Yu-gi-oh
No Limits
Chapter 38- This world is a sad, cruel place
By
By Kevin Jones
Kai takes a deep breath and walks into the Pit Stop. The place has a small dinner crowd but nothing major. Kai looks around for any familiar faces…luckily; no one currently here brings up bad memories. He then walks over to the bar and sits down.
"Evening Kai, haven't seen you in a while." Eddie, the old bar tender says this while rearranging bottles of liquor on the shelf.
"You know Eddie; you're the second person to have said that to me today." Kai says this with a serious tone.
"Let me guess, it was some good looking chica?" Eddie says this in a joking tone.
"No, no it wasn't. It was an old friend of mine named Ernie and according to him I've been making a name for myself as a mechanic."
"Good for you Kai. I always knew you'd get back up on your feet."
"And I know that his story was bull shit."
Suddenly, the old man stops what he's doing and turns around to face a serious faced Kai.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because back in my old life, the only people who ever knew I was good with old cars were the people who I'd do work for; and the last thing they'd ever want to tell people is that they had to rely on a kid to fix an expensive car.
Eddie now looks defensive as he raises an eye brow to the young man. "What are you trying to say boy?"
"I'm only ever with 5 kinds of people, my friends, my fellow mechanics, good looking women, other duelists and whoever I start talking to around here and that last one's usually you. And guess who the most likely person is on that list who'd sell me out to my old friends."
"Kai I've known you since the day you were born. I watched you grow up, I defended you're honor while you were locked up and I was the first person to even look at you when you got out."
"I also know you'll sell any kind information to whoever is willing to pay." Kai is now starring at the bottle of in Eddie's hands. "Not to mention that looks like a pretty pricy bottle of Whisky you've got there. Too expensive for most of your normal…clients but it looks good on the shelf. Plus, it's always good to have something pricy around for when you get someone with big pockets."
Eddie carefully puts the high priced bottle on the shelf. He then puts his face only a few inches away from Kai's. "You listen here. You're just a kid with nothing to lose. You may be marked but other than that, your life is pretty easy. You don't have to worry about things like family or how you're going to pay for your next meal. I gave you a few weeks but when the bills started piling up and I needed some extra cash, I called you know who and made them an offer."
"Apparently I'm worth a lot to them?"
"Don't know, don't really care, all I know is that you had the option to avoid all of this the day you did what you did. They don't seem to want to kill you, just make sure you don't mess with their affairs again so be happy."
"You listen here old-" Kai stops because he can feel his cell phone vibrate against his pocket. He knows this means something serious, seeing as the only people who know his number are his boss, Mustang and Vanessa. All know to only call him when there's a problem.
"I'll be right back." With that Kai walks to the door and pulls out his phone. On it is a text message from Vanessa that reads. Situation at my house, bring food.
…
(Half an Hour earlier)
"Man I can't believe that guy actually followed us all the way to the subway."
Vanessa says this as she locks the door behind her as we enter her apartment. Like she said, the cop walked with us till he demanded we take the subway. He then sat with us and continued following us till we reached The Tops sector before he decided to leave.
"I won't lie," Maggie seems both fascinated and defensive. "This is a nice place you got here. What do your parents do, run a slave trade?"
Boy I hope Vanessa doesn't explode again.
"Very funny, my parents run a clothing company. They spend most of their time in Europe, so I'm usually home alone."
First she's twitchy, then she's screaming and now she's being a saint. This is the craziest case of PMS ever.
"Fascinating, can I go now."
"Don't you want to stay for dinner?" Vanessa says this as Maggie begins to get up and walk towards the door.
"I never said I was taking you up on your offer. I've got to get back to my family before I'm missed."
"Funny," I say, "from what I've heard; you're an orphan."
"OK," now she's starting to get annoyed. "What is your deal with me?"
"Actually," starts Vanessa, "I'd like to know that to."
Vanessa better not be like this next month. The truth is that I'm trying to stop hearing my Dad in my dreams. A few days ago, I was testing my Runner on a track up in Harlem. When I stopped to go take a leak, I saw a beautiful mural spray painted on the side of a brick building. At first I didn't think anything of it but Debris Dragon kept bugging me about it so I asked a guy in a convenient store about it and he told me about Maggie. Apparently she's been making a name for herself especially because she's using some kind of new paint that won't wash off the walls. She's done about half a dozen of these and most people like them so much, they just don't bother complaining to the city.
The first thing I thought was that this girl is on borrowed time before the N.Y.P. Dicks get her and dump her in the facility. Then it hit me, I'm thinking about my Dad because my Dad wanted me to help the world. At first I thought saving it twice was good enough but technically in both those situations I was kind of forced into things. So way I figure it, if I chose to help this girl out of my own free will, then hopefully my dreams will be normal again…or abnormal, I don't know, normally I don't remember my dreams.
"Well…way I figure it, it's only a matter of time before the N.Y.P. Dic-," oh wait she's a kid, I shouldn't curse. "I mean the Police get you. I heard about your work from a guy near your last masterpiece up in Harlem. When Sector Security catches up to you, they'll stick you in a Facility for kids and then the Satellite. I figured that would be a waste of talent, so I came up with this idea."
Oh shit, I can tell by the look on Vanessa's face that she doesn't believe me. "All right works for me." OK, I'm starting to like this period.
"Well it doesn't work for me. Sorry I'm out of here." As Maggie says this, she dashes to the door and begins struggling with the lock.
"Sorry," Vanessa is now showing us her cell phone, "but all the door and window locks can be controlled thanks to an app on my phone. Right now none of us are leaving."
"Oh," she's starting to get nervous. "Now I get it. You paid off the cop to force me into a situation where'd I'd have to come here with you."
"Oh come on," like I have enough money to bribe a cop. "Now you're just making stuff up."
"Fine, even if that's not true, it makes more sense than you just feeling sorry for me."
"And why's that?" Vanessa now looks curious.
"Because people don't help anyone unless they want something really badly."
For only an instant, I can see a look of guilt on Vanessa's face before she tries to return to a friendly smile. Apparently what I said to her before really got to her as opposed to just getting her mad.
"That's ridiculous; Chase and I help people all time. Why Chase even helped stop a bunch of terrorists last June."
Wait the hell did she just say!
"Yeah right, and I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."
"OK, you're coming with me!" I grab Vanessa by the arm and pull her into her room.
"If you 2 are going to have a quick bang session, can I at least grab something to eat?"
I shut the door and say, "what is wrong with you?!"
"Nothing," She now looks confused again. "I just figured since…whatever you did was enough to make Wilson see you as a Hero, maybe it would work on her."
"Maggie's not from New York, can't you tell just by listening to her?!"
"OK…give me a break, I'm from Seattle. Everyone either sounds like they were born and raised in there or Chinese. Either way if we could get her to believe you're a hero, we're set."
"I'm not a hero; I just keep being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Don't you think you're cutting yourself a little too short? Frankly of the 3 things you've apparently done in life, beating terrorists sounds the most believable."
"I don't care what you think! I didn't stop terrorists and I didn't save anyone, not a single person!"
"Well then what was Wilson talking about?"
"It doesn't matter, now can we please figure out how to get this girl to cooperate."
"To do what, I can't keep her here for forever, especially when she doesn't even want to be here."
"Well, I'd like to figure what she meant when she was talking about her Dad. Plus all this being paid to paint doesn't sound right."
"So you just want to keep her here till we can figure out what's going on?"
"Pretty much yeah, but she's not going to tell us anything helpful, seeing as she thinks we're cop bribing slave traders."
"Oh come on, she said my parents are slave traders; we're just cop bribers."
"Oh that makes me feel better." She's cracking jokes while I'm showing my weariness.
"You know what." As she says this, she sits down on the side of the bed and puts 1 leg over the other. "You should sit down."
"And why should I do that?"
"Because you've been standing since the park and it's starting to show. Now sit down and take a deep breath."
I roll my eyes but do as she says. Only once I sit down next to her, I fall backwards and am now lying on the bed. "Your bed feels different from last time."
"2 things: 1 that sounded wrong and 2 this isn't my bed."
What the- "But this is your room?"
"No it isn't."
Now I'm sitting up… This isn't Vanessa's room. This room is only being lit by an automatic sealing light and has white walls. The bed we're on has white sheets and the only thing in here is a big flat screen on the wall across from the bed. "What is this, a guest room?"
"Nope, this is my parents' bedroom."
"Wait what!" I spring up and am now standing against the wall! I mean I remember what Vanessa's parents look like! There is no way I want to be anywhere near any place where her parents have- oh god even thinking about it makes me want to puke!
"Oh grow up, it's not like my parents are even here long enough to ever to even drop skin cells on to this bed."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"As in they've only spent a total of 5 nights here."
"How is that possible? They live here."
"They're supposed to live here, seeing as there company moved from Seattle to here, mostly because New York is the fashion capital of America. They actually spend most of their time in London, Milan, Paris and basically everywhere but here. Most of their stuff is still in boxes in the storage room."
"So you're alone most of the time?" This is getting weird.
"No actually, I spend most of my time with you guys. Me and my family haven't even had dinner together since we moved here."
"Wow, I had no idea. I always figured you, your Mom and your Dad were close."
"Yeah well, he's not my-wait a second…I got an idea."
Oh boy, "about what?" At this point she might say anything.
"How to keep bananas from going bad, what do you think?"
"One can only assume."
"Anyways, when you pulled me in here I heard Maggie ask if she was hungry."
"So what, she's probably raided your refrigerator."
"Even if she has, all she'd find is a bottle of Gatorade, so she's probably still starving."
"Why do you only have a bottle of Gatorade in your home?"
"Seeing as for dinner I'm only ever eating alone; I usually just eat out. Plus 5 out of 7 days a week I have breakfast and lunch at school and typically I have lunch on the weekends with you guys."
Under my breath I say, "Plus at the rate you eat, you'd make a grocery store go bare."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing, but either way, just bringing her food isn't going to make her talk."
"So we just don't go give it to her. Let's get everyone here with as much good food as they can get and start eating it in front of her. She may be tough but she's also starving. Once she sees us eating, she'll be putty in our hands."
I can't believe what I'm hearing. "We are not bribing a little girl who has probably experienced nothing but pain her whole life!"
"And we're trying to help her and sometimes, helping someone means being a little tough. She's a kid, she might fight it at first but after a few minutes, she's going to give into her stomach.
"No way Vanessa, that's not how I do things!"
"We, as in both you and me, don't have a choice."
I know she's right, but I don't want her to be. "All right fine we'll do it your way."
"Good… oh don't look at me like that. I don't really want to do this either but we need to get through to her and in order to do that we need to first make her understand what we want. Now I'm going to call the others and tell them the plan, which means that when we get back out there you need to be on my side, not hers."
"All right fine," Vanessa's starting to sound like Millay.
…
"All right, there here; I guess it's show time." Vanessa says this as she stuffs her phone into her back pocket.
For the past half hour, the 2 of us have been waiting patiently in the crazy cave for the others to get here with food. Vanessa didn't tell them what to bring, just to bring stuff that would look good to a child.
"This better work," I don't want to do this.
"It can't end up worse than any of your ideas."
With that, we walk out of the door and back into the living room where Maggie is laying on the couch, watching TV.
"I haven't watched TV in a long time. You want to know what else I haven't done in what now feels like a long time, eat."
Once Maggie stops talking, Vanessa goes over to the front door and says, "We decided, that since I don't have anything in here, to have dinner with our friends tonight."
With that Vanessa opens the door and Damon, Kai and Toni walk through. Kai is holding 2 bags, one has a Chinese food label on it and the other seems to be from some kind of a grocery store. Toni holding a pizza and Damon…is holding a jar of pickles.
"Evening," says an exhausted Kai, "you told us since you guys hadn't had lunch, that we all should bring food, so I brought both dinner and desert and don't worry you can pay me back later."
Kai then puts the food on the table and glances at Maggie. I do the same and we can both see that she is glancing back and forth between the TV and the food.
"And who is this?" Kai's a good liar.
"Oh," starts Vanessa, granted she seems to be laying this on a little thick. "Don't mind her, she's just watching TV."
"But won't she be joining us?" Toni seems kind of pissy for some weird reason. "After all Vanessa, up until today, you've always seemed like the type of girl who'd offer someone dinner."
"Well Toni," oh crap, angry ginger's back. "You all brought this food so we could all have dinner as friends. We offered for Ms. Maggie to be our friend and she refused so she doesn't get to eat."
Did Vanessa just sound like a cult leader or is it just me?
"I thought we were using the food to bribe the kid into trusting us so we can piece together how it is she has a family and why she's getting paid to spray paint tunnels and buildings." Leave to Damon to blow up a complicated plan. That being said, I'm kind of happy he did it.
"I had a feeling that's what all this was about! You guys are no better than any of the other dumb ass holes who have tried to get stuff out of me before!"
"Look we're trying to help you." Vanessa sounds like she's at her wits ends. "We tried talking to you and we covered for you. You still won't trust us, so now we're trying bribery."
Maggie has now hopped off the couch and is scanning all 5 of us. "So apparently 2 clean teenage girls and 3 typical looking guys want to help me out of the goodness of their hearts."
"Actually," starts Toni, "the 3 of us our just here because Vanessa told us to come over."
"Doesn't matter, you're all just here to use me. That's why people chose to hang around each other, so they can use each other."
Apart from Damon, who just looks confused, the 4 of us are looking at each other with guilty looks. Even though she's not completely right, she's not wrong.
"The only reason I'm choosing to stick with the family I've found now is because we're all honest with each other. I know that if I do my part, I'll get food in my stomach and protection from the true low lives that live in this city!"
"You call that stable!" Vanessa is now matching Maggie in loudness and serious tone. "Look at you, you look like you haven't cleaned yourself in months, you're wearing clothes that look like they came out of a dumpster and you're wanted by the police for multiple counts of vandalism. I can't even rap my brain around how you're still alive!"
"It's because I stay away from people like you that I'm still alive! I had a normal home, nothing like this, but I thought it was perfect!"
"Then how'd you end up like this?" Asks a confused Toni, granted I have a bad feeling about where this is going.
"One day my Mom brought home a new boyfriend. At first he was nice and he'd buy us dinner and take us shopping, and I really thought he cared about my mother. Turns out he was more interested in me than her!"
We all get the picture, even Damon. Maggie has now turned around and is facing the patio door with clenched fists.
"When I told my mother about this, she didn't believe me. Thought I was just making up stories. She usually would think things like that after a few snorts of crack, but after a while, even when she was sober, she got tired of my stories. One night, she decided to shut me up with the back of a bottle, while her boyfriend just sat and laughed. I took the hint and left. That was 6 months down in Red Bank New Jersey. After I left, I'd hook up with 1 group of Noms and stick with them until they'd get captured by the cops. Somehow I'd get away and find another group of Noms. This kept happening till eventually I got here. I hooked up with the family I got now and up until today, I actually felt happy. Like for once there were actually people who cared about me and all because I know how to tag."
For those of you who don't know, Nom is a nick name for homeless people who hide out in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Contrary to popular belief, a little more than half of New Jersey is covered in forest. Especially- what the, Kai just took the pizza and is walking towards Maggie.
"Here," he's now got the open pizza box in front of Maggie. "There's a lot of food here and if we're not careful, Vanessa will eat it all."
I angle my head so that I can see Maggie's reflection in the glass patio door. She has a confused look on her face as she tries to focus on Kai even though her eyes are trying to stare at the pizza.
"No gimmick, no strings attached, we're all hungry, let's just eat."
With that, Maggie takes out a slice of pizza and begins to eat it as if she's never eaten anything before.
…
Damon and I are back in our dorm. Damon has already fallen asleep but I'm sitting up, petting Steve.
"So how did your night go? I assume you found some great bugs in the bushes? My night didn't go as expected."
We didn't learn anything after Kai gave Maggie the pizza. I don't think we really wanted to know anything more at that point. After that she was the one who started asking questions. Mostly if TV shows she used to watch were still on the air, and general questions about my deck. By far my favorite question was when she asked Vanessa why she had so little food in the kitchen, but so many books in the living room.
After dinner…I guess Maggie lost the will to argue with us. Once she was finished eating, Vanessa gave her a bath. When they were finished, an hour later, Maggie looked like a new girl. Vanessa then found her some pajamas in an old box and got Maggie to go to bed in her room. Vanessa then told us that she believed Maggie wouldn't run away or try to kill her. We all left after that, except Toni. Vanessa said she had something to tell her.
"So now what?" Debris Dragon is now next to me.
"I'm going to call Toni in the morning, see if her crazy conspiracy mind can come up with an idea for our next step. I assume Vanessa will spend the day with Maggie."
"Sounds good to me, but you should get some sleep."
"Probably," hopefully I won't dream of my Dad.
…
A grown man and a little boy are standing across from each other on a picturesque field somewhere in Holland.
Though the man is tan skin and the boy is white, anyone who sees these 2 can tell what their relationship is.
"All right son, it's time to test your skills." As the man says this, both he and the boy put old fashion duel disks on their left arms.
Little boy
"My draw," the little boy is happy, what little boy wouldn't be happy dueling against his Father? "I summon Elemental HERO Avian!" (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000)
Father
"Very good, you're remembering your card's names." The father looks confident. "Now I draw, and next I summon Elemental HERO Voltic!" (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1500)
The boy is laughing. "You're silly Daddy, Voltic and Avian have the same ATK, so they'll just destroy each other." "That's true, except my move isn't finished just yet. I play the spell card H-Heated Heart, which will increase Voltic's ATK by 500 until the end of the turn." (1000-1500)
"Wait but that means Voltic is now stronger."
"Exactly, now "Voltic" attack, Voltic Thunder!" The majestic warrior releases red and yellow lightning that incinerate the winged warrior instantly (4000-3500) "Now, how will you respond, especially because I am now playing a face down card?"
Little boy
"Yeah but now Voltic is back to 1000 ATK, which means he can be taken out easily! I draw, and next I summon Elemental HERO Burstinatrix! (ATK: 1200/DEF: 800) Now Burstinatrix, melt Voltic!"
"Apparently you forgot my set card! I play Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, now Burstinatrix's attack is negated! Remember as important as attacking is in this game, it means nothing if your opponent has a powerful trap set."
"Yeah, well Voltic still can't stop my Burstinatrix. So I'll just end my turn."
Father
"That may be true, but in a duel, you must never believe your opponent doesn't have a way to around your strategy. I draw, and next I summon Elemental HERO Stratos! (ATK: 1800/DEF: 300)Now Stratos's effect activates! This lets me add 1 Elemental HERO to my hand and I think I'll pick my partner."
"That's your favorite card, right Daddy?"
"Of course, once you find your true partner, it will always be the card you look to for victory. Now Stratos, attack Burstinatrix, Stratosphere Storm (3500-2900) and of course, Voltic, Voltic Thunder! (2900-1900) It is now your last turn my son."
Little boy
"Don't worry Daddy; I was saving the best for last! I draw, and next I play Polymerization, now I get to send the Elemental HERO Sparkman and Elemental HERO Necroshade in my hand to the graveyard, so I can summon Elemental HERO Darkbright!" (ATK: 2000/DEF: 1000)
"Very good, very good, you're starting to get the hang of fusion summon!"
"That's not all I figured out how to do! Now because Elemental HERO Necroshade is in my graveyard, I can normal summon 1 level 5 or higher Elemental HERO without tribute, which means I get to summon Elemental HERO Bladedge straight from my hand!" (ATK: 2600/DEF: 1800)
"Excellent, you've truly pulled off a powerful move! Now do you know who to attack?"
"Yup, now Bladedge, attack Stratos so that way if Daddy activates Skyscraper next turn, he can't destroy you!"
"Brilliant, plus you're treating your cards as allies and not just tools, but first I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"
"Then I'll just have Darkbright attack Stratos!" (4000-3800)
The boy is jumping for joy, for this is the first time he's ever been able to deal damage to his father's life points.
"Next, Darkbright switches himself to defense mode, so I'll end my turn."
Father
"So, this is what it comes down to. I draw and next I activate the field spell Fusion Gate! Now I get to fusion summon simply by banishing monsters from my field or hand! First I banish the Elemental HERO's Woodsman and Ocean, in order to summon Elemental HERO Terra Firma! (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000) Next I banish Elemental HERO Heat and Bubbleman in order to fusion summon Elemental HERO Absolute Zero!" (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000)
"You summoned 2 fusion monsters in 1 turn!" The 2 majestic, white skinned HERO's are starring at the child, ready for battle.
"That's correct, but that's not where it ends! I activate Terra Firma's effect, I tribute Absolute Zero in order to increase Terra Firma's ATK by 2500! (2500-5000) This activates Absolute Zero's effect, since he just left the field; all your monsters are destroyed!" A giant ring of ice destroys Bladedge and Darkbright while it makes Terra Firma look unstoppable.
"Well my Darkbright can kind of do that to! When he's destroyed I can destroy 1 of your monsters and I'm going with your super charged Terra Firma!"
"Very good but you forgot about Voltic."
"He's not strong enough to beat me this turn."
"True, but you forgot Voltic's effect. Now Voltic, attack him directly! (1900-900) Now Voltic's effect activates, I get to special summon Elemental HERO Heat to the field, now Heat, direct attack, heated slam!"
Winner: Father Loser: Little boy
"Aw man," thinks the little boy. "I really thought I had Daddy beat for a minute there."
The boy looks up to see his father is now standing over him. The Father lifts his son up high up in the air.
"That's my boy!"
"But Daddy I lost again."
"That doesn't matter. You were able to come up with a complex duel strategy and execute it perfectly. If you keep playing like this, you will someday become a champion. Imagine, Chase Rhodes, the next King of Games!
Next time: The destitute
"Damon is now trembling as the monsters he's been told to fear, begin to come out of from the shadows."