The next morning, I woke up to the Blackbird's struggling engine coughing in the garage. For a couple minutes, I just lay in bed, the pain making me reluctant to move. Finally, I swung my legs out of bed and threw on some of my grungy clothes.
Slowly, I stumbled downstairs, causing Dad to look up from a pile of papers scattered around the table, "Are you alright?"
Leaning over, I felt my spine pop, "Shadow Duels make the winner very sore for the next while. Why do you think that we met in a hospital?"
Crow walked in rubbing his eyes, and scooped up a bagel, "She's not wrong. But, to be honest, I think she's building up a tolerance for them. Compared to the rest of us, she seems almost fine."
Smirking, I shoved him as I took one of the chairs (and some food from Dad), "I have to by this point. If I don't, I won't survive to twenty-five. Everyone seems to target me."
As I started to get some food inside of me, Crow stretched, "You have the head of the dragon. It only makes sense to attack the leader. I'm going to walk to the park and back to wake myself up."
We both watched him go down the stairs, and finished eating. Once the door closed, I turned to Dad, "Want to work on Blackbird while he's gone? It's still acting up, and I'm worried about it breaking while he's driving."
He set down his drink, "Sure. Hopefully we can figure it out with the three of us."
Bruno looked up as we came down the stairs, "I was trying to activate a new program, but in doing so I found a strange circuit. It refuses anything I put in, watch."
He typed in a code to activate the engine, and everything went smooth for a second until a part lit up red, and the screen lit up with: Action Failed. Unknown Circuit.
"Hmm," Dad leaned in closer, and typed in a code of his own. Again, the screen lit up with: Action Failed. Unknown Circuit.
We continued to try, until the door opened behind us, "What are you doing to Blackbird? You'd better not be messing it up more!"
Bruno casually glanced up, "Our programming problems have something to do with this mysterious circuit. It won't let us do much to improve the runner."
Crow ran over, and I let him take my spot, "That's weird, but I don't want you guys messing with it too much. It barely runs anymore with all of the stuff you do to it, and I can't work if it breaks down permanently, so be careful."
I nodded, "We won't tear it apart or do anything that drastic. But we are going to fiddle around a tiny bit."
He moved away cautiously, and I stepped back to the runner, "What if we tried the new analysis test?"
Dad thought for a second, "Well, it wouldn't hurt to try. Bruno, could you run it?"
"Sure thing, but it's going to last a few minutes."
Ushio's voice came from behind me, "Crow, can we talk outside?"
Jumping slightly, I twisted around to see Crow go outside with Ushio and Mina. Turning back around to look at Dad, "Did it look like he was in trouble?"
"I doubt it. They look the same way they did when they came to ask you guys for help on another case they did."
A few minutes later Crow ran back down, "I need to go visit an old friend-"
Waving my hand over to Jack's runner, I didn't bother looking up, "I'd rather you not travel alone on your runner as it is right now, and Justice is pretty banged up from the ride through time."
He smirked, grabbed his helmet, and drove off on the Wheel of Fortune. I heard some yells outside, and Jack ran inside with a tea stain on his sleeve, "What's Crow doing on my runner?!"
"Mina and Trudge visited and now Crow suddenly needs to visit an old friend. I don't think that it is a coincidence."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance over at Justice, "Why not take yours?"
"Are you kidding me? If you've heard her at all right now, you wouldn't even want to stand next to her. Even I, who has driven her after THREE shadow duels in a row, don't use her right now. The engine is acting up, the tires are worn out, and-"
Jack sighed, "I get it. Justice is not roadworthy. But why not take his own?"
Bruno scooted back, "Recently the Blackbird has also been acting up. Crow has mentioned a couple times that it doesn't start up right away. That's why all three of us are trying to work on it."
I pointed to Jack's sleeve, "You'd better take off that jacket and let it soak. We don't have the money to keep replacing the white clothes that you insist on."
His eyes locked onto the stain, and a series of profane words flew out of his mouth as he rushed up the stairs. The rest of us returned our attention to the Blackbird, and I pulled a pair of goggles onto my face,
"Let's focus on making sure it starts up every time, then we can worry about the anomaly later."
Dad put his hand on my shoulder, "You focus on Justice. The two of us will work on this."
A smile spread across my face, and I stood up, carefully moving out of their way. While they descended upon Blackbird, I propped up Justice and pulled off the tires.
Crow returned, quieter than usual. Glancing up from working on the engine, I stretched, "Martha invited the three of us over for dinner, and Dad said that Blackbird should start up without issues."
His smile briefly returned, and Jack came down in his duel uniform, "Are we heading out?"
"Yeah. Did you put your coat in the sink to soak?"
Upon me mentioning his earlier clothing mishap, Jack started fussing over his current jacket, brushing off non-existent dust, "Yeah, yeah. I'm ready to go, as long as no one ruined my Wheel of Fortune."
Crow rolled his eyes, then stopped, "Yusei, you corrupted me."
A chuckle slipped out, "Not my fault."
Crow was ambushed by children as we pulled up, as I was, "Yusei! Can we see your deck?"
"Sure, if you promise to be careful and let me off my runner."
They scrambled back, and I handed over my foot deck, "Be very careful, m'kay? They don't like it if their corners get bent."
"Yes, Yusei-nii-chan!"
My normally annoying brother glanced over at me, "You really are getting more comfortable with your powers, aren't you?"
Turning to look over at Jack being treated as a jungle gym, I noticed that Crow was standing at his runner, looking at something. I walked over, and took the picture from his hand, "Yes I am, and spill it."
He leaned against his runner, "Trudge and Mina are looking into other experiments that went wrong for Security, and they found out that I was friends with a guy who died dueling against a card that makes damage real without a telekinetic."
I handed the image back, "So this was the card guilty?"
"Yeah, it killed Pearson. He's the one who had the Blackbird and the full deck before me. I found him in his garage as it was burning, and he gave it all to me. I owe him so much. He took me in a few months after Kiryu was arrested.
"Before I met him, I was staying with a man and three kids. I would keep an eye on the kids while he worked in the factory. One day, they overworked him and dumped him at our 'house'. When I went to fight them, I got beat pretty bad. That's when Pearson and his friend Bolton showed up. They beat the factory managers in a duel, and took us in.
"Pearson taught kids how to make machines, like duel disks and engines. His goal was to make a functional engine by things found in the Satellite. You would have gotten along with him. Anyway, a few months later the fire happened, and I took in the kids. All I could do to help them was to steal, now with the help of the Blackbird, and try to keep them happy. I failed Pearson. All I can seem to do to fix my past mistakes.
"Bolton runs a factory in the old Satellite, and employs children and teens from there to give them potential for a good future. He fulfilled Pearson's legacy more than me. He knows who owns this card, but won't tell me unless I duel him. But I can't do it because what he wants from me is a card I haven't seen since before the fire."
A loud crack echoed through the yard as I slapped the back of Crow's head, "You are acting like a child. Who took in kids and supported them in Satellite?"
"Me."
"Who gave them hope for a better future while destroying any future for himself?"
Crow froze, "Me."
Gripping his ear like Martha would, I pulled his face in front of mine, "You helped out others while you were in the pit of despair. He only did it when he would have a chance of succeeding. How does that make him better?"
Tiny voices cried out from the front door of Martha's house:
"Crow-nii-chan! Come play with us!"
"Why'd Yusei-nii-chan hit you?"
"Come on, we're getting bored!"
"Why are you just standing over there?"
I looked over to him with a smirk, "Crow, I honestly think that it's harder being a parental figure than it is to be a boss. In my eyes, and in theirs, you are the better person."
He smiled at me as he rubbed his head, "Man, Yusei. You're turning into Martha."
"Come on, let's get inside before she finds out. You don't want to deal with that again, do you?"
As we got close to the house, we were swarmed by the children. They grabbed Crow, and dragged him inside. As I followed them, Kiryu smirked, "How does he deal with that many at once?"
"He had to deal with the three of us for years. I'd say that he had practice. Now are we going to eat or what?"
Jack stared at me, "But Crow doesn't have the card to give up if by some freak accident he loses."
"Hey, it's Crow's gamble. He knows that he is risking a lot, but it means this much to him to find out what happened to his friend. Wouldn't you want to know what happened to me if you heard I died while you were in the city?"
A sigh slid out of his mouth, "Yeah. I'll go with you two to the duel. Is Bruno coming?"
Shrugging, I looked down at the two of them working on Blackbird, "No idea, but Kiryu is. He hasn't seen Crow duel with his new version of his deck."
Jack chuckled, "Then this Bolger guy better not try anything illegal. That's our job, and we will make it clear if he messes with our squirt."
"He cheats, then I am going to mess with him."
My hair flattened as Jack messed with it, "I'm glad that my visions haven't gotten stronger like your powers have. They were enough of a mess as a teen."
I stuck my tongue out, and headed upstairs to get some food for Crow.
A/N: Thanks to an anonymous Guest for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
