Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Reverse of Arcadia ❯ Chapter 2: Blast From the Past -- Old Memories, A Team's Bond Part 2 ( Chapter 3 )

Reverse of Arcadia

Game novelization by Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)

Chapter 2: Blast from the Past - Old Memories, A Team's Bond

Part 2

Back at the hideout, we gather around the table in one of the rooms that my boyfriend turned into a makeshift war room. A map of Satellite lay on the rotting wood surface. All but one of the blocked out areas had exes on them.

“Well done everyone!” Kiryu says, excitedly, “We conquered that area too!”

“Yeah! I still can't believe their leader was a kid, though,” piped Crow.

“A leader's a leader!” my boyfriend shoots, “He may have been a pipsqueak, but he was still tough. What really matters here is that you beat him.” He smiles proudly at me when he says that and I try to keep my blushing down to a bare minimum.

“I heard someone say that they captured you, Kiryu,” Jack says, worry coloring his voice, “You okay?”

“That little bastard just came out of nowhere and jumped me from behind,” my silver haired koi snarls, still suffering from the sting of his hurt pride. “That was a low down dirty trick! Though I can't say I blame them too much. I'd be forced to use such dirty tactics if I was that weak at dueling.”

“Let me guess,” Yusei says, joining in on the debriefing, “You went all out on him.”

“Of course,” Kiryu replies, smirking and making the bi-color haired boy frown, “I beat him to a pulp in a duel. Fair and square!”

“Far and square, huh?” Crow asks mischievously. `Just what is he up to now?' I begin to wonder.

“Crow,” I start in warning. He always did have a habit of letting his mouth run off like that.

“What did you say?!”

“Hey take it easy!” the redhead pleads, holding up his hands in surrender, “I'm just saying that I kinda feel sorry for the guy. I know what it's like to get beaten to a pulp in a duel by you. It's something I'd never wanna feel again, I'll tell you that.”

“It's his fault for jumping me like that!” Kiryu retorts.

“Can we focus on what's really important here?” Jack exclaims, diffusing a rather potentially nasty situation between two of my best friends. “Like the fact that we've almost conquered all of Satellite? This is no time for someone to get cocky here. We're not done yet.”

“Ok, we've got it Jack,” the spiky redhead says, “So who do we go after next?”

“Don't be so hasty, Crow,” Yusei warns, “We still have to make sure we know everything we can about our opponents.”

“Yu's right,” my boyfriend agreed, “I'll go scope out the next area tomorrow.”

“Good,” our spiky blond teammate says, “I say that's it for the day. Let's get some rest. I know some of us are probably exhausted.” He gives me a concerned look. Of all the guys here, he was the one who always worried about me the most. I have to admit it was rather sweet and I could see that he had feelings for me as well. However, I was Kiryu's girl through and through. I would always see Jack as an older brother and nothing else.

“I'm fine, Jack!” I say in protest.

“Still you should take it easy for our next battle,” he says.

“I'll let you guys know once I've decided on our next target. I hope you'll be as stoked as I am,” Kiryu says gleefully.

********************************************

The next day…

I was heading back to Crow's after doing a bit of shopping for some better cards and D-Wheel parts when I caught sight of a couple guys racing past me on their motorbikes. On one of the bikes I see a familiar mop of brown hair. Those jerks had Itsuki!

“Hey Io-chan!” Crow calls obviously on his way back to the house from an errand of his own. “You feeling ok? What's going on?”

I was about to tell my redheaded housemate what I saw when Itsuki's friend, Annie come running out of the house, tears streaming from the girl's eyes. “Crow!” she wails and latching onto him. “They took Itsuki!”

“Hey slow down, Annie! Who took what?!”

“I don't know who they were,” the girl cried, “But they took Itsuki and got away on a D-Wheel!”

“Damn it! Do you know which way they went?”

“They headed towards the slums. I saw two D-Wheels just now,” I say, “One of them had Itsuki with them.”

“Alright, good job Io-chan! Let's go get Itsuki back! Annie, get in the house and stay there!”

“You'd better bring him back!” the child says running into our house.

We quickly suit up and grab our D-Wheels. Within minutes we were speeding down the roads and catching up to those slime balls. Sure enough they were headed to the slums and we followed them all the way there to an abandoned arcade.

“Hey you Team Dirty Works punks!” Crow yells, jumping off his beloved Blackbird, “Hand Itsuki over! Now!”

“Damn it!” one of the mohawked goons spat, “How'd they catch up to us so quick?! I'm calling you Team Satisfaction morons out! It's time to duel!”

The other rider I had seen gets off his D-Wheel and joins him, deck and duel disk at the ready. “You're going down, scum!” I shout.

“Heh! Don't be so cocky girlie,” the second punk sneers. “Don't mess with us!”

“Bring it on!” retorted Crow.

Naturally we were able to wipe the floor with them, but my opponent really annoyed the heck out of me. If I ever see another turtle card again, I think I'd go nuts! Seriously the guy's deck was nothing but turtles! Sure they were cute sometimes and had good defense, but come on! Just how many turtles can one guy have?

“Not bad, girlie!” Turtle guy says, impressed I was able to get past his wall of turtles.

“You're not gonna see the last of us!” Crow's opponent yells, and runs off into the arcade. Typical clichéd thug.

“You morons better not forget who kick your sorry asses!” Crow shoots back.

“W-Wait up!” Turtle guy cries, running after his teammate.

“Crow! Iolanthe-nee!” Itsuki shouts, running over to us, “You came to get me! Thanks!”

“You okay?” Crow asks, immediately fussing over the boy. I smile as I watch him. Crow was so good with kids, much better than I ever could be. If he'd ever hooked up and settled down with someone, there be no doubt that he'd make a wonderful father.

“Hey! I'm fine Crow!” the boy yells, squirming away from my teammate, or trying to at least. “I wasn't scared at all! I knew you two would come and get me!”

“Thank goodness you're alright,” Crow says once he was satisfied Itsuki wasn't hurt. “Let's get back home.”

Itsuki insisted on riding with me and put up quite the fuss until Crow relented and let the kid have his way. A few minutes later, we were all back at Crow's. “Itsuki you're back!” Annie cries with joy as we enter the house. “I knew you'd get him back!”

Itsuki rushes over to one of the bookcases and grabs something hidden between the books and boxes filling it. “This is for saving me!” he says handing me a pink trap card.

“That's really sweet of you Itsuki,” I say smiling. It was a pretty old card so he must have saved a lot to get it.

“Wanna go play outside, Itsuki?” asks Annie.

“Sure! Tag you're it!” he says poking the girl before dashing outside.

“Hey! No fair!” Annie shouts then dashes after him. I laugh at their antics, envying their carefree outlook on life.

“Hey! Don't you let yourself get caught like that again!” Crow yells out the window.

“Don't worry!” the younger boy shouts back, “Besides you and Iolanthe-nee will come save me again if I do!”

Crow sighs in exasperation. “By the way Io-chan, thanks for the help. If you hadn't seen those guys we'd never have found Itsuki. The squirt likes to talk big, but I can tell he was freaking out. I just want you to know I'm glad you're around to help out.”

“Crow…” I say, blushing. What the heck's wrong with me?! I can't be getting feelings for my best friend! Besides, I'm with Kiryu! Maybe it was because I've been living with the redhead for so long. Yeah, that had to be it. There's no way I'd ever betray Kiryu like that; not when I owe him so much.

“Hey!” Annie says, dashing into the house and snapping me out of my thoughts. “I forgot to tell you! Kiryu-nii was here earlier. I told him you had to go out so he told me to tell you guys to meet him at the hideout when you got back.”

“Jeez,” my redheaded friend moans, “Why is it we can never relax? Might as well go see what the boss wants right?”

I follow Crow over to the hideout and to the war room. Kiryu shoots Crow a glare. “You two are late. Where were you guys?”

“Hey! Cut us some slack, Kiryu!” the redhead shouts, “Team Dirty Works went and kidnapped Itsuki! Io-chan and I had to go after `em and get the kid back!”

“What?!” my boyfriend gasps in shock, “No wonder Annie looked upset! Is he ok?”

“Yeah. We were able to find and catch `em thanks to Io-chan. She's the one who saw them getting away on their D-Wheels. The kid was a bit shaken up, but he's outside playing with Annie and the other kids now.”

“That's good. I know how important those kids are to you, Crow.”

My housemate took it upon himself to become the sole parent and caretaker of all the neighborhood kids who had lost their parents since the cataclysm that created this hellish place. I was impressed at how well he was doing raising them and how he hardly ever complained about not having any time to himself. Crow just adored those kids and they him.

“Arrgh!” Kiryu growls, drawing me out of my reverie, “I can't believe Team Dirty Works would pull a stunt like this! I'm not gonna let them get away with this!”

“No complaints here!” Crow agreed, “This time they went too far! No one messes with my kids!”

“This is perfect timing,” our leader adds, “I was considering going against them next. Now this cinches it. Team Satisfaction! We're moving out to crush those punks for good! I want all of you to give it your all on this one. I want those creeps to pay!”

“We'd better get ready, ASAP,” Crow says and dashes off to get his deck and disk.

“Io,” Kiryu says, pulling me aside, “You know how I feel about you going up against punks like these, so please be careful, there's no telling what kinds of sneaky tricks they're capable of.”

“You're not going to tell me to watch the kids?” I ask, stunned.

“Nope,” he says smiling, “You've proved you can handle yourself now. Besides, I can't be dueling at my best if I know you're back here worrying about me.”

“Kiryu…”

“Go get ready and meet me back here. I'm going to get Jack and Yusei.” He then left the room.

I sigh and check my deck, making sure it was in order and battle ready. Once I was sure I was prepared enough, I leave the hideout and wait for my boyfriend to return.

*********************************************

“Is this the place?” Kiryu asks me as we stop by the abandoned arcade in the slums.

“Yeah,” I say. “Those goons ran in there after Crow and I beat the snot out of them.”

“Ok, listen up Team Satisfaction,” our leader announces, “This looks like it could be Team Dirty Works' hideout. Those cowards are hiding somewhere in there! I don't want any of you to hold back on those scum, is that clear?”

“C'mon boss,” Crow protests, “Let's just hurry it up and bust their butts already!”

“If you find any of them hiding, drag them out kicking and screaming if you have to! I want them to learn what it means to mess with Team Satisfaction! I'm heading in first. Io you wait here with Crow until Jack and Yusei get here, it's up to you two to fill them in on what's going down.”

“Hey! Wait up I'm going with you!” Crow shouts, hell bent on getting revenge for what they did to Itsuki, and runs in the arcade after Kiryu.

“Crow!” I say, in a vain attempt to stop him. He really needed to listen to orders more often.

“Iolanthe!” I hear Jack call as Crow disappears into the arcade. “Where's Kiryu and Crow?”

“There inside,” I say, “You just missed them.”

“They're probably still upset about earlier,” Yusei replies.

“Well, we better get in there before those two hog all the glory,” our blond teammate says.”

“They really should learn to calm down,” Yusei complains, “otherwise it'll be easy for them to fall into an enemy trap if they're hotheaded. Just like when that guy got the drop on Kiryu last time.”

“Yusei's right,” agreed Jack. “We should check things out and make sure they're not in too much trouble.”

We cautiously make our way inside the building. All kinds of dusty and broken down arcade games are neatly lined up in the first room. It was as if they were silently waiting for someone to come and play with them, as if nothing had happened.

“I'm getting the feeling we're being watched,” Yusei says as his indigo eyes dart about the place, “They're probably hiding so be careful, Iolanthe.”

I nod and start stalking around the room. Sure enough I spot one of those scum hiding in an dirty old photo booth in one of the back corners. Surprise, surprise, it's one of the two jerks who kidnapped Itsuki! Well at least it wasn't Turtle Guy, for which I'll be eternally grateful.

I had to hand it to this one. He had a pretty decent deck, that Spell Absorption card of his was a handful to get rid of. Still I managed to beat him in a relatively short amount of time. All thanks to my friends' teachings and these mysterious dueling instincts of mine. They hardly ever failed me.

“Tch! There's more than one way to get rid of punks like you, babe,” the mohawked man jeers, “and not all of `em have to do with dueling!”

“What are you talking about?!” I demand.

“Heh, heh, it won't be long before one of you morons fall into our little trap.”

Oh no! That didn't sound too good. I rush into the next room in search of the others, not caring for my own safety. As I enter the bowling alley part of the arcade, I spot something about to fall from the ceiling and Yusei was standing directly underneath!

“Yuseiiiii!!!!” I scream and run over to him, pushing him out of harm's way and tackling him to the ground just as an enormous pile of rocks and cement comes toppling down.

“What was that?!” he asks, shaking a bit from the near brush with death, “Iolanthe… if you hadn't spotted that when you did…”

“Don't!” I say, not wanting to hear what he'd been thinking.

The spiky haired boy nods in understanding. “Thank you,” he says. He blushes when he realizes I'm still on top of him. I blush myself then quickly get up.

“We've gotta watch out Yusei,” I start, “They've got this whole place booby trapped!”

“What?! I should have known they'd be expecting us. We've got to warn the others! You keep watch here while I go warn them!” Yusei then dashed from the bowling alley.

“Hey! One of our traps went off!” I hear. Turning around, I see it's Turtle Guy coming to check out the damage. I groan. “What?! You punks are still alive?! That trap was fool proof! Not to mention it took FOREVER to set up! Well guess I'll just have to get rid of you with a duel!”

“Whatever floats your boat!” I snap back. This guy must be a real glutton for punishment. Well it didn't matter since I beat him once again. I was getting really sick of turtles.

“Grr!! Beat it girlie!” he snarls, “I can't believe our plan backfired like this!” Seeing that Turtle guy wasn't going to cause any more trouble for my teammates, I leave. Just as I was about to go about my search for the others, another of the mohawked punks approached me.

“You're with Team Sissyfaction ain'tcha. Well I heard what ya did to some of my boys. That weren't nice missy. Didn't your mama teach you it's rude to burst into someone's hideout without askin'? Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you some manners!”

“You're one to talk,” I yell, “it's obvious your mommy never told you not to pick on little kids!”

“That's it bitch! You're going down!”

“You wish!”

Finally someone worth dueling! Those dragons of his had me breaking out in a sweat, not because I was scared of them - I just happen to adore dragons of all kinds, but because he knew how to make them work for him so well. It was a grueling duel, but I found myself enjoying it. It was the first real duel I've had in quite the while.

“Damn it!” the enemy leader says as his life points finally reached zero. “And I worked so hard on this deck!” He lets out a frustrated yell then runs off.

“Looks like you've taken down another leader, Iolanthe,” Yusei says coming up to me, smiling in admiration. He must have been watching our duel. “So that must mean this area's ours too.”

“Where are…” I begin to ask, still worried for my boyfriend and Crow's safety.

“They're fine,” the black and gold haired boy reassures me, “Kiryu and Crow managed to diffuse most of the traps.” I let out a sigh of relief. “I still owe you for back there though. I can't thank you enough.”

“I just did what any of you guys would have done. You're my family.”

“Family huh? I guess we are like a family, we all watch out for each other. We'd better head back to the others.”

***************************************

“Alright!” Kiryu crows as we gather around the map table back at the hideout, “Another victory for Team Satisfaction! But don't think we've got it easy now. There's still one area left.”

“Yeah, but not for long!” pipes Crow.

“It's been a long battle,” Jack adds, “Do you think we can pull this off… take over all of Satellite?”

“Oh come on, Jack!” Crow says, “You know we've got this in the bag!”

“Of course we do,” my boyfriend and team leader starts, “but I want everyone to start tweaking their decks until they're perfect! We can't afford to take any risky chances here! Not when we've come so far! That's it for today so go rest up. I'll let you all know when I've decided on the day we attack!”