her free. It was working perfectly. Being a girl, they couldn't hit her, and so she could run as much interference as she wanted.

Her world exploded into white, her arms losing their grip as she fell back in a slump. Her nose was awfully hot all of a sudden, something thick running down her mouth and chin. Stunned, she only vaguely heard her name called, and the shouting of the fight growing louder. In front of her, Jack forwent defence altogether, kicking off the wall to throw himself bodily at the leader of the other group, griping his shirt with one hand as he viciously went for the face with aimless, angry punches.

A hand fell upon her shoulder, and she snapped in the direction of the touch, shaking in fear of another strike. But it was Yusei, helping her up and pulling her away from the fight until they were at the far wall, and then he darted back in, going low to cut out the leg of a boy that was kicking at Crow, causing him to completely lose balance and come crashing down, his head bashing against the stone. He made to get up, only for two of the older boys to intercept him, laying into him with stomps and kicks. Unable to fight back or even stand, all Yusei could do was hold his arms over his head and take the beating.

A card slipped free, and the next thing anyone knew, a wooden lion was ploughing into the two boys, the tackle slamming them against the concrete of the neighbouring building. The fight froze. Jack and the leader stopped mid-swing at the other, Crow paused as he went to take advantage of the boy Yusei had knocked down. Those pinned against the wall looked up fearfully at the beast that now stood protectively over Yusei, making no attempt to get up and re-join the fray.

"Who else wants some?" Someone snarled. To her surprise, it was her making the churlish threat, Botanical Lion poised between her fingers, the card glowing in her grip.

"What the hell?" The leader whispered, right before Jack slugged him right in the nose. Dropping to the ground, he darted over to Yusei and helped him out from under Botanical Lion, the two falling back to Crow, and then to her in turn.

"We're going now. Don't follow us." Jack said, ushering them back towards the door. Aki kept the card up like a Security officer would their badge, brandishing it at each of the older boys as they stepped past, Botanical Lion holding its position on the crushingly silent rooftop and growling at the only one who tried to get back up.

They crept back, retreating slowly even once the door was closed and they were alone. Aki gave up any real thoughts, just holding the feeling inside the glowing card and letting Yusei guide her by the arm until they were back to the ruined stairwell.

"You guys first. I don't know if I can do this and climb down at the same time."

"Aki…"

"She's right. If that monster disappears, they're just gonna chase us down again, and we've got even less room to run here."

"It's okay. You guys can just catch me if I go last."

They made good on it, quickly descending and calling for her once they'd touched down. And she was right. The moment she had to think about climbing over, the glowing stopped, the warm feeling in her arm dying down, replaced by a slight shaking. Slowly, slower than she would have liked, she climbed over the rim of the staircase. Before she could think about creeping down, a door slammed, and in her surprise, she slipped over. The fall lasted but a second, her heart leaping up into her throat right before she landed into the boys, knocking them all flat and groaning. They were slightly more prepared than her for the crash, already getting up and pulling her with them back into the crowd out on Main Street, back into the anonymity offered by the press of bodies and ever-changing duels.

They kept eyes in the back of their heads all the way back to Martha's, ducking into alleyways and taking a longer route. But it didn't appear that any of the older boys were following them, and so eventually they settled back to their usual way home.

"Why is it always like this?" She complained. "It feels like we can't go anywhere without something crazy happening."

"That's Satellite." Jack answered without missing a beat. "They saw something they wanted, something that could give them a leg up, and they went to take it without hesitating. We're just lucky they didn't decide to pull knives on us."

"Has that happened to you before?"

"Once. But we managed to run away from that one."

Aki's blood ran cold, unconsciously summoning images of the two boys that had been stomping on Yusei instead descending on him with metal blades in hand.

"So yeah," Jack continued on, oblivious to her terror. "Good save there. Looks like you don't need the duel disk to use your powers after all."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Wasn't even thinking about it, really. I just saw you guys in trouble, and I just… did it."

A hand found hers, startling her from her listless drifting.

"Aki? Can I check your nose? It looked like you got hit pretty hard back there."

She nodded mutely, letting Yusei guide her over to a stone bench of some kind. There, she let the hood flop down, watching as the boys winced as one.

"That bad?"

Yusei leant in close, gently turning her head from side to side and pressing a finger to the bridge of her nose. Dazed as she was, she couldn't even work up the embarrassment from being in such proximity to him.

"Okay, I don't think it's broken, but yeah, that's a lot of blood. We're gonna have a hell of a time explaining this to Martha."

"Could we just tell her I fell over?"

"Probably not." Crow said, pointing to his jaw, where a lumpy patch of brown-blue was starting to take form all the way along. "She always knows if we've been in a fight. Better to just come clean and take our licks while she patches us up."

Yusei offered a hand, and she took it gladly as they started limping back, leaning on one another for support.

"Can you guys teach me to be like you?"

"What?"

She blinked dully, trying to do away some of the haze in her vision.

"I mean… you guys know how to climb good and run like crazy, and you can all fight, and you know how to talk to people correctly. You know how to live on Satellite. I don't. All I've got is this weird power, and I don't even want it. It went well today, but I can't rely on it working right all the time. Like, what if Botanical Lion had torn those guys up instead?"

"I think we can help with that. It's not all that hard to learn. We've just been doing it all for longer."

"But we're still doing the power practise, right?"

"Oh shoot, we didn't get a chance to look for a mannequin."

"Guess that'll be tomorrow's outing then. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure there's an old clothes shop not far from home. They've probably got a few still lying around."

The chatter and plans flowed unevenly as they made their way home, comparing wounds and talking up each other's contributions to the fight.