At last we have made it to Episode 30. To celebrate, I think I should have a contest for my readers of some sort…But what kind of contest would they be interested in? Anyways, you know the drill! Please Enjoy.

Leo, Luna, and Jack were waiting outside of Akiza's door. Midori sat quietly in a nearby chair. Laura was at the end of the hallway talking with Shinju when the two of them saw Sidney following behind Yusei. Laura jumped for joy as she rushed over and nearly tackled Sidney.

"Oh my gosh! I was so worried about you, Sid! I thought you might not wake up!!!" She hugged her while Sidney gently squirmed to let her know her grip was too tight. Laura sighed and let go.

"I'm ok, Laura, really." Sidney assured her.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked, approaching Sidney with a mildly frustrated look on his face. Laura glared at him. Leo and Luna cocked there heads in confusion, not really understanding what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, Akiza needs our help right now." Sidney looked down, lost in her own thoughts. Akiza's parents lead her and Yusei into Akiza's room, with everyone else following close behind, except Shinju and Laura who watched from outside the panes of glass.

Akiza's room was very spacious, and empty for the most part. The brown tile floor was spotless. There was only a dresser and a heart monitor at Akiza's bedside, where she was still not awake. The doctor stepped outside as Yusei stood over Akiza and touched his hand to her cheek.

"Akiza. Please…wake up. It's me, Yusei."

"…And Sidney." Sidney chimed in. Yusei's mark brightened up for a brief second, as did Akiza's. The marks that Sidney shared with Yusei and Akiza also glowed for a moment. When they stopped, Akiza began to stir.

Her eyes opened slowly as she sat up in bed.

"Yusei…" She looked up at him with a worried looked, and glanced over at Sidney, and her expression mellowed slightly.

"Sidney…you…came for me…but why?"

"AKIZA!" Her father interrupted, excited to see that she was awake. When she turned to see her parents, a look of pure anger appeared on her face.

Sidney gulped.

"What are THEY doing here!?" She snapped.

"Akiza…" Yusei tried to speak, but Akiza quickly cut him off.

"That…STRANGER over there ruined my life!" She pointed an accusing finger at her father. The Senator's eyes widened as he felt his guilt building up inside of him.

"They're not my real family! Sayer's all I…" She remembered that Sayer had been defeated by the Dark Signers and sent to the Netherworld. Tears welled as they trickled down her face.

"My home is gone...and now I have another father that's missing…" She looked up at her father in rage.

"He was more of a father to me than you ever were…" She snarled.

Yusei tried to calm her down, but she jumped out of bed and gave him a confronting expression. Leo and Luna stood close by Jack as they watched in the background. Akiza's mother gazed at her daughter with a sorrowful look on her face.

"Where am I supposed to go now that my home is in ruins? And now Sayer is gone…This is all your fault!" She yelled at her dad. Yusei spoke up.

"Akiza, it was the Dark Signers…"

"Save it, Yusei. I can see joining your little group was a mistake. You were just interested because I have a mark…"

Sidney shook her head. Yusei approached Akiza, but she quickly put out her hands and pushed him away from her.

"If you're trying to erase the past, don't bother. I've already forgotten them. And now," She jumped back and activated her Duel disk, "…I'm going to erase you from my memories as well."

Just then, Sidney finally got the courage to speak up. As she opened her mouth, Akiza glanced over at her menacingly. Sidney ignored it.

"If you really had forgotten your parents, you wouldn't still be mad at them, and letting your anger rule you like this." She said, taking what she said literally.

"Shut up. You don't know what you're saying. You all just want to ruin my life!"

Akiza slapped a card onto her Disk and a mighty gust of wind blew, knocking Leo and Luna over at the bed, desk, and monitor went flying to various parts of the room. Sidney whipped out a card.

" Spell Shield Type 8!" A white cylinder formed in the middle of the room and absorbed the gust of wind before disappearing in the blink of an eye. Akiza huffed.

"In the words my dear friend Laura would use…That's a bunch of crock! Seriously. If we were trying to ruin you're life, you'd be a lot worse off then you are now, Aki." Sidney said, knowing she was being extremely gutsy.

"Don't call me that! That's what THEY used to call me." She glared at her parents. Sidney sighed as her father look down in shame.

"Ok, fine. But why don't you take two minutes and hear us out?"

"Because I'm done talking." Akiza replied. She slapped another card onto her disk, causing Black Rose Dragon to emerge before them.

"I don't want to fight with you." Sidney told her firmly. Black Rose Dragon coiled its thorns, preparing to strike. Sidney pulled out another card.

"I'm calling my Lunar Solstice Dragon, because even though I won't fight, I WILL protect myself and the other people here. And not only that, I'm going to equip my dragon with Metalmorph so your dragon will have a harder time dealing with it."

Sidney's dragon appeared and curled its body around Sidney and the other like a living wall of scales. As she pulled out her next card, Metalmorph, its scales took on a steel sheen, and its whiskers shimmered like sharpened knives. Black Rose Dragon ruffled its wings as Rose Petals flew in every direction.

"Fine. I'll just equip my dragon with Thorn of Malice. That's should make it a match for your beast." Suddenly, the dragon grew bigger, meaner looking thorns and longer vines sprouted from its body. It roared at Sidney's dragon, who replied with a muffled growling noise. Black Rose Dragon struck out against Sidney's dragon. Lunar Solstice Dragon was left with horrible lash mark that caused it to grit its fangs. It bit into one of Black Rose Dragon's tentacles, causing it to screech.

Yusei stood by Sidney as her dragon cried out from the pain. Sidney started tearing. Akiza leered at her as an aura appeared around her body, and the hairpiece holding black her hair detached and rolled down to the floor. The wind picked up as her hair seemed to be going wild, as her powers were. The Rose Petals were still whisping around everyone like debris in a twister.

"What's the matter, are you scared of me, Sidney?" Akiza asked her in a mocking tone of voice. Sidney shoo her head.

"NO! I'm not!" Just then, Akiza's father jumped over the dragon and attempted to approach Akiza. The petals scratched his clothing as everyone looked on with fear.

"Stay back!" She warned him.

"Get out of the way sir! You're going to get hurt!" Yusei urged him. The Senator briefly glanced over before looking back at Akiza.

"I don't care if she hurts me. When she was hurting, I turned my back on her. I'm never turning my back on my daughter again."

When he said that, Sidney's tears increased. It was something her dad might have said to her. Akiza stared blankly at her father.

"That sounds sweet, but you're just saying that to make me stop."

"He means it, Akiza." Yusei and Sidney said it almost in unison. They looked at each other, surprised to be thinking the exact same thing.

Akiza looked up, surprised.

"I do." He said.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. Let your parents show that they love you and that you can all be a family again!" Yusei encouraged her. Akiza shook her head. Suddenly, without warning, her dragon lashed out at her father, a vine heading straight toward him. Sidney jumped over from the protection of her dragon to shield Akiza's father.

"Akiza! Call back your dragon's attack! We're your friends! You're our friend!" She cried as she ran to take the hit. Yusei jumped over after her. Everyone else gasped from behind the safety of Lunar Solstice Dragon.

"…A friend?"

"Sidney!" Jack exclaimed.

"Sidney! Yusei!" Leo and Luna yelled.

Akiza hesitated. "I…But I didn't even order it to attack."

She looked up as she Yusei struggled to pull Sidney and Akiza's father out of the way. Akiza closed her eyes.

"I don't want to do this…I don't want to fight anymore."

She looked upwards into her dragon's eyes and screamed.

"STOP!!!" Suddenly, the dragon's attack halted, its thorn inches away from Sidney's chest as Yusei had Sidney by one arm and Senator Izayoi by the other arm.

The petals seemed to vanish instantly. Her father ran over to her as her dragon began to disappear into a cloud of rose-colored light.

She fell to her knees, crying. Her father gently kneeled down next to her. She looked up at him, and readily embraced him. Her mother walked over and stood over them. Sidney's dragon also vanished, and the two light danced around each other before blinking out of existence.

"I was so scared…I still am." Akiza said.

"We know, Aki." Her mother smiled at her.

"Will you come home?"

Akiza nodded hesitantly.

"Don't worry. You're staying right here. We'll make things right this time." Her father promised. Akiza looked up at Yusei.

"I will still help you guys…if that's ok with my parents."

"Of course. These are your friends," Her mother said, "And I know you all have a very important job to do. I am worried…but so proud of you."

"Thank you, both of you." Her father told Yusei. Akiza turned her attention to Sidney, who was still being held by the arm by Yusei. He realized he was still holding on to her and let go. Akiza laughed a little at the expression on his face.

She regained her composure. "Just so you know. I haven't had the best luck with friends. I have a tendency to lose them."

"I know exactly what you mean. I ran into an old friend the other day, and well…he isn't the same person anymore." Yusei sympathized. Kiryu, the Dark Signer Yusei was dueling, Sidney thought.

"It can be hard to lose people that mean something to us. We lose them in different ways… But…there are some friends that we will always have, even if it seems like they're gone." Sidney thoughtfully remarked, thinking of her father.

Akiza nodded. "Friends like you."

Sidney blushed. "Perhaps…"

Leo and Luna smiled. Even Jack couldn't help but smile.

Sidney held out her hand. "Need some help?"

Akiza thought for a moment, then took Sidney's hand as she helped her to stand up. Her mother saw her hairpiece on the floor nearby, and picked it up, handing it to Akiza. As she was rolling her hair back up, Laura and Shinju ran inside.

"We saw the whole thing! Nobody has any serious injuries, do they?" Laura asked worriedly. Midori floated in the background as she entered alongside Shinju.

"I think we're ok, are we ok?" Sidney asked.

"A little traumatized, maybe. But, we're ok."

Midori yelped as she saw Mina and Lazar walking down towards the room.

"Great…" Laura commented sarcastically. Shinju gave her a reassuring look.

"Actually, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to speak to my parents for awhile alone." Akiza requested. Jack grunted as he was the first to leave. As he came out, he saw Lazar was very shaken up. Mina also looked worried.

"What's the matter with him?" Jack asked Mina.

"Jack…its Cassandra. The Dark Signers kidnapped her while we were away."

Jack's eyes widened. "You're kidding me, right? What on earth would they want with Cassandra? Unless…they're planning to use her as a hostage or leverage against Goodwin…Perhaps they want to use her to try and make us give them Sidney…"

Lazar was the most upset by this. It was his duty to protect Cassandra, as instructed by Goodwin, and he failed. Cassandra was someone Goodwin had also taken under his wing when she was a little girl and her father had died. However, he would not permit her or Sidney to actually meet, as he believed the result of such an encounter would more than just hinder his own agenda.

Lazar winced. "I'm aware of that, Jack. Don't repeat to me what I already know."

Everyone else started coming out. Laura and Shinju offered to take Midori back to the safe house as they bid Sidney farewell.

"So… how long was I out?"

"About twelve hours. It's almost lunch right now."

Midori laughed as Sidney looked down at her stomach.

"That would explain a lot."

Lazar perked up when he saw Sidney and approached her as she was still talking to Laura and Shinju. Laura stared at him blankly while Shinju stifled a laugh.

"I'm sorry sir, but are you in the right place? The circus is a few blocks away."

Shinju laughed at his own joke. But, Laura elbowed him.

Lazar ignored him as he greeted Sidney respectfully.

"Goodwin sent me to collect you, Ms. Clay-Jacques. He wishes to speak with you on the way back to the safe house." Sidney nodded and agreed to go. She didn't want to, but she knew there wasn't a choice about it. Everyone said farewell.

As Lazar escorted Sidney down the hall, Mina followed close behind. She walked along beside Sidney. She saw the teen look up at her with curiosity.

"Do you need something, Sidney?" She asked.

"Oh no… but thank you, Mina." Sidney replied. Mina was very quiet and thoughtful and they walked into an elevator to go to the ground floor.

In the meantime, Jack had gone the opposite way to his Duel Runner, and left in haste. Leo, Luna, and Yusei went downstairs to the ground floor where two limos were outside. One was for them, where they got in and waited for Akiza to come downstairs. Yusei sat on the far end of the back seat so Leo and Luna could sit by each other.

He saw Lazar, Mina, and Sidney come out of one Elevator while Shinju, Laura, and Midori came out of another and went in the direction of where Laura's Jaguar was parked. Sidney came walking by as she got in the limousine behind the one Yusei was in. He saw the window roll down in front as he saw Goodwin peer out and quickly exchange a brief dialogue with Mina and Lazar. He couldn't really understand, but he heard the name "Cassandra" mentioned, and figured they were talking about the singer. Did something happen to her? He thought of it when he saw the three of them exchange worried glances. Goodwin retreated and rolled up his window.

Lazar and Mina departed for Mina's Jeep.

"Hey Yusei, is something wrong?" Luna asked. He was a little worried that Goodwin had Sidney ride with him alone. He would probably talk to her about the arrangement and perhaps the possibility of it being dropped. But a thought occurred to him. It made him anxious.

He said he would drop it, but there was a catch. What was it? Would it be hurtful to Sidney or himself? As the thought floated around in his mind, he noticed Akiza coming out the door and walking over to get into the passenger's seat in front of him.

Luna was still looking for him to respond.

"I'm fine, Luna." He said. Luna nodded and went to talking to her brother as both of the limos were turned on. The driver's turned the wheels, and they were soon off, both heading for the safe house, with Jack's Runner and Laura's Jaguar following.

In the car, Midori wondered if she would have to duel at all once they would go to the Satellite. She was fairly skilled with her deck, but after seeing Kiryu duel Yusei, she hoped it wouldn't come to that. He had already done enough damage to her; she prayed if she had to fight, she wouldn't have to face him. At least not alone…

Shinju sat in the Passenger seat beside Laura, who was driving. He saw Midori getting tense, and leaned over to give her a huge grin. It reminded her of Crow, which made her giggle.

"Don't get too worried. That's what they want you to do!"

Midori nodded. He smiled.

"Take it from me, if you really want to let the enemy know you're the boss, it works to have a strong will. As long as you have that, they'll never break you."

Laura tittered. "Oh you…"

"Ok!" Midori said as she could feel her confidence just barely beginning to surface. Now that she had friends at her side, she felt stronger than the tallest giant.

Well, R&R, and be back next time! Be here or be square! Have a nice day.