Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5ds.
"Are you ready?" A kid greeted me as he entered my, I want to say… Place of residence?
He couldn't have be more than 16, probably younger given the harsh living conditions. Ragged clothes layered on for warmth under an off-white jacket, faded blue jeans with real holes in them, and an unlit cigarette in his mouth that made me frown.
His obvious attempt at a mature, hardened look was largely hindered by genetics. With soft curly pink hair that reached just past his ears; large light brown eyes, and eye lashes that would hold a pencil, coupled with visible dimples even when he was scowling, he was cuter than a bouquet of teddy bears.
He looked familiar enough, but I didn't even know his name, so I was going to have to bluff my way through.
"What do you want?" I asked gruffly, as gruffly as one could manage with the voice of a 13-year-old girl. Had I been more familiar with this world, I would have talked more, but right now, communication is the enemy. Revealing exactly how much I didn't know was dangerous.
"You're not backing out again, are you?" He looked confused for a second, then demanded testily as comprehension dawned on his face, "I don't have all day you know. Do you want my help getting arrested or not?"
I blinked.
"I'm just not sure..." I finally decided on a generic response, hoping it wouldn't reveal my ignorance of whatever the hell was going on. I tried to whimper and failed miserably, I never was good at acting.
"I'm not sure about anything anymore," I can't act, but I'm pretty good at improvising.
"I told you when you came to me, you paid just enough to get you into the Facilities, babysitting cost extra." He grumbled.
Seeing the horror on my face, my new companion sighed and sat down heavily beside me,
"Look, we've been through this. You go inside, they keep you warm and fed for a couple of months, and hopefully you'll be a little stronger when you get out. I mean, you don't hear a lot of deaths in the Facilities. Well," He chuckled darkly, "You don't hear a lot of deaths in the Facilities. But most of the other kids I got inside came out alright."
Only then did I realize the mark on his face wasn't a tattoo.
It occurred to me, to my horror, that it wasn't the worst idea. Escaping the Satellite meant being safe for the entire Dark Signer arc, though evacuating from the Domino City Facilities might be difficult during Z-one's destroy-the-city phase.
"I heard horrible things about the warden though," I ventured, remembering back to the anime.
"Not in the junior detention centres where you'll end up," he shook his head, "it's really your cellmates you have to worry about. A lot of them are trying to get life."
"Trying to get a life?" That's very inspiring for underage prisoners, I tried to remain optimistic despite what I heard.
"No, trying to get life," he corrected impatiently, "so they didn't have to leave." I heard it the first time, I just didn't want to acknowledge it. I had a rough idea of the inside of the Facilities from the anime, if that was preferable (at least to some people) to conditions inside the Satellite, I had some real problems on my hands.
"That's messed up," I breathed out, and it truly was.
There's no way I would survive, or be willing to live, in a place where the kids outside are trying to get into jail, and the kids in jail are trying to stay there. On the other hand, I really, really, didn't want to die.
I needed to get out of the Satellite, I suddenly understood the series' protagonists (and some of its antagonists), no matter what it takes.
"You get more food in prison," He told me, sounding optimistic about the idea, "and there's a real bed, and real rooms, and you don't have to walk an hour to the factories of get water."
The excitement in his voice stung. At that point, I don't think I ever hated anyone as much as I hated Rex Goodwin. How dare he throw half a city into this hellhole, for an outlandish dream of global domination? In however much time, magical forces would raise from, umm, somewhere, and suck the souls out of these people. For all anybody knew at this point, they were dead.
On the plus side, if the immortals sent the devoured souls to hell, half of these people might not notice.
...
I fumbled around for things to say, I thought I should at least try surviving on the outside before getting locked up just so that I could eat, so I was relieved when our conversation was interrupted by a set of footsteps echoing through the tunnels.
Galen started, picking up a broken piece of broken piping and facing the entrance he just came from.
"Hanging out with gutter duelists now, are we? Galen" A perky white-haired teenager sauntered in (it's so inconvenient not having doors), her amethyst eyes twinkled mischievously, "Good to see you're still sending people into the Facilities for a living."
She was dressed in an over-sized purple suit that hang awkwardly off a slender frame, her white hair was tied in a fishtail braid that reached just past her shoulders. I almost wanted to make a comment about the purple Smurfs, but then remembered my own, let's say… 'utilitarian' outfit, and held my tongue.
I turned to my companion, now identified as Galen, but he didn't look like he had any intention of making introductions.
"What are you doing here, Felice?" The pink-haired teenager spat out, "This is my territory, get out!"
"Ah, but I have good news." Felice drawled, sounding a little stiff, "We have decided to grant you another duel, one last chance for old time's sake. What do you say?"
"Finally!" Galen's brown eyes lit up, "Just name the time and place, I'll crush all of you!"
"Tonight then," Felice saw me and immediately noticed my deck holster.
As I would soon learn, it's the first thing these people notice when they meet somebody new.
"You know, it's been a while since I've seen you in action. How about you defeat her first, just to prove that you can still handle yourself it a duel, and for my amusement of course." Seeing Galen's hesitation, she continued smugly, "I'm get in a bad mood when I'm not amused, and then I might just take back any offers I extended."
"You want to see my new moves? Fine!" Galen replied, "I'll finish with her, then destroy you and win everything back!"
"Um? What just happened?" I interrupted, utterly lost, "What did you just agree to? Did I agree to it too?"
"This piece of trash is a member of the Magicians," Galen said by way of explanation, "they took my territory two years ago, that's why I'm stuck in the sewers now. I've been trying to win it back ever since, but these cowards were always too scared to duel me!"
That raised more questions than it answered.
"Except the time that we dueled and beat you," I had to turn my attention back to Felice when she started talking, "And beat you again. But don't feel bad, maybe third time's the charm. Or maybe you'll finally learn your place and realize that you'll never get out of the gutters of the Satellite!"
"I'm afraid I have to defeat you first," Galen sounded apologetic, but looked way too excited to give his statement any sincerity, "don't worry, I'll make it quick."
"Don't be so sure you're going to win," Felice said breezily, obviously not even taking the comment seriously herself, "maybe this gutter duelist will wipe the floor with you, then she'll get to challenge us to a duel."
"Maybe I will," I grumbled half-heartedly.
I took out a stack of cards from a side-pocket, I could only assume it to be a deck, there must have been 80 cards in there. The deck Galen took out was at least normal-sized.
Flipping through, I was pleasantly surprised.
If this were the first season of the original Yugioh series, I'd have called this a good deck. Now though, more than 10 years in (or however many years by this world's standards), this deck filled with normal monster cards was seriously outdated.
"It's time to duel!" I exclaimed much more energetically than I felt, hoping to channel some of Yami Yugi.
I had picked out roughly 40 cards, warrior themed because that type had the most number of support cards, though the actual monsters still needed serious work.
"Let's duel!" Galen responded in kind, as our white-haired intruder leaned against the wall and snickered.
Turn 1: Galen's Turn, Galen 4000, Yuki 4000
"I'll start," He didn't hesitate to take charge. "I summon, Hardened Armored Dragon (lv4, 1500/800) to the field in attack mode, then I'll lay one card face down and end my turn."
Sadly, no giant dragon materialized.
Neither of us had duel disks, so we dueled the normal (yes, normal!) way, aka by placing cards on a table (the same piece of plastic I used as a bed).
Turn 2: Yuki's Turn, Galen 4000, Yuki 4000
"Then I'll summon, Vorse Raider (lv4, 1900/1000). His attack destroys your dragon and 400 of your life points."
I wasn't sure if I was being needlessly dramatic, but imitating the way main characters spoke about dueling seemed like a safer bet than my usual style of random chatter.
"And I'll place two face-down cards to end my turn."
"Ha!" Felice laughed from the sidelines, "you really are losing your touch, or at least your cards. Where're all your powerful monsters?"
Turn 3: Galen's Turn, Galen 3600, Yuki 4000
Galen drew, and began to laugh uncontrollably.
Had this been another world, he would have been at least assessed by a therapist. But Felice didn't bat an eye, these people take their card games very seriously.
"I'll show you my powerful monsters Felice!" He exclaimed loudly even though he was dueling me, "Even luck is on my side. I have already drawn my ultimate beast!"
I rolled my eyes, though I noticed Felice actually looking interested.
"First, I'll summon Baby Dragon (lv3, 1200/900) to the field, then I'll banish him from the field to summon, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (2800/2400)!"
Galen held his head up proudly, smiling from ear to ear, youth and energy radiating off of him even in this underground sewer-hideout with near-toxic level stench.
"And I'll use his special ability to bring back the Hardened Armored Dragon you destroyed last turn! Say goodbye to your Vorse Raider, Red Eyes, attack!"
My warrior was appropriately destroyed, decreasing my life points by 900.
Was this kid a minor character? I secretly wondered, his deck was certainly powerful enough.
I was pretty sure a couple of people had dragon themed decks, though none of them seemed to have involved Red-Eyes in the 5Ds series.
"Scared?" He mocked, not even pretending to pay attention to me anymore, "my monsters will help me win every duel and get my territory back!"
I smiled quietly, not sure how to respond or what kind of territory a scrawny teenager could control.
"Hardened Armored Dragon, attack!" Galen commanded.
"I activate my magic card, Scape Goat!" I announced, flipping over the quick-play magic card.
Not have access to holographic technology, I picked up four small pieces of rock off the ground to represent each sheep token. "These tokens have zero attack and defense, but they will protect me from your attacks."
"Not for long," Galen replied, taking away a stone and tossing it onto the ground, "now you're left with three tokens. But that won't matter, nothing can stand up to my Red Eyes!"
"I wouldn't be so sure" I replied casually, drawing a card. Creature Swap, perfect.
Turn 4: Yuki's Turn, Galen 3600, Yuki 3100
Since turbo duels, the most popular form of dueling, only allows the use of speed spells, other spell cards have tanked in pricing. Doubtlessly, this was the only reason I had so many.
"First, I'll play another magic card, Fissure, which destroys the monster with the lowest attack points on your side of the field."
"Too bad it is Hardened Armored Dragon," The pink-haired teen was beginning to feel uncomfortable, "my Red Eyes is still on the field, and next turn, it can bring Hardened Armored Dragon back to the field"
"If you can make it to next turn," I corrected, "I switch one scapegoat token into attack mode," I randomly pointed at a rock. I can now see why holograms might be useful, "and play Creature Swap. You see, with this card, we each choose a monster on our side of the field, and relinquish its control to our opponent."
"But, the only monster on my field is Red-Eyes!" He exclaimed, wide-eyed.
"I didn't see this coming!" Felice laughed, her amethyst eyes sparkled with genuine pleasure at Galen's setback, "is it you or is it her Galen? She's really giving you a run for your money!"
"And I give you my attack position Scape Goat token." I ignored the white-haired teenager.
Galen reluctantly placed his monster on my side of the field.
"And I'll summon Neo the Magic Swordsman (lv4, 1700/1000) in attack mode. With Red-Eyes and my Swordsman's combined attack of 4500, it's more than enough to wipe out all your life points."
"That's if they managed to attack. I activate my trap card, Widespread Ruin. This card allows me to destroy the monster with the highest attack on your side of the field, so my Red Eye comes back to my graveyard." Galen took the card from my field.
"Your Swordsman's attack still leaves me with 1900 (from 3500) life points, but you're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat me."
I laid down one more card and announced the end of my turn.
Turn 5: Galen's Turn, Galen 1900, Yuki 3100
"First, I play Summoner's Art, bringing the lv7 normal monster Red Eyes Black Dragon to my hand. Next, I summon Dragonic Guard (lv4, 1500/1800) to the field. Whenever a monster is normal summoned or set onto the field, he gains one counter, so he has one counter right now, allowing me to tribute him to special summon a level 1 dragon from my deck, and I choose The Black Stone of Legend (lv1, 0/0). Now Black Stone's special ability lets me send him to the graveyard to special summon one Red Eyes Black Dragon (lv7, 2400/2000) from my hand."
That was a lucky draw, but I wasn't too concerned. I still have a Scapegoat and a Neo the Magic Swordsman on my field.
"Now, my powerful Red Eyes, destroy his warrior! Now let's see you defeat this powerful beast."
My life points went down by 700 LP to 2600.
It's true that Red Eyes was stronger than any monster I had in my deck, but that doesn't mean I can't get rid of it easily.
Turn 6: Yuki's Turn, Galen 1900, Yuki 2600
I drew again and grinned, not exactly the best monster-destruction card, but it'll do.
"I equip your Red Eyes Black Dragon with Big Bang Shot." I announced.
"What?" he gasped, wiping a lock of pink hair out of his eyes, "are you out of your mind? Not only does that card increase my dragon's attack by 400, it allows my dragon to deal piercing damage, which means when I attack your Scapegoat next turn, the difference between my dragon's attack and your token's defense would be subtracted from your life points."
"True," I admitted, "But Big Bang Shot also has another effect. I activate, Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Big Bang Shot, and when Big Bang Shot leaves the field, the equipped monster is banished. "
"My Red-Eyes!" My opponent groaned.
"And now I summon Celtic Guardian (lv4, 1400/1200), in attack mode and use him to attack you directly." I announced a little triumphantly.
Felice was awestruck, "You actually have a shot at beating Galen Garfield!" she exclaimed incredulously. I ignored her again.
Turn 7: Galen's Turn, Galen 500, Yuki 2600
"Come on deck, don't fail me now!" Galen closed his eyes and drew, and smiled at the card in his hand. I have a bad feeling about this.
"I play a spell card, Dragon Shrine. This magic card allows me to send one normal dragon and one effect dragon into my grave, I choose Red Eyes Black Dragon (lv7, 2400/2000) and Red Eyes Wyvern (lv4, 1800/1600)!"
Felice gasped, "You have another Red Eyes Black Dragon?"
"Yeah," Galen replied, then turned his full attention to me for the first time, "this monster was supposed to be a surprise for the Magicians, I guess you're in for a real treat."
"Thanks kiddo," Felice grinned at me, she was a little older, I noticed. Late teens, maybe early twenties, so she was justified in calling me (in my current body) a kid, doesn't mean I appreciated it.
"When I have a level 7 or below Red Eyes monster in the graveyard with Black Stone of Legend, I get to shuffle that Red-Eyes into my deck and bring Black Stone of Legend into my hand." Galen grinned triumphantly, "I add Red Eyes Black Dragon back into my deck and Black Stone of legend to my hand. I already used Black Stone's ability this turn, but next turn, he'll crush you. I place two cards face-down and that's all for my turn."
"You're ending with no monsters?" Felice asked again. Probably not the brightest marble in the box, or just not great at children's card games, I decided.
"When I have Red Eyes Wyvern in my graveyard and didn't summon or set a monster this turn, I can banish him at the end of the turn and special summon one Red Eyes monster from my graveyard, and I choose Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (lv10, 2800/2400)."
Great, his trump card's back. And next turn, he'll bring back the other Red Eyes with Black Stone's special ability. Just perfect.
Turn 8: Yuki's Turn, Galen 500, Yuki 2600
"Good duel," Galen smiled, apparently thinking the duel's already over. "You know, if you want, I'll let you join my gang after I win the Sabaku district back from the Magicians."
"That might be a little early yet," I looked at my hand, "I equip Celtic Guardian with Black Pendant, raising his attack to 1900, and attack your Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!"
"Why would you do that?" Felice asked, she's really not great at this game.
"When Black Pendant is sent from the field to the graveyard," Galen answered for me, "the opponent loses 500 life points. So I'll activate Threatening Roar, which forces you to skip battle phase this turn."
"I'll place one last card face-down and end my turn," I decided, curious what he could do now that he can't destroy my monster.
Turn 9: Galen's Turn, Galen 500, Yuki 2600
"I summon Black Stone of Legend from my hand," Galen announced, "and let him go to bring Red Eyes Black Dragon onto my field! Next I play a magic card, Inferno Fire Blast. By sacrificing my Red Eyes Black Dragon's attack for this turn, I can deal you 2400 damage! And now that you only have 200 life points left, my Darkness Metal Dragon can wipe you out before your Black Pendant can take effect. Darkness Metal Dragon, attack!"
Frankly, I feel a little silly that he's announcing every attack like he's commanding the monster, while in reality, we're just playing with pieces of paper.
"I activate my spell card, Shrink, it cuts the attacking monster's attack by half," I added more for Felice's benefit than anything else.
The move decreased Galen's monster's attack to 1400, against my elf's 1900.
"Nice try, but I always have a back-up plan," Galen flipped over his last face-down card, "Waboku, negates all damage for this turn and protects my monster from harm!"
"Aren't you on your back-up, back-up, back-up plan now?" Felice commented sarcastically.
"Just in case, I'll use my Darkness Metal Dragon's effect to bring out Hardened Armored Dragon in defense mode just in case," Galen said, "you spell may have protected you this turn, but next turn, I can still attack and destroy you."
Turn 10: Yuki's Turn, Galen 500, Yuki 200
"I don't think you'll have a next turn," I smirked. "I summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai (lv5, 2100/800).
"What can he do?" Felice asked, confused, "he's not powerful enough to destroy any of Galen's monsters!"
"I'm so glad I'm not dueling you instead," I said drily.
"When Celtic Guardian is sacrificed," Galen explained, looking dejected but not defeated, "his equip card is sent to the graveyard, dealing 500 damage."
"I can't believe you actually lost!" Our intruder burst out laughing, resuming her haughty façade now that the duel has ended. "Not the man you used to be, huh?" she then turned to me, "Look kid, we're the Magicians. If you want a duel, stop by sometime, I think I'll give you a chance. Galen knows where to find us." Felice retreated back into one of the numerous tunnels linking underground bomb shelters throughout the Satellite.
As soon as her back was turned, Felice stuck her tongue out and rubbed her jaw. It hurt her face to talk like that, that being her best impression of a smug jerk. Vincent so owed her for this.
"So…" Galen broke the tentative silence between us, "are you going to go?"
"Duel them you mean?" I paused, "I don't think so."
I doubt leading a small Satellite mob would help my case, the Enforcers pretty much represent the most any Satellite group can achieve, and look what happened to them.
Plus, there's a fundamental difference between joining some Satellite gang to fight for a larger piece of a pathetically small pie thereby forcing everybody else to literally starve, and making a bigger pie, I'm much more inclined towards the latter right now, which wouldn't eat away at my conscience. I'm better than stealing from malnourished teenagers, I reminded myself amidst growing hunger pains.
I had had essentially the entire information of the human race at my fingertips for most of my life, it shouldn't be that hard making a living amongst people who's never finished grade school.
"I guess you don't want to go to the Facilities anymore," Galen said regrettably," you can have your tickets back." He handed me a stack of specially designed plastic ticket
I had vague recollections of these tickets. They are distributed monthly for those less than 16 years of age. At select government locations, they can be exchanged for food or water.
That's right, food OR water, or other necessities. Each ticket was good for 2 L of water or 1 lb of whatever foodstuffs the Sector had deemed sufficient for three meals. One ticket per person under sixteen years of age per day, just enough to survive.
Adults were expected to earn their keep mostly by piece work at the various Satellite plants, taking their meager earning to the same locations for exchanging into sustenance. Children were not allowed to work in those plants, so any kid wanting to earn an extra buck picked up trash from the towering mountains of landfill, and sold them on street corners wherever Sector Security were too lazy to patrol.
He gave me 7 of those plastic tickets, enough food for a week.
"What are you going to do for food?" I thought I'd double check just in case.
I'll see if I can sell anything, else I'll try to get myself arrested, probably," he smiled bitterly, "I already used what I had to set the whole thing up, would be a shame to waste the opportunity."
This body didn't have any of the tickets he was talking about, whether they were stolen, lost or simply used up, I didn't know. But I didn't like forcing him to starve, nor did I enjoy the thought of consuming less than half of my recommended daily calories for the next week.
"Can't we get the water anywhere else?" I asked, partly to keep the conversation going, partly because if we did have to walk an hour to get water like he mentioned, I'd probably be mugged twice before I got there.
As much as I was concerned for him, I had to admit my own welfare did take precedence.
Such was my desperation I was even willing to be reduced to unboiled, unfiltered tap water- hello salmonella.
It'll be at least easier to get water than food, I hope.
Incessant pollution over the past decades had drastically reduced the number of all living organisms except cockroaches, rats and humans (the human population did crash, but pollution was not to blame).
The only advantage in this case, is that there aren't much bugs roaming the Satellite as there otherwise would have been. It just wouldn't do to have our young motorcycle-riding protagonists desperately reaching down his back to kill a bedbug during a duel that would decide the fate of the world, or our attractive heroine take off her helmet, long red hair flowing in the wind, dotted with specks of lice.
Ugh, I should stop disgusting myself like this.
"Have you learned nothing in the Satellite?" The pink-haired kid asked sarcastically, "Things aren't just handed to you, if you want something, you have to work for it. Wait, you're not thinking of drink straight from the river are you?" He looked genuinely concerned.
"There's a river right beside the Satellite?" I knew I shouldn't have said that, that kind of ignorance would be hard to explain away, I just couldn't stop myself. "Is it closer? Safer?"
The teenager took a long look at me, but didn't ask any questions, for which I was grateful.
"What's wrong with the river?" I amended my question. Sure, that's a couple of steps below even tap water, but I'd still take it over 2 hours of walking a day to get water. As you can probably tell, I really don't like walking.
I don't think Japan had any serious indigenous parasites…
The water's polluted," Galen said simply.
I looked at him inquiringly. Charity drives often showed images of extremely contaminated water sources, and people drinking directly out of them regularly.
"The factories up north all drain into this river" Gavin explained in the same light tone, "and it's connected to the ocean, so most of the water is too salty anyways. There're some runoffs that doesn't have so much salt, but then there's the radioactive stuff. It'll kill you before jail kills me." He replied, cheery as always. "Longest I heard anybody living off of that stuff is five years."
I studied him mutely. He seemed to have taken the situation for granted, as the way of the world, no doubt exactly as Neo Domino had hoped.
"Is there anything else we can do?" I really didn't feel like being forced to go on a diet, but I don't think I could live with myself if a minor ended up rotting in jail because of me.
Not that poverty doesn't send people to prison even in a better world.
"I'm going to go pick through the newest shipments from Neo Domino one more time, I might even find duel runner parts!" He was far too accepting of this fate, "You can live off it if you're lucky."
"So there is at least some commercial activity," I paused, "how about I hire you to show me around." I took out 3 of those plastic tickets, hesitated, then added another one. I could survive on 3 for the week, not well, but I could still survive.
The teen in front of me kept his head high, even as his eyes repeatedly strayed to the small pieces of plastic in my hands. "I'll work for you," he assented, "but only if you defeat the Magicians for me."
For some reason, that brought me back to grade school, when favors like 'beating somebody up' were traded for snacks. No, I didn't go to a great school.
"Some other time," I replied carelessly.
I wasn't really interested in playing pretend with a bunch of kids who think they could actually control the Satellite. The best they could ever achieve is the 'Enforcer' old status, and that just doesn't seem very appealing.
I doubt fictional territory would help me escape the Satellite, I needed real resources, human or capital.
The word capital gave me an idea, it wasn't the brightest idea I had ever came up with, but given this show's tendency to give fairly minor characters control over truly outrageous technology, it actually had a pretty good chance of success, much better than betting my chances of escaping the Satellite on somehow gaining control of an underpopulated district with negligible commercial activity.
Plus, anything was better than sitting here despairing about the future.
"Do you know anybody who's good at building stuff?" I asked, changing the subject completely, "Like really good at building stuff, like electronics and stuff."
"Well, I know this one guy," The teenager replied, a little confused, "he can build anything."
"Are you sure? Not just a mechanic, but like an engineer too, who can design stuff." I stuttered a little, letting the ideas come to me as I spoke, first uncertainly, then with more confidence.
I came from a world filled with consumer electronics dedicated to entertaining the public, while this world devoted most of its ingenuity to enhancing the experience of a children's card game.
That is a huge market waiting to be filled. Under the right circumstances, you could make enough money to buy the entire Neo Domino City with opportunities like these.
Of course, I did not have the 'right circumstances', but it should be more than enough to buy my way out of this city, out of this country.
"He built a lot of duel disks," he obviously thought this was the most any engineer could do, "from just scraps." I wasn't sure what exactly that involved, but it sounded impressive.
"So let's go then!" I stood up. Even if this man wasn't able to design what I wanted, he might know somebody who can. I needed to get out, every minute I stayed in this dump pushed me a little closer to insanity,
He took a little longer to reply than was natural, my exhausted and nutrient deprived mind dismissed it as my imagination, "I can take you the roundabout way, it take a little more time but it'll be much safer. We might still run into some duel gangs on the way though."
The phrase 'duel gangs' brought a smile to my lips. Actually, I would have laughed till I was on the floor gasping for breaths if I hadn't correctly surmised that he had been, or wanted to be, part of a duel gang (lol). Then again, it's probably no more ridiculous than my idea of starting a corporation right here in the Satellite.
"I'll take my chances," I assured him, "let's just get out of here first."
A/N: Galen had just joined your party, begin quest?