The pounding of my heart nearly drowned out every other sound as I clutched my harddrive as we parked our runners in a massive garage. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Bolger's second in command, holding it out, "Thank you for offering to make this for us."

"It's the least we can do, all things considered. Bolger told us to make sure that you got the engines that you designed, and that they should have as much power as they can."

Glancing over at the four runners, I gave a nod, "Again, thank you for doing this."

I joined my brothers and Aki, who were all waiting by the door, then we headed to a nearby restaurant to pass the time until our runners had the new engine.

Aki stretched, "Bloody Kiss is already insanely powerful, I can't wait to see what it is capable of with the new engine."

Crow choked on his drink, "You named your runner Bloody Kiss?"

"Why not? Yusei's is named Justice."

I snickered, "Crow apparently wins for most sane title."

Jack's head whipped toward me, "What about me?"

"Really? You think Wheel of Fortune is sane? The object from myths that will turn on its owner just as often as their enemies?"


Three hours later, we left the restaurant. Jack and Crow arguing about which one of them Dad liked more. Aki glared at them, "Hakase-san's favorite son is either Kiryu, or Yusei. I win favorite daughter."

My laughter was the only sound in our group as we walked back inside the factory. Bolger's second in command rushed to our sides, "Welcome back. The technicians are just about to put the engines in. Do you wish to watch?"

I nodded, "That'd be pretty cool."

He led us all upstairs, and we stood behind a window as the technicians finished putting them back together. Each runner had the label that Jack had made on the front, and each had a little more color on them to make them easier to distinguish on television (except for Aki's, hers was fine).

Holding out my hand, I turned to our guide, "Thank you. Due to your generosity, we can finally have our engines up to our standards."

"It was President Bolger's request before he left for the Sector Security office."

Crow crossed his arm, "How are things going to work with him in prison?"

"Our council will run things until he is released, though it will not be difficult with the steep decline of customers."

Jack joined us, "He's not going to be dismissed?"

"No. While what he did was unforgivable, he has spent the rest of his life trying to atone for it, even turning himself in once we could run without him. Once he returns, we will be back to business as usual."


I glanced in the mirror in the bathroom, twisting around to see my new dueling uniform. I hadn't tried it on since I got it, and I was still very glad that it wasn't nearly as tight as Aki's.

Heading downstairs, I saw Crow talking to the twins, "We got these new uniforms the same day we got our formal outfits, since Hakase figured that it wouldn't be right for the defending champions to be wearing our day to day clothes."

Jack made himself taller, "It just wouldn't be right to wear your casual clothes on the brightest stage."

"Says the person who has been wearing the exact same thing while dueling for the past four years."

A smile spread across my face as Jack's head snapped toward Crow, "I had these professionally designed for my physique, and this is actually a dueling uniform!"

I rolled my eyes, "Keep telling yourself that."

Everyone turned towards me, and the twins froze as Aki smiled, "So you actually have curves."

"Shut up. I wasn't the one who chose for it to be form fitting."

Crow smirked, "You were the one who wanted everyone to know your gender."

Luna piped up, "Is 5Ds your team name?"

Rolling his eyes, Crow sighed, "Jack chose it without us."

Jack slapped Crow on the back of his head, "Better than 'The Fountain Courtyard Friendly Alliance', which was his brilliant idea."

Leo tilted his head, "What does it stand for?"

Bruno smiled, "5 Ds of course. Devil, Destroy, Dead Heat, Dark, and-"

I tapped my arm, "It stands for the five marks of the Crimson Dragon. Jack figured that we should make our name related to the reason why we gathered together. Even those of us without the mark, like Leo, Bruno, and my dad all met because of our connection to this strange destiny. Without our dragons, we would be the same lonely people we used to be."

Aki sharply nodded, "It fits."

The five of us with marks pulled off our gloves, and we all put our hands together, "Starting right now, we are going to call ourselves Team 5Ds."


Standing in front of the official tournament board, I took a deep breath as I took a picture of it, "Well, now we really have a target painted on our backs. Everyone in our bracket knows when they are going to face us."

Jack sighed, "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Yusei. Please tell me that you are going to look up these punks in our bracket the second we get home."

Saving the picture, I raised an eyebrow, "I thought that was obvious."

Aki examined it, "So, it starts with 32 teams split into 8 groups, and the two teams with the most wins in each bracket move onto the finals. In the finals, you have to battle tournament style, where a single loss gets you out of the line up."

Bruno crouched in front of the twins, "Don't worry though, the way the bracket is set up, we only need two wins to make it. Once we do that, we don't have to fight the rest of our bracket."

Leo pointed at the screen, "It looks like our first opponent is Team Unicorn!"

From beside him, Luna spoke up, "Who are they?"

"We met them at the kick-off party. They won the most recent tournament."

I smiled at them, "Atlantis Tournament. But that doesn't guarantee them this tournament, because about half of the teams here weren't in that one."

Leo stared up at me, "But everyone says that they have the best chance. Why were they put in our block?"

Jack knelt in front of them, "Like Yusei said, a lot of the duelists here didn't ever duel them. So they may end up not even making it to the next stage. Calm down."

A voice from the speaker system drew our attention, "Next up for track usage, Team 5Ds. Will all other teams please leave the track in the next five minutes."

I stretched, and I followed Jack and Crow as they walked over to our runners and waited for the previous team to leave.

Soon as the other team got off, the three of us glided onto the track. I rode ahead and smiled as the wind whipped around my visor and tickled me with my own hair. Crow coasted up next to me, "Let's see how fast these bad boys can go!"

I shot forward, both of the guys struggling to try and catch up to me, "Guys, we all have the same engine now, so the only thing separating our speeds is aerodynamics. Meaning that we all should eventually make them a bit more-"

Crow chuckled, "-I should have something to ease the air to my level and you two should get rid of your roofs?"

"Exactly."

We shot around the track faster and faster, the world blurring around us. Crow eventually got in front of me, while Jack remained the exact same distance behind me the whole time.

"Team 5Ds, your time on the track is nearly over. Please get off in the next five minutes."

Nodding, I glanced at my brothers as I slowed down, "Let's get off on this lap."

Crow snorted, "We're the only ones to show up on time, so I can go another lap."

Jack caught up to me then slowed down, while Crow continued to speed on, "What an idiot."

The gate in front of Crow opened, and three duelists casually drifted in. As Crow noticed them, he lost control and toppled off his runner.

I nearly was deafened as the Wheel of Fortune shot past me, and Jack stopped next to Crow, "Sorry about that. It's our first time riding on the new track."

Pulling up behind them, I instantly wanted to be anywhere else, "Sorry about disturbing your practice time."

The man with a pink helmet (really, pink?) glared at us as I got off Justice, "What are you still doing on the track when it's no longer your turn?"

Digging inside of myself, I let everyone feel my irritation, "We said sorry, we are on our way out, and no one got hurt. I would understand if he crashed into one of your people, but he didn't, and HE WON'T DO IT AGAIN, RIGHT CROW?"

As I spit out the last few words, I glared at Crow, "Sorry sis, it won't happen again, I swear."

"Next time listen to me when I give you instructions. You two made me team leader for a reason, not just to look pretty."

He looked at the ground as I turned back to the other team leader, "Sorry about that. My brother sometimes forgets his manners."

Without waiting for an answer, I got on my runner. Crow and Jack quickly followed suit, when the other team leader walked over to me, "How about a duel? Just to calm things down?"

"No. We are going to duel in two days, so you can wait until then. We'll get out of your way."

The two of them followed me, and as we stopped in the garage, I took off my helmet, "They planned that. They wanted the one in front to get hit by Crow."

Crow's eyes went wide, "How do you know?"

"First off, they actually entered the millisecond their turn started. We are the only ones to do that, because we have to test out our runners. They have a professional crew to do updates for them. Second, that one swerved in front of you. And finally, he was irritated both when you missed, and when I denied him the duel."

Both of them were staring at me now, and I pulled out a datapad, "I think that it's best to have Jack duel first, because they seem to be targeting me and Crow. It could just be me being paranoid, but I want to hit them hard at the beginning, then frustrate them with the Blackwings, and finally I'll sweep up the extras."


I shot past Aki, and heard her voice call out, "New record!"

Whipping around a factory building, I slowed down and returned to her position. Sherri was parked in front of her, "...They could be Iliaster assassins."

Tugging my helmet off, I looked over at her, "Who are you accusing of that?"

She looked over at me, "About five teams are rubbing me the wrong way. They could have a contract with Iliaster to get rid of any threats."

I rubbed the braids that Aki had put in that morning, "I hope that you aren't working by yourself."

Bristling, Sherri glared at me, "I can take care of myself, but between us women duelists, I want to warn you two to be careful."

We both nodded, and Aki smiled, "We will be. See you once we make it to the finals."

Finally, she shot off, and I breathed deeply, "Good heavens, talking with her is like defusing a bomb. I never know what's going to set her off."

Aki smiled, "Where are the guys?"

"Visiting Martha. But I wanted to make sure that the engine was performing correctly. By the time I make it over there, they'll be done eating dinner."

She stretched, "My turn!"


Sliding down the ladder, I glanced at three of the men in my life. Dad was eating as he studied a design, Jack was sipping tea with a glare on his face, and Bruno was cooking eggs, "Where's Crow? He's normally up before me."

Dad didn't even glance up, "Went to test out his runner. Said he wanted to make the kids proud of who he is now."

"Okay."

The phone rang, and I walked over to pick it up, "Hello?"

"Hey Yues."

I glanced over at Dad, "Crow, why do you sound like you are in pain?"

With each word, his voice seemed to crack, "I need one of you to come get me. I flew off my runner, and my arm is killing me."

Picking up the keys, I tossed them to Dad, "Okay, we're on our way. I'll find you with the GPS chip I put in the Blackbird."

Hanging up, I grabbed my jacket, "Crow had an accident, and he wants a lift to the hospital because his arm hurts really bad."

Dad put down his stuff, and we ran to the car.

Pulling out my tracker, I guided Dad through the streets, and we pulled up behind Crow. Dad rushed to his side, and I ran to get Blackbird out of anyone's way, "What happened?"

Crow hissed as Dad helped him up, "Someone braked right in front of me, and when I tried to brake, something hit the front wheel and I flew off. The person just kept driving like they didn't even notice me."

Once Crow was in the front seat, Dad helped me put Blackbird in the back, "Yusei, I want you to drive to the hospital. I can't remember where it is, and it would just be faster for you to drive."

"I'll do my best, but I haven't had my permit for very long."

Crow weakly smiled at me, "You can do it sis."

Carefully, I rushed to the hospital, and Dad walked Crow inside as I parked.


An hour later, we joined Crow in his hospital room as the doctor put up his x-rays, "There seems to be a pretty serious fracture in the bones of his shoulder and collar. Here's a list of the things that he can do with the injured arm."

I took it, and grimaced as Crow looked at me, "Can I still duel?"

"Doesn't look like it. Right?"

The doctor nodded as he stood up, "Anything that's not on the list I just gave you is completely off-limits for six weeks at the least."

He left, and Crow clutched his arm. Dad sat next to him, "Crow, we all know that you want the kids to be proud of you, but you'd just worry them if you dueled right now."

Crow got up, and I grabbed his uninjured shoulder, "We still have Aki. She's on our roster as an alternate duelist."

He whipped around to look me in the eyes, "Aki is still struggling to remember all of the rules for turbo dueling."

Nodding, I walked with him to the car, "But someone could teach her. I'm unfortunately too busy, and Jack is still trying to find a job. I wonder if Bruno would teach her?"

He glared at me, "Yusei…"

I tilted my head as I climbed behind the wheel, "What, were you going to teach her?"

"Yusei, quit teasing Crow."

Glancing over at Dad, I smiled, "What? He's got to get the courage to ask her out at some point."

"Yusei! When did you figure it out?"

Turning the car on, I started to drive, "Please, you have been trying to flirt with her since I first brought her to Satellite. She's clearly your type. And she might start to like you back if you help her train."

"You win. But don't tell her that I like her."

My smile was copied by Dad, "Lock my lips and throw away the key."


A/N: Thanks to PipeDream and an anonymous Guest for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!