WRGP: Start Up!

The day of the WRGP had arrived. The qualifiers were the beginning and everyone had looked online to see how the qualifiers would work. The idea of it gave mixed reactions to all teams involved in the tournament. It simply said, All registered teams will await an E-Mail that will designate a locations their team members will go to. One on one battles will determine which teams shall advance. The team with two victories in a single match will advance.

Shuho and Harley were practicing. Shuho's life points went to 0 with a final attack as Harley could be seen riding ahead of him. The Speed World system had been changed to Speed World 2 for the sake of the WRGP, but that wasn't the issue for Shuho. Without Light and Darkness Dragon, his dueling and riding abilities had both fallen tremendously. He slammed his fist on the Runner's screen in frustration as he called out, "Damnit! That's still the best I can do!"

Darren was looking at the two of them, as well as seeing Yuki and Zeiya together. He gave a small sigh as he lightly said, "I don't think they're ready... Zeiya's emotions are shot after yesterday and Shuho's abilities dropped more than we thought. The only one I'm not worried about is Harley, but he's never had a real Riding Duel before. The qualifier system bugged me from the start. What could they want from this?"

Zeiya's life points quickly turned 0 with a final attack from Yuki, causing her runner to smoke out and slow down as the older duelist rode ahead. She stopped in front of Darren and took off her helmet as she saw the blue haired girl coming.

"She hasn't said a word since those three came back." Yuki muttered to Darren as she got off the Runner. "Her dueling is completely different than how she normally duels." She glances over to Darren with a rather worried look. "Do you think these two will be ok?"

"No." Seth spoke out behind them, looking down to the duelists. Harley had opted to take another lap around the course, not as a prize but as additional practice. "What they've gone through is traumatizing. It takes a lot to get through it." He leaned in on the railing "We don't need them to be ok, though. We just need them to win."

Harley drove up next to shuho, hoping off of his runner and walking over. "Dude, you alright?"

"Winning's the problem," Darren said with a small sigh following his words. "To qualify, they have to face powerful opponents alone. If it were team battles, they could support each other, but that's not the case. Its the worst possibility as things are now. Zeiya can't focus and Shuho duel like he use to. Harley's the only one that could probably hold his own right now, but he's new to dueling in general, let alone Turbo Duels. Still... we have to hope they can at least get through this since Kai isn't here yet."

Shuho didn't move. He only stared at his deck, not sure what to say or think. He couldn't feel the heart of his deck like before. He couldn't think of the strategies that he used in the Fortune Cup, and he felt like the weakest link of them all. "I knew what could happen... I knew, but..." Shuho said as he turned his head, closing his eyes tightly. "How am I suppose to help anyone like this? Damnit!"

"I'm more worry about that kid than Shuho right now." Yuki said as she saw Zeiya pulling up her Runner next to the one Yuki rented. Without acknowledging their presence, she past by them and simply sat down on the seats nearby them. Her face was void of any expression - nothing but a blank stare into nothing.

"It's a bluff." Seth spoke without looking back "despite what those television shows would tell you, it's impossible to be void of all emotion. She just needs time, so let her have it."

"There's more to it then that," Darren said, remembering both Zach and himself had once had the same feeling. "She's dead inside... her heart isn't in the battle. Even if she has some emotion left, she can't put it into her deck right now. I'll try talking to her. Someone try to get Shuho out of his little slump too." With that said, he slowly began to walk towards Zeiya. "Hey, you okay over here?" he siad lightly, trying to show a smile.

"Well then...." Yuki slaps her hand on Seth's back as she grinned. "Why don't you go to the emo boy? I doubt I'd be useful."

Zeiya simply glanced her eyes as she saw Darren before turning her head away, saying nothing.

"Pass." Seth pushed off, turning and walking away. "I'm not their psychiatrist. What they need to do is win and that's it. Not that hard." With that, he disappeared into the shadows.

"Hey man." Harley crouched down, stretching out before standing back up and facing his friend. "You can help us by just trying. Don't think gettin' all down on yourself is going to do any good." He gave a cheeky grin "Plus you got this anyway, dude!"

Shuho closed his eyes lightly as he stood up from his Duel Runner. "I can't even feel the heart of this deck now..." he said lightly. "I can't get the cards I need, I can't figure out how to use what I have... I can't even ride my Duel Runner the same way! Don't you get what that means? Without me even knowing it, Light and Darkness Dragon held my hand through everything, and now its gone."

Darren placed a hand on Zeiya's shoulder lightly and said to her, "I've been down this road, ya know. Feeling empty inside, like there's nothing you can do. You haven't failed anything, Zeiya. You don't fail until you stop trying. Whatever's bothering ya is bad, I know, but there are things you need to do right now that only you can do. If you're really worried about Seiki, the best thing you can do right now is show her how wrong she is. Shuho said you could purify things with your Spirit, after all... You might be the only one who can purify that darkness that took over Seiki and made her what she is right now."

Yuki stuck her tongue out as Seth started to walk away before turning back to Shuho and Harley. "Damn, what a mess these guys got into..." She muttered, rubbing the back of her head.

"So just because one little card is gone means you suck? Ha!" Said a familiar voice as Shirei standed next to his Runner with a grin. "I didn't think the King Slayer was sooooooo dependent on a little monster card!"

Zeiya simply shook her head slowly as she continued to look at the ground. "I'm not worried about Seiki." She said almost in a whisper. She paused for a second before continuing. "We....we have to duel on the roads above the water, don't we?"

Shuho turned to Shirei with fire in his eyes, recognizing her voice immediately. "Who said I needed Light and Darkness when I beat you?" he said, as if forgetting his own depression at hearing her mocking tone. "I just... have a lot to deal with. It'd make things easier... mostly because I know other duelists are gonna have Spirits. They'll have a huge advantage over me..."

Darren blinked lightly as he looked over to her. "Roads over water?" he said lightly. "That's what's bothering you? Hmm.... well there aren't a lot of roads that are over the water right now, but if you do, you should just try to stay in the middle. That way, you won't even have to look at the wet stuff. Sound good?"

"Advantage? I don't see the advantage here!" Shirei said, poking his forehead with her finger. "They're just cards. Just because they're spirits doesn't make a damn difference!"

She shook her head a bit more vigoriously. "It's not good. Just the thought of being surrounded by water is bad." she said, gripping onto the seat. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it and stayed silent.

Shuho glared at her a bit as he rubbed his own head while saying, "Some people get special powers from Spirits... I just wonder what I'm gonna do about it..." He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering his Duel with Jack Atlus. He remembered the final blow was struck by Light End Dragon, and his Light and Darkness had been destroyed and sealed off as well. Shuho opened his eyes and tapped her on the forehead in return. "Why don't I show you what I can do then? Keep you remarks until after I win, and then we'll see what you have to say."

Darren placed his hand on her head lightly with a small smile. "I know its hard to be near something you're afraid of, but nothing's gonna happen to you as long as you stay calm. The more you worry about it, the worse it is. Let that fear go, or at least push it to the side a little bit and it won't be so bad. If anything.... just focus on your dueling when the time comes over everything else, and I bet the thought of it won't even cross your mind."

"So you're afraid of a little special power...big deal." Shirei shrugged. "I would LOVE to duel you, but if you can't beat your friend here, I see no reason to waste my time, especially if you're just going to sulk all day. At this rate, you won't even make it past the qualifiers! I pity you three."

"I can't..." She muttered softly as he tilts her head down. "Darren...I wanna go do something before the qualifiers...but...I don't know what will happen..."

"Hell yeah I'll make the qualifiers!" Shuho exclaimed, now getting fired up from her taunting. "Don't start looking down on my because of one bad day. I could still beat you and anyone that comes at me in these rounds! In fact, I'd even bet on it."

Darren patted her back lightly and said, "Whatever it is, let's go do it now while we've got some time. We haven't gotten anything about the locations yet, so we should do what we want for now. I'll help you if ya need it."

Shirei grinned as she flicks his forehead. "All right then...If you lose your duel in the qualifiers, then you'll have to waer a dress until the second round! Doesn't matter if you guys pass the qualifiers."

"..." She didn't want to look at Darren and turned her head to the side. "I...I just need to talk to Takuro. That's all."

Shuho grinned lightly and said, "You gotta deal. But if I do win, you gotta hold up a big sign to cheer me on in the next round. And when I say big, I mean big!"

Darren looked at her with a bit of surprise at the idea that she would want such a thing. After the battle he had with Shuho, he wasn't sure if it was even possible. He looked around to see if the others were watching, then nodded and said, "If that's really what you want, we can check it out, but I'm going with you. Try anything crazy like Shuho did and we're out of there, got it?"

"Now that's more like it! Kahahahahahaha!" Shirei grinned widely. "Just you wait...you'll be in the most girly looking dress the world has ever seen! Why, I'll take a picture and send it off to that snake bastard so he can show it on every screen in Neo Domino!"

"I just....I just wanna ask him some things, that's all." Zeiya said as she hesitently looked up at Darren. "Do you think he'll still be at that building?"

Shuho grinned as he crossed his arms to what she said, "Yeah... and you better have my sign ready! As soon as I win, I'll be looking for it."

Darren nodded lightly and said, "Its only been a day since what happened between him and Shuho. I really don't think they'd be able to move him much. Let's at least start there." He started to walk to Zeiya's Duel Runner. "You'll drive."

"Well, you're not gonna win if you just stand here! Come on, show me what you can do against your little friend!" Shirei said.

She nodded as she stood up slowly and walked over to her Runner. Turning to Shuho, who was distracted by Shirei, she turned back to Darren. "Shuho's...not gonna get mad if he finds out, will he?" she asked.

"Yeah, no." Harley remarked "I don't care what kind of background you two have, but seriously, beating me ain't goin' to do anything for him." He shrugged "and why do you laugh like that? You should get that checked out." He laughed, motioning to Shuho "He's goin' to be fine."

"Well is the breakfast club done with their moment?" Shane walked onto the track from behind, sun shining down on him, beaming off the mirror lenses of his shades. "I'm all for this touchy, feely bullshit you all love so much, but seriously, we have better things to do."

Shuho grinned as he jumped onto his Duel Runner and said, "Shane's right about one thing. Our gear needs to get specked out if we're gonna do this. I can show you up in my match."

Darren patted the seat of the Duel Runner in front of him to motion her to hurry up. "No time to ask," he said lightly. "If this is really important this is your last chance before the qualifier starts."

"Oh? I didn't think you actually cared." Shirei smirked as she saw Shane. "What, you're not gonna join in this little spat? I mean, relying on these three weaklings is pretty bad."

"I...guess you're right." Zeiya muttered as she hopped on the Runner, starting it up. She looks back to see Shuho and Harley before revving up her Runner and driving towards the Intel Building they were at yesterday.

"And you are? Oh yeah, you're the one I told all about his weaknesses and yet you still got your ass beat. Shut up, witch." Shane scoffed at her "Least I have an excuse for losin', and he couldn't beat me again in a million years, no offense Shuho." He gave Shuho a thumbs up. "Anyway kiddies, Uncle Shane's got a few new treats for you all."

Harley could only look at Shane with a slight mix of confusion and joy. NEW STUFF! he kept saying to himself in his head, over and over.