Maneuvering through a poorly lit cave after spending my childhood running from the cops was a walk in the park. It didn't help the guards that all of the stalagmites were still popping up from the ground, giving me lots of cover.
Once I found a large enough boulder to hide behind, I reached out with my powers to locate Kiryu. It took me a bit, because despite him being close to me physically, he was a little off.
Following his emotions, I found him using a pick-axe next to a worn out Sergio, "Have you done enough penance for me to break you out?"
Both men shot into the air, and spun around to stare at me, "What? Did the cute lady just give you big, strong, men heart attacks?"
Kiryu slapped my arm, "How'd you get past the guards?"
"They're stupider than Sector Security, and this mine has more cover than the streets did in some places."
He smiled, "Can you get these stupid things off us?"
I reached out, and snapped his off with ease. As I reached for Sergio's, a loud crash came from behind me, and the three of us ducked out of sight.
Sergio led the two of us away from the guards, and we hurried toward the only exit that could be reached inside of the mine.
As we burst into the air, we heard a voice call out, "Yusei!"
I turned to see Nico pushing Justice toward us, a young lady helping him, "Great job Nico!"
They abandoned my runner, and ran up to their father, "Nico, West! Are you alright?"
"Yes papa!"
"Thanks to Yusei and Kiryu."
Nico tugged on Kiryu's sleeve, "Lotten is suspicious of you. He and a couple guys are coming up here."
Kiryu paled, and I glanced over, "Who is this Lotten?"
"He arrived after I lost. He took down the leader of the gang I dueled for in just a single turn. It's his monster's special effect."
Suddenly, we heard runners appear, and Sergio slid down the hill with his two kids. I smiled at Kiryu, "You distract his cronies and go down the tunnel on the right. I'll distract the big guy and go down the left tunnel."
The gang members rode up, and paused to look at us, "Who are you?"
"I am Yusei. What, were you expecting someone else?"
Kiryu raced off down the right tunnel, and I hopped on my runner, "See ya!"
Shooting into the tunnel, I heard the big guy follow me, "Give up right now!"
Lotten's massive runner shot after me, and he roared, "I will destroy you!"
"I make it a pattern to challenge people like you to a duel. I won't stop until you beat me."
I could hear the glare in his voice, "Fine."
Duel Mode Engaged Speed World 2-Set On
He ripped his cards out, "I summon Gatling Ogre!"
Gatling Ogre-800
Kiryu's voice echoed in my head, He uses his monster's effect to end the duel in one turn.
Luckily, my cards already knew that, "I send Effect Veiler from my hand to my graveyard to activate its effect. No monster can use it's effect until after the end of the current turn."
He was very displeased. "I place five facedowns and end my turn."
"I send Sonic Chick to the graveyard in order to special summon Quick Draw Synchron."
Quick Draw Synchron-700
"Then..."
He chuckled, "I activate Narrow Tunnel. Each of us can only have one monster on our field at a time."
Wonderful. His monster has its special ability while I have a tuner.
"I place two facedowns and end my turn."
He drew a card, and placed it in his hand, alleviating my fears of being wiped out this turn, "I send four facedowns to the graveyard and Gatling Ogre's effect activates. You take 800 points of damage for each card removed."
Life Points Yusei=800
"Then I release Gatling Ogre to tribute summon Full Armor Ogre!"
Full Armor Ogre-1600
"Now attack his Quick Draw Synchron!"
I hid my smirk as I activated my trap, "I use Desperate Lag. If a monster I control his destroyed this turn, I take no battle damage and are allowed to special summon a level 4 or below warrior-type monster from my hand. Come out Max Warrior!"
Max Warrior-1800
"Full Armor Ogre's effect activates when he destroys a monster in battle, the owner takes 1000 points of damage!"
I chuckled, "My other trap activates, Return Marker. Once per turn I can negate a monster's effect that deals with damage or destruction and the owner takes damage as if their monster attacked them."
Life Points Lotten=2400
Glancing at my next card, I felt relief flood through me, "You aren't the only one who can sacrifice a monster to summon a stronger one. I sacrifice my Max Warrior in order to special summon Turret Warrior."
Turret Warrior-1200
"His special ability is that he gains attack points equal to the monster that was sacrificed in order to summon him."
Turret Warrior-3000
"Now take out Full Armor Ogre!"
His monster shattered, and his glare deepened more as his life points dropped.
Life Points Lotten=1000
He grunted, "When Full Armor Ogre is destroyed, I get Gatling Ogre back on my field."
Gatling Ogre-800
Lotten smiled at me, "Since I have 4 speed counters, if I draw a Speed Spell, you die. And due to Gatling Ogre's ability, if I draw a trap, you are also dead."
He drew his card, and smiled, "I release Gatling Ogre again to special summon Big Cannon Ogre!"
Big Cannon Ogre-2400
"Well, you certainly know how to adapt to new situations. But attacking my monster wouldn't exactly be advantageous for you."
In confidence, he tilted his head, "But that's exactly what I am going to do. But I am going to use one of the traps that I discarded. If I remove Skill Successor from play, one monster gains 800 attack points until the end of the turn."
Big Cannon Ogre-3200
"All damage dealt after my monsters attack is doubled."
Life Points Yusei=400
He seemed so happy with himself, "I end my turn."
Big Cannon Ogre-2400
Come on deck, I really need your help! Give me a card that will help us win!
As I drew the card, a smile spread onto my face, "I activate the speed spell, Fallen Synchro. This allows me to Synchro summon a monster if I remove the necessary monsters from play. I remove Sonic Chick and Quick Draw Synchron in order to summon Drill Warrior!"
Drill Warrior-2400
"His special effect is that he can attack you directly if I cut his points in half."
Drill Warrior-1200
Lotten's eyes narrowed, "You aren't the only one who can use power from the graveyard. I remove Explosive Wall from play in order to remove every card on the field from play."
"Oh heck no!"
Kiryu came out of nowhere on one of the gang runners, "I won't let you do that!"
He crashed into Lotten's runner, stopping him from retaliating against me.
As Kiryu caught up to me, Lotten's runner suddenly got much taller, and shot over the two of us, "Your cards are going to explode, and then you are going to explode!"
Lotten shot forward, and a stick of dynamite crashed to the ground. It exploded outward, and my world went black as Kiryu called out, "YUSEI!"
Every inch of my body pulsed with pain as I slowly woke back up. Someone moved toward me, and Kiryu whispered, "Yusei? Are you okay?"
"If Dad sees how many bruises I feel on me, I will get chewed out and confined to the house."
He laughed weakly, "I know what you are talking about. But do you think that you can get Justice up and running?"
Sitting up, I nearly jumped to my feet when I saw how battered my precious creation was, "I am going to beat that guy into the stratosphere for damaging her."
I rushed over to it, and turned it on, "She's pretty battered, but I'm sure that I can have her running in a couple minutes."
He sat down near me, "I am going to string up that punk."
"Kiryu, I don't need you back in the Facility."
I focused on patching up Justice with what I had on hand. But some of the circuitry wasn't working. Reaching out, I focused my power on it, and they patched up, "I've patched up everything I can, but she isn't going to be at full power. I don't think that she's going to be able to handle both of us at once."
He nodded, and stood up, "I'll go ahead and find a path that can get us out."
Poking him in his side, I smiled, "Hey, if you can't find a path for Justice, we can always leave her here until we find some rope."
Kiryu froze, and stared at me, "I'm not going to let you leave your favorite possession in the world in a ditch."
Before I could respond, he ran off and I sat on my runner, double checking that nothing was majorly injured, It wouldn't be the first time that I keep moving an injury due to adrenaline.
Nothing felt broken, so I started pushing Justice forward, keeping an eye out for Kiryu. The ditch seemed to go on forever, and I hoped that we could find a way out before we got dehydrated.
"Yusei! I found a path that's going to be hard, but we should be able to get out."
Catching up to him, I saw the steepest hill ever, "Let's try."
He slid down next to me, and together we pushed her up the hill. As we came over the edge, I saw that we weren't that far from the village. But what really got my attention was a well, "Let's get a drink. Then we can try to figure out what to do."
Kiryu nodded, "Only Lotten really saw you, so if we find a way to change your appearance, you can go to the town and see what it's like."
We both got drinks of water and filled up our water bottles, which had somehow survived the fall unharmed. Kiryu turned to me, "Hey, Yusei?"
"Yeah?"
He shifted, and glanced at the ground, "Can you teach me how to ride a runner?"
I chuckled, "You seemed to do pretty well in the tunnels."
That earned me a shove, "No, seriously."
"Sure."
Taking off my jacket, I pulled a ponytail holder out of one of its pockets. Then I started braiding my hair down my back.
As I was doing that, my runner started beeping, "Check that for me?"
He got back to his feet, "Got it."
"Hey, Kiryu! Is Yusei there?"
"Dude, what happened to your face?"
Kiryu smirked in my direction, "Typical Yusei luck. So why'd you call?
"Dad is coming home tonight, not tomorrow."
I turned my head towards them, "Hey, Jack? Get some Securities, and bring them here ASAP. This whole town is being run by gangs, and people are getting thrown in a mine because they lost a duel."
"On it. Anything else?"
Kiryu shook his head, "She's getting ready to infiltrate the town because only one of them interacted with her. I'm the one that people would recognize."
I walked over to him, and waved to the others, "Do I look like Fudo Yusei?"
Crow's eyes went wide, "Holy crap, Yusei! You look terrible!"
"This town is a place for people who have no luck in the outside world. So I'm going to blend in just fine."
They hung up, and I walked to town, and immediately kept to the shadows. This was not the down that Kiryu and I had walked into a couple days ago. Everyone was ignoring Nico and West hanging from a pole next to the center of town.
Rushing back out, I sat next to the well, "They must have caught Sergio. Nico and West are being held captive in the middle of town, and the sign at the entrance of town now says Lotten Town."
His eyes narrowed, "Shall we?"
"We shall."
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