Heartaches

Chapter 60

By Kellyq

Mina, Carly and Akiza continued to stare at the laptop until a moan reached their ears. Akiza glanced down to see Jack slowly open his unfocused eyes. The first thing Jack felt was pain through his ribs.

"Jack! Are you alright?" Carly asked, when he moaned in pain.

"You had a bad fall, Mr. Atlus!" Mina exclaimed.

Jack ignored them both and turned his attention to Akiza. "Has Bruno been able to pass Andore?"

The three girls shook their heads. Jack closed his eyes out of frustration. If I didn't try and rush it, we wouldn't be hanging by a thread!

Mina bit her lip, and then an idea came to her. "Mr. Atlus ... Mr. Fudo is up right now ... do you want to watch?"

Jack looked a little more alert. He sat up slowly as Akiza shifted the laptop so that he could see what was going on. "Who is he up against now?"

"Breo," Carly answered, "and he's impressively holding his own, and I didn't know that he won the Fortune Cup! Can you tell me how he won?"

"Right now is not the time," Akiza spoke up, seeing that Jack was focused on the screen.

Mina clapped her hands together in a praying fashion. I hope that Mr. Fudo wins!

"Yusei may have a challenge," Akiza spoke up after a moment of silence, "but they're nothing compared to Jack and I."

Yusei smiled, he could tell that Breo and Jean were having a silent communication when they glanced at each other. I see, Yusei thought, Jean is the leader! But they're here because they're showing what it's like to fight for a team! Now that I know that much, it's time to end this, Yusei thought, and I hope that Jack learned something. Yusei rolled his eyes at the last thought as he passed Breo. Crow and Bruno from the pit stop cheered and from the bleachers, Rally, Leo, Luna and the rest of the kids were cheering Yusei on.

By this point, both competitors were close to the finish line. M.C bit his lip, hoping that Team 5ds would have a win. When M.C heard that Yusei, Jack, Crow, and their new addition - Bruno were going to form a team and call themselves, Team 5Ds, M.C knew they were going to be an unstoppable team.

M.C continued to chew on his lower lip until he noticed Breo's motorcycle started to wobble after it rolled over a sharp rock and the tire popped. "This is an unfortunate turn!" M.C announced, watching Breo having a hard time steering his motorcycle. Yusei wanted to help, but he had to suppress that feeling and continued, hoping that Breo was going to be alright. Yusei increased his speed and drove over the finish line. M.C's face lit up. "The winner is our Shooting Star - Yusei Fudo!"

The crowd cheered for Yusei as he veered his motorcycle to the starting line to get ready for Jean. Breo had managed to get his motorcycle into his pit stop as the mechanics started to work.

"Sorry about that," Breo muttered, "I let you guys down by not paying attention."

Andore shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. You did well."

"Competitors, get ready!" M.C's voice boomed.

"If we do lose, I'll take full responsibility for it," Jean said, starting the engine and veering his bike over the starting line, before his teammates could protest.

"Last up is Jean! According to the rules: if two teams have two wins, they will still participate!" M.C shared. The crowd cheered. "Let's just hope that it will happen!"

Yusei glanced at Jean. "We're a lot alike," Yusei said, caching Jean off guard. "You're here to show what team leadership is all about, right?" Jean nodded his head slowly. "Jack, Crow, and Bruno and I are here because an orphanage I grew up in is having trouble, and we want them to have a good future ahead of them." Yusei paused for a moment as a teasing smile made its way to his lips. "That's where I respect you, Jean. You care about Andore and Breo, and they care about you, too."

Again, Jean nodded his head and glanced at his teammates. Yusei's right, Jean thought, we both have something to fight for, and I'm not going to let my team go down ... but I do have to admit that Yusei is a respectful opponent for understanding how I feel about my teammates.

"On your mark, get set, go!"

M.C's booming voice snapped Jean out of his thoughts. Both competitors pulled on their clutches with their left hands and eased back on the throttles with their right hands, shifting gears with their left feet. They both eased off on the clutch as they used their left hands and twisted the throttles as they continued their accelerations.

Jack, Akiza, Carly, and Mina continued to watch. Carly was still impressed by how skillful Yusei was on a motorcycle.

"I wonder what type of rider Jean is?" Carly pondered out loud.

"He's the team leader," Jack clarified. The others glanced at Jack. "No one had heard of Jean, Breo and Andore until the whole thing of "Team Unicorn" appeared on the news."

"That's right! I do remember hearing about them! They have won a few times in the past two years," Carly said, turning her attention to the laptop.

Jack narrowed his eyes. He could tell that Yusei was not getting the push he needed from the others as he continued to watch. If we're going to win this, we're going to have to support each other, Jack thought.

To Be Continued ...