Kairi: Okay, here's Chapter Five... a little late, but oh well. Please Review. (I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh)

Chapter V

Lurking

"I sent her on patrol over three hours ago! It normally only takes an hour, maybe two if you stop to investigate something. But three?" Kalin ranted. Yusei sighed as he fiddled around with the device in his hand.

"She may have just gotten caught up in a duel with one of the kids over by Martha's," he rationalized. Kalin gave him a look, but Yusei wasn't fazed.

"One hour, Yusei. If she's not back by then, I swear I'll—"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Kalin. I lost track of the time," Shadow interrupted. Kalin turned around, startled. Sora was drying her arm, after having obviously washed it. It still looked a bit darker than normal, though.

"Doing what?" he wondered. She shrugged.

"Just a small, personal project that I got a little more absorbed in that usual this morning," she answered. "Oh hey, call in the pack. I've got a shit-load of info on our group in Sector 7, plus some on the kids in Sector 8," she added before taking off up the stairs.

Kalin gave Yusei a look, and he followed her before the blue-haired youth headed out to look for Crow and Jack. Predictably, Jack was sitting by himself in his normal haunt, while Crow was dueling some kids at Martha's.

Once the five of them were gathered, Shadow pulled out a clean map and started using a black pen to label some of the buildings in Sectors 7 & 8.

"What have you got for us?" Kalin asked. Shadow took a deep breath.

"One of the twins has a deck now, they've been sharing. The twin who doesn't have a deck spends one night with the group, one night at the hideout they'll be using the next couple days," she started. "They switch regularly. And unlike the Magician's Four, these guys have a pattern. They'll be back at the abandoned theater tomorrow. That's where the twin will be tonight."

"Can't we just take out the twin tonight and then deal with the rest tomorrow?" Jack asked. Shadow shot him a look.

"She won't have a deck, Jack. One of us is going to have to double up though," she replied. Kalin nodded.

"We won't know until we get there who it will be, so we should all be prepared," he said. "You said you had something on the group in 8, right?" he asked. Shadow sighed.

"Two boys, two girls. One of the girls has a powered skateboard that she built to be able to turbo duel on. The other girl is the leader. Past that… it's gonna take a bit of work. They're not like the idiots the rest of these guys are. The only reason we found out as much as we did is because the two boys were bored when Nova happened to be flying past and one of the girls started yelling at them," she told the boys.

Yusei crossed his arms. "They have a name?" he asked.

"Team Mithril, I think," she said.

"You think?" Jack grumbled. Shadow shot him a glare.

"You try translating 'mithril' into their language, or vice versa," she growled.

Crow sighed. "Alright, you two, enough fighting for now and let's just focus on what we're going to do tomorrow," he interrupted. Shadow smiled.

"Let's switch it up a bit," she said. "Attack during the day instead of at night. After all, that's what the other gangs expect of us, right? And these guys will just be getting to the old theater around two in the afternoon…"

Jack smirked. "You're thinking an ambush," he realized. Shadow nodded.

"The unarmed twin will leave to go get them, and it's a fifteen minute walk from there to their current hideout. We'll have half an hour to get into position, but if I put Ember, Tear, Nova, Nebula, and Luna on the task of finding us places to hide…" she trailed off.

Kalin looked over the map again quietly. "You sure they'll do a good job of that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Tear and Nova have problems getting along?"

Shadow chuckled. "About as well as you and me when we're both in bad moods that aren't focused on the same thing," she replied. "Which is why Tear will be focusing on finding a hideout for you and Nova for me. I'm sending Ember to find a good spot for Jack, since she and Nova are the only two that can stand him, and Nova can't exactly get in his head…"

"Nebula and Luna?" Crow wondered. Shadow sighed.

"I'd send Star for Yusei, but she's been wandering around the city for the last few hours, looking for something for me. Hence, Nebula. Luna's for you," she told him. Kalin nodded.

"Alright. Make sure we're covering escape routes too, alright?" he prompted. Shadow rolled her eyes.

"What do you take us for? Idiots?"

"Dammit, the kid's gonna leave any minute! Where is she?" Kalin hissed. The girl, as if on cue, walked out of the theater, headed across the road and left their sight. Only a moment later, Shadow's head popped out of the door she had just exited.

"You boys coming in?" she asked. Jack and Kalin exchanged a look, while Yusei and Crow chuckled.

"What happened to meeting up outside?" Jack asked. Shadow just rolled her eyes.

"I got here early, and Nebula wanted me to look into something. And then Star got back from the city, and she and Nebula started arguing… It was fun, in a not so pleasant way. And it got even worse when Ember jumped in, pretty much yelling at both of them," she grumbled.

Kalin gave her a pointed look. "We haven't got long here, Shadow," he reminded her. She nodded.

"You're up there," she said, pointing. Then she put Tear's card on her duel disk, and the black fairy appeared in front of them. "She'll show you the way," she added. Then she turned to look at the other three as Kalin walked off. After waiting a moment, she put three more cards on her duel disk, and Ember, the silvery Luna, and the golden Star all appeared.

"Let me guess, follow them to our hiding places?" Yusei said with a smile. Shadow nodded.

"Yup. Nebula left in a huff, so obviously you've got Star," she replied. He just shrugged as he and Jack walked off. Crow hesitated.

"What about you?" he asked. Shadow grinned.

"I don't need to summon Nova to see her, remember?" she countered before jogging off. Crow just chuckled, while Luna hovered around in front of him. She led him away, into a small balcony that Crow couldn't resist calling a nest. She didn't leave once they were there, either.

"Aren't you going to go back to Shadow?" he asked. Luna shook her head and pointed to a spot above the stage. A moment later, Tear's black glow (it still boggled Crow's mind when he tried to figure out how that was possible) appeared where Luna had been pointing. Star's golden glow and Ember's red-orange popped up on either side, Star on Crow's right, Ember to his left.

"Where's Shadow?" he muttered, looking around. Luna shrugged, then started talking. Crow didn't understand a word of it, which had her exasperated.

She sighed and pointed to something behind Crow, but when he turned, all he saw was his own shadow. He was confused for a moment, before he realized that Luna was trying to explain.

"Shadow?" he guessed. She nodded, then started tapping her head. "Thinks?" She shook her head, tapping it again then miming writing something in midair. "Um… Knows?" he guessed again. She nodded, then looked around. And kept doing it. "Something to do with looking around," he said. Luna giggled and nodded.

Then she pointed to him, and to the three colored spots of light. "Uh… Team?" he wondered. She sighed, though it looked like one of relief, and his guess was confirmed when she nodded. Then she started pointing in a general upward direction. "So… wait, Shadow knows… us or them?" Luna pointed to the door where the other team would be entering. "She knows they… look up?" A wild shaking of the head. "Wait, don't look up?" he amended. She smiled and nodded.

"So, that's why we're all up here," he realized. Luna nodded, then pointed. Up, somehow managing to sit and look very comfortable on the hanging chandelier, was Shadow, grinning about something or another. "Something tells me she's giving the cue," Crow muttered. Luna just giggled.

"I'll be back in an hour, 'kay? I've gotta go let Nebula haul something over from the city," Shadow told them before running off. Kalin crossed his arms before turning and heading back to their base.

"Anybody else getting suspicious?" he asked. Jack sighed.

"She's been running off every chance she's gotten since yesterday morning. You think maybe it has to do with that new duel gang in Sector 8?" he wondered. Crow rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, have at least a little faith in her. She's probably trying to pull a Yusei," he grumbled. Yusei smiled and shook his head at his friend.

"Do I want to know what you're referring to?" he asked. Crow just shrugged.

"Well, you know. You have a tendency to work on something or other for our duel disks and you won't tell us anything about it until you're done. Maybe Shadow's just trying to keep it a surprise?" he replied. Kalin's angry expression faded almost immediately as Yusei's became thoughtful.

"That's right… And you know, she actually helped out on the last upgrade, so…" he said slowly.

Kalin sighed. "So you mean Crow's theory is probably correct? Man, I wish you guys had told me that sooner. I'd gotten so used to Yusei being the only one that was good with that technical stuff," he grumbled. "Still, what could she need from the city that we can't find or build here in Satellite?"

Yusei frowned. "You realize there's a long list of things, right? But the only things that jump out in my mind are duel runner parts," he replied as they reached the run down building that passed for their headquarters.

"That would explain the oil," Yusei added a little later. Kalin, Crow, and Jack gave him a look.

"What?" they chorused. Yusei rolled his eyes.

"When Shadow came in the other day, she was covered in oil. We didn't notice because she'd already washed most of it off," he told them. Jack crossed his arms.

"So, she's working on duel runners?"

Kairi: Oh ho... Finally getting to the good stuff next chapter. Finally! Sheesh...