Chapter 11 : Back to Square One

The next day, grey clouds had covered up the sky, but it was still a very bright day. Yuko woke up and went downstairs to find that he was the first one awake. He passed Yusei and Akiza who were both cuddled together and sleeping on the couch (which he thought was kinda cute) and took a shower before having breakfast. As he finished his chocolate flavored cereal, Yuko checked the time on his watch (which he took out from his jean pocket). 8:00am. Yuko looked up and wiped the sleep away from his eyes to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. He then looked back at his watch. 8:01am.

Yuko huffed. "How ironic" he thought and got changed into his clothes which were in a pile at the foot of the stairs. Since it was still early in the morning, Yuko decided to go grab a cup of coffee at the cafe where he had been to with Jack the other day. After having written a small note to Crow saying that he'd be back in half an hour or so (in case he woke up early), Yuko left the house, not bothering to bring any of his gear apart from his deck.

Outside was calm and dry. When Yuko arrived at the cafe, he noticed a few people that were already drinking their morning coffee, and decided to take a seat at Jack's favorite spot since he knew that Jack wouldn't be awake for another 2 hours.

Yuko made himself comfortable and turned to look at the shops name, "Cafe la green". He smirked. "So this is Jack's favourite Cafe. I wonder how many times he's been here?"

"Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry to bother you this morning, but that seat and table belongs to Jack Atlas", said a soft, shy voice from behind Yuko.

Yuko jolted with surprise and looked back to where the voice had come from. It was Stephanie, the waitress from the other day. Two days ago, before he had dueled Leo, she had served Jack a cup of "Blue-Eyes Mountain Coffee" (Which as very expensive and Jack still hadn't paid Yuko back).

"Would you mind if I moved you to this table, sir?" she say kindly, trying her best not to sound disrespectful.

Yuko sighed and got you to the table next doors.

"Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it", she said, sounding much happier.

Yuko nodded at Stephanie, then asked her for a simple cup of hot chocolate. She nodded back and ran along to make him some.

"Wow. Looks like Jacks been here quite a lot, but why put so much effort in pleasing him, let alone save a table for him?" thought Yuko, scratching his head in confusion.

The air was cool and Yuko felt refreshed. He took out his cards and placed them in front of him.

"What am I gonna do about you guys", moaned Yuko to himself. He knew that he was going to face-off against Crow at some point today and he also knew that he had no chance of winning, even with the cards that he found and the ones he was given. Crow was one of the duelists that had saved Satellite in the past and Yuko was just some amateur, who used to make a living from betting in duels.

He sighed and began to day dream. A few short moments later, Stephanie came back holding a big mug of hot chocolate. She placed it in front of him and smiled. "Here you go. If you need anything else just call me over".

Yuko nodded and smiled back. Just as she was about to walk off back into the cafe, he reached out and grabbed on the arm sleeve of her uniform. She turned her head round, nervously shaken.

Yuko cleared his throat. "I was just wondering, why is it that you are so attached to Jack? He doesn't seem at all nice to you when you serve him a cup of - Blue-eyes mountain coffee - and every time you start making conversation with him, he either doesn't reply of asks for more coffee!" stated Yuko, not wanting to sound too aggressive.

Stephanie eyed Yuko with a ferocious expression and tried to yank Yuko off her sleeve. "Jack is famous, rich, good-looking and has a beautiful British accent! He means everything to me! He is my ideal prince charming and I've like him the first time I saw him dueling, and I also want him to know the feelings that I have for him", she replied, clearly hurt by the question.

Yuko sighed softly and let go her sleeve from her black and white uniform, then started to blow gently on his burning hot coco. "Well, I'm sorry to say, but he already has a girlfriend and from what I've seen, they are perfect for each other".

Stephanie huffed. "Yeah, I've heard about this girl, Carly. In fact, I've even met her. There's nothing special about her. What could Jack possibly see in her that he doesn't see in me?"

Yuko took a sip of his hot chocolate and sniffed. He was about to say something which he knew would be hurtful, but decided to keep it in.

He looked back up at Stephanie, who was still looking pretty furious. "Ok look, I'm sorry for bringing this topic up", he said sheepishly. "To be honest, it wasn't really my business to ask you a personal question such as this. Ever since this morning, something's been bothering me and I was planning on letting off some steam elsewhere".

Stephanie sighed, her expression changing from furious to sad, and looked down at her feet guiltily. "No, I'm sorry. Your right, he doesn't appreciate me much, but I'm trying to change that. I want to take a shot at him, even if I get hurt so that I know who his heart will truly belong to", she admitted shyly.

Yuko smirked. "Well, then I can tell you now, you will have more luck today then I will when I'll be dueling this afternoon. Try and find the courage to talk to him today. He will be sleepy so I suggest you bring him a big, bitterly, black coffee just to wake him up. I'm sure it'll make him feel more alert when you talk to him", he encouraged, and began to sip his hot chocolate.

Stephanie giggled softly and went over to get the bill. It wasn't expensive and as he reached into his pocket to pull out some money, the wind caused the bill to move slightly, revealing what seemed to be a card. Yuko reached for it, and underneath it was a note. It read:

Good luck in your duel today. I hope this card will help since its always bought me good luck, and I hope to serve you again tomorrow,

Stephanie.

Yuko blushed slightly and looked at the card. It was "Consecrated Light".

He smiled. "I'm sure that this will help", he whispered and put it into his deck. Yuko quickly finished his hot chocolate, then got up, stretched out his body and briskly made his way back to Yusei's after leaving a small tip as a "Thank you".

He was now wide awake and felt as though he could take on the world. "Nice Cafe", he thought as he skipped down the street. "I might come back tomorrow".

At 10:45am, everyone was now awake. Akiza had already gone to study at Duel Academy, Yusei was eating his breakfast while Jack was still concentrating on making the new duel runner engine and Crow had just showered, and got changed quickly into his clothes. Yuko and Crow then made there way to where Crow's duel runner was parked.

"You ready?" said Crow, rubbing his eyes.

"Always", replied Yuko, excited to get back on to the duel runner.

It wasn't long before they arrived back in Satellite. They met up with the kids who was jumping with joy.

"Yuko, your Ok!" shouted Itzuki, almost crying as he hugged Yuko.

Yuko grinned. "Of course I'm alright, though I did break a few bones so don't push too hard against me."

Itzuki only hugged harder, pushing out all the oxygen that was inside Yuko.

"I was just so worried that I had killed you. You were only in that mess because of me!" he sobbed. Annie also came over to hug Yuko, almost pushing him over and not leaving any room for the other kids.

"Alright kids, settle down. Yuko needs his space or you'll suffocate him", said Crow, dragging his duel runner under the small tent that was situated against a huge pile of rubble.

Yuko patted Itzuki on the head. "It Ok, I'm fine now. You don't need to worry".

Itzuki looked up and smiled, a few tears still falling down his cheek. Annie (who had also been crying) looked up at Yuko, clinging closely to his black, sleeveless jacket. "It's my fault. I should have persuaded Itzuki not to have gone looking for the criminal".

Crow coughed and cleared his throat. "If Yuko hadn't stood up to that criminal, then that criminal would still be out on the street causing chaos. What Yuko did was brave, and now he's staying at Yusei's and being well looked after. He's even joined the group!"

The kids all cheered. A few of them amazed by the sudden turn out of events and started asking questions about Jack and Yusei (who of course, everyone knew). Crow came over and handed a few cards to the kids, cutting off the endless questions that he knew Yuko didn't know the answers to. However, Annie still clutched on to Yuko's jacket, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Alright Yuko, now how about we duel in front of all these kids to see which one of us is the best", yelled Crow, who was getting together two duel disks.

Yuko huffed. "If you say so", he said, trying to sound confident.

Annie tugged on his jacket and whispered something into his ear. "Don't worry, me and Itzuki will be supporting you", and she handed over two cards from behind her skirt pouch. One of them was "A &D Changer", which Yuko assumed came from Itzuki. The other was "Rose Fairy", a card that valued a lot to Annie. Yuko smiled and accepted them, then put his hand on her small shoulder and whispered to Annie, "Now I can win".

Annie smirked a small smile and ran over to where Itzuki was sitting. Yuko quickly swapped some cards out of his deck and place the new ones in. He was happy to receive cards, it reminded him about all the people who had helped him and supported him. He really felt lucky to have such good friends that he could rely on, just like they could rely on him.

Yuko quickly put on the duel disk (with difficulty), which Crow had given to him and got into his dueling stance.

"You ready Yuko, cause I ain't gonna go easy on you", blurted out Crow impatiently.

Yuko smiled and activated his duel disk. "Nor will I", he said and they both drew 5 cards to start the duel.

It was a quick duel. Crow was able to summon his "Black-Winged Dragon" on the 3rd turn, which pulverized most of Yuko's monsters. The only monster which stood was "Shield Wing", but it didn't do much when Crow then managed to summon "Black Wing Armed Wing".

Yuko had however managed to summon out for the first time, his strongest monster "Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon".

It caught Crow by surprise, causing him to lose his Dragon, but in the end, Crow summoned "Black Winged Armor Master" and won the duel.

"Alright! Great duel Yuko!" shouted Crow gleefully, as the audience of kids clapped and cheered him on (except for Annie and Itzuki).

Yuko scratched the back of his head in disappointment and sighed. "Well done, Crow. Your much better than I had expected".

Crow smiled. "Well, I always aim to impress", he said boastfully, then went on to brag in front of the kids. Yuko sighed once again and left his duel disk in the tent. He quickly checked the time to find that it was now 11:20am.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back by midday", stated Yuko to Crow, who nodded and continued on bragging about his victory.

Yuko chuffed. "It's like being with Jack", he thought, while chuckling lightly under his breath and began to walk towards the Satellite slums.

He had lost 3 duels now and was starting to doubt the potential he thought he had. Was it his deck? Did he lack skill?

"What is it that Yusei saw in me that day?" thought Yuko as he stumbled across the field where he had fought and protected Itzuki from the criminal.

He could still see some scorch marks from where the fireballs had missed him, which Yuko had to admit, was lucky. It felt as if the incident happened ages ago, when it had all occurred just a few days back.

"Come back for this?" said a strange croaky voice which came from his left. Yuko turned quickly, a little shaken by the sudden disturbance of the silence. It was an old man with no shoes and severed jeans. He also wore a very worn out yellow coat and held out a strange duel disk in one hand.

Yuko cleared his voice. "Come for what? Did I leave something here?"

The man walked up to him and handed the duel disk over. "This", he said, with an unwelcoming glare.

Yuko took the duel disk and studied it. His eyes then widened as he almost immediately recognized it "This isn't mine! This is the criminals!"

The man huffed and slowly walked away. "Well, it's yours now!"

Yuko: Thanks for reading and I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Please Reveiw, Follow or add to Favourite! :D

Akiza: Hey Yuko, do you have time to help me with some homework?

Yuko: Yeah sure. What subject?

Akiza: Umm...it's physics :P

Yuko: Ohh...that subject...

Yuko: Umm...maybe you should try Yusei :3

Akiza: He's away today with Jack and Crow.

Yuko: (sighs) Ok fine, I guess that I'll help you out! Let me see your objectives.

Akiza: :)