We return now to the Bay Area of Heartland City, where the duel between Athena Fujina and Charlie McCay was about to take place atop the D-Line Monorail running through this section of the winding streets, so the former could win back her stolen Number Eleven: Big Eye, and hopefully put a stop to the madness that was Number Seven: Lucky Straight's ability of good fortune that for this round, was causing more problems than it was worth...
Now here's where we, like most of the rest caught into the ongoing event, beg the following question: for who and why exactly was Charlie going to all this trouble?
...
The answer lies with a young soul gazing out the window from a hospital bed set within the children's ward of a medical building smaller than the main hospital planted within the inner city. She looked to be no older than perhaps eight or nine, had periwinkle blue hair cut into a pixie style with a little star hair clip on her left fringe, pale peach skin, dark purple irises reflecting nerves and desperation, and wore a frilly yellow nightgown.
"...May."
She emits a startled noise and turns herself away from the window to see a friendly-smiling brunette nurse approach the side of her bed.
"It's almost time for your surgery."
"Mmh..."
"Don't worry. You're just going to take a nap, and when you wake up, it'll be done."
Even with the reassurance, May was still insistent for another's arrival.
"But, uh...my uncle should be here."
Cutting away back to the top of the fast-traveling train likely heading for that destination, Tiffany, she positioned with her torso poking out of the emergency exit opening to the outside roof and inside ceiling of the one cart, calls out her worries to her friend currently taking the risk of dueling in such a dangerous setting, using empty threats to prevent herself from going hysterical.
"Addy, if you fall off this train, I'll never forgive you!"
Said girl with red irises pivots her head back to flash a reassuring, soft smirk while calling back,
"Duly noted, Tiff!"
She turns back to face her front as Charlie says to her,
"Alright, Addy. It's time to let the games begin."
"You got it, and I'll be taking the opener! (Swipe) I Draw! I place a monster face-down in Defense Mode, and follow that with another card face-down, ending my turn."
As Athena's turn ends, Astral wonders while fixating his gaze on the man she was starting battle with,
Is Charlie once again going to rely on luck?
He would receive his answer soon enough:
"My turn. I Draw! I activate the Take a Chance Spell Card! Pass me the dice, 'cause Take a Chance allows me to roll a die once per turn, and if it comes up a six, my current Life Points are multiplied by five. Any other number, my Life Points return to where they started before I activated the Spell."
Humming to herself with a frowning glare, the girl with long shaggy black hair tipped copper red brushes some of her blustered locks away while muttering for her and Astral's ears only,
"Wonder if that Lucky Straight's gonna grant him another shot this time. That has to be where the power of his streak's coming from, right?"
"Most likely. How else would he have rolled a six five times in a row in his last duel? The odds of rolling six sixes in a row are forty-six-thousand-six-hundred-fifty-six to one."
The man with mod-like black hair and teal green eyes holds the die at ready.
"Watch closely." Athena retorts,
"Oh believe me, I will. I'm siding with skepticism and sayin' you're not gonna get it."
The die is tossed, metamorphosing into the larger, dark galactic design halfway, toppling across the ground...to stop at six!
"What?! Unreal!"
"Suddenly, I got 20000 Life Points!"
Athena growls a little in angry disbelief...
"'As long as the sun that shines stays complete, I never have to fear defeat'."
Huh? What's he babblin' about now?
"Which means my incredible lucky streak continues. I now summon, Majestic Jester!"
A flurry of fireworks explode on Charlie's side of the field, before a Level One Monster with zero Attack Points portraying a portly clown holding up a set of dice bigger than its hands appears.
"Majestic Jester, take out her face-down monster!"
"Say what?! Your monster's got no strength to dish out!"
"Go, Dark Pantomime!"
The weak clown monster expels a shot of shadowy energy against Athena's face-down creature, revealing it as Gogogo Golem...
"My golem's got 1500 Defense over your jester, smart-guy! You're the one who's gonna get whacked!"
"Not necessarily. Majestic Jester's ability activates."
"...Oh, crap."
"Luck's gonna decide if I'm gonna take damage or not."
Charlie's monster positions itself ready atop a giant dark-coloured die...
"If I roll a six while Majestic Jester is attacking, your monster is instantly destroyed. Any other number comes up, and this clown is goin' down."
Athena shifted her footing into a defensive stance, uncertain of the next outcome, while also forming an annoyed tick-mark directed at Astral as he voiced his calculations of the probability once again.
"The odds of this happening are two-hundred-seventy-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-thirty-six to one."
"Okay, that's getting old real fast, math wizard, so put a sock in it before I do it for you."
Charlie forms a grin and exclaims,
"Let's roll! (Toss) Ha!"
The little white die flies and melds with Majestic Jester's halfway...and that's when Athena spots it: a transparent flash of a numeral symbol before the die formed into the galactic scheme.
Uh! What was...I only saw it for a second, but, I could've sworn I saw the number seven before the die transformed.
(Narrows irises) Is that how the Number's doing it, then?
Her answer would come in the form of yet another six.
"Dammit!" "Implausible."
The man who rolled the die was all smirks for the outcome compared to the celestial being/young teen pair.
"Alright! Gogogo Golem is done for!"
Pirouetting atop the die in a fast spin, Majestic Jester shoots the die straight at the defending golem, destroying them in a cluster of pixels...!
"I place one card face-down and end my turn."
(Whoo-whoooooooo...)
The monorail comes up on another left turn of the tracks, and the wheels screech sharply against the rails, making the carts wobble and the three people atop the roof (or halfway to the top in Tiffany's case) fight for balance again...The girl with the black bob of hair cries out to the other young teen,
"Addy, hurry! I dunno if dad and Adam can get this thing under control in time!"
Charlie retorts with a smug grin,
"Don't worry about that. Worry about the fact that you have no chance of winning."
As he laughs, Athena grinds her teeth before jeering back,
"Says you! My Draw! Gagaga Magician, you're on deck!"
Said Level Four spellcaster is summoned a few feet in front of the girl...
"I may not invest in Luck, but I'm still gonna put my skills to the test! I activate, Monster Slots!"
The green monster-shaped slot machine appears, and projects three Duel Monster cards to spin.
"With this card, by banishing a monster the same Level as Gagaga, I can draw a new monster from my deck. If it's the same Level as the others, they're summoned straight to the field."
"But if it is not, Athena, the card you draw and your Gagaga Magician will be banished. This is foolish."
She side-glares at Astral and retorts,
"It will be if you keep being a Negative Ned about it...Besides, if this works, I'll have an XYZ Monster at ready."
"But it's not gonna work. Fortune is favouring me right now, which means you're out of luck."
Facing in front of her, Athena counters dryly to Charlie's boast,
"Who said I actually believed in Luck in the first place?"
"Huh?"
"The only thing I believe in during a duel are two things: my cards and my own raw power."
At that, the girl with red irises takes hold of her next awaiting card...
"(Swipe) Draw!...Grh!"
Unfortunately for her, she would wind up drawing Gagaga Girl, a Level Three Monster, thereby losing both her and Gagaga Magician to banishment.
"Guess it wasn't their time to shine..."
"Sorry, Athena. Looks like your beliefs are gonna get trounced by Lady Luck."
"The duel's not over yet, Charlie. I end my turn."
Yet while Athena may have held strong to her faith, Astral's was starting to wane a little from the displays of their opponent's gambling success.
"It occurs to me, that the odds of us defeating him will be, fifty-million to one."
"Rgh, come on, Astral! It's obviously the Number's fault he's having a lucky streak! Just show some gumption and we'll find a way to break it!"
Hearing her side of the conversation, Charlie cuts in to retort back,
"Don't you get it, Addy? If Luck isn't on your side, everything else goes out the window."
"Tch, same-dif with Sanity. What's your point?"
"I always admired your old man. I thought he had everything: Courage, Intelligence, Charisma, Passion...But you know what he didn't have? He didn't have Luck on his side."
"...I know, and neither did I. Still don't."
Charlie forms an expression of surprise and confusion from the girl's dry-toned words, she forming a bitter smile as she goes on to say,
"I know you're talkin' about when he, and mom, vanished...and you're right. Luck wasn't in their wheelhouse that day...and I can't say it'll ever be anytime soon. It hasn't been on my side either: I've been through the kinds of Hell a kid should only have night terrors about. (Frown) And even though I've very slowly begun to heal...Lady Luck's given me little to jackshit to look forward to."
"Uh..."
"But hey, I won't waste our time with my sob story. We've got a duel to get through."
Athena gestures a hand with a small smirk:
"So go ahead. Try and knock me down with your 'Luck', Charlie. Make your attempt to prove Fortune is most important."
"R-Rh...It's my turn. I Draw! Time to play Take a Chance again! If I roll a six, my Life Points multiply by five! Rrra-hah!"
The man in the white suit and dark-shaded fedora throws down the die, and once again, Athena would spot that transparent numeral flash.
There it is again: I know I saw a Seven!
(Click, topple...)
And the little cube would stop on,
"Aw man, not another six!"
Okay, now I'm positive that Lucky Straight's tweaking the odds...
But while she may have drawn a reasonable conclusion to the strange goings-on, Tiffany was still baffled by the continuing streak.
"How does this keep happening...?!" Charlie replies smugly,
"Fortune favours the bold. Now I'm sitting on 100000!"
Athena exclaims with wide eyes as she watched his Life Points break Duel Monster records,
"Auh, that's just out of bounds, man!"
"And now by activating the Release Change Spell, I can toss a monster off my field, then summon another monster with the same Level to take its place. So say goodbye to Majestic Jester..."
The monster that loved to clown around disappears into the Graveyard...
"And then say hello to Dice Leveler!"
And that seemingly weak Level One monster with 100 Attack Points rises to replace the jester.
"Next I activate the Monster Slots Spell Card!"
"The same card I tried using..."
"That's right, but somehow, I know things are gonna end differently for me...First, I choose Level One Dice Leveler, and then I banish Level One Majestic Jester from my Graveyard!"
The first two slots on the gambling machine stop to display the said monsters...
"Now, if the card I draw is a Level One Monster, I can place that monster on my field."
Charlie swipes up his next card, and the last slot slows...to stop on another Dice Leveler!
"Yes! There we go! It's Dice Leveler!"
While the monster's wielder may have been fired up over having the ability to bring forth another copy, Athena was about ready to curse to the skies and back again.
"Gh! Dammit...This is like what happened in that last duel..."
"Nice catch, and here's where I make this a triple jackpot. I summon a third Dice Leveler!"
As that one settles on the left of the first, Astral mutters in concern,
"This is bad, Athena," who replies lowly,
"I know..."
"And now I roll the dice, and Dice Leveler's Level increases by the number I roll."
Charlie holds the die towards himself:
"Come on...(toss) all sixes!"
As the celestial being and young teenage girl watch the triple dice fly, the former found himself commenting on the probability out of nerves again.
"The odds of him rolling three more sixes are-"
But the latter would cut him off with a shout of,
"Nope! Don't say it; don't wanna hear it! Getting sick of it!"
The little cubes clatter onto the train roof...and stop once again on a six...!
"Yeaaaaah!"
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Athena groans irritably and comments,
"Criminy, this whole duel's gone from miraculous to ridiculous. What is this world coming to when people can use cheats like Lady Luck?"
"Call it what you like, kiddo, but it won't change the fact that all three of my Level Ones have become Level Sevens...And now, I'm just gonna overlay my Dice Levelers, and build myself a little Overlay Network!"
All three of Charlie's monsters transform into yellow streams of light, shooting into the air before diving back down into the galactic vortex.
"I XYZ Summon, Number Seven: Lucky~ Straight!"
At that, the jester-inspired Number Monster rises to the field at ready...
"There it is."
"The Number Card...!"
...The human currently under the monster's hold displays the back of his right palm where the glowing red numeral was.
"What can I say, Athena? Life is a Carnival!"
Athena would only grumble with a glare directed at Lucky Straight,
"Great...so now what?"
"Whaddo you mean 'now what'? Now you lose. As long as the sun that shines stays complete...heheheh, I never have to fear defeat."
(Screeeeeech...)
The moving battleground swerves through another corner, and Tiffany lets out a little yelp, thinking to herself frantically,
Hoooh man, I hope Addy defeats this guy soon, or no one will be conscious to celebrate a victory.
(Briiing, briiing)
"Uh?"
The girl with the whipping black bob of hair then receives a call request, and opens the chat to find herself speaking to,
"Oh, Adam!"
"Hey, Tiffany. How's everything going; are Addy and Charlie still dueling?"
"(Gulp) Mhm, and so far Charlie has an impossible lead over Addy thanks to that crazy card...Did you and dad find a way to take control of the monorail?"
Zooming forward and diving into the control room of the engine, we find the young man with jade-flaked grey irises and black mullet kneeling near the older male with the black Zappa beard and flat cut hair who was on his back under the main panel, tweaking with the wiring inside the machinery. Adam replies to Tiffany with a crease of worry etched into his forehead,
"Not so far. The system's failsafe is totaled in ways even Terry couldn't fix, so we're gonna try to hot-wire an emergency stop. The only thing I can report is that we'll be arriving at the next stop in a little less than seven minutes."
"Seven minutes? Mph!...That's not alot of time..."
"I know, but we'll find a way, Tiffany, don't worry."
Arata calls from his position,
"Just remain calm, sweetheart, and focus on making sure McCay and Athena stay on this train! I promise...I promise we will stop this chaos on a happy note."
"...I believe you, daddy, and, I will."
The conversation ends, and after letting out a big breath, the Heartland Police Detective says to the young professor assistant/woodcrafter,
"Adam...I don't know if we can stop this monorail, so let's at least aim for alerting the coming station of our arrival. If worse comes to worst...we grab the girls and McCay, and prep for impact."
"Uh!...Right."
Meanwhile, back out on the rooftop of the monorail passenger cart, Tiffany calls to her friend in warning,
"Addy, our destination's comin' up fast in less than seven minutes!"
"Wha-Seriously?!"
Charlie wasn't as concerned as the girls were:
"Don't worry. My good luck will make sure we stop safe and sound. I'd be more worried that I can cash in an Overlay Unit, and multiply Lucky Straight's Attack Points by whatever I role!"
The Number Monster summons a gambling chip with their numeral stamped on it, and as they toss it upward, Athena groans and barks to her opponent,
"Dammit, Charlie, you're letting that Number get to your head! Luck doesn't account for everything! We're talkin' Life or Death here, and if this train keeps the speed we're goin' at now, even Lucky Straight's power won't be able to stop it!"
But the man with teal green irises and mod-like black hair was too absorbed into his overconfidence and the duel to listen to the girl's insistent argument, watching as a giant hand appears out of the chip to toss a die.
"Come on, be good to me..."
(Clack, topple...)
"Alrigh~t! Normally, Lucky Straight's got 700 Attack Points, but when multiplied by six...we're talkin' 4200!"
Half of Athena may have been concerned by the strong rise of power, but that half was being dominated by her increasing irritation over Charlie's lack of comprehension to danger.
For god's sake, he's not listening at all...
"Lucky Straight, attack Athena directly! Go, Hand Slam!"
The hand that tossed the giant die projects a pale gold-glowing copy to go charging towards the girl as Astral quickly shouts,
"Athena, your Trap Card!"
"Right! (Holds out a hand) I activate, Nitwit Outwit! This trap allows me to send a monster in my hand to the Graveyard, and the damage taken by your attack is lowered by however strong they are. Zubaba Knight, lend me a hand!"
The Level Three knight with 1600 Attack Points rises from the dark purple hex-shaped portal to bravely take the direct hit meant for Athena, leaving her to get hit by the afterwave with enough force to knock her backwards off her feet, barely staying in the middle of the roof!
"Grh!"
"Addy!"
She grits her teeth in response to Tiffany's exclaim as her Life Points decreased to 1400, alongside Lucky Straight's power drop to 700 again, their direct attack diverted...
"A well-timed Trap Card. Not bad. You bought yourself another turn."
Straightening back onto her feet while struggling not to slip against the smooth metal of the train cart's roof, the girl currently dueling turns her red irises to meet the owner of the mismatched luminous gold and silver-white for assistance.
"Astral, any chance you found a weakness in his strategy besides overconfidence?"
"If his luck is perfect, then, there is nothing you can do."
"What? Come on, that can't be true! You should be well-informed by now that no one is perfect. We all have some sort of flaw...Drh, there had to have been something, something Charlie said that gave a weakness away..."
Looking down in thought, Athena thinks to herself with a frustrated furrow in her brows,
Come on, girl, think...You know Charlie hinted at a dirty secret of that Number's power.
...
...Wait...That, phrase he kept parroting...Something about a sun's shine, no fear of defeat.
"'As long as the sun that shines stays complete...I never have to fear defeat'! Those were the words!...But, what does it mean? Where did that saying come from?"
"Heh, got that catchy, huh?"
The girl darts her head up to meet Charlie eye-to-eye as he then says in a casual dismiss,
"There's no meaning behind it. It's just a figure of speech."
Athena hmphs in response, not quite as sure, and neither was Astral, who hums to himself,
"As long as the sun that shines..."
Shifting his footing, the tall male wearing the white suit and warm-coloured sarape says to his younger opponent,
"You can go ahead and give up if you want. Don't think anyone'll blame ya."
"Tch, nice...but you're wrong. I'd blame myself for giving up so easily, so I won't! I'll see this duel to the last turn! (Swipe) Draw! I summon Ganbara Knight!"
The Level Four Monster with no Attack Points and wielding twin shields jumps to the field at ready with a cry of his name...
"And because I summoned a Level Four monster to the field, Kagetokage can be summoned straight from my hand!"
The shadow lizard with 1100 Attack Points crawls forth beside the knight...
"I now Overlay both Ganbara and Kagetokage to create the Overlay Network, and XYZ Summon a warrior with a heart that always shines with hope! Come forth, Number 39: Utopia!"
And just like that, the gold/white warrior angel Number Monster rose from the vortex to Athena's side of the field...
"Alright, Utopia, take down Lucky Straight!"
The Rank Four XYZ readies their blades...just as Charlie preps for the attack with a face-down card!
"I activate my Trap, Dice Crisis! If I roll a six, one of your monsters loses all its Attack Points, and I take control of it."
He tosses the die high, and the teenage girls pray,
"Come on..." "Don't be a six, don't be a six..."
...Unfortunately, their pleas would not be answered, as the die stopped at the numeral they least wanted.
"Ah! No!"
"Sonova-!?"
"Would ya look at that? Another six!"
The giant die sparks with a red bolt of energy that bounces onto Utopia, robbing him of his strength before forcing him to move to the other side of the battlefield.
"Utopia is mine."
"Rrrrh, you damn thief!...I place one card face-down and end my turn."
Charlie smirks...but then sees the next station along the D-Line Monorail, they looking like a condensed hospital building styled overtop the tracks...
"Last stop, comin' up...Let's end this duel. You can't win, Athena. Sometimes you just have to know when to walk away."
...Letting out a short, bitter chuckle, Athena retorts,
"Yeah, ain't that the truth? Problem with your advice, Charlie, is that it's costed me before, in ways that made me...less human. Now it's almost next-to-impossible for me to walk off from a situation I know is bad. I've gotta do something, or, I'll feel useless."
"Huh?...Useless?"
"That's right, useless...which is what Luck ends up being in the end."
The girl focuses her irises into a dull but serious glare as she argues in a stronger tone,
"Luck's shallow and useless compared to a person's true strength, their will to go on no matter the odds. Like I said before, I rely on the trust in my deck, and have faith in myself to get the job done, despite how bad it may get. If not, (shakes head) then I probably wouldn't be dueling right now, would I?...You've hung around with my dad before, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"(Slight smile) Then you'll know that it was his teachings, along with mom, my brothers, grandpa, and alot of good friends, that've given fuel to my inner fire. To just walk away, in this moment, would mean turning my back on them, so no. Sorry, but the duel's not ending here."
...
A beat of silence passes, before Charlie replies with a touch of annoyance at his opponent's stubbornness,
"I get it. You got spirit, I'll give you that...but it's my turn now!"
Astral calls Athena's name in warning, and she replies,
"I got it. Hold your horses, pal! I activate my Trap, Commander of Swords! This card can be used when there's a Light Attribute Monster on the field, regardless of the side they're on. Now...Draw from your deck."
Charlie looks at the girl up and down in wariness, and she explains,
"If the next card you swipe up's a Spell or Trap, then I can destroy it, or a Spell or Trap already in play on your field."
"I see. (Knowing smile) You're hoping to get rid of Dice Crisis. You want Utopia back."
Maintaining her poker face, Athena orders back sternly,
"I said, Draw."
Gritting his teeth a little, the older duelist complies with the demand...and grins when he sees the card he pulled out.
"I drew a little beauty known as Sun Scale!"
A decorative sun symbol appears in the air above his side of the field, shining several dozen golden rays...
"With this card in play, once a turn, if I roll a six, I can obliterate any monster on your field! And I mean, let's face it, Addy: with the way things have been going, we both know that I'm gonna roll a six."
Upon the Spell's activation, the celestial being with glowing white-blue skin darts his head up in attention.
"The sun...!"
Hearing his mutter, Athena pivots her face to his direction and asks,
"The sun?...Wait..."
Her crimson irises then slowly widen in realization:
"No...are you thinking...!"
"Yes! Sever the sun!"
Focusing her gaze on the shape itself, the girl hms in thought,
"Well...it's a long shot...(Grin) but maybe..."
Confused by her sudden upturn of mood, Charlie looks at the sun in the air...before he too figures it out.
"...Uh! No way...But, it's just a figure of speech! I-It doesn't really mean-"
"Hm~, you don't sound so sure, Charlie."
He grits his teeth and glares over at Athena, who smirks and adds,
"Either way, I love long shots, and this one couldn't be any better. Okay: Commander of Swords, destroy Sun Scale!"
"There's no way...!"
The card billows a ring of energy against the girl's brainwashed Number...
"Utopia, fight the control and slice that star in two!"
(...SLASH)
One thrust of the golden blade's all it took, and the Sun Scale's symbol was split into two equal halves molting with burning-hot power...! Tiffany mutters in awe from her spot in the emergency exit,
"They did it...Addy and Utopia took down the sun...!"
...And when the pixels of the artificial ball of gas fade away...the card for Number Seven: Lucky Straight suddenly loses its transparent, rainbow glow, along with their current wielder.
"Wait, no! Don't leave me now!"
Athena asks Astral in a whisper,
"Did you see that?"
He nods in response, while Charlie mutters in dumbfoundment,
"Did that, just break my lucky streak...?...Grrh! You're finished, Athena! Since Sun Scale was destroyed, you take 500 points of damage!"
Said girl would find herself shielding her face from an onslaught of embers from the destroyed Spell Card, her Life Points falling to 900...
"And now to follow that up, I'm using Take a Chance's effect! You know what happens if I roll a six, right? My Life Points are multiplied by five!"
The die is tossed into the air...
...
...but instead of following Charlie's streak through, it would stop on a snake eye, otherwise known as,
"One?! Nooooo!"
He's then zapped by a similar light Utopia was, robbing him of his record-breaking Life Point total.
"Unbelievable...I guess my luck seems to have run out..."
Bowing his head, the man with teal green irises mutters meekly,
"I end my turn."
Astral informs the other duelist,
"Now, this is it, Athena!"
"Ha, yes! That streak's been beat! My move! (Swipe) Draw! I activate the Comeback Spell Card, so I can bring back my monster you took! Return, Utopia!"
The XYZ monster complies, losing his red aura as he settles onto Athena's side of the field again.
"And now...go, Chaos XYZ Evolution! Prepare yourself, for the arrival of Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray!"
The Number lowers back into the summoning vortex in his emblem form, before returning back in his transformed guise, his three blades at ready to be drawn. Charlie stares up at the hyped-up monster while muttering nervously,
"Aw man...just my luck..."
"Your worries are only just beginning! I now activate Utopia Ray's ability! My monster gains 500 Attack Points for every Overlay Unit used, and I'm using them all. Go, Overlay Charge!"
Utopia Ray's strength rises to 4000...
"In return, your monster loses 1000 Attack Points for each Overlay Unit used."
Lucky Straight's power is sapped dry...
"Now's your chance: end this in one blow, Utopia Ray! Go, Rising Sun Chaos Slash!"
The triad of blades are swung, destroying Number Seven into six pieces before exploding into smoke and flame, leaving Charlie to go flying backwards with a yell from the impact, landing on the rooftop hard as his Life Points plummet to zero...!
...
And with the troublesome Number out of the picture, its effects over the monorail's control would wear off, reactivating the auto brakes, much to the surprise of Adam and Arata who were working on the control panel.
"Huh?!"
"The brakes!...Uh! But they alone won't be enough to slow the train down, not the whole way!"
The Heartland policeman darts for his feet and rushes out of the engine cart while telling Adam,
"I just got the emergency breaks to activate, but we need to get the girls and McCay inside, now!"
"Right!"
The two men run for the passenger section, and would be spotted by Tiffany from up above.
"Uh! Dad! Adam!"
"Tiffany, jump back inside and duck!"
Quickly complying with her frantic father, the younger adult male would then jump up and hoist himself onto the roof, much to Athena's surprise.
"Uh! bro?!"
"Addy, get inside, now!"
"But Charlie-"
"I'll get him, just get in with Mister Quen and Tiffany! Hurry!"
Knowing that tone wasn't one to argue against, the girl with long black hair tipped copper red bops her head up and down fast before speeding to the opening into the train cart, Astral floating down behind her. Meanwhile, her brother rushes over to Charlie to pull the other towards the rooftop exit.
"Charlie, come on!"
"Gh!...Adam..."
"Don't argue with me, just hurry, or we're both gonna go flying for the pavement below!"
The two men run for the opening, and jump down into the passenger cart to join the others, forming the duck and cover crouch while grabbing hold of something inside to stay steady...
(Screeeeeeecccchhhh-ca-clang-rumble-screeeeech...)
Both sets of the monorail's breaks work their hardest yet to slow down the wheels, causing a very loud echo of scrapping metal and the whole transport to tremble and jostle in an unstable manner, making its current occupants cry out in alarm as they struggled to avoid having their bodies slam against the walls. Tiffany clung tight to her father as he held a strong arm around her body, his other hand gripping a pole for support, while Charlie and Adam teamed up to hang onto Athena with an arm each, all three cloistered around another support pole, and Astral transported himself inside the golden key as per the red-eyed girl's telepathic plea, who thought he'd be safest there until the train stopped...
...
...
...
And by some miracle of fate...the monorail was able to slow into a decent stop, if with some slight derailment of the engine's front wheels, causing the nose of the train to hitch off the tracks and hit a bit of the station's brickwork, creating a denting hole...!
...
When he was sure they weren't moving anymore, Arata would be the first to relax out of his defensive hold, looking around the cart slowly for any signs of danger, before letting out a huge sigh of relief.
"...Daddy?"
He looks down at his daughter with a soft expression and chides,
"It's all over, Tiffany...we made it. We're safe."
She releases her own shaky breath, before turning to ask timidly,
"A-Are the rest of you okay?"
Parting, the other two men nod as Athena replies with a reassuring smile,
"We're fine. Just a bit jittery."
"Hoh good...That was scary..."
Once they were sure their legs were working right, all five people would rise up and walk over to the nearest door to exit from the monorail, forcing the hinges open with a bit of muscle from the adults.
(Cre-creeeak)
The first faces they would be greeted by, were the station master and Arata's Sargent.
"Uh! Oh my goodness!"
"Quen!...Is everyone alright?"
The next twenty or so minutes would be spent filling in the blanks to what went down, leading to a discussion between Detective Quen and his fellow officers about what charges to press against the man at fault for all this trouble, while Tiffany and Athena sat near Charlie's slumped form on a bench between the semi-crashed train and the ticket booth...
"You think luck had any role in our near-miss?"
Eyeing the girl with cornflower blue irises with an amused but irritated smile for her inside joke, Athena then shrugs and replies,
"Who knows, but right now, we should all be grateful we came out of that alive..."
"And you are, sure, that you're alright?"
She turns her gaze up a little to meet Astral's worried expression, and nods with a small smile.
"Yes, I'm sure. I was freaked, no doubt, but now that I'm outside of that makeshift deathtrap with everyone, I'm feelin' much better."
Humming with his own minuscule upturn of mouth, the celestial being replies,
"That is good to hear..."
"Ugh, man..."
"Hm?"
His attention, along with the girls, is then cast over to Charlie, who hangs his head into his palms and mutters regrettably,
"I jinxed it...I am so sorry, May. Our luck is gone...!"
The three younger bodies tilt their heads to the side in confusion:
May?
"...Who's May?"
The male with black mod hair looks up to see Adam staring down at him with an inquiring frown, alongside Detective Quen.
"...Adam...Detective..."
"Does this mean you did all this not for yourself, but for someone else?"
"Explain, McCay, and perhaps we can negotiate your criminal charges."
...Our view then shifts to the hall of that children's ward in the small hospital, as the young girl with periwinkle hair and dark purple irises is rolled on a stretcher for a waiting helicopter, likely being transferred to a bigger facility...
"May!"
She darts her head up some when she hears a familiar voice call to her, and sees Charlie approaching fast with Adam.
"Uncle Charlie!"
Settling by the right head side of the stretcher, the male with teal green irises chides,
"Hey. Sorry that I'm late, kiddo."
"It's okay."
"You're gonna do great in there. You've got nothin' to worry about."
May replies with a nervous smile,
"Yeah. I know..."
"You, are brave, like this other young girl I know..."
"Thanks."
Adam then pats Charlie's shoulder with a soft, urging smile...
"Oh, right. Here."
The latter then pulls out Number Seven: Lucky Straight to present to his niece.
"Take this card, for good luck...not that you need it."
May accepts the XYZ Monster with a brighter smile.
"Thank you. You're the best, Uncle Charlie."
...The Number's symbol and rainbow sheen washes over her, startling Charlie and Adam a little.
"Uh! Did you see that?"
"Yeah...Perhaps the luck returned now that the card's in a new hand..."
After riding with May and the doctors in the helicopter to the larger city hospital, the pair of young men stand outside the closed doors of the Operating Room for a while...then exit from the building to get some fresh air, finding themselves walking along a nearby bridge as Charlie tells a revision of what he explained to Arata and a few fellow police officers.
"May's operation was a risky one...but they said it had to be done...That's why I wanted Lucky Straight: I wanted Luck to be on her side. Wanted to make sure nothing would go wrong."
"Hm, alright. For once, you were thinking of something noble...but you were still tempting fate, Charlie. I'd count your blessings that the police, museum curators and monorail station masters aren't pressing charges, other than that hefty fine for damages."
If anything, they seemed more than glad that the card's gone...
Smiling wryly, Adam quirks,
"Good freaking luck paying that off, by the way."
"Heh, don't worry about me...and Adam."
"Yes?"
Pausing in their walk, the male wearing the worn-out fedora says,
"Your sister, Athena...I don't know what happened last I saw her, but, despite her spirit being rough around the edges compared to your old man's...she's got that same spunk for Dueling. Be sure to tell her that for me, would ya?"
Smiling sadly, Adam nods and states in a question format,
"You're heading out again, aren't you?"
"I am."
...The two men share a hearty hug, before Charlie McCay parts the opposite way they came from, waving a hand behind him in a casual goodbye.
"Later, Adam! Off on another globetrotting adventure!"
Holding back a few tears of friendship, the other male calls back,
"See you around, Charlie, and do a better job staying in contact this time!"
"Heha, I'll try!"
...As for Athena, Astral and Tiffany, we would find those three walking (or floating in the second's case) down a street away from the smaller hospital towards the Bay Area again, letting tonight's event roll off their backs without worry.
"Hey, Tiff, you wanna head for that diner up a couple blocks to grab a late meal?"
"Sure. All that terror really worked up my appetite."
Mind you, while the girls were feeling much calmer, there was one matter the boy from another world felt needed attention.
"Charlie is going to give us that Number Card, right, Athena?"
"If you mean Big Eye, it's already back in my deck safe and sound. But if you mean Lucky Straight, don't worry. He gave us his word that as soon as May's surgery was done, we could drop by and politely ask for the Number Card."
"I do mean Number Seven...and I think we really should've stayed with them."
"Then we'll stop by May's room first thing in the morning, okay? Now calm down."
Reluctantly, Astral nods in acknowledgement to Athena's assurance, and she focuses back ahead of herself while stating aloud in a muttered breath,
"Well...that was an eventful way to start the Carnival."
And who knows what else this tourney's gonna unveil as time progresses on...
Day One, Complete.