Martha shined a light in my eyes, and I squinted to try and get the pain to stop, "Martha, that's making the headache worse."
"That's not a surprise, seeing as you have a concussion. You're going to have to go to the hospital and get a scan done to make sure nothing else is wrong up there."
Dad was instantly by my side, "It's that bad?"
She brushed my hair away from my eyes, looking in them, "Yeah, she has enough warning signs that you should get her checked at the hospital. But I can safely say that she shouldn't drive until then."
Multiple sets of eyes looked at me, and I shrugged, "My options were to drive or die. I like living."
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.
"Fudo-san needs to avoid any mental strain for the first 48 hours, which means no screen time-"
This is going to suck.
"-No reading, dueling-"
What can I possibly do if these are my limitations?
"For the next 24 hours, you need to regularly check on her to make sure the symptoms don't get worse."
Dad moved to my side, "Does that all make sense, Yusei?"
I hummed in response, "Yeah, I can't do anything that I like for at least 2 days, so I'm probably going to go insane. Just what I wanted to hear."
Images flashed in front of me, merging together into scenes that I couldn't recognize. Colors flashed past me like a light show, disorienting me even further than I already was. Emerging from the ether launched Meklord Emperor Wisel, his arm raised to kill me.
I shot up in bed, clutching my head as it pounded, Great, another nightmare.
The past few days my head had mostly been fine, but I was slowly going stir crazy due to the list of things I was not able to do; No dueling, no working on Justice, who desperately needed repairs, no leaving the house (a Dad restriction), no screen time, and I just got permission to do light reading.
Dad wasn't taking any chances.
I rolled out of bed, getting dressed as I tried to figure out my nightmare.
The most present object was Meklord Emperor Wisel, no surprise there. I knew I was scared of that giant robot demon and his mysterious controller.
But in this dream, Sherri had popped up and said something that she hadn't said when I talked with her, so that was a question mark.
A knock rapped on the door, and Dad spoke through the door, "Don't forget the clothes need to be picked up today."
"Okay, I'll make sure that Crow picks it up after his deliveries."
He poked his head in, "How are you feeling today?"
He peered in, "You okay without Justice?"
I nodded, "Getting a little antsy to get back to normal. I just hope that the headaches end before the first duel."
"Me too. Do you want me to close the door behind me?"
"Nah, I'm going to be headed down in a second."
Once he left, I drifted downstairs to the garage with a specific goal in mind.
I walked up to Jack, "Hey, I want to figure out a new dueling strategy."
Jack stared at me in shock, "But you aren't supposed to duel for at least another couple of days."
Folding my arms across my chest, I gestured to a nearby table, "You do realise that we can duel on a table, you know, old style."
He vaulted over the railing, landing on the ground below us, "Fine, but I want to know why first."
"I need to figure out a way to win without using Synchros."
By the time I got down there, Jack had already cleared off the table and put two chairs on either side. He flopped down in one with his deck, "You can go first if this means so much to you."
My hand was actually set up pretty well for my idea, "I summon Shield Wing in defense mode and place a facedown."
Shield Wing-900
He raised an eyebrow, "Starting in defense? That's sad."
"Well, in case you forgot, your deck is pure assault. I typically do start in defense against you, you are just feeling overly judgemental today."
Jack nodded, "But it won't protect you from Twin Sword Marauder."
Twin Sword Marauder-1600
"Next, he uses his piercing damage ability to go right through your defense."
Life Points Yusei=3300
His purple eyes lit up as he realized that he could still swing his arms around, "And then he uses his other ability to attack again!"
Life Points Yusei=2600
A smirk spread across his face, "Then if a warrior type monster fails to defeat a monster in battle, I can special summon Sword Master in attack mode."
Sword Master-1200
I sighed, "This is so much more boring without the holograms."
My only response to that was a nod, and Jack continued, "Sword Master also has piercing damage, so he destroys your Shield Wing."
Life Points Yusei=2300
Tilting my head to one side, I smirked, "I summon Junk Synchron in defense mode, and his special ability brings back a level 1 or 2 monster from my graveyard."
Junk Synchron-500
Shield Wing-900
"If I have two or more monsters in defense mode on my field, I can special summon Backup Warrior."
Backup Warrior-2100
I flipped over my next card, "Next I activate Synchro Deception, which moves a Synchro from the Extra Deck to the graveyard if I have the right monsters to summon it. Then half of its points go to a different monster on the field."
Backup Warrior-3250
"Now he attacks Sword Master!"
Life Points Jack=1950
"With that done, I end my turn, and Backup Warrior's points return to normal."
Backup Warrior-2100
Jack glanced back at me, "You found a way to use a Synchros points without having them on the field. Too bad it can't last for more than one turn."
Glancing back at his hand, he continued, "I summon Dark Bug. And when I summon him, I can bring a Tuner back from the graveyard."
Dark Bug-100
Sword Master-1200
"You may have wanted to go without Synchros, but I made no such promises."
I gritted my teeth as he smirked, "I synchro summon my soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"
Red Dragon Archfiend-3000
"Now take out Backup Warrior!"
Life Points Yusei=1900
Jack stood up, gathering his cards, "Look, Synchros may not be perfect, but they're the best thing that we have."
Crow drifted in with a couple packages, "I have our stuff!"
He ripped open the smallest packages, and pulled out two dueling suits.
One was navy and black, with the symbol from my shirt on the front. It seemed to twist together to make it somehow elegant.
The other was a lot of brown shoved together to somehow resemble Crow's normal outfit.
I folded up my uniform, placing it on top of the box that held my clothes for that night.
Carrying both of them to my room, I hung up my dueling uniform.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled the box open, and stared at the navy cloth.
Dad knocked on my door, "Everyone is ready, do you need more time?"
I cracked it open, and peered at him, "Can't you send them ahead? I don't want them to see me like this."
He shook his head, "Nope. And they'll see you there either way."
"Fine," I grumbled as I came out, closing the door behind me, "But I feel ridiculous."
We headed downstairs together, and I saw them before they saw me.
Jack was wearing a hideous white suit with embroidery on it, with a matching hat perched on top of his head. Crow was wearing a simple black suit with an orange tie. Aki's red dress was sleeveless, and she had white gloves to cover her mark. Luna was wearing a pink dress with a lighter pink jacket on, while Leo was wearing a blue suit with shorts.
I pulled on one of my long sleeves, trying not to trip over the long hem of my dress. When I saw the blue dress with red dragons on the skirt, I couldn't help myself, I just liked how it looked.
Crow was the first to spot me, "Holy crap! You look…"
"Like a girl for once," Jack finished.
I raised an eyebrow, "I am a woman, just in case you forgot."
Aki smiled, "You really won't be able to ride Justice today."
Frustration threatened to bubble up inside of me, "Tell me about it. Everyone ready?"
We all climbed into a limo that Aki's dad rented for the night. Leo was starting to get excited, "Will we see any famous duelists?"
Crow patted my head, careful to not mess up my hair, "What about Yusei? She's famous."
Leo froze, "No offense, but I keep forgetting."
"So do I, until people try to kidnap me."
No one found my joke funny.
A few minutes later, we pull up outside of the gala center, "Is it really above a bunch of duel tracks?"
Dad nodded, "They think it will make the duelists feel at home."
Jack snorted, "Most duelists only feel at home on their runners, right, Yusei?"
"Shut up."
We walked up the stairs, and Leo shot past us towards the food, while both girls stuck to my side.
Aki glanced around, "Sherri said that she was going to enter, right?"
I nodded, "Who knows where she might be?"
Carly ran up to us, "Wow, all of you look so nice!"
Jack grabbed her hand and smoothly placed a kiss on top of it, "So do you."
Her entire face lit up, and the two of them walked away arm in arm as Crow muttered under his breath, "Never imagined Jack dating someone like that."
"True there."
A spotlight suddenly became the only light in the room, landing on Goodwin's lackey, "Greetings. My name is Lazar. The WRGP is a celebration of our city becoming united, and allowing everyone to duel as equals now."
Everyone started to applaud, and I leaned over to mutter in Crow's ear, "Like they would have done it if it weren't a condition of us saving the world."
He dissolved into laughter, and I fought to keep a smile off my face while Lazar left the stage. Screens popped up everywhere, revealing the face of the announcer from the Fortune Cup, "As you may have seen, we have many more tracks that are being built. Those who make it to the finals get to duel on a track that will constantly be changing."
Once the announcement was over, the lights came back on, and a group of men walked up to us, "Fudo Yusei?"
I glanced at them, "And you are…?"
The blonde one spoke up, "We are Team Unicorn. We just wanted to meet the winner of the Fortune Cup."
Crow started geeking out full force, "Oh my goodness! You guys are Team Unicorn! Yusei, they won almost every medal that a team can ever win!"
Blinking a few times, I rubbed my eyes, "Dude, I love you, but would you just calm down? Your screaming is making my headache come back."
The one with black hair glared at Crow, "I don't know who you are."
My dork of a brother gave his classic smile, "I'm Yusei's brother."
Since introducing their group, the blonde one hadn't stopped looking at me, so I glared at him, "And what exactly are you looking at?"
He paled, and avoided looking me directly in the eyes, "Sorry, it's just that no one ever mentioned that you were...well…"
"A woman?"
All three of them nodded, and I sighed, "Everyone assumed that I was a guy because of my name, and the fact that most women don't build runners."
Spinning on my heel, I stalked away from them, with the two girls following me.
In the background I could hear Crow frantically apologizing to them before he ran to catch up to us, "What was that all about?"
"Like I said, my headache is back. Try to fix things for me, would you?"
As he walked away from us, something burst through the window, covering us in glass shards.
Spinning around, I saw a man on a runner that could give Geiger's a run for 'biggest freaking runner to ever exist'.
Dad ran over to us, and pulled the three of us into a corner as the guy started to ride around the room like a madman. But he didn't succeed at keeping Aki contained for long.
She walked right past Dad before he knew what was happening, sliding her duel disk on, "Come forth, Black Rose Dragon!"
Her dragon burst out and blew the party crasher out the window onto the balcony.
The man shot off, with Sector Security chasing after him. As that happened, Trudge walked over to us, "Are any of you hurt?"
Dad shook his head, "No. Good thinking, Aki."
Suddenly Trudge grabbed the part of his collar where the microphone was, "What do you mean? There can't be another Ghost!"
All of us froze, and Trudge ran out the door.
Jack moved to my side, "We can't do anything! None of us have our runners here."
My hands curled into fists as a feeling of helplessness flooded through me, "At least you guys are allowed to duel right now! I'm completely useless."
Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and led the way into the garage. As we rounded the final corner, a man stood in our way, "Fudo Yusei, once you've recovered, I am willing to show you a way to defeat Ghost."
Before any of us could react, he walked away.
Crow chased after him, and glanced around, "He's gone."
We all joined him, and saw that he was right.
No one was there except for us.
A/N: There were no reviews on the original version of this chapter.
