Wind Underneath Your Wings Ch 5
The WRPG was postponed until the highway duel lanes were repaired. The citizens of the city had their memories of the event altered. So none of them had clear recollection of the invasion outside of the Signers and Sherry. This had freed up everyone's time. At least for Crow and Bruno.
Bommer had sent a lengthy letter to Jack. Imploring him to come down to South America to learn how to control his power. Otherwise Jack would be destroyed by it.
Needless to say, Crow was not having it. He would rather Jack get destroyed by his own power than fund a trip to South America. It took Yusei half a day to convince the ginger to let them go. Crow only relented when Yusei told him that Jack would give up his coffee habits until the savings account is replenished. Jack was not happy about this, but he agreed.
His shoulder was still in the cast, but soon he will be able to take it off. For now he had to not strain it any further. It had Crow thinking about his future and could become of it since his injury. Turbo dueling is a high-risk sport, that could lead to career ending injuries. He really only joined the tournament to hang out with his brothers more, but he has come to love dueling professionally. If the day came that he could no longer duel, he would want to still be involved with the sport somehow. Then by complete chance he was got the coaching gig which made him realize that he can still be involved with dueling, even if he is not the one on the field.
He was currently, packing his stuff for is day at the community center. He really wanted to give it all at this new mentoring job. Not long ago he was agonizing over whether he was doing a good job of keeping Pearson legacy alive and now he has realized it. This was his chance to try and do that. To help kids learn good life skills that will them in the future. Even if he is only helping nurture their skills in dueling right now, it is a first step.
"Maybe, I can show them proper duel disk maintenance..." Crow said aloud. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't hear Akiza enter the building.
"Crow?"
"Ah!" Crow nearly jump out of his skin. "You are supposed to knock first."
"I did." Akiza said as she gave him an annoyed look. Akiza had come here to hang out with Crow. Also she was worried about the girls they had left behind at the stadium. From what she could tell it seemed like Crow know who they were. "Crow, do you know the kids that I rescued?"
"They are the girls that I coach at the community center." Crow looks at her.
Truth is both of them were worried for the girls well-being in the aftermath of the invasion. Going back to the stadium to check on them couldn't happen due to other things they had going on. All they wanted to do was confirm their safety.
"I am just about to go to the community center. Want to come?" Crow asks finishing up his packing. He could get a feel of what she was worried about. His assumption was correct when her face lit up and she agreed to come with him. She offered to drive him on Bloody Kiss.
At the community center, the tournament being hosted there kept going on as planned. Crow signed in as Akiza waited for him in the hall.
"Crow! Glad to see you in one piece! All those accidents were horrible." Ryoko greets him.
The Meklords had altered everyone's memories having the robot invasion changed to accident in the minds of the citizens.
"The girls are also worried about you. Go show them your face before they duel." Ryoko returns to her paperwork.
Crow let out a breath. Hearing that Allie, Amanda, and Guu are all her eased his nerves. He meet up with Akiza and headed straight to the miscellaneous room to see them.
""Crow!"" The trio was ecstatic to see him.
"We got so worried about you when the accidents started happening." Amanda said.
"It will take a lot to bring down Crow Hogan!" He boosted.
The girls next match was coming up soon. In the meantime there was a bit of idle chatter. Guu talking about the WRPG tournament with Crow. Allie and Amanda taking an interest in Akiza; recognizing her from both her Fortune Cup and her WRPG appearance. It was time for the girls to take the stage.
"Team Cosmica and team LVL Up! please come to the stage!" A voice roared over the intercom.
Everyone makes their way to the duel arena. Crow and Akiza find a good place to watch.
"Alright! It is team Cosmica vs. team LVL Up! Let the duel begin!" Muckraker bellows into the microphone.
Allie was the first to go. She fared well against her opponent, managing a win against him. Before losing to the next competitor, Allie got them down to half their life points.
The baton was then passed to Guu, who ended her turn on two facedown cards and a set monster. She did not speak much if at all. It was customary to at least say what phase you are on. Guu won her match even with how close it came. She had very little life points left and was quickly defeated by the final team member.
Amanda won her battle, making team Cosmica move on to the next round.
The trio celebrated all the way back to the miscellaneous room.
"Team that was amazing!" Allie said unhooking herself from her two friends.
"They were tough." Amanda said.
Guu nodded at both of their assessments.
"Guu you even talked a little bit this time!" Allie said.
"Practice... on my own..." Guu said her voice soft and barely audible.
Crow cleared his throat to get their attention. "I know you are happy about your victory. But I need you to reflect on your duel."
The girls were confused.
"What did you notice about your opponent? Any strategies they had? What caught your attention?" Crow says.
The girls looked at one another hoping someone had the answer. Unfortunately, none of them did.
Akiza silently raised her hand with a playful look on her face. "I noticed something during the duel. Team LVL Up had cards of the other members in each of their decks. This means they likely built their strategy on one of the LVL Up monsters activating on another members turn. So they all had cards in each other decks to take advantage of that."
"Thank you Akiza." Crow says.
"But we can't do something like that. We all have different decks." Allie tilted her head trying to figure out what Crow means.
"That is not true. You can do something similar that will work to your advantage." Crow said.
"Well what is it we can do?" Allie asks growing frustrated.
"Figure it out. Reflect on the duel and come up with something." Crow says. "A good rule of thumb is to try and learn something from your opponent. Whether you win or lose."
Guu quietly held her hand up. "Lineup. They had a specific lineup every duel."
"Interesting note Guu." Crow hums.
"How does lineup affect us?" Allie asks.
"It affects you three greatly. It's something I think you all should think about more." Crow said.
"Having a certain person go first would be great if we want to take advantage of certain card effects..." Amanda mumbles. "Wait... Guu your deck is filled with monsters that have graveyard effects!"
"We have... different decks..."
"But the effects still work as long as the card is in the graveyard." Amanda says. "Like the one that halves life point damage. Me an Allie don't need to run cards from your deck for that to work."
Slowly but surely the three began to realize that they had many new strategies at their disposal.
"We need to regroup!" Allie shouted. Her friends agreed.
"We have to leave if we want to make our new strategy." Amanda says. "Thank you, Crow."
"No problem." Crow smiled.
"Bye Crow!" Allie said.
Guu waved as she followed her friends.
Crow and Akiza smiled as the trio left.
"When I saw the match and Guu's card effects. If left me wondering why she didn't go first." Crow told Akiza. "I had to wonder how much they were paying attention to their own coordination."
"We should follow they kids example and learn each other's decks." Akiza suggested. "It could help us in the future."
Crow agreed. This was going to be something they were going to bring up to their friend the next time they practiced.
"I think you did a great job at steering them toward figuring out what they needed to do." Akiza said.
"You think so? To be honest I was going to point it out to them. But then I realized that would not help them." Crow said sheepishly. He took a seat next to Akiza. "My experience is lacking still."
Having an inexperienced teacher can be good sometimes. It just means that you can learn from your students too. 'We are all inexperienced and you should use that inexperience to help each other grow.' Is that not what you said." Akiza smirked, a meaningful look on her face. Crow smiled, grateful that she took his words to heart.
The duo looked over each other's decks, learning the cards. Eventually, Akiza had to leave due to having plans with her parents. Crow stayed since he wanted to stay until the tournament was over. He could get home easily with no problem. Crow met some of the other kids and introduced himself.
Once it was time to leave, he returned to Poppo Time. Tomorrow is the last day of the tournament he had a feeling it will be hectic. It was best to rest up.