Chapter Ten: Graft and Gifts
There was a turn of phrase that the children of Martha's house knew and feared: Martha was never angry, only disappointed. So when the few members of the orphanage that happened to be awake one fateful morning were jolted out of the last doldrums of sleep by truly furious shouting and the slam of glass doors, it put a fear into them that not even the heaviest of Security's jackboots could. It was a good twenty minutes before any of them worked up the courage to tentatively leave the safety of their bedrooms, creeping downstairs only out of hunger. To their surprise, they found nothing amiss. The usual breakfast materials awaited them, the same warm smile on their matron's face.
It was only later, when a good amount of the day had gone by, that they received the confirmation that they hadn't been chased into the waking world by some shared nightmare. Martha called the older children into the dining hall, Jack along with them. Curious, the others waited at the door, ears pressed up against the old wood and trying to pick out whatever words they could from Martha's low, tired register and the barks of outrage that followed. Not that they needed to, as Jack had a full report to give during the Aki's training.
"Basically, Security wants kids working at the factories now. Not just us, but all the kids all over Satellite. Some sort of 'anti-truancy measure', Martha said it was called. Any boys aged twelve or more, but girls don't have to go until they're fourteen."
"How sexist." Crow nodded, using a word he had heard in passing once and only understood half of what it actually meant.
"So, what are you going to have to do?"
"Nothing that bad apparently. Picking up trash, cleaning. Just grunt work, if you believe what Security told Martha, which I don't."
"Don't worry Jack. I don't believe for a second that they'd trust you to run the machines."
An empty kick was swung Crow's way, just catching the cuff of his trouser leg.
"Whatever, it's only a couple hours in the morning, Won't even break a sweat, and then we're right back to doing what we normally do."
A week later, and Jack's bravado was ringing hollow. He and the other older children would go out at the crack of dawn, each equipped with some form of fruit snack from Martha's garden, and not be seen again until the sun was at its zenith, wearily trudging back towards the orphanage with stained clothes and reeking to high heaven with the smell of processed garbage and burnt metal, so aching in limbs and backs that all they wished to do was collapse into bed or chair and not move for a few hours. To his credit, Jack attempted to join his friends as they helped Aki gain her parkour legs, if only to sit under one of the thin-leaved trees in the courtyard and lazily shout encouragements while they exercised.
Aki had never had much aptitude for physical activity, a flaw frequently attested to in her report cards. Low stamina and a lack of desire to be pushed and pulled around by the other children meant that she normally had Jack's position on the side lines, preferring to watch rather than play. But Yusei and Crow were gentle teachers, and that made it easier to do one more lap around Martha's House, or one more dead sprint with imaginary Security on her tail. Climbing and jumping were slightly more difficult. She hesitated before leaping from one wall to another, so afraid of falling that she increased her chances of doing so, and her arms were just too short to catch branches as easily as her older friends could. She'd often finish her days just as aching as Jack, her body a mass of cuts and bruises.
It would have been easy to simply give in and cry in frustration, to write off the whole affair as silly boy's games that had no real use. And sometimes it did overtake her, and she would storm off and go sulk in her room for a while, or engage in girl's talk with whoever was doing anything that wasn't running about, or darkly flip through her cards and contemplate blowing something up. But her room was unfortunately overlooking the courtyard, and she'd catch the others still training out the corner of her eye. And the moment would pass, and she'd remember why she was doing all these silly boy's games to begin with and go to re-join them with an apology.
And as the weeks folded into months, she began to improve. Not enough to beat her friends and the age gap between them, but enough to keep a few paces behind as they ran, enough to kill the hesitation before each leap and ignore the scuffs from hitting the ground. But as she waxed, Jack waned. In the first few weeks, he would ignore his exhaustion from working to run and play with them, acting with false indignation whenever he finished behind Yusei and Crow. But as time went on, he was sitting on the side more and more often, and no amount of frantic pinwheeling of his arms could help him catch up to the others in their races. The colour seemed to be leaving his face a little at a time, and his favourite white jacket was always touched with patches of grey, no matter how hard he tried to scrub them out.
It wasn't long before things came to a head. One morning, Aki emerged from her room to see Martha appearing from Jack's, brow furrowed and a dinner tray under one arm.
"Mornin.'" She mumbled, still druggy with sleep.
Martha jolted, clearly not expecting anyone else to be lingering around.
"Oh, it's you Aki. Sorry sweetie, I didn't see you there."
"It's fine. You okay? You look worried."
"Ah… yes, I suppose I must. Jack's not feeling too well. I think he just needs bedrest, but he's so much younger than the others, and those factories are no place for children as it is…"
She trailed off, fist to her mouth as her thoughts turned to muttering, supposed maladies running through her mind.
"Well, we'll see how he is tomorrow. But I don't think he'll be joining you for your games today."
"Okay. Is there anything we can do?"
"Just peace and quiet for now. I'll let you all in to talk, if he's up and about later on."
Aki nodded mutely and followed in Martha's wake, down to the breakfast room and the others. She didn't care much for the nudging and noise of the orphanage meals, but today she had important news to share, and it was easier to eat with Yusei and Crow on either side, helping to shield from wandering hands and wild elbows.
"Damn Security, making him sick." Crow muttered as he expertly snatched slices of toast and handed them around, keeping one eye on Martha to see if she picked up on his cuss.
"At least it doesn't sound too bad for now." Yusei responded, handing a well-used pot of jam to one of the younger children.
"Yeah, for now. So, what are we going to do in the meantime? Doesn't feel fair to be running around when he can't."
"You know what he's like. If he's stuck in bed, all he's going to want to do is play Duel Monsters."
"Maybe we could get him some new cards as a get-well present?" Aki offered.
"Ooh, good idea. We can try and pick some stuff up for our decks too."
And so it was back to Main Street for the first time since their fist fight. Aki's nose tingled at the thought of their last time there, but it was the best place to get cards. With nothing left to trade, they walked around the edges of duels and walked down the alleyways between former shops, keeping their eyes to the ground for anything abandoned or forgotten. There was some small success; a few low level monsters, a trap or two, but none of them felt right to give away as a gift.
"I don't think he's going to like any of these. Only one of them has more than a thousand attack points, and only just."
"Not much we can do about it. We can only give what we find."
"Well, there's another place we could go. You know, the other end of the island."
"What's at the other end of the island?" Aki asked, already bracing to learn about another strange Satellite location.
"The B.A.A.D zone. There used to be a big science lab there, before the earthquake. But it sunk into the earth, and left this massive hole. It's creepy as hell, but they say you can find really good cards there, left over from the before times."
"Older kids go there for tests of courage sometimes. We did one with them, not too long ago. It's very… weird. The further you go in, the more it feels like you shouldn't be there. Like your soul's trying to run the other way with every step."
"He says that like he wasn't the last man standing last time. We thought he was going to walk all the way up to the hole and jump in there with the ghosts."
"There's ghosts?"
"Crow, don't scare her." Yusei scolded. "No, there's no ghosts. It's just stories people make up to explain why they don't like it there."
She wasn't wholly convinced, but as she was about to suggest a second sweep of Main Street, she caught sight of two men down an alleyway out the corner of her eye. One looked frazzled and worn down, and was begging the other for some sort of favour. The other one looked less than helpful, and as the frazzled man grabbed his lapels he tensed, before swinging his fist into his gut. There was silver and red on his hand as the first man collapsed to the ground clutching his side, and suddenly Aki wanted to be anywhere else. Yusei must have followed her line of vision, because suddenly her hand was in his and they were walking up the hill.
"Try not to think about it too much."
There wasn't anything else to be said, and so she let herself get wordlessly led away.
Aki thought that she'd seen the worst of Satellite. That it only got as bad as broken buildings and broken people who were willing to walk over each other for what little they had. Even on the edge of the B.A.A.D zone, that notion was wearing thin.
Far ahead of them lay echoes of civilisation, mere frameworks of buildings that dotted out their previous standings with patchy concrete and walls that went nowhere. They got progressively smaller and more desolated the further they went, and she got the feeling that if they were to keep walking, the buildings would get smaller still, until there was no proof that they had been standing there in the first place. And, as foretold, there was a weird feeling in her chest, desiring retreat from this hollow parody of a city. Something more than nervousness at the unknown. It was if she was being weighed and measured by something out of sight, something hungry and much, much bigger than her.
She took a breath and tried to pull herself together. If there was something big here, she would have seen it. As it was, the only sign of life was a particularly fat spider, making a home for itself in the ruins of humanity.
"We won't go in too far." Crow promised. "Just until the fourth row of buildings."
The fourth row of buildings, or what was left of them, seemed more than far enough to go, and the unwanted feeling warbled in Aki's chest again. But they still had a mission to complete, and so they headed deeper in, walking in the bones of giants.
They went in a gentle circle, looking though the remains of each building in turn before moving onto the next, keeping an eye on the sun as it began its slow descent. It was slow going, as they were never quite sure what parts of the ruins were exactly safe to walk or climb on, and even then, just because a building wasn't in immediate danger of collapsing on them, there was still the long work of turning over stones and opening strange boxes in the hope of unearthing any sort of prize.
It was in the second row that they finally found something. Some sort of reception area had survived, and as they ducked into the shade Crow's foot caught on a loose tile. It came away as he stumbled, revealing a small space beneath. Within, they found a battered rucksack, riddled with so many holes that it was a surprise it could hold anything. Inside, there were a number of bags, clear and darkened plastic alike. Most held food items, cereal bars and chocolates that were older than the three of them. There was a metal flask, but it only took one whiff to identify long staled water, the kind one only drank on the brink of death. But as they rummaged through the worn bottom, Yusei tensed as if bitten. Slowly, he withdrew, and as the last bag came free, they were blessed with the shimmer of silver. A bundle of foil packets, emblazoned with Duel Monster champions of days gone by.
"Fresh packs." Crow whispered; voice filled with reverence.
"This must have been here from before the earthquake. Anyone else would have opened them by now."
"Do you think he'll like these?"
"Like them? He'll jump outta bed to get so fast Martha'll think he's been throwing a sickie."
"That's what I'd call a successful mission then."
They high-fived, and with the booster packs safely tucked away in Yusei's pocket they started making their way home. Not too soon for Aki. Walking around with that odd feeling didn't get any easier, no matter how long they haunted these empty ruins.
But as they were retracing their steps, they saw two figures coming the other way. Not wanting to get into any more trouble, they ducked behind the nearest pile of rubble. Martha had been absolutely beside herself at the sight of their injuries from last time, and receiving another grounding wasn't on any of their do-to lists. And so they kept low and waited for the pair to go by.
A pair of teenaged boys they were, both gangly and unkept in the way teenage boys tended to be. They trudged along, taking care to kick any loose rocks they saw, raggedy longcoats flapping as they walked.
"So you're saying this kid lives alone, and he's loaded?" One grunted.
"Yeah. Apparently, he runs all over the island, challenging people to duels. Puts up a decent ante as well, so he takes good shit when he wins. According to some dudes I overheard, he lives out this way."
"Any idea where, or are we gonna keep going in circles until the ghosts get us? I don't wanna be here any longer than necessary."
"It'll be easy. We just look for the one that looks lived in. For example… what kind of ghost hangs up a tarp to block out the wind?"
"Well, would'ja look at that? You're not as stupid as you look."
"And not as stupid as you look either."
There was a brief sound of scuffling and fists hitting leather, and then the footsteps started getting fainter. Hidden behind the rubble, Aki and the boys relaxed. Poking their heads out, they saw the building the boys had discussed; complete with a ratty green tarpaulin roughly holding the space where a wall should have been. Already the pair were starting to case the joint, making lazy laps around.
Aki knew what she wanted was stupid, but after seeing the frazzled man and his uncaring attacker earlier, she couldn't help herself.
"We should step in." Yusei said, glaring at the backs of the two boys.
"Took the words right outta my mouth." Crow muttered. "You got a plan?"
"If they're worried about the ghosts, let's give them something to be frightened about."
"Did you guys bring any of your cards?"
Yusei gave her a blank look, as if he'd only just remembered what she could do.
"Oh, I suppose that would be easier. Are you sure you want to do that though?"
Psychic training had been far more difficult than parkour and fighting so far, mostly because Aki didn't really want to train her power. Either her monster's attacks came out as feather-taps, or she blew up walls without thinking, and it was far easier to put refining the difference between those extremes on hold in favour of learning how to do spin-kicks. Jack had stopped volunteering as test dummy after their first and only field test in what had been an abandoned office before Gigaplant had razed it to the ground.
"If I just summon something and make it yell at them, that should be fine."
"Try this one, it looks evil enough."
Crow slipped her one of the monsters they'd found earlier, a spherical imp wrapped up in chains. As Aki focused on the space behind the two boys, it began to manifest, fading into existence in a haze of shadow.
The taller boy felt it first, the shiver up his spine as reality was put slightly askew. Despite the warning from his sixth sense, he didn't turn about nearly fast enough, as Chain Resonator bobbed up to his ear and let out a squeaky bark.
It really shouldn't have been quite so funny, but between the little yip and the somehow higher-pitched scream that came out the older boy as he leapt back, hitting the dirt and scrabbling away, it was all she could do to maintain the creature as snorts and giggles escaped her. Beside her, Crow was having to smother his mouth completely, lest he give away their position. He managed to settle for silent cackling, practically vibrating on the spot.
The second boy returned in a flash, helping his friend up as they both stood there, stunned. Chain Resonator was happy to play along, rattling its titular chain and bashing its tuning fork against whatever was in arm's reach, a bumpy rhythm of clangs and barking as it wobbled a long tongue at the would-be thieves. Alas, without the element of surprise the display was far less spooky, and already shock was morphing into anger. One of the boys cursed, shoved the monster away.
"Alright, very funny you little shit! Come out and fight us like a man, see what happens!"
"As you wish. Let's see if you can entertain me."
Action followed the new voice, Aki just catching a flash of pale blue hair before a newcomer leapt into the scene, dropping down from the shadow of one of the taller buildings. The smaller of the teenagers became an unwilling crash mat, collapsing in a heap as another boy landed on him.
"And that's our cue." Crow said, and with a nod from Yusei they vaulted over the debris, charging at the remaining teenager. Not taking kindly to his partner being wiped out, he immediately lashed out with a kick, only to lose his balance as his grounded leg was taken out from under him. He hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him and kept out as Crow and Yusei took up positions on his chest and stomach.
"The hell… there's more than one?"
"Don't look at me." Blue said from atop his own teenager chair, looking increasingly amused. "I've never met this lot in my life."
It didn't take much for the older boys to see the better part of valour and beat a hasty retreat, licking their wounds and promising revenge. Blue merely huffed, completely nonplussed.
"Welp, looks like I'm moving on again. It'll be more trouble than it's worth if they have more friends."
He blew his fringe out of his eyes, turned to them.
"Unless you lot are moving in. That'd even up the numbers a little."
"Sorry, we've got to be returning home soon. But if you need a place to live, Martha's always happy to take in new kids."
"Martha… oh, her."
"You know Martha?"
The boy made a dismissive motion.
"Big lady, dark skin? Yeah, I bumped into her once. Too much of a busybody for my tastes, fussing over people she's only just met. Guess you lot take after her then."
"Hey, nothing wrong with helping people. Oh yeah, I'm Crow. This is Yusei and Aki."
Again, a pause, as he eyed them up and down. Aki gave a wave in return, Yusei nodding politely.
"Kyosuke, but everyone calls me Kiryu. Well, I didn't need the help, but that was pretty damn funny when you jumped that prick, so I guess you're alright by me."
He was a bit older than them by Aki's guess, probably older than Jack as well. Like many in Satellite, he was whip-thin and wrapped out in a patchwork outfit, but he managed to tie it together with a leather jacket. Despite his sharp words, there was a kindness in his eyes, undermining the edge at every turn.
"So, what were you doing here anyway? People die trying to play hero, you know?"
"Card hunting. A friend of ours is sick and we couldn't find anything on Main Street."
"So you came out to where ghosts roam instead?"
"Better stuff out here, so we heard."
"Looks like that's a popular theory, judging by our 'friends' from earlier."
"Well, it worked. We found something nice."
Aki tensed, not expecting Crow to spill the beans, but then he flipped a card up from nowhere. Something with a lot of stars and a big attack value. Kiryu gave a wry smile, shrugging.
"Well, so long as you weren't planning on mugging me too. That said, if you've got decks on you, I wouldn't mind a couple games. All the other punks I've been playing against lately have been so boring."
"Nah, not today. But, you know, if you're moving anyway, if you find yourself near Sixth Street, we'll probably bump into each other again. If nothing else, our champion Aki here will give you a run for your money."
Kiryu's eyes drifted over her. A slight chill went up her spine, as something in them shifted in a way she couldn't describe.
"Really? Her?"
She laughed nervously, looking away.
"I'm not that good. Oh, if you want competition, our friend Jack never knows when to back down."
"And don't we know it." Crow sighed, sagging dramatically. Kiryu stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Sixth Street, huh? I might take you up on that sometime. But judging by how low the sun's getting, I'd say you lot need to be running home soon."
The three of them looked around for the first time, only really noticing just how dark it had gotten over their rescue attempt. And with hasty goodbyes, they took off as fast as they could, hoping that they could cross half the island while there was still a sliver of light to see by.
They got through the door as the last rays of light were guttering out, Martha's House swelling with the warm smell of stew as they broke into the foyer. They got a look as they entered the dining room, but between their growling stomachs and Crow's doe-eyed begging expression, it quickly collapsed into a knowing sigh and a finger towards the sink for them to wash up before they got anything to eat. Not that they were off the hook entirely, quickly gang-pressed into doing the washing up as a token slap on the wrist. But there was good news once they were done; Jack was up and about, albeit under strict instructions not to leave his bedroom. And so, still brimming with energy despite having run all over Satellite, they gambolled up the stairs and beelined to his bedroom, throwing the door open without so much as a knock.
Unsurprisingly, he was alone, managing to make the very act of sitting haughty as he remained in bed, the blanket covered in cards and his deck half-assembled. What was surprising was his new hat. A cardboard crown nestled atop his usual points, perfectly straight. So unexpected was it that they were stopped fully in their tracks for a moment, he equally paralyzed at the sudden intrusion.
Crow opened his mouth, only to get a finger pointed at him.
"Say anything, and I will find a way to kick your butt from this bed."
Aki cut in before a pithy comment could be made.
"It's very nice. Did Martha make it?"
Whatever anger Jack had been summoning was choked out by the sudden kindness, and he awkwardly removed the crown from his head, placing it on the bedside.
"Well, someone had to spend time with me today, seeing as you all ran off without a care in the world. Traitors."
"Well, see how you feel after this."
Yusei produced the loose cards and the booster packs they'd found, and suddenly all was forgiven. Stories of a new potential opponent to fight only sweetened the deal. It was with great tenderness that each pack was opened, the foil breached ever so gingerly and the contents withdrawn with a care that she didn't know Jack could possess. It was almost religious in a way, each new card held up to what little light the dusty lightbulb eked out, poured over and passed around to be inspected anew, regardless of its rarity or strength, a far cry from how children on the mainland would shell packs in droves and disposed of unwanted cards as quickly as they could. Maybe that was why Jack seemed so pensive as they went through it.
"I missed out on so much today. I've been missing out on a lot lately."
"To be fair, we wouldn't have gone out to the B.A.A.D zone if we weren't looking to get you get-well present."
"Doesn't matter. We should be going out there anyway, looking for good cards, fighting strong people. Aki and I might need to in the future, whenever we get our team together."
"Well, whoever else is on your team, Crow and I will be there to help. No matter what happens."
Jack nodded, still lost in thought. Looking through Yusei.
"I won't let Security win. I'm not going to let them break me. I'll do their stupid job and training both. We've got more to do now, now that we've got all these new cards to think about. Mark my words, this is just the first step."
He sat up straighter, so stately and stern that for once, Aki saw the future leader he claimed to be.
"One of these days, we're getting off this stupid island."