Kairi: So apparently everyone wanted to read a bit more, so I'm going to go ahead and post this. Let me know if you're all still interested, because I'm still having problems making this go further..

Chapter I

Awake

Yusei woke up the next morning to find that the girl was still asleep. He shrugged and carefully got out of bed. Kalin was already cooking breakfast, and Crow and Jack were still asleep. "Hey," he mumbled, sitting down at the table in the kitchen.

"Hey, Yusei. How's the girl doing?" Kalin asked. Yusei shrugged, then realized that Kalin had his back to him.

"Asleep. Not unconscious, but asleep," he said before yawning. "So what's on the schedule for today?" he asked.

"Jack's got morning patrol, I've got the afternoon, and Crow's getting today off. You get a special job," Kalin told him. "You get to figure out where the girl's from, what her name is, and why those guys were chasing her."

"I'm afraid I can't answer any of those questions," a quiet voice slurred. Yusei and Kalin both turned around to see the girl hovering in the doorway. Her bangs hung over her left eye, hiding it, but her right eye was a bright shade of amethyst that challenged Jack's eyes in intensity… Or at least, they imagined it would when not blurry with sleep.

"And why would that be?" Kalin asked, turning back to the eggs in the pan. The girl stumbled over to the table and sat next to Yusei.

"I don't remember my name or where I came from. All I remember is waking up in the back of an alleyway with a wicked headache, about two weeks ago. Since then, I've been trying to remember anything I can, but nothing's coming back," she explained. Her voice was very soft.

"Whoa, you mean you've got amnesia?" Crow asked, walking in. The girl examined him quietly before resting her head on the table again.

"Yeah, I guess so. Whatever it is, it sucks. And anyways, I don't know why those guys were after me," she added. Then she yawned and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, Jack joined them at the table, and Kalin started handing out plates to everyone.

The girl ate her eggs, bacon, and grits slowly, taking her time to chew everything. Kalin watched her carefully, concerned about her health. Yusei watched her too, though he was more curious about what kind of a life she had lived before he had found her. Once Jack finished eating, he stood up.

"I'll head out then," he said, depositing his plate in the sink. The girl finished her breakfast last, then turned the water in the sink on.

"What are you doing?" Kalin asked her, as he walked back into the kitchen, now fully dressed. Yusei was still in his room, getting dressed himself.

"Doing the dishes. I owe you guys for saving me from that other duel gang," she told him. Kalin crossed his arms.

"Now, I don't really see that as fair," he said. The girl shrugged as she washed the plates.

"It seems fair enough to me. Okay, not quite fair, but close enough that my conscience won't be angry about it," she said. Kalin sighed.

"You really feel indebted to us, don't you?" he asked. She stopped what she was doing for a moment.

"Yeah. I don't even know your names yet, and I don't know my name, so I can't tell you mine. And your teammate got hurt trying to protect me. I feel horrible about it. Helping out with some of the chores around here at least makes me feel better," she told him. Kalin watched as she finished washing and drying the dishes, and helped her put them away.

"Well, we can't call you 'girl' or 'you' forever, so even if you don't remember your name, we've got to think of something," he said. "By the way, my name's Kalin."

"I think I'll call myself… Shadow," she said after a while. Kalin looked at her curiously.

"Why Shadow?" he asked. She smiled.

"Because that's all I have in the place of my memories. Shadows…" Shadow said, brushing her bangs out of the way. For the first time that morning, Kalin saw that her left eye was emerald green, a sharp contrast to the bright amethyst of her right eye.

"You know, I've heard of people having two different eye colors, but isn't the normal combination green and blue?" Yusei asked, walking in. Shadow shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care. So, what's your name? I'm going to go by Shadow, if you didn't hear," she asked.

"Yusei Fudo. The blonde that left for patrol this morning was Jack," Yusei said. Then Crow walked in.

"And I'm Crow," Crow added, walking in behind Yusei. "Hey, I saw you had a duel disk. Do you at least remember how to duel? Because if you don't mind dueling, I'm bored," he asked. Shadow laughed.

"I'll go get my stuff. Meet me outside," she said, running back to the room normally shared by Kalin and Yusei. Crow ran to his room to get his own deck and duel disk, then they headed outside. Kalin and Yusei followed them, laughing the whole way down at the duo's enthusiasm.

It was a nice day in Satellite. The sun was shining and it wasn't too warm or cold. Shadow's long black hair moved slightly in the soft breeze. Her duel disk was a custom-made black one, and she slipped her deck into the slot. Crow activated his and smiled.

"Duel!"

Shadow smirked as she drew her initial hand. "And since you challenged me, I think I'll go first!" she decided. Crow smirked in response, not bothering to argue as she drew her first card. "And I'll start by summoning Galactic Fairy – Ember (Lv.4 1400/1200) to the field in attack mode! And since Ember is the only monster on my field, I can use her effect to special summon another level four or lower Galactic monster from my hand, so I'll let Galactic Hero – Jupiter (Lv. 4 1600/1000) join her!" she said. A red fairy holding a flame in her hand and a man wearing mostly yellow and red with long white hair emerged. Yusei leaned against the wall and smiled.

"Crow's definitely gonna be in a run for his money," he said. Shadow looked over her cards again and pulled two more from her hand.

"I'll think I'll end my turn with a couple of facedowns," she added. Crow nodded and drew his card, trying and failing to conceal a scowl.

"And if that expression is any indication, someone's having a bad draw," Kalin muttered to the teen next to him. Crow shot them a look.

"Shut up," he grumbled, doing little but confirming their suspicions. Then he glanced down at his life point counter. "Huh? Hey! What happened to my life points?!" he cried in surprise, as they had dropped by 500.

Shadow giggled. "Unfortunately for you, Jupiter happened. You see, he doesn't like being on the field by himself, but since Ember's out, he's so happy that he'll be taking 500 of your life points during your Standby Phases," she said. Crow growled.

'Her Galactic monsters build off of each other, just like my Blackwings,' he thought. 'If I can get rid of one of them… Ugh, why'd I have to get this bad draw?' He huffed and slipped three cards into his duel disk. "I'll put these three facedown, and I think I'll stick this guy in face-down defense position as well," he said, adding the monster. 'Now if I could just get Bora in here...'

Shadow smiled and drew her card, not bothering to hide the grin on her face as she added it to her hand. "I think I'll start this turn off by summoning Galactic Fairy – Tear (Lv.2 300/1200)," she said. A black fairy similar to but smaller than Ember appeared, except she held a dark, shifting sphere in her hand. Kalin raised an eyebrow.

"A weak monster like that in attack position?" he muttered. Shadow shot him a smug look.

"I never said she was sticking around long. See, Tear's a Tuner," she told him. Then, as the black fairy turned into a couple of green rings and Ember became four white stars, Shadow turned back to Crow. "And now I'm tuning her with Ember to Synchro summon Galactic Hero – Neptune (Lv.6 2300/500)! And like Ember, he tends to bring friends with him," she said, letting a bald man with pale blue skin wearing dark blue robes appear.

Crow sighed. "You're just having a whole lot of fun over there with your miniature solar system, aren't you?" he grumbled. Shadow laughed.

"My 'miniature solar system' is about to get a little bigger, because the friend Neptune decided to bring along was Galactic Hero – Saturn (Lv.3 1300/2000)," she replied. "Oh, and thanks to his effect, when he's special summoned to the field, I gain 500 life points for each Galactic Hero on my field," she added as her life points rose to 9500.

Kalin crossed his arms. Shadow had three monsters and two facedowns on her field, while Crow had three facedowns and a face-down monster that probably wouldn't hold long against Shadow's planetary brigade. "Hey Crow? Do my sanity a favor and surrender if you don't draw a useful card this turn," he called. Crow glared at him.

"I'd tell you to go do something if she weren't in the vicinity," he warned, nodding toward Shadow. She smiled innocently.

"Let me guess… Starts with 'f', rhymes with 'muck', and probably has the word 'you' following it?" she said cheerily. Crow smirked.

"I think I like you already… even if you are kicking my ass…" he told her. Shadow laughed.

"I'm just having a very good draw. I honestly think I've only been able to use this combo once before, and something tells me I've been using this deck for a long time," she replied. Crow sighed.

"And I doubt you're even done yet," he muttered. Shadow just shook her head, and Crow sighed again. "You done with this turn, or are you going to start attacking now?"

Shadow smiled. "Naw, I'm done. Saturn won't let me attack after he's healed me," she told him. Crow gave in and drew another card, grimacing even before his life points dropped by another 500.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I quit. This is the worst draw I've had in… Sheesh. Years," he grumbled, turning his duel disk off as his life points dropped to zero. Shadow sighed.

"Aw… And here I was hoping you'd hang in until I could drop Solaris on you," she said. Crow gave her a look. "Solaris can only be special summoned by gathering the four gas giants on my field or by letting Nebula Dragon implode by its own effect. I had Uranus in my hand, and Double Summon. One of my traps was Wormhole, which would have allowed me to put Solaris in my hand so I could special summon it… Really, I would have only needed another turn," she explained.

Yusei looked between Shadow and Crow, and smiled before looking at Kalin. He was giving Shadow an appraising look, as if his train of thought had followed Yusei's.

"Hey, Shadow! Mind we have a short talk inside?" Kalin called.

Yusei had a feeling he knew what it would be about.

Kairi: And yes, I realize that the duel was crappy, but I was too lazy to research Crow's deck back then and I wasn't going to completely re-write the whole thing. Anyway, review please...