Me: Yeah, I know I took another several month hiatus.

Yusei: What happened?

Me: A lot of stuff… I'll explain everything at the end of this chapter. There'll be a pretty long character-author conversation there. Anyways, my muse got a bit… creative… with the storyline. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, but I do own my OCs, and probably some of what happens during this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 40

The sun has already set by the time Shoshan and I arrive at Crash Town. I stop a good distance away from the town, and so does Shoshan.

"Listen, I think it would be a good idea for us to have the element of surprise," I say, removing my helmet. "I'm going to go check everything out. You stay here."

"No," Shoshan says. "If you think something dangerous happened, I don't want you to get hurt. I'll go check things out."

I give Shoshan my best 'as if' look. "Shoshan, I was in a Duel Gang for a few years. I can handle it. Besides," I add, "if you think you're going to win this argument, you've got the wrong grasp of reality."

That's when I start walking towards Crash Town. I smile slightly when I hear Shoshan heave a sigh of defeat, but the smile fades when I remember why we came here in the first place.

Yusei. And Kalin. I hope I'm not too late.

I hide behind part of the fence that surrounds the town as I spy on what's going on within. Nothing…

…until I spot two kids pushing along Yusei's Duel Runner, away from the noise from the center of town. I duck down, and they walk past me. I let them get a good distance away from the town.

I follow them. "Hey, what are you two doing with Yusei's Duel Runner?" I ask.

The two spin around. I hold back a gasp as I recognize them as the two kids from the half-vision. The boy, though I'm certain is the younger of the two, steps in front of his sister, and sticks a hand out protectively.

"West, wait, I don't think she's one of Malcolm's henchmen," the girl says.

I tilt my head in confusion. "Uh… Who's Malcolm?"

The girl and, I assume the boy is West, exchange glances. West looks back at me. "Who are you, then?"

I glare at the boy. "Someone that you don't want to tick off," I reply. "Now, if one of you would please tell me what you're doing with my brother's Duel Runner, I would appreciate it."

"Oh!" the girl exclaims. "You must be Sky, then?" I don't have any idea how she knows this, but I nod. "Um, I'm Nico, and this is my brother, West," she says. "We were taking the Runner to the mines. That's where Yusei and Kalin are, and they're going to need help getting out of there."

The mines. I'm pretty sure it was rocky terrain, wherever my half-vision took place, so the mines didn't sound like a very good place for me to go to. But, if Yusei and Kalin need some rescuing, I guess I have to go there.

"I'm coming with you," I say.

The two nod simultaneously.

XXX

The kids tell me what happened as we walk. From what I hear, I feel like I have to help them. This town is going through something like what Satellite had, only with two gangs rather than a lot of them. The fact that their dad is being forced to work in the mines doesn't help at all.

A jolt of pain runs through my head, and I stop. This time, however, no images rush to my head. All I can feel is dread… but there's nothing I can do about it. So I tell Nico and West it's okay to keep walking.

XXX

It takes us a while, but we're finally at the mines. They're huge.

"Hopefully we'll find them in here," Nico says.

I think about the images I had seen. "We'll definitely find them," I say.

We start pushing the Runner again, up this incline. There's a field next to us, covered with Duel Disks that are tied to sticks. Creepy.

Not long after we'd started up the incline, a familiar voice stops us. "Is that you, West? Nico? Sky?"

Kalin and Yusei are below us. "Hah! We found you guys," West exclaims, and we run down to meet our friends.

Kalin looks at the kids. "Why would you two risk something like this?" he asks. He turns to me. "Sky, why would you let them do something like this?"

"It was their idea. I didn't even know them until I caught them sneaking away with Yusei's Duel Runner," I reply. "Besides, nothing happened."

Nico looks at the ground. "We only wanted to help. Kalin, you're the only hero this town has," she says. "We wouldn't have a chance if you were stuck here."

I can tell what Nico said really affected Kalin. "A chance…" Kalin says. "To get your father out of the mines, right?"

"Yeah," Nico says. "He and some of his friends tried to get out a few days ago, but they failed."

"Ah," Yusei mutters. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a blue necklace.

West reaches for it. "That necklace…! Let me see it!" He takes it and both he and Nico examine it. "It's definitely our father's necklace. How did you get this? Is our father alright?" West seems angry now.

"I… don't know," Yusei says.

This situation doesn't seem like it will end well.

Sure enough, West gets really angry. "What do you mean you don't know? Were you just going to leave the other prisoners in there to fend for themselves? They deserve their freedom too!"

"You're right. And I'm not leaving until I fix it," Yusei says.

"I don't think that's going to be easy," I say. "But I'm in."

Yusei nods, thinking things over. "I know how to remove the restrictor collars, so that's a start."

"You're going to need a lot more than a start to help these people," Kalin says.

Wait, is Kalin really trying to persuade Yusei to not go through with this? Since when has that ever worked?

"I know. But we're the only ones who will help them, so are you in or out, Kalin?"

A pause, and Kalin nods slowly. And not a moment too soon. Several engine noises sound from the incline. Someone on a huge Duel Runner is coming, and there are two goons next to him.

"It's Lawton, we need to get out of here," Yusei says. He runs over to his Duel Runner, and gets on it. "I'll distract them; you guys get out of here."

"Hey!" I start to argue, but then realize it would be pretty pointless. I don't have my Duel Runner with me. I sigh. "Be careful Yusei."

I turn, and follow Kalin and the two kids into one of the tunnels. It doesn't take long for the two goons to catch up.

Man. I seriously wish I could use my powers. Those two wouldn't know what hit them.

"Quick, get in the cart!" Kalin says. Ahead of us is a small mine cart that looks like it has seen better days.

It might work, though, I think. The cart can move faster than we can run. Hopefully, it will be fast enough to get away from the goons.

We jump in, and Kalin starts pushing the cart. "Hurry up, they're gaining on us," I say.

Now we're in another tunnel, and Kalin quits pushing the cart and instead jumps in. The cart is gaining speed, and quickly. But will it be enough?

I look ahead at the track. "You might want to hold on," I say. It looks like there might be several long drops on the track just ahead. It's what I would expect to happen in a movie if the characters were in a situation like this.

Man. Why is it that I get stuck in a cliché now?

The drops rattle the cart so bad, I'm afraid that it will either fall off or break. But it doesn't, and the track returns to its normal decline. I let out the breath I had been holding, and then look back. The goons are still chasing us.

And out of the first goon's Duel Runner come chainsaws.

…Really? Are the chainsaws necessary?

"I'll saw that cart in half!" the goon shouts at us.

Nico and West both pick up rocks from the bottom of the mine cart. "We'd like to see you try!" West shouts back, and throws the rock at the goon. Nico throws hers as well.

It was a good idea, but the rocks only make him angrier. "You'll pay for that," he growls. The chainsaws are inches away from the cart.

"Get back," Kalin says. He could have been directing it at Nico, West, and I, or he could have directed it at the goon. Either way, West ignores him, lifts a bigger rock, and throws it at the goon's face.

The crunch of the impact makes my face hurt just by hearing it.

Now there's quite a bit of distance between us. "Nice job, West. You're pretty tough for a kid," Kalin says.

"It's only because I watched you, Kalin," West says.

"You taught us both about how to deal with trouble," Nico adds.

It doesn't seem like I should be a part of this conversation, and I'm clueless about what they're talking about. The conversation doesn't last long, however, because I turn to watch where we were going.

"Kalin, pull the break lever," I say.

"Are you crazy?" West asks.

"They'll catch us!" Nico adds.

I assume Kalin listened to me. Really all I could see while I was trying to keep the cart steady were sparks. My hands clutch opposite sides of the cart so hard my knuckles turn white. I can feel the cart tilting greatly to the right, so I shift to the left, and seconds later I hear a thud as the cart returns to using all four wheels.

When I hear two large crashes from the direction we came from, I know the two goons that had been chasing us didn't quite make the turn. I heave a sigh of relief. We're safe, for now.

"Good job Kalin," I say.

He shrugs off my praise. "It was nothing. If you hadn't seen the turn coming, we would be in the same position as those guys back there."

Kalin returns to being silent, and I frown. Something about him just seems off. I can't place it though…

Our cart takes us into an underground cavern, where it stops. It's also where our luck runs both in and out at the same time. There are a bunch of other workers-slash-prisoners in the cavern, which is good. The bad part is that we happened to show up as the goons were switching off.

"Nico, West, stay in the cart," Kalin says.

I have no doubt he would have told me the same, but I'm already halfway out, looking for something I could use as a weapon. As luck would have it, two abandoned pickaxes are only several meters from the cart. Those would do just fine.

The goons start getting closer, and one of the bigger ones shouts, "Hey! What're you two doin'?"

I put on the largest grin I could muster and reply, "Absolutely nothing!"

Then I dash for the pickaxes, grab them, and I toss one to Kalin. "Just like old times, minus a duel, right Kalin?" I ask.

Kalin gives me a half smile. "Sure."

"You two! Don't move, or we'll activate your restrictor collars!" another goon shouts. I'm pretty sure that he realizes we don't have the collars directly after he says that, and so do the rest of the goons. A third of them—there are about twenty goons in total—pull out stun guns (or at least I hope they're not real ones). The rest have whips in hand.

They circle around us and slowly close in. "Aim for the Duel Disks," Kalin tells me under his breath. "That's how they're controlling the other prisoners. If the Duel Disks are out of the way, those guys might help us."

"'Kay. You want to attack on three?"

"Hey lady, we said no talking!" a smaller goon says.

I roll my eyes. "No you didn't. One."

The last part I say under my breath, so that only Kalin can hear.

"She's right," Kalin agrees. "You said we weren't allowed to move. You never said anything about talking. Two."

"Besides, who said you guys control us?" I ask.

Some of them laugh. A less thuggish, and probably smarter, goon says, "We've got the numerical advantage and," he gestures to the guns that several of them have, "stun guns."

"Yeah? Well we have pickaxes and skill on our side." My stomach is about to explode from all of my excitement. My takes the rest of my patience. "Three."

I catch the first guy off-guard and easily smash his Duel Disk. When he tries to retaliate with his whip, I duck and swing my legs at his own. One goon down, I think as he falls back, and if we're splitting the work, only nine more to go.

The rest are nowhere near that easy, and by the time I've gotten six others, I'm nearly out of breath, the pickax is somewhere on the ground, and my left arm has a nice cut from one of the whips. I sneak a peek at Kalin, and it doesn't look like he's faring much better. The last three goons I have to face decide to corner me against one of the cave walls.

"You wouldn't," I force out between breaths, "hurt an unarmed woman, now, would you?"

"Didn't start that way," one says.

Oh well. It was worth a shot.

"You attacked us first," another says.

The third simply holds up his gun, and I stare at it. Man. If there could ever be some random intervention, now would be the time, I think.

Thwack. The guy with the stun gun pitches forward, and in his place stands one of the people in the blue workers' outfits, holding what seems to be a broken-off piece of the mine cart track.

"Thanks," I say. The other two goons fall as well, as other prisoners came to help. With them out of the way, I sink against the wall, trying to finally catch my breath.

"I should be thanking you," the man says. "I'll finally get out of here and see my kids, thanks to you and Kalin."

He offers me a hand and helps me up. "I'm Sergio, by the way."

"Sky," I reply. "Come on, we need to get out of here, before those guys' backup comes." I motion to Kalin to come on as well, and he walks over.

"Hey, I found some Duel Runners over there," Kalin says.

"Really?" That's another stroke of luck; the Duel Runners would be so much faster than the mine cart. They'd also be much more stable. The Runners seem to be a really basic version, and one of them has a passenger cart attached to it.

"Nico, West!" I call. "We've got much better rides over here!"

I expect them to come running, and they do. Just not at what I expected to happen. They run at Sergio. A second later, my mind makes the connection.

"Dad!" they shout. Then Nico and West kind of tackle Sergio to the ground, and the reunion makes me tear up. I wish I could see my parents again… But it's not possible.

"I hate to break this up, but we really need to go," I say to them. "Sergio, can you drive a Duel Runner?" He nods. "Then you take this Duel Runner, Nico and West can ride in the add-on. Kalin, just choose one and go."

Now we're able to continue our escape, and for once there isn't anyone chasing us. With chainsaws, I think, and shiver. Were they absolutely necessary in the first place?

The tunnel continues until we reach a fork, where one part branches off to the left, and the other continues forward. "Which way should we go?" Sergio asks.

I don't know. Considering we were just trying to get away, we could just be going farther into the mines, and the left path is the one we should take. But I could just be overthinking this, and straight is indeed the right way.

That's when my I catch the sound of another Duel Runner and, if it makes any sense, I know it's Yusei's. The sound is coming from the left tunnel. I think back to my half-vision. If meeting up with Yusei is when this happens… "You guys keep going straight. I'm going left."

"Why?" Kalin asks.

"I-I have a feeling," I reply, not wanting to let him in on everything. I even try to stop any other conversations be speeding off down the left tunnel. It doesn't entirely work. Kalin follows me, but he doesn't say anything.

I frown. If what happened in my vision is supposed to happen soon, I didn't want Kalin to get caught in it. But… It's not like I can tell Kalin about it. Not now, anyways.

The tunnel opens to another, and I see the Duel in progress between Yusei and Lawton. It looks like it's almost over, Yusei's Drill Warrior attacks with its special ability, but then Lawton plays some Trap called Explosive Wall. It would remove Drill Warrior and all of Lawton's cards from play, and could possibly make Yusei lose.

"Mind if we cut in?" Kalin asks, and then rams into Lawton's giant Duel Runner. Lawton shouts in frustration as his Runner spins out of control and hits one of the walls of the tunnel before it rights itself.

"Kalin, Sky, you're alright!" Yusei says. "Where are Nico and West?"

"We split up. Their father's with them," Kalin answers.

Good, I think. At least I know they'll be safe. I notice sunlight coming from just a bit farther down the tunnel. "Guys, the exit is right up ahead!"

"No one escapes this mountain!" Lawton shouts. He forces himself ahead of us and laughs. Evilly. "You know what, let me help you get out of here. At least this way, you'll go out with a bang."

That doesn't sound like it means any good. It doesn't, I realize, when Lawton throws something he had in his hand back towards us. It's a collection of dynamite. My eyes widen. My vision is coming true.

The dynamite explodes.

To be continued…

Me: Yep! I'm going to leave you guys with a cliffhanger after I've been out for so long.

Crow: You are truly evil.

Me: Meh. Blame my secondary muse Rudolph.

*Tiny dog appears*

Rudolph: Arf! Arf!

Me: *Pets head* Good boy.

Sky: Wait, what do you mean secondary muse?

Me: Oh that… Yeah, I decided to start rewriting the first several chapters and so far I've finished chapters one and two, so I'll replace them as I'm putting up this chapter. Chapter one has the whole secondary muse thing covered. I'm pretty sure Crow was the only one there when I was rewriting it… Completely beside the point, yesterday was the last day of school! I'll have a lot more time to write!

Yusei: But yesterday was a Monday.

Me: *Shrugs* I don't know who had that bright idea. Anyways, Rudolph didn't start helping until May 24th, so that's why I haven't been writing much. At all. I've also had pretty bad writers block.

Sky: Wow. Compared to your last hiatus, this explanation is nothing.

Me: I know… But so much has happened since February! I'm now obsessed with NCIS, Psych, The Mentalist, Revenge, Castle, Criminal Minds, and even though I've only seen the first episode, Doctor Who. I've also decided that I hate season finales, mostly Revenge's and Criminal Minds', but I'm simply going to place those rants on my profile. Oh, my band director, who has only been at my school for a year, is leaving, but I know the one who's replacing him, so I'm super happy! I also graduated from middle school.

Sky: That's quite a bit of stuff. Congrats about the middle school thing.

Me: Thanks! Oh, and I also decided to start rewriting the first several chapters, since I was in sixth grade when I wrote them. *Shivers* So far I've finished chapters one and two, so I'll replace them as I'm putting up this chapter. As always, review! They really make my day… Even though I've only really gotten one or two reviews per chapter…

Crow: Yes! They're listening to me!

Sky: Shut it Crow.