Book One: Someone New (Reginald Kastle)

Chapter Seven: Union

At The Pack's hangout spot, some of the guys are playing the arcade games that still work when I walk in, but others are table-dueling, with Weasel, the guy in the 'RK' shirt, among the spectators. I was hoping Shark was here.
- Haha! Denied!
- Nice move!
- Heheh.
- Gotcha.
"Hey, Shark." Weasel says. Shark is sitting alone on the bottom step of the stairs. He looks up.
"Ya want next game?" Shark thinks about it for a second or two.
"...No thanks." Weasel doesn't think much of that response.
"Hmph!" Shark stands and walks out, and he pauses at the door as it slides open.
"I'm outta here. Rose?" He asks and I shake my head. He shrugs and leaves, unaware that Weasel followed him to the door. He grinds his teeth.

I'm walking on the top floor, when I hear Weasel.

"That new fish is getting on my last nerve!" Weasel is complaining to Scorch and Chills. The room is lit only by the whitish glow of a screen.
"He acts like he's so much better than me an' the rest a' the boys!" He's just a callous guy.
"Just deal with it, Weasel. 'Cause that new fish is worth a lot more to us than you're ever gonna be."
"Uhh?"
"We didn't let Shark start runnin' with the Pack because we like his winning personality." Scorch says. Then why did they let him in? "We let 'im start runnin' with us because we like his winning. And if he wins for us, we can take down whoever we want! That goes for that gal of his too." I'm flattered people have noticed my skills, but what does Scorch mean by 'wins for us."?

Another bright day in the city. The streams are sparkling, the monorails are gliding, and I'm walking to school. I haven't seen Shark in three days.
"Fine then! I don't need to duel you-- I know better people I wanna duel anyway!" I hear Yuma shout. The key glows and Astral appears.
"I would not bother." I hear Astral say as I approach.
"Hmm?"
"In your current state of mind, you could duel a tree and still lose."
"Mm?"
"Your strategies are always sloppy and ill-conceived; but right now, you do not even have those at your disposal. You just keep attacking, and attacking, without any thought." Wow. Yuma must have taken his loss with Shark really badly.
"You don't know what you're talkin' about!!" Astral replies with a shrewd glare; oh, doesn't he?
"Your recent defeat against Shark has rattled you." I say from behind.
"Huh?! Rose!"
"But, Yuma, while it is true he is a fabulous duelist, I strongly suspect that it is not the only reason he won." I say.
"Whaddaya mean by that?!" He exclaims.
"He seemed to have taken the time and analyzed your deck and figured out your strategies; how much do you know about his?" Astral asks. Yuma looks dumbfounded.
"Well, uh..." Yuma's at a loss. I blink.

"Uh, Yuma? I've gotta go. I'll talk to you some other time." I run off, heading towards the base. "Later!"

Back at the arcade, the neon 'A' is flickering dismally. I walk in and see Shark.

"Hey. Are you avoiding me?" I ask. He smirks.

"'Course I'm not avoidin' ya. I've just been busy." He says. I'm about to reply, but he shushes me.
"So, are we, just talkin' about doing this, or, ya know, are we talkin' about doin' this?" Shark pauses at the partially-open doorway; this is the same room where Weasel was complaining to Scorch and Chills earlier, and they're talking now.
"Ohh, we're talkin' about doin' this!" Their screen is showing a news report, and a female reporter is speaking.
"...The exhibition centerpiece is an extremely rare and powerful duel deck, which was donated to the museum by an anonymous benefactor." The deck is shown onscreen; the top card is a monster card, Chaos End Ruler -Ruler of the Beginning and the End. I have wanted that card for ages!

"A panel of leading experts has yet to confirm just who the deck originally belonged to."
"Heh! Well after tonight, that deck's gonna belong to us!" Chills says. What?!

"This seems really dangerous. What about museum security?" Shark and me, listening at the door, share stunned looks; they're actually talking about doing this!
"What if we get busted?! They'll catch us and my parents'll send me to boarding school, and--!" Oh gosh.
"Look, ya little worm! If you wanna run with the Pack, you need to start acting like a wolf!" Chills grabs the front of Weasel's shirt.
"I- I know, I'm just sayin', maybe we--!"
"We're gonna be fine; don't forget, Weasel, we've got these." Scorch holds up a card.
' A Number card...!' I mouth to Shark. The symbol for the Number 61 lights up on Scorch's thick shoulder. Chills lets Weasel go and pulls out his own Number card.
"These are our tickets in." Chills has the Number 19 symbol glowing on his forearm.
"As long as we got these bad boys, we can do whatever we want-- and no one can stop us!"
"All right, then. We'll meet by Pier Fourteen at midnight tonight."
"Well, but, what about--?"
"Come on-- whatsa matter, little Weasel? Ya chicken?!" Chills says.
"No, just...!" We're still standing outside the door when one panel of it-- the one we aren't standing behind-- gets smashed right out of the frame. Chills steps out of the room, looking quite terrifying; he's just caught us spying on them!
"Why, what are you doing out here? I hope you weren't listening in on our private conversation." Scorch joins us, with an arm around Weasel's neck. It's not a chokehold, but that could change anytime Scorch tightens his grip.
"'Cause if you were, we might have a problem." Shark looks grim for a moment, then smiles nonchalantly.
"Hm. Well, I was; and I want in." I stand forward.