The NEW New Domino City

"Sorry babe, but its a little too much attention on me. You really think a lotta people would listen to a guy like me? Besides, your a natural at this sorta thing. Bark an order here or there and you can use the rest of the day doing whatever you want while you tell other people to do things for you. Every kid's dream!"

Darren and Shuho were in the alleyway, said with a light grin. "You're getting the hang of it, but you're nowhere near done."

Shuho grinned lightly before looking down to his deck. His eyes closed in remembering what it was he had to do.

~Flashback~

As Shuho sat with closed eyes, he saw the world around him change. There was a single room, seemingly dark with green buildings all around. A black and white light filled the room as a large dragon appeared. "So, this is your method of speaking with me..." the dragon said... it actually spoke to Shuho. Shuho was intimidated, speaking to this giant dragon would intimidate anyone. "I... I need your power, so hurry up and give it to me!" Shuho said, nervous but remembering why he was there. "You want power..." the dragon spoke to him. "Very well... if you can prove yourself worthy of power... I shall grant it..." A dueling field appeared in front of the dragon and a duel disk appeared on Shuho's arm. "Battle me with all your strength and without any of mine..." Shuho nodded and said, "If this is what it takes, I won't lose! Let's duel!"

~End of Flashback~

"I got a new deck thanks to the battle," Shuho said lightly. "Still... I need some time to get a handle on it." Darren nodded lightly and said, "Yeah, but time's up. Your friends are probably wondering about ya by now." Shuho nodded as he walked to his Duel Runner, legs wobbling from the training.

"UGH! You're just doing this to torture me, aren't you?" Seiki hissed, slamming her head on the desk. "Kid's dream or not, I don't give two shits about this and you know it! Fine! I'll do the stupid announcement."

"H-Hah...." Zeiya managed to get up and stagger over to Seth. "Can't I go to sleeeeeeep? We didn't have a single breaaaaaaaaak!"

"Well, you're just an annoying monkey who doesn't know when to stop dancing around like a little girl." Yuki snapped as she glared at him. "Do you know how annoying it was that I couildn't land a single fucking hit iwht you running around?!"

All around Neo Domino, giant screens popped up showing Seiki. All the citizens looked up: some terrified and others interested.

"Attention people of Neo Domino." she started to speak. "As some of you know, the World Racing Grand Prix, or WRGP, was first started up by ex-Director Goodwin. As new Director, I wish to continue this tournament as scheduled. All the information needed to sign up for the WRGP as well as the dates are on its website. All duels in this tournament will be Turbo duels. It's best that you keep this in mind while preparing your deck. That is all." with that said, the screens switched off and disappear. The silence crowd of people began to mutter and chatter at the news.

"You've had enough breaks. Consider the ride there one too." Seth walked to the elevator. "We have little time." He then stopped, hearing the voice of Seiki. "Ah, the 'Director' speaks." He looked across to another large screen set up on an opposite building. He heared every word, starring blankly at it.

"And you're just a meathead with no idea what common sense is." Harley shook his head at her "You'd be dead in the wild within hours. I danced around you and tired you out. You beat yourself up, so why should I?" he looked up to her "You guys really saved the world like that?" He stopped, looking up to the screen. "Tournament? Trap, gotta be." He stood up, rolling his neck and stretching it out, then throwing out a peace sign, or in this case, a V for Victory "Sounds like fun to me!"

Takuro sighed lightly and said, "There... not so hard now was it? Don't worry about watching the tournament or anything. We've got guys for that. We'll send those deadbeats Kazu and... uh, Grudge was it? Sludge? Oh, I don't care. Just have them deal with the registry and all that boring stuff..."

Shuho and Darren looked at the screen of the Duel Dunner as they rode back to the others. Shuho gave a small grin and said, "Looks like we got a shot. This tournament's the best way to improve, right?" Darren gave a cautious look. It was true that Director Goodwin originally started planning the WRGP soon after the Fortune Cup ended, but what reason would the new Director have for continuing it. Something wasn't right. It didn't take long before Shuho and Darren had Harley and Yuki in view. "Hey guys, how's... whoa," Shuho said as he looked at the landscape of the area. "What the heck happened here? Some kinda war?"

"That doesn't mean I'm not gonna be bored to death." Seiki groan as she sunk back into the chair and putting her head on the desk. "There's nothing to do!"

"This damn monkey keeps dodging my throws...If you value your life, don't say a word about it or I'll rip off your limbs." Yuki hissed, glaring at Shuho and Darren as they approached.

"So mean~~~~" Zeiya whined as she sat down on the elevator. She listen to the announcement and blinked. "Ne...Should we enter, too?"

"Well, I already told you what you COULD do," Takuro said, his tone was surprisingly without its usual mocking gesture. "You could enter the tournament and destroy anyone in your way. Either that or sit here counting ceiling tiles. Its really up to you."

Shuho gave a small whistle as he didn't want to say anything as Yuki already seemed dangerously irritated. He stopped the Runner and said, "Anyway... you guys heard what Seiki said, right? The city's hosting a team tournament. Might be the best way to get close to Takuro, or at least improve ourselves."

Seiki raised her head, glaring at the green snake. "And I already told you that I'm not riding a damn Runner!" she spat before leaning back in her chair. "Besides, I need at least another team member. I'm not gonna suffer with it alone....." she fell silent and glanced at Takuro, a mischevious glint in her eyes despite her usual lazy expression.

"Well, I don't give two shits about the tournament!" Yuki said before lying on her back. "If you guys are gonna get yourselves kileld, by all means, go ahead!"

"Of course" Seth said as the elevator opened, walking to his runner. "They'll be expecting us, of course, but really what better surprise is there than no surprise at all?" He sat down on the runner, placing the helmet over his head. "Plus we have the team all set."

"Are you always so obnoxious?" Harley asked, sincerity in his voice. He wasn't being sarcastic, in fact just the opposite. He looked around the destroyed area "Callin' it a war would mean it was an equal fight. It was more like a game of dodgeball. I won, obviously." He laughed, scratching his head with a smile. "Helped me out though. I felt something. Dunno what it was, but I felt it!"

"Hey, what the hell are you... Wait, what?!" Takuro said, knowing where things were going to go from there. "Damn... well, I can't really say no. I am your subordinate... Didn't think you'd use that against me anytime soon."

Shuho crossed his arms lightly and said, "I'm gonna do it. Whatever comes outta this is something we can't run away from. Anyway, what's the point in this training if we don't use it?" Darren gave a small sigh and said, "Do you even know anything about the registry process? And if Harley's gonna join, he needs a Duel Runner. With the Durbin group running that, its not like they'll just give us one."

"I thought it was the other way around." Seiki said, turning the chair around so that the back wa facing Takuro. "I don't care about this Director crap or authority things...I just do what I want to cure me of my boredom." She paused. "Besides, since it's impossible for us to duel at the same time, there's no downside to it for you, is there?"

The only reply was Zeiya sticking her tongue out behind his back as she quickly jumped on the Runner.

"Not to mention they took Zeiya's runner as well...and I already said that yours might be bugged, Shuho." Yuki said, nopt bothering to look up at them. "You guys are in a bind."

"True, true..." Takuro said with a small grin. "Besides, I've been pretty bored myself. So, whaddya say we mix things up and destroy a few Spirit connections?"

Shuho crossed his arms in thought for a moment, then pointed to Zeiya and said, "Why don't we just take it? You use to do it all the time anyways, and this is for a good cause. We could get Zeiya's wheels back and find one for Harley!"

"One little problem though," Darren said as he looked at Shuho's Runner. "If there's anything in Shuho's Duel Runner it'll be in the others by now. Not only that, but Seiki's had all this time to improve the Duel Runner systems and we've been here not dueling anyone but each other. We'd need a mechanic to look over the Runners."

"I know one." the voice spoke as the duel runner of seth drakemore pulled into view, Zeiya behind him. "The best one you could possibly have, actually. He invented the prototype Duel Runner." He then stopped, looking to Darren "Problem being that he's dead......again."

"Stealing? I don't know, that's kinda....not right......" Harley placed his arms behind his head, thinking it over with tightened lips. "But ya know, neither is what they're doing. It's more like a Robin Hood kinda thing." He nodded "Sounds good to me."

"I already signed us up for it." Seiki said nonchalantly. "All we have to do is wait for the day to come."

"Oi, don't tell me we have to revive that asshole AGAIN!" Yuki sat up and pointed at Seth with a pissed off expression. "He's like a fucking zombie: no matter how many times you kill him, he's gonna come back!"

Zeiya jumped off the Runner and ran up to Harley and Shuho with a giant grin. "If we're gonna steal a runner, I can do it no problem!" she cheerfully said, causing Yuki to face palm.

"Well damn... you've gotten better at planning shit through than me," Takuro said while giving Seiki a surprised look. "Well, I should probably tell you about the prelims since you probably won't look yourself..."

Darren crossed his arms lightly and said, "We don't have too... The guy should be around somewhere, but there's no way to know if he remembers anything from being a Dark Signer... When Shuho defeated Shane, he destroyed the Earthbound with his Light and Darkness Dragon. That cut the Spirit bond they had and purified Shane, so he should have come back after all the Earthbounds were defeated. We'd have to find him, though..."

"Stealing's not really my thing, but you're the definite expert," Shuho said to Zeiya with a grin. "We'll leave the planning to you and we'll take the heavy lifting."

"Meanwhile, we'll find Shane," Darren said lightly, not liking the plan but not having much choice.

"I learn from the best." Seiki said with complete sarcasm, emphasizing on the 'best'.

"Leave it to me!" Zeiya said happily with a grin.

"Even if we do get him, that doesn't mean we can get a Runner without that Derpin guy figuring out about all this." Yuki bluntly said.

"If you guys are in such a bind...why not ask me?" someone said from behind Shuho and Harley. Zeiya looked over their shoulders to see a young girl with short blue hair Her legs were crossed and she supported her head with her right hand as she sat on top of a pile of debris caused by Yuki and Harley's 'training'. The girl smirked as her eyes trailed from all of the people before laning on Shuho.

"...King Slayer."

Shuho jumped backwards, looking at the girl who was all too familiar. "Ah... its you! What're you doing coming all the way back here?" Darren gave a small chuckle and said, "What's wrong, Shuho? Ex girlfriend troubles?" Shuho turned with his arms crossed and said, "She's a Dark Signer that posed as Seiki and tried to kill me. You really wanna help now?" Darren gave a light sigh and said, "Don't mind him. But why do you want to help us?"

The girl grinned. "Oh? You're still hurt about that? Well, looks like I took you for grant." she said before her gaze landed on Darren. "I'm surprised you don't recognize me. After all, I'm the one that helped you out of that little cell back at Arcadia, wasn't I?" She started to chuckle. "Ah well...I'm not helping you guys. I'm just making it so that you kill each otehr out there. What more fun is there than that?"

Darren crossed his arms again and lightly said, "I didn't realize you knew the language at the time, Mana... Anyway, whatever your reason, your help is still gonna do a lot for us. Besides, Takuro used you as a decoy to battle Shuho, hoping you couldn't win. He's your enemy as much as ours." Shuho sighed lightly and said, "I still don't trust you... but there's not a lot of choice. Takuro and Sector Security are more a problem right now than you."

Harley raised an eyebrow at the mention of this girl being a Dark signer. He leaned in, trying to put two and two together. He shrugged it off, looking to Zeiya. "I can't thank you enough for doing this for me. Seriously, you're awesome for this!" yet another fanboy moment for Harley. The chance to have his own Duel Runner seemed to clog his thinking.

"How can you assure he's still in Japan?" Seth spoke to Darren without looking to him, finding his reflection in a broken window the better conversation partner. "He's more at home in the states. I haven't felt the pressence of his chain either."

"When Shuho battled Shane, he might have harmed his ability to use the chain," Darren said as if he was being wise at the moment. "When someone with a Millennium Item or anything close to it loses a duel, their ability to use the item goes down. Not only that, but Kariya told me that items like that can disrupt Takuro's magic and Spirit abilities. That means he might be in hiding because Security is looking for them. I don't think he'd leave if that's the case."

"Shirei." 'Mana' corrected Darren with her name. She grinned before laughing up a storm. "I don't care if I was used. I do the things I want to have fun...and that includes 'helping' you pathetic bunch!"

"No problem! I still gotta get my runner back, too!" Zeiya happily said, grinning at Harley.

Yuki leto ut a heavy sigh before turning to Darren and Seth. "Not like it'll matter much...seems they got a paln already...."

"Arcane items are connected to the will of the user. A defeat won't shatter that. Still, theory makes sense." Seth responded, thinking it over. Shane had been buried with the chain, it had fused with him. It was like another piece of his body now, a section of his soul. "Well knowing him, he's up to one of two things. He's either working on constructing a new Duel Runner to make up for his lost one.......or he's in a fight............Or both."

Harley grinned back to Zeiya, flashing a thumbs up "We'll get 'em back, no probs! You get us in, I'll get us out!" A devilish grin came to Harley's face as he thought about beating up some Security, shaking it off. "So, glad to see Seth didn't kill you. He doesn't get what a break is. You look better though!"

Darren turned to Shirei and said, "If you can show us where you remember being right after what happened with your duel against Shuho, it might lead us to Shane. After that, you can help the kids rob Sector Security." He then turned to Seth and lightly said, "Let's hope you're wrong for once. Yuki, we're gonna need as much muscle as we can get, and a lot of eyes to find the guy."

Shuho turned to Harley and lightly said, "I've never really seen people this happy to be stealing... but, if something there'll take off whatever's up with my Runner, I'm in too. Even if there isn't, can't leave you guys alone on something like this. Zeiya's already been marked once."

"I'm not" Seth laughed lightly, shaking his head "I'm sure he's giving Sector hell as we speak, but we won't know until we find him. I say we leave now, better than standing around hoping for him to fall from the sky."

"Yeah......" Harley thought about it. the chance of getting captured and marked with the criminal marker was high, especially now. "Doesn't matter. If it's to help you guys I'll go for it." He placed his arms behind his head, his duel disk rattling on the holster on his hip "Plus they won't catch me anyway. I'm too fast!" He gave a big toothy smile.

"Soooooorry! Don't remember!" Shirei simply said with a wave of her hand in front of her. "Although...I did happen to see that guy going at it with a few Security punks. Kahahahahha." She pointed in a direction. "Dunno if they're still there or not, but it was somewhere over there."

"Wahhhh! I don't wanna get marked agian!" Zeiya whined, putting both of her hands over the marker under her left eye. "If we get caught, it's not gonna be MY fault! I'm an expert at this!"